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Obviously he's very popular around here. VCU as a whole is a school on the rise, and the hoops program is leading the charge on the athletic front. They have a nice new facility in the Siegel Center, so the VCU job is nothing to sneeze at. The Colonial is a great mid-major conference. George Mason and VCU have proven that in the past few years. VCU would have made another appearance in the big dance this year after winning the regular season but got upset in the conf. tourney (tough loss). Bottom line is that there is some pretty decent hoops being played in the Commonwealth as of late. Grant and VCU are in great position to prosper despite the one-bid conference.
Grant was a heartbeat away from the Fla. job last spring when Donavon had his foot in the door to the NBA. We were all but convinced that he was gone but then Billy did his 360 and ended that whole ordeal. We even had the "jet watch" going on w/the local talk radio show. It's understood though that Grant's days are numbered, despite the Fla job closing back up.
My assumption is that it is quite a jump for Grant to end up in Bloomington. Not that he's not qualified, because he is. But there is a huge difference between lounging around the South and spending winters in Bloomington. We're still waiting for snow this year in Richmond..... His recruiting base is in the deep south and now in Virginia, which is great, but does not really translate well to the B10. He CAN recruit, he'd just have to spread roots in a new region, which won't necessarily happen overnight. At IU, he'll have enough to deal with outside of recruiting.... His comfort zone and assumed final destination will likely be in the SEC somewhere.
If you have watched a Fla. game or saw VCU sned the dookies home last year, you know how his teams play. It's fast-paced, and they play hard. They get after it that's for sure. It's sometimes difficult for a Knight-motion offense junkie to watch, but it has been getting the job done.
Overall, I think that IU would be OK with Grant at the helm. He's a fresh slate, and a coach with plenty of gas left in his tank. He can win, period. But ultimately I just can't see IU being the place he ends up at....
o 5 consecutive 20 win seasons
o 5 consecutive NCAA's
o 2nd best coaching start EVER in Div I history
o 100 wins in first 126 games is among fastest ever
How does this sound to you ?
And you guys are talking about Anfernee Grant in the same breath . Crazy
I don't care so much about the current class, just because I want a coach that can bring us back to prominence long term, but with that said I think Dixon may give us a decent shot at keeping Ebanks.
He has one non_Donavan claim to fame .......upset of Duke last year.
Wake me up when you get to Dixon..........whose success is here and now
This year was a bit down, but at the same time, VCU dominated the league. I think some of the other conferences seeing upsets in their conference tournaments helped keep VCU on the outside looking in.
And if IU wants, I'll ride shotgun with jgongora.
Hey I like Grant a lot, but am I the only Skiles supporter? His Bulls teams were fun to watch until this year when his player squit on him because of the GM trying to trade half the team for Kobe. He enforced team basketball which seems to becoming a rare trait in the NBA. He's a disciplinarian who holds his players accountable, and would be a great motivator to all those players not making millions of dollars (Ben Wallace). As far as recruiting, don't assistants do most of that? He's a former NBA coach, so he could definitely be a closer, and would have an inside perspective like Pitino, Monty, Calipari and Tim Floyd have. By the way, Pitino's record in the NBA is 192-220. Skiles is 281-251...AND he owns the record for most assists in an NBA game (30). Imagine what he'd do with Roth and Bassett.
I am not so sure this guy wouldnt catch the next puddle-jumper to Bloomington if the money was right, but it doesnt sound too promising.
1. Young guy
2. Can keep this team in tact
3. Can recruit
4. Will be here for awhile and nowhere near social security age
5. Div 1 experience and some success
Anthony Grant should be right there with Brad Brownell. I am not anti Jamie Dixon, I am anti scott skiles though. But with Grant, at VCU given the hand he is dealt with being in the conference he is in, he has had some success. The guy has to get a phone call without a doubt.....
Then be a good laddie and get behind the Dixon train
By the way Don't call me laddie. I respect your opinion and I don't resort to calling you names ( and believe me I'm quite clever I can think of plenty of good ones) I expect you to do the same with me and try not to belittle my opinions with crap. I won't complain if we get Dixon but if he says no Mr. Grant is just a good a candidate.
Thanks for repsecting my opinions, I do repsect yours and for not calling me the usual as well as the clever names that I frequently hear
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=332...
To be the head guy at IU I think you have to have already shown what you can do at the that level.
I disagree that any good coach can do wonders at a big conference school. It's much harder to recruit a talented team to compete with UCLA and Arizona in your conference when you're at WSU, compared to a coach at VCU in smaller conference recruiting a team to compete against George Mason and Old Dominion.
I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it did in my own head when I was writing it :)
1. historical turnaround in first season
2. back to back NCAA's
3. Pac 10 vs Colonial
4. national & international recruiting vs maniacal focus on Fla
5. National Coach of Year by 7 different sports org's
6. Mid west , B-10 roots
7. Top 100 recruit this coming year
Read the Tony Bennett stuff on WSU web site and please listen to the YOUTUBE video. That ought to do it
In order to have it wrapped by Thursday we need to be ending discussions in 24 - 36 hours , preparing and signing docs on wednesday to set up the presser Thursday.
To do this we needed to have a short prioritized list ..........much shorter than the number of candidates reviewed here would indicate.
