BTW in Konkol's case that is pronounced as the Jim "Failing" Award, an honor for which Konkol is over-qualified.
|
|
|
|
|
BTW in Konkol's case that is pronounced as the Jim "Failing" Award, an honor for which Konkol is over-qualified.
A new article has been posted on www.latechsports.com:
Louisiana Tech's Eric Konkol earned another postseason honor on Tuesday as the Bulldog Basketball head coach was named as the National Associate of Basketball Coaches (NABC) 2020-21 District 11 Coach of the Year.
More...
Discuss it here.
Next year I will simply let the NCAA committee know that we have a NABC CoY! At-large, here we come!
It would be easy to post another "LOL!" But I won't. Instead I will say this, this Friday Konkol's team plays an NIT game vs. an SEC opponent. Let us see him actually deliver some real coaching. Without his starting PG he's been put into a tough position. What he tried vs. UNT failed miserably, Crawford has no business being a ball-handler. That did two things, both of them bad. 1) it placed Crawford in a position he is not capable of, and 2) it took Crawford away from the role he excels at, playing that "small forward" position.
So, even Konkol has to know that was a failed experiment. Scoring 48 points won't beat Ole Miss. "Coaches of the Year" can coach their way out of a mess. This tourney, the NIT, offers Konkol a chance to strut some of that "COY" ability others see.
So, how does Konkol win this award over someone like Grant McCasland, of UNT? McCasland just won 4 straight games in the CUSA Tournament --including the title game over WKU and a 6-pt win over Konkol and LA Tech. Konkol won just one game in the same tournament, and finished 1-1. This makes no sense.
It's all predicated on the fact that we were picked 6th at the beginning of the year.Originally Posted by HogDawg
Which, with an ungracious exit from the conference tournament, is more or less where we ended up.
That comes down to the players just as much as the coach. If UNT doesn’t have Hamlet? One and Done.
some places we were picked 8th. pretty much all awards are based on regular season only.
I agree that McCasland is really good. I thought so a few years back too
That's not really a good answer. IMO, that's just more excuse mongering. McCasland is the guy who just won the CUSA Tournament. His team will be representing CUSA in the NCAA Tournament. It was McCasland's team that won the CUSA regular season title last year, and was probably robbed of a potential spot in the NCAA Tourney last season due to COVID cancellations. It was McCasland's team that just ran thru the CUSA gauntlet, defeating MTSU, ODU, LA Tech and WKU on 4 consecutive nights. ALL WITH NO EXCUSES!
It was robbery to NOT give this award to McCasland.
I like "no excuses". But "excuses" are in danger of becoming part of LA Tech's athletic culture. We love our excuses. We have one for EVERYTHING!
Fine, thats not enough. Its a season award, is it not? Not just a week of post-season.That's not really a good answer. IMO, that's just more excuse mongering. McCasland is the guy who just won the CUSA Tournament. His team will be representing CUSA in the NCAA Tournament. It was McCasland's team that won the CUSA regular season title last year, and was probably robbed of a potential spot in the NCAA Tourney last season due to COVID cancellations. It was McCasland's team that just ran thru the CUSA gauntlet, defeating MTSU, ODU, LA Tech and WKU on 4 consecutive nights. ALL WITH NO EXCUSES!
It was robbery to NOT give this award to McCasland.
I like "no excuses". But "excuses" are in danger of becoming part of LA Tech's athletic culture. We love our excuses. We have one for EVERYTHING!
Even then, I don’t think UNT exceeded expectations, which plays into many COTY votes.
....but he still didn't have as good a season as McCasland.
Are these awards decided before conference tourneys are over? I know it was awarded after.
I get it that COY awards only consider the regular season. We were picked 6th and finished first in the west, so Konkol wins a bunch of COY awards. And that's great, it really is. But I also feel HogDawg's point. The big picture is we did not win when it mattered most. The prize in college basketball is not the regular season, at least in CUSA, you have to win the conference tournament to go to the NCAA tournament. In football you have to make the four team play-off to have a shot to win the national championship. Under that system we can never play for a national championship. So our top prize is making the G5 NYD. But in baseball and basketball we can play for a national championship by making the NCAA tournament. So while individual awards are fine, we must never take our eye off the prize and in basketball that is winning the conference tournament and playing in the NCAA tournament. This is the 29th straight NCAA tournament we have missed. In 5 CUSA tournaments over 6 years with Konkol we have lost 3 quarterfinals and 2 semifinals. In both semifinals we were the better seed and still lost. At some point, maybe not yet, but you have to ask can this coach win a conference tournament? If the answer is no or probably not, it is time to move on. This year I would have rather been 13-13 in the regular season and won the conferene tournament and have us heading to Indiana, instead of going back to Texas.
I'm sure I would feel differently at 13-13.
But sitting at home, for the 29th year in a row, I certainly agree with you.
(no, the NIT doesn't count unless you want to brag about being the nation's 70th best team)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
