This is the best coached team I've seen in my 30 years watching Gamecock basketball (ok, except maybe for a couple of the Mckie years).
Frank who?
- Thread starter HI Cock1
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I feel like we can stop crediting him for his one lucky streak to the final four now.
I stopped crediting him two years after the run. I knew him personally. Wasn't a fan on or off the court.
A good many of you said he was turning boys into men and his hard *** approach was the way to roll. Most of those posters have disappeared.
It does remind me of the way we used to play hard defense. But this team passes way better than any Frank coach team and seem to do much better at the FT line. There were days I wondered if even practiced Free Throws under Frank. He bigs were especially bad. Our bigs play so well in this system. It was so cool seeing Josh today. Stoked for him as we have three guys playing well underneath the basket.
Frank's team would give up 5-10 layups or dunks per game. Frank wanted athletes. Lamont wants basketball players with high BB IQ's.
Agree. My comment was really focused on chemistry, how well they play together and how they have gotten on a roll with a focus on the big dance as the goal.
I think that was more of a strategic issue with Frank than the composition of his roster. Lamont seems to be using Josh Gray and Jacobi Wright just fine. Zachary Davis is a Martin recruit. Lamont is using him just fine and he has a bright future. Just needs to become more consistent. Devin Carter would look really good on this roster right now. Also, did Frank ever have a guard as athletic as Meechie? I don't think so. He had taller guards. Guards that may have been higher rated and had more accolades, but it's hard to find a push guard more athletic than Meechie. Would hate to cover him as a player. I think the difference is that Frank was stubborn and would beat his head against the wall for his system and style of play. If a team exploited his pressuring, man defensive style, he would just lose and blame it on the players. He would rarely adjust to help his players. In the first game against Georgia, the Bulldogs guards relentlessly drove the ball and we couldn't defend without fouling. What does Lamont do in the rematch? He slows their guards down with a 1-3-1 in the second half and it totally changes the game. He didn't beat his head against a wall if his players were struggling to guard in man. That's the difference IMO.
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If keeping Frank for as long as we did put us in the position to get Paris, I'm good with that
Yeah, hopefully that is the silver lining.
But FM should have been fired two years sooner. His whole schtick was awful.
AJ Lawson and PJ Dozier. Both of those guys were extremely athletic but I don’t feel like he got the best out of them.
That was a damn good basketball team. No reason to discount it. I’m glad he’s gone, but he should get credit for the single greatest feat our basketball program has.
CLP allows his players to play their game within his system. They play loose and are allowed to make mistakes.
Players had to change their game for Frank. Very little freedom. Played scared for good reason.
Come on man. Don’t be that guy. Don’t be a hater. It’s not a good look. I’m sure you were yelling louder than anybody here when Frank took us on that magical run.
Yep, Martins final 4 team played great defense, but this team is doing it with less talent. Paris learned hard ball at Wisconsin and it is definitely working here. Amazing how he basically revamped a lineup but they play like they’ve been together for 2 years. He’s on his way to Coach of the Year if this keeps going.
Two years is not the same as the year after. The Final Four was visibly ephemeral. It was getting time to validate and validation wasn't happening.
Too bad you missed my point. Never said I wasn’t pulling for the team during any of Franks years. None of Franks teams looked this smooth - especially on offense. Lamont is doing way more with less.Come on man. Don’t be that guy. Don’t be a hater. It’s not a good look. I’m sure you were yelling louder than anybody here when Frank took us on that magical run.
Now we’ll see how they play with a target on their backs.
Maybe true, but that team did its validating in the dance. Frank failed to reload. I’m not a fan of the “luck” monicker bc I think it’s a disservice to the players. They were good…really good. And they had the best player in the tournament. That wasn’t luck. We kicked everyone’s *** in front of us until we got to the Zags. We lost Notice, Sin, and PJ off that team. Then Felder got in trouble and we kicked off the team.
Martin’s Final 4 team was a pleasure to watch. The 2 teams before that should have made the tournament. This years team has better guards and comparable bigs. Silva and Kotsar were great, but Thornwell was the difference. Dozier was talented with the ball but was not a great shooter. This team has similar inside play and more versatility from the guards. May not go as far because we don’t have a star like Thornwell but the future is definitely bright. Paris is recruiting his a** off. Having said all that, I think this team could make a deep run in the tournament. Great guard play and bigs. That usually means success
Thornwell getting sick before the final 4 game was indeed the difference.
This team not being ''star'' dependent is what makes it really unique. Having rotating ''stars'' each game makes us much more difficult to defend and our Wisconsin style defense could take us a long way as long as we get average or above 3-point shooting.
Like Roche twisting his ankle. Chicken Curse.
It’s interesting reading all these “Frank” posts about Martin. I’m old enough to remember another coach named Frank that wasn’t too shabby.
Anyway I’m really impressed with Paris and his group of guys.
Anyway I’m really impressed with Paris and his group of guys.
I had no real issues with Frank and see no need to criticize him much. He didn't give us any reason to have animosity towards him.
Record-wise, he was mostly ok during his tenure here and that's why he had to go. He showed us that we were mostly going to be ok, rarely terrible and rarely really good, with him at the helm. The relationship just ran its course.
Record-wise, he was mostly ok during his tenure here and that's why he had to go. He showed us that we were mostly going to be ok, rarely terrible and rarely really good, with him at the helm. The relationship just ran its course.
I really like the character of the guys Paris brought in; you can see he has a ‘type’ he’s after. The makeup of the team is pretty unique I think, with each guy a key component; like a good band. Cooper to my eye from the go has been the straw that stirs the drink, and all of them are pretty consistent at making the play when its available, which is something we haven’t had for a long time. They *want* to be a winning *team*.
Really proud of Cooper. I remember when he was a lightly recruited 6'4" forward on the Dorman teams with PJ Hall and Myles Tate. Being a frontcourt player in high school is where his post game comes from. He has put on a good 30 lbs. or so since then and has worked on his ball handling to the point of being trusted as a Point Guard. This kid has really worked hard to get where he is at. People on the outside tend to always want to credit a coach for a player getting to where he is at. Sometimes it is about a player getting in the lab and making it happen.
I thought he was a jack *** and an average coach. A poor representative of our university. Yes, I give him credit for the great final four run but was thrilled to see him go.
Yes, he was an average coach here as I pointed out. To the jackass part, I dunno. Did not know personally, of course. As it related to his coaching style, he certainly had an old school coaching style, a la Mike Kryzewski. The only difference being that Kryzewski produced results. I suspect Frank would not have caught flack for his coaching style if he was taking us to the NCAAT every year.
I do not know of anything he ever did to embarrass the University, though I could be forgetting. He just coached hard. If he had been a "players coach" and produced the same results, I suspect our fans would be criticizing him for being too soft.
All that matters in relation to coaching style is results.
I knew he and his family personally. My kids played ball with his kids. We knew A.M well. Loved his family.
That said, he showed his behind to a good friend of mine over something non-basketball related. Very petty issue that he claims embarrassed him. #1- my friend wasn't involved. #2- he treated my friend like he treated D. Lost all respect for him at that point. He is a point proving bully that doesn't like it when he doesn't get his way. Simple as that.
Come on man. Don’t be that guy. Don’t be a hater. It’s not a good look. I’m sure you were yelling louder than anybody here when Frank took us on that magical run.
Two things can be true at the same time. He could have pulled for the Final Four Gamecocks louder than anybody else, AND he still can see this team as the best coached team he's seen in his 30 years watching Gamecock basketball. Recognizing both statements as true does not make one a hater.