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Took us to our only final eight. Recruited Clyde Lee, Perry Wallace, JVBK, F-troop. Was chosen as coach of the year in the SEC in 1974 by the Associated Press after leading the team to a 23–3 season record. Actually he was named SEC coach of the year also in 1965, 1967, and 1976.

Had one losing season in 16 years.

The good ole days were really special. So sad where we are today.

x

Go Vandy! wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 11:11 pm
Skinner was one of the best coaches in VU MBB history. But tbf, at that time you only had to win 1 game to get to the (Elite) 8.

To Be Fair, you had to win a bunch of games to get to what we now call the Elite 8 because only conference champions were allowed into the tournament (unless the champion is Mississippi State and declines the invitation).

The NCAA Tournament today is all about playing a LOT of games and making a LOT of $$$. The purpose at one time was to determine which team was the best in the country and any team not the best in its own conference had already missed the cut.

Skinner was a man of few words - taciturn might be the best description. He liked to fish and to win. I recall when he left Vanderbilt and coaching altogether that some surmised that the pressure was too great for someone who never seemed to be able to release it via outrages that are commonly observed on the sidelines today. He was a quiet winner and we miss him.

Remember an afternoon paper called the Nashville Banner? Didn't he tell the Banner writer one of the main reasons he was hanging it up was how crappy the officiating had gotten?

Different world back then. college hoops is increasingly more a semi-professional rather than collegiate undertaking, as it was back in the Skinner days. Moreover, the easy transfer rules and pay-for-image rules--all of which I think are entirely proper and give the kids some of what they deserve--are making big time college sports even less of college thing.
Also, hoops now has much else to compete with (NHL, games on TV all the time) that even a team like those in the late 60' and early 70's would have a hard time competing for attention.
Finally, i do wonder how the students think about all this. My daughter, class of '09, and her friends were not much for going to hoops games, even when we were decent. I don't think the kids have close to the same interest that we did (i was class of '74).
Of course a 24-3 team might be the salve that turns back the interest. Hopefully, we'll get to find out one of these years...

dore74 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 09, 2021 8:12 am Different world back then. college hoops is increasingly more a semi-professional rather than collegiate undertaking, as it was back in the Skinner days. Moreover, the easy transfer rules and pay-for-image rules--all of which I think are entirely proper and give the kids some of what they deserve--are making big time college sports even less of college thing.
Also, hoops now has much else to compete with (NHL, games on TV all the time) that even a team like those in the late 60' and early 70's would have a hard time competing for attention.
Finally, i do wonder how the students think about all this. My daughter, class of '09, and her friends were not much for going to hoops games, even when we were decent. I don't think the kids have close to the same interest that we did (i was class of '74).
Of course a 24-3 team might be the salve that turns back the interest. Hopefully, we'll get to find out one of these years...

Vandy has always been a good academic school ... in the past 20 years I feel like the competitiveness of the academics and admissions has taken a leap. I once earned an academic scholarship to Vandy. My daughter beat my ACT score and was denied admission. Different world. And not that smart kids can't be sports fans, but yeah, I'm gonna play the stereotype that as you ramp up the academic competitiveness the athletic interest probably trends in the other direction.

I think the school has also gotten a lot more national over the years. So there are more and more kids at Vandy that don't have any connection to the basketball team prior to becoming a student there.

So I'd totally believe that the basketball games are a tougher sell to the student body today compared to 20 or 40 years ago ... even accounting for the quality of the team.

I don’t know. The problem with attributing lack of student interest to selective admissions and a national student body is the fact that certain other universities combine these same characteristics with packed arenas and huge enthusiasm for the basketball team. Duke and Virginia readily come to mind.

Virginia has 4 losses to unranked teams already including Navy and James Madison.

Enthusiastic students can only get you so far.

But they do have a recent national championship. I’d settle for that.

And John Paul Jones does rock.

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thefan wrote: ↑Sat Dec 18, 2021 8:56 pm Ron Bargatze. Coach Skinner gave Coach Bargatze the credit for recruiting and game planning! Vandy should go for the Belmont Men's coach!

I was watching Belmont play LSU a while back. LSU was ahead 80 to 40 when I turned the channel.

They also lost to Dayton who Austin Peay beat and I'm pretty sure VU blew out APSU today.

And does the Belmont coach have one of the top classes nationally signed for 2022?

I also heard Belmont was behind a horrible D-3 team by ten or more in the first half today.

