Men’s basketball finished regular season #108 in Kenpom

[Sweetness]

That’s hardly an accomplishment. This team did provide some fun moments, and finishing third in the pac12 is better than finishing lower I guess, but this is probably the worst year in pac12 hoops history. Larry is one of the top 10 highest paid coaches in the country, we’ve made huge investments in facilities, and the product is not close to reflecting that investment currently. Hats off to the seniors for not giving up and winning some games down the stretch, but I hope the issues and problems with the program don’t get glossed over because the team finished third in a historically bad year for the conference. If I’m Harlan, I start preparing for a coaching change next year. Need to see huge improvement for me to think otherwise. We can’t be investing like a top 10/20 program and getting 100+ results. It’s unacceptable.

[Utah5410]

The main thing to take away is that this team didn’t quit. k s teams done quit that is an amazing coaching skill that he has which is why they finish where they do. But everything else was very mediocre.

[Sweetness]

No argument there. Coach K gets his team to play, and it feels like each year they improve as the year goes on, but you have to look at everything in context. They improved from a team that looked like it was 150+ to a team that finished 108th…not the range you want to be in. If the pac12 was it’s usual 4-5 bid league quality this year, they’d likely be in the bottom third and would have finished 6–12 or so in conference.

[AZUTE]

First I’d love to hear the “issues and problems” you think the program has.

Then I’ll address the rest of you ridiculous statement.

[Sweetness]

The issues and problems the team has is that talented players continue to transfer out of the program and the talent coming in is performing at a very average level.

We’re three years removed from making the NCAA tournament and we’re going to have to see some pretty large overachieving to make it next year. A lineup of Tillman, Timmy Allen, Gach, Battin, and some of the other freshman coming in doesn’t scream tournament run to me.

Larry did a great job bringing the program back from the dark hole it was in, but we’re likely heading for year four of no tournament birth and he’s making top 10 money. If as a fan base we’re fine with the NIT that’s great, but let’s cut our payroll in half then. He deserved his contract when he got it, but he hasn’t delivered. The only teams we played in the top 50 this year were Kentucky, Nevada, and Washington and we weren’t competitive in any of those games.

We’re not close to being good right now. We just played in a terrible conference. There’s a big gap between us and the at large teams. I think the program can and should do much better, and if we’re sitting here at the end of next year heading to another NIt/CBI ranked in the 100s again, it’s time for a change IMO.

[chinngiskhaan]

I disagree. Think about what would happen if all of those freshmen you mention improve at a typical rate. They all contributed a lot at times this year. Tillman improved his shooting immensely. If Timmy improves as much as many sophomores do, he will be an all pac12 player next year. Gach has poop loads of potential, and Battin could be every bit as good as loveridge. They may not be there next year, but they very well could be

[UteThunder]

History says those freshmen won’t be here to improve at a typical rate. 

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

History says that those were different individual players with different individual lives. You have no clue what goes on with them or why they left the program. Also, you have no clue what any of the current players are going to do either, so to predict that they’re going to transfer is just asinine. It’s just as likely that they’re going to stay.

[UteThunder]

Right, except we have 8 years of history where Larry has lost several players to transfer every season so I feel pretty confident saying that we will have similar results once again this year. Maybe this is the year when Larry doesn’t lose a bunch of transfers, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Making a statement like yours is like saying Troy Taylor was going to be a long-term solution at OC for us because he wasn’t the same guy as all the other OCs who left after one or two years for various reasons and we have no clue what Taylor was thinking. Well, two years later and what do you know? Taylor is gone just like the 9 guys before him. 

Just like Kyle can’t keep an OC around for more than 2 years unless their name is Ludwig, LarryK can’t keep an entire roster of underclassmen together for more than 1 year. It’s who these coaches are and how they run their programs. 

[EagleMountainUte]

[User Suspended]

Totally agree.  Group think has once again taken over…. follow the herd until someone tells you different. 

Coach K= bad

kwhitt = awesome!! ( just got a Phatt contract extension for losing his last two games – smh) 

Even thought results are very similiar.

[ironman1315]

How many times has Krystkowiak been ranked 2d in the nation? Truth is we were a less bad team in a crappy conference and were one loss away from being 7th. Further, Larry’s teams do not show year to year improvement (unlike Kyle’s teams that do). And it is this lack of overall growth that’s…problematic.

[EagleMountainUte]

Finishing 3-7 is an accomplishment don’t knock it. 

[Utah5410]

@sweetness. While I agree with everything you said. I change ain’t going to come for at least a few years. Thank Sr Hill or the late Huntsman or whoever. But that terrible contract inst going anywhere. All we can do as fans is demand more and not settle for mediocrity and the message hopefully will
Be received.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Utah was picked to finish 8th this year, but we’d finished 3rd. One game out of second. And he exceeds expectations every year. That’s solid coaching. You are correct that Coach Krystkowiak should work on keeping his talented players on the hill, but when a talented player opts to transfer, that’s not always the fault of the coach. Some kids just aren’t “team players”. Majerus lost a lot of talented kids too, but I don’t remember any of those transferring kids ever making an NBA roster.

Bottom line: Krysktowiak wins. He coaches up his kids, and he does it the right way. So unless Harlan has a bead on Mark Few, letting Larry go would be a huge mistake.

GO UTES!!!

[User Suspended]

[ironman1315]

Well, Pace agrees with you, so that’s a death knell to your argument.

[UteThunder]

Of course Majerus had kids transfer out of the program, but he didn’t routinely lose one third to one half of his roster from one year to the next like Larry does. 

[Sweetness]

So, this is the exact thought process I am trying to argue people should avoid. A lot of people look at this team and think they were under talented, picked to finish 8th, yet finished third and overachieved, therefore coach did a great job.

I look at this year and think, Larry in his 7th/8th? year, we’re missing the tournament for the third straight season, and we’re roughly the 100th best team in the country.

We overachieved by finishing 3rd, but the conference was terrible, and we still weren’t a very good team. Everyone here can admit we’re not close to a tournament team this year. Also, arguing that the team had to overachieve to end up ranked around 100 in a coach’s 7th/8th year is a pretty huge endightment of the Coach isn’t it?

[Hahnenwk]

Sweetness you are completely hung up on K’s money. It is none of your business.
Every year K develops players of lesser rating and competes with teams with much higher ratings and finishes above where all the experts think he should. Stars are not moving out of the program most go to lower levels and the results are mediocre to average. The best players that have left have been problems and I applaud K for getting rid of them.
Next year he will have his best team that will also have some depth. If he cannot do well with them you can complain.

[Sweetness]

I could personally care less how much he makes, but he’s in a result oriented business and is paid like he is at the top. His results don’t match his compensation and dollar for dollar we ought to be able to get better.

Here are the coaches that make more than Larry.

Coach K
Calipari
Ohio state coach
Tom Izzo
Sean Miller
Bob Huggins
Bill self

All guys that are in the top 25, in the tournament, and contending for conference and national titles year in and year out.

If Larry’s going to get that kind of coin, he needs to start delivering those type of results.

[Anonymous]

How much less? 🙂

[Utah5410]

Preach 🙌🏻. Also footnote. Whit and Larry – not even a good comparison. So many reasons why but that’s for another post. So done with Larry.

[Author]

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