Opinion: Best coach in the MVC?

[valleychamp]

Exactly, not saying Ben can't but his first year without McD recruits will be this year. Yes, he has a great class coming in, and is trying to ride the tails of the sweet16 appearance. Last year they under achieved by his standards. I know my reputation is sour but I just can't help but imagine that Ben is the next Lowery. He is a one trick pony and the game can only be slowed down so much, eventually he is going to have to recruit a credible athlete.

lol, wow.

UNI was on the cusp of another conference championship last year until the O'Rear injury. Throw that on top of the fact that we essentially played a man down all last year because of the Doug McDermott fiasco. (who ended up being one of the best players in the league from day 1) You could very easily argue that UNI OVER-achieved last year.

And as I said in my earlier post, the argument that Jake has only won with McD players is a HUGE stretch to begin with, if not just plain incorrect.

Golly. I promise to stop sparring with UNI people but I cannot let this one go. "one the cusp of another championship" that is a stretch. "Played a man down?' what is this USA/Brazil Women's World Cup? Coach Jake is a good coach and a decent human being but come on. He LET McDermott go without a fight so I cannot offer much sympathy there.

Yes, we did play a man down. Doug McDermott was literally a few weeks away from stepping foot on the UNI campus before that whole thing went down. You think we could go out and just grab another first team all MVC big man in that time?

Of course, Jake "let" him go. What the hell else was he supposed to do?

Before Luke went down, we were 1 game out of first place and and had just won AT Wichita, and AT MSU. You know, the #1 and #2 teams in the conference last year. I'd say that would be considered "on the cusp".

[beatingrillz]

How is that a stretch? What players have been recruited under Jacobson that have been impact players. I have no doubt he knows his X's and O's but who can he recruit. I will continue eating the crow I order, however come Feb. I am confident he will be more like Les than like McD.

[Khan4Cats]

The argument that Jake is similar to C-Lo is the biggest stretch. C-Lo won immediately with players recruited by another staff. Jake's first two years were successful in that they were winning seasons, but did not include any post-season berths. C-Lo's 3rd/4th/5th years (with his own players and system) is where you saw the fall-off. Jake's 3rd/4th/5th years saw the two NCAA appearances and another post-season last year, albeit not as prestigious a tournament as we had hope for with a month left in the season.

"On the cusp of a championship" may be a stretch, but no more than saying so for any other team in the league at that point. UNI was a game back and just picked up wins at Wichita and at Missouri State. The injury was a big factor and it was really then that the loss of our top post recruit for the season became evident. No, we didn't play 4 on 5 a man down, but we were without a player that had been recruited to fill that spot. Given that, I still maintain that Jake had no choice but to let him go and he should have never been put in the position by a real "friend."

And what exactly is a "credible athlete?" I don't have a clue what that means, but if UNI has been able to have the kind of success they have had without credible athletes, I am fine continuing with what we have. There's a lot more to winning basketball than being able to jump through the roof or run really fast. I'll take high IQ, good shooters who are coached to play smart, team defense every day.

As for the best coach, I agree with the poster who noted that it is too hard to tell with the turnover recently. Since I can't vote for my own (who is really one of the few with a track record of more than a couple seasons in his current position) I probably have to go with Simmons or Marshall. I'm not sold on Marshall's ability to coach in close game situations, but he certainly has a team/style that can get out front in a game and run you into the ground. Just not sure his style works consistently in grind-it-out type of MVC games. Simmons seems to do a lot with just a little. If he could find some consistency in his roster (losing that PG a couple years ago hurt) and a post to open things for Ryan, they could vault in a hurry.

[Khan4Cats]

How is that a stretch? What players have been recruited under Jacobson that have been impact players. I have no doubt he knows his X's and O's but who can he recruit. I will continue eating the crow I order, however come Feb. I am confident he will be more like Les than like McD.

Well, if you are going to judge him on one year, then keep in mind that Jake's top recruit from two years ago is playing for his father on another team in the Valley and Jake had no time to replace him when he left.

I have complete confidence in Jake's recruiting and coaching. That said, I expect that there will be struggles with the youth on the team this year. We will be running plenty of new faces out this year and they may take some lumps as they learn and grow. If they gel as a team, learn Jake's system, and adapt to the college game, there is a chance that they could be real dangerous come February. I, and I think most UNI fans as well, are looking more towards the following season as we will only lose Johnny Moran off this years' squad and we will not be bringing anyone "new" into the system the following year.

[valleychamp]

How is that a stretch? What players have been recruited under Jacobson that have been impact players. I have no doubt he knows his X's and O's but who can he recruit. I will continue eating the crow I order, however come Feb. I am confident he will be more like Les than like McD.

Who have been impact players that Jake recruited? Well if you completely ignore the fact that he played a very large part in getting the guys you are talking about...

Ali Farokhmanesh
Johnny Moran
Lucas O'Rear
Anthony James
Jake Koch
Marc Sonnen

All of those guys are Jakes guys, and all are impact players in this conference, if not very good players in this conference.

[beatingrillz]

I am sorry but Dougie Fresh was never coming to UNI to play for Jscobson, he was sent there by daddy. Ben didn't have to release him from his LOI, yes it was the right thing to do but not required. Also, you think Jacobson is the first coach to have a kid change their mind it's part of the game just like injuries.

[uniftw]

I am sorry but Dougie Fresh was never coming to UNI to play for Jscobson, he was sent there by daddy. Ben didn't have to release him from his LOI, yes it was the right thing to do but not required. Also, you think Jacobson is the first coach to have a kid change their mind it's part of the game just like injuries.

Doug had an loi with UNI and was enrolled in classes before his dad took the CU job.

While Jordan, Adam, KA, and Kerwin sign while Mac was the coach Jake was the lead recruiter Adam and Ketwin, Jordan verballed before he was really recruited, and anothet assistant got us Kwadzo. They weren't Mc$'s players.

[WSUbballer]

Man, this topic is getting sidetracked fast..

My answer to the question is probably Jacobson, simply because he does more with less and has done so pretty consistently. I also agree that it'll be really interesting to see how he does with his group of players this year.

I really wish some of the fans who helped contribute to the topic going sideways (both sides) would answer the question and put their 2 cents into the point of the thread. I'd be interested to know in what everyone thinks.

[beatingrillz]

I dont care what he did as an assistant. The question wasn't about who is the best assistant turned head coach. You are correct he signed an LOI which he was released from by UNI. Get over it panther fans he will never play for your team. Also if he was truly enrolled in classes he would of had to sit 2 years.

[carrcar]

The argument that Jake is similar to C-Lo is the biggest stretch. C-Lo won immediately with players recruited by another staff. Jake's first two years were successful in that they were winning seasons, but did not include any post-season berths. C-Lo's 3rd/4th/5th years (with his own players and system) is where you saw the fall-off. (snipped)

Khan, you're close to correct. CLo's first 2 years were remarkable for a novice coach, but then he made a mistake and started listening to the fans who were tired of SIU's "3 yards and a cloud of dust" system and wanted a higher octane team with more offensive fire power. Well he recruited the type of players who had a lot of flash but little flesh to their game and defense became a matador game of waving the cape as the opponents ran by. Hopefully we're getting some fundamental sound players this year whose egos will fit in the program.