Hard pass on the Belmont coach.

Skinner was a winner,
Stack will bring us back.

MrMemorial wrote: ↑Sat Dec 18, 2021 9:02 pm

thefan wrote: ↑Sat Dec 18, 2021 8:56 pm Ron Bargatze. Coach Skinner gave Coach Bargatze the credit for recruiting and game planning! Vandy should go for the Belmont Men's coach!

I was watching Belmont play LSU a while back. LSU was ahead 80 to 40 when I turned the channel.

They also lost to Dayton who Austin Peay beat and I'm pretty sure VU blew out APSU today.

And does the Belmont coach have one of the top classes nationally signed for 2022?

I also heard Belmont was behind a horrible D-3 team by ten or more in the first half today.

Hard pass on the Belmont coach.

I'm not particularly keen on the Belmont coach either, but those are horrible reasons for passing on a coach.

1) LSU is a top 10 team per kenpom, and the game was on the road. It was a bad margin, but those happen all the time as you have been pointing out all season.
2) I covered the Dayton APSU thing in another thread. This is the same Dayton team that you were noting beat KU, a top 5 team. Surprise, a team completely dominated by talented freshmen can provide wildly varying performances.
3) Which coach in your estimation would be able to bring a top 25 recruiting class to Belmont? That would appear to limit acceptable coaches pretty significantly.
4) What was the final score - did they lose? a 1-4 UT was leading 5-0 UGA a couple of seasons ago in football in the first half - does that mean that Smart is a bad coach?

For someone who correctly notes that people shouldn't freak our over single game results (such as the bad loss to VCU), you very selectively apply this standard to other coaches. Either you look at context or you do not, but context doesn't just exist for CJS and nobody else. Coach Alexander might be a real good coach, but he hasn't proven it and is coaching in a really weak league, and who know how that might work out. Coach Prohm looked really good at Murray State and then completely crashed and burned last season with a worse than Drew result. It is difficult to say how they will do because over half of their games are against some of the worst teams in D1. That is why I would be hesitant, but the reasons you gave (two games against extremely talented teams, a recruiting standard that is met by almost zero mid-majors and a 1st half score) rank extremely low or that list.

Belmont also had a apples vs apples fair fight matchup vs mid-major Ohio who lost Preston to the NBA and Wilson to an ACL and the Bobcats blistered Belmont anyway. Jeff Boals (a Thad Matta disciple) coached circles around CCA. One of the main bench guys Ohio played just turned 17 years old too. Kid doesn't even look like he shaves yet. Belmont plays 8 junior and seniors.

**And that barely 17 year old who re-classified was ranked the eighth best player in the state of Ohio on the ESPN 2022 and was apparently ranked 4 stars. So, mid-majors CAN get high level recruits.

Where some of the current NBA players went to college.

Damian Lillard - Weber State
Stephen Curry - Davdison
Paul George - Fresno St.
Gordon Hayward - Butler
Kawhi Leonard - San Diego St.
Richaun Holmes - Bowling Green
Ja Morant - Murray St.
Kent Bazemore - Old Dominion
Robert Covington - TSU
George Hill - IUPUI
Hasaan Whiteside - Marshall
Pascal Siakam - NM St. (who CKS failed to recruit even though his brother was at VU)
C J McCullum - Lehigh
Garrison Mathews - DLU

There is no reason a mid-major (especially in a popular big city) can't recruit.

MrMemorial wrote: ↑Sun Dec 19, 2021 3:11 pm Where some of the current NBA players went to college.

Damian Lillard - Weber State
Stephen Curry - Davdison
Paul George - Fresno St.
Gordon Hayward - Butler
Kawhi Leonard - San Diego St.
Richaun Holmes - Bowling Green
Ja Morant - Murray St.
Kent Bazemore - Old Dominion
Robert Covington - TSU
George Hill - IUPUI
Hasaan Whiteside - Marshall
Pascal Siakam - NM St. (who CKS failed to recruit even though his brother was at VU)
C J McCullum - Lehigh
Garrison Mathews - DLU

There is no reason a mid-major (especially in a popular big city) can't recruit.

That is also apples to ornages - in almost none of those cases were those players highly rated in HS or part of a top 25 class, which was your original contention. Unless you were saying that those were NBA players prior to their entering college (citation needed). Again, the point stands - which coach do you think could bring a top 25 class to Belmont?