Strange we never heard from EASY about whether he has parents and why they are not forking over the $100k for him that I was going to match
Divide the driving three ways cause I'm going to Pennsylvania with Easy and Jerry
I donot think we are comparing Bennett to Grant anymore I thought it was DIxon
Dakich should be hired since my man Bennett turned it down
I just clobbered you. Take it like a man
Forgot to post the link regarding Alford
JMV said, IU nation deal with it, IU is a destination job but we are going to HAVE to go through a rebuilding process and if, Armon, Ellis, and the others want to leave....."Don't let the door hit you in the *&%$$....."
This is a tough pill to swallow but a true one.
I don't want a one and done coach.....
I don't want players getting suspended for "stuff:"
I don't want to look for another coach in 5 years.....
I don't want a bunch of one and done players......
I don't want ANY hint of preparing players for the NBA...you come to IU to play for IU, not a contract..........
I WANT Indiana kids.....
I want the Steve Eyl player to become relevant again...the human SCREENER.....
I WANT to watch a team that will play hard every night.....
I WANT a coach who will build/rebuild the program that includes on the court, off the court, and rebuild the name on the front and not on the back....
I WANT Indiana to be the BEST program in state and take back what Butler and Purdue have stolen from them......the IU way of doing things.......
I could care less how many IU players are in the NBA......I want IU players playing next weekend.........
I WANT to watch Matt "freakin" Roth run off screens for 3-4 years at IU
I WANT to see kids get as pumped about a charge taken than an alley oop.....
I WANT a coach who coaches the team and not just players, and who will not only go to Lawrence North to recruit kids but also to Yorktown.......
Having said all of this...........If I read this enough and put names in a hat that could get this done.......then my candidates are....Brownell, Whitman, Grant, ...thats if Miller says no.
I am fed up with this BIG name garbage...A BIG name got us in this situtation. If guys want to leave....IU will survive...right Vaden, Keeling, Shaw, Recker, Owens, Funderburke, and the list goes on and on......
A team like Davidson shows you in College if you have a GOOD team with GOOD players who do the right things you can compete with ANYONE...even a 5 star squad like Kansas. Now although Davidson didn't make it over the hump, if you recruit Indiana well, like Purdue and Butler has, you will be in the mix for years to come given the talent pool here.....
I think we all need to relax and show we can handle pressure even if the players cannot
see ya later armon and ellis. this should make getting a new coach all the more easier. i am finding it really hard to be a hoosier fan now a days... what the hell do i have to look foward to? 3 years of rebuilding!?
Looks like they did get kicked off.
All the more reason it seems for a coach change by Thursday............even though I donot think the deadline was wise.
I like Ellis and especially Bassett but they need to live and learn. Practicing patience right now would be good for them and all of us
I have now completely changed that opinion. I'm all for discipline and a clean honest program, but this guy is the interim coach and highly unlikely to remain the head coach. Unless the players we arrested (which did not happen, every report is that they skipped a meeting), this coach should not have this authority. Who does he think he is? This completely undermines whoever the eventual coach is, and SHOULD all but eliminate his chances of getting the fulltime job.
On one hand, I have heard TOO MUCH stuff about players on the team "inhaling" that ....where there is smoke there may be fire...Not accusing any of these kids of that but suspensions before the season, during the season, and after the season is utterly ridiculous....Lets not forget, no matter what the label is at this time Dak IS the coach and they have to do what HE says......
On the other hand........the kids know he more than likely WON't be the coach for long so his authority is somewhat undermined. Maybe Greenspan should have made this call but it is a tough situtation for an interim coach, who at the very least should get a look and some position.
My personal thoughts....Kids you are on scholarship for INDIANA university, NOT the KS on your shoes or Armon or Jamarcus University but INDIANA U...the University is Paying your tution, NOT the KS on your shoes.....at what point will YOU stop revolting and REALIZE it is INDIANA U...not YOU and then INDIANA.....
Damn I ought to patten that last line....give me points people I am on fire tonight (just pissed at this situtation)
That coach can then look at the situation and determine if the players should remain on the team.
One other point, you never hear any of this crap about Gordon. I bet he was at the meetings, and he probably won't even be here next year. He went to practice the day that DD was hired too. It is like some of these guys have no appreciation for playing for Indiana. I grew up dreaming about playing for the hoosiers, and some of these guys don't even seem to care.
These guys need to grow up. Even if they hate DD, they just need to suck it up for a couple of more days. The real world is going to be a rude awakening for these guys. All that said, maybe DD shouldn't be the one to kick them off the team, but I don't feel sorry for them at this point.
The kids may be kicked off but can they come back? Is Dakich just proving a point to them?
Wooden said "the coaches best tool is the bench, even for your stars "
Check the history again guys. Lon Kruger built the program Donovan inherited taking Fla from "relative obscurity" to Final 4.
"they’d be hard pressed to find a better resume than Grant’s." Oh Yea ? This hyperbole w no facts is getting to be too much.
When you do DIxon use bullet points because there are too many things to say w/o writing War and Peace
Before the past couple of years, you hear "Florida basketball" and you "classic 5-12 first round upset".
Donovan has changed that recently, largely with the help of Anthony Grant.
I don't remember Jamie Dixon's teams making it to back-to-back final fours. Or championships.
if dakich is the coach i probably won't be too excited about iu basketball for awhile.
No matter what his status he runs the team. The players do not run the team. if they don't want to listen to the coach they need to go home. IU doesn't need any player enough to give control of the team to them.