Cooper suspended for season - FromTheBlueSeats.com

[sharky]

Have we had any problems with Rolle, Ashaolu, or Berhe?

Problems are not the issue with me. It is the fact that an American kid somewhere in the USA, whose parents may have been ideal citizens and paid taxes all their lives, has been denied a scholarship. Why should our tax money go to providing a scholarship for a foreigner.

If a coach can't win with American kids, then he should be encouraged to seek other employment (either voluntary meaning resignation, or involuntary meaning be fired.)

Our colleges and universities should not exist to provide scholarships to foreigners any more than the USA should exist to provide jobs to illegal immigrants. Yet many seem to believe the opposite in both cases.

[GatorDawg]

This is the exact same thing we heard last year- and it is same song next verse. I hope things improve quickly- but it certainly is NOT going as anyone had thought it would.

I think you are dead wrong. It is going as a lot of people on this board thought it would go. Obviously no one expected to go 0-3 in Alaska. But a tone of people on this board thought we would lose to ULL. After a few of the games TCU won, many on the board probably though we didn't stand a shot against them. Several thought we were in trouble against ULM. How many people expected us to come that close to knocking off the top 2 teams in the WAC in back to back games?

[GatorDawg]

Problems are not the issue with me. It is the fact that an American kid somewhere in the USA, whose parents may have been ideal citizens and paid taxes all their lives, has been denied a scholarship. Why should our tax money go to providing a scholarship for a foreigner.

If a coach can't win with American kids, then he should be encouraged to seek other employment (either voluntary meaning resignation, or involuntary meaning be fired.)

Our colleges and universities should not exist to provide scholarships to foreigners any more than the USA should exist to provide jobs to illegal immigrants. Yet many seem to believe the opposite in both cases.

Tell that to Tim Duncan. Get over yourself. That is by far the most singleminded post I have ever read on this board. Dude seriously take a look at our university and tell me if you still want to say that. We employ professors from across the world. We bring in students from several different countries (yes oftentimes they are on scholarship). So you want us to only offer American born boys whose parents pay their taxes? You are a walking stereotype.

[inudesu]

Problems are not the issue with me. It is the fact that an American kid somewhere in the USA, whose parents may have been ideal citizens and paid taxes all their lives, has been denied a scholarship. Why should our tax money go to providing a scholarship for a foreigner.

How good is this poor kid at basketball?

I'm pretty sure that basketball scholarships pay for themselves. I don't think taxes are where that money comes from. It comes from ticket sales, donations, Tech t-shirts, etc. And winning increases all of those. So a better player is a better investment that benefits the whole school. If the best player you can get comes from outside the U.S., then he can help make money for the school - and in effect "earn" his scholarship.

If a coach can't win with American kids, then he should be encouraged to seek other employment (either voluntary meaning resignation, or involuntary meaning be fired.)

His job is to win. We don't impose this kind of thing on the school as a whole.

Our colleges and universities should not exist to provide scholarships to foreigners any more than the USA should exist to provide jobs to illegal immigrants. Yet many seem to believe the opposite in both cases.

I don't think we exist to provide jobs to illegal immigrants. I'll give you that. Students from other coutries provide a huge source of income for the individual schools and for the country as a whole. The demands of a student visa are pretty rigorous.

.

[boxerdog]

Come on now, sharky. You might want to lay-off the radio programs for a while. There are alot of people who come to the US from other countries that contribute positively to our economy. Basketball is an international sport. Do you have a problem with American basketball players making money overseas?

[Brian96]

This is the exact same thing we heard last year- and it is same song next verse. I hope things improve quickly- but it certainly is NOT going as anyone had thought it would.

We are better than last year, and that is what EVERYONE expected. Now predictions on how MUCH better we would be varied widely; it seems that many of you naysayers are choosing the most pie-in-the-sky predictions there were and making them normative. Also, all of the predictions were based on who we believed would be on the active roster this year. The roster itself looks NOTHING like what we thought it would be, which makes the predictions kind of worthless.

We are all disappointed that this year is not living up to the most grandiose predictions a few made. But it is still within the margin of error for what most of us were expecting, and the bottom line is that we are BETTER than we were last year. We are still good enough to win the WAC this year, as anyone who was at the USU and Nevada games witnessed firsthand.

[boxerdog]

We are still good enough to win the WAC this year, as anyone who was at the USU and Nevada games witnessed firsthand.

That's something you have to attend the games to understand. We can match up with anybody in conference. Our team has improved drastically since earlier in the season. Right now, I think we can beat any team in the WAC on a neutral court. By the end of the season, I think we'll be able to beat Nevada in Reno.

[theprofessor]

I think you are dead wrong. It is going as a lot of people on this board thought it would go.

revisionist bullcrap.

[GatorDawg]

revisionist bullcrap.

No. We thought we were going to be a lot better until we lost our top two point guards. Then after the were released the feeling was this season might be a long process. Most of us were saying by the end of the year we will be playing enormously better due to Yonas learning the system. The loss of JC and White cannot be ignored when talking about expectations.

[BullPupN'46]

I think the professor should go to Walgreens and buy a pack of Ex-Lax and take the whole pack. Do you know why Jc and White were droped from the tearm other than they really screwed up?

If you could have been at the baskekball lunchen last Monday and heard what Coach Contie had to say, you might have an idea of what they are really trying to accomplish...

I admire Coach Rupp and the way that he holds the basket ball players to high stardards in grades as well as citizenship. The reason that more Louisiana highschool players are not recruited is not be cause the coaches don't believe they can play....its the class rooms where they "can play". The high school coaches are playing kids that can't read and write at their grade level. The biggest failure is our education system...My youngest is now in her 50's. She received her HS degree in another state.
I recieved mine at RHS in may '46. My basic education was much stronger than hers. She got her undergraduate degree form Tech and a Master's from another university. Becuase of Tech's higher standards she actually got more out of her undergraduate degree than her masters. The educational system, elementary, jhs and hs in La. .....well you here what I'm saying....ergo why recruit from the hs that don't prepare the kids...

[Cal&Ken]

We are better than last year, and that is what EVERYONE expected. Now predictions on how MUCH better we would be varied widely; it seems that many of you naysayers are choosing the most pie-in-the-sky predictions there were and making them normative. Also, all of the predictions were based on who we believed would be on the active roster this year. The roster itself looks NOTHING like what we thought it would be, which makes the predictions kind of worthless.

We are all disappointed that this year is not living up to the most grandiose predictions a few made. But it is still within the margin of error for what most of us were expecting, and the bottom line is that we are BETTER than we were last year. We are still good enough to win the WAC this year, as anyone who was at the USU and Nevada games witnessed firsthand.

Actually I am not a naysayer here and you are supporting what I am saying. I am very sorry that we are not winning. And if you think that makes me a naysayer to believe that things could have been done differently and we would be better off than we are now- I'm OK with that.

[Brian96]

I agree with both of you. There is no way the people on here defending Rupp believed we would be at ground zero this year once again. We would have been way better off to have kept the players that we got rid of without bringing in the transfers. Neither of our basketball teams have anything positive going for them right now.

This is the exact same thing we heard last year- and it is same song next verse. I hope things improve quickly- but it certainly is NOT going as anyone had thought it would.

Actually I am not a naysayer here and you are supporting what I am saying. I am very sorry that we are not winning. And if you think that makes me a naysayer to believe that things could have been done differently and we would be better off than we are now- I'm OK with that.

Then please help me to understand your previous two posts. I took them to mean that you believed the following:

1. Rupp was wrong to take a chance on the transfers.
2. We are no better than we were last year.
3. People's predictions about the season were wrong.

I disagree with all 3 statements.

[Brian96]

revisionist bullcrap.

Okay, I'm kind of tired of you accusing folks of bullcrap (and bullshit elsewhere) without backing anything up. So far you've offered nothing but straw man arguments and bold accusations without any supporting evidence.

Find posts where ANYONE, but ESPECIALLY the people you are accusing of "revisionist bullcrap" made predictions that are so dead wrong that they merit straight up flaming.

Then, please provide a record for each game that you have attended or at least watched in its entirety on TV or online and provide your evaluation of where this team is now compared to last year.

You are often contrarian, which is fine, there is plenty of room for that on message boards, and you usually do a good job of backing it up with your own analysis. But on this topic you are crossing over into good ol' fashioned flaming, a la barkinloud et al.

[sharky]

Tell that to Tim Duncan. Get over yourself. That is by far the most singleminded post I have ever read on this board. Dude seriously take a look at our university and tell me if you still want to say that. We employ professors from across the world. We bring in students from several different countries (yes oftentimes they are on scholarship). So you want us to only offer American born boys whose parents pay their taxes? You are a walking stereotype.

Really. Yes, we have many professors at Tech that are from foreign countries, and it is very difficult if not impossible to understand what many of them are saying. I have heard this complaint time and time again from students. I have even experienced it myself when just talking to some of them. God forbid that I would have to take a course of theirs. Also, I avoid foreign doctors for the same reason. I can't readily communicate with them. At some point my life may depend on my ability to communicate clearly and accurately with my doctor. Not willing to take that chance. Perhaps you are.

I am certain that you are sincere in your attitude about foreigners, but I wonder how you would feel if one had taken your job because he/she would do it much cheaper than you were doing it. That is what the foreign professors are all about. Budget, budget, budget. Trust me.

[theprofessor]

Okay, I'm kind of tired of you accusing folks of bullcrap (and bullshit elsewhere) without backing anything up. So far you've offered nothing but straw man arguments and bold accusations without any supporting evidence.

Find posts where ANYONE, but ESPECIALLY the people you are accusing of "revisionist bullcrap" made predictions that are so dead wrong that they merit straight up flaming.

Then, please provide a record for each game that you have attended or at least watched in its entirety on TV or online and provide your evaluation of where this team is now compared to last year.

You are often contrarian, which is fine, there is plenty of room for that on message boards, and you usually do a good job of backing it up with your own analysis. But on this topic you are crossing over into good ol' fashioned flaming, a la barkinloud et al.

brian,

i do not have time to go digging up every post in which people have said we were going to win the wac, go to the sweet 16, rebuild this program to where it was when malone was here, rupp's doing it "the right way," etc.

but outside of a few realistic posters on this board, people had no idea the season would go like this. even when jc and white were dismissed from the team, there was still a ton of unrealistic optimism.

before the season, after watching practice, i came on here and gave my concerns. i said we were a 15-win team at best. from my recollection, that prediction was the lowest predicted number of wins from anyone. everyone was saying we finish in the top three in the wac and compete for the conference title. i wasn't convinced then, and i'm surely not convinced now.

it is my opinion, from following this team the best that i can since i'm not in ruston, that this season has been a dismal failure when you take it in the context of what we had to deal with last season in preparation for this season. dismal failure. now, could that change? yes. this team could win every single game from here on out and go dancing. i hope that happens. i truly do. it's just not likely at all.