FBI and DOJ Announce Corruption Charges in College Basketball

[Applejack]

Krystko-Meth is a dead man walking. I have no inside information about anything: not about the buyout, the donors, the AD, men's lacrosse, etc. But I do know that missing the NCAAs for the 4th and 5th years in a row will not sit well with the fans.

Krstko is just not a very good coach. Forget about recruiting. Forget about the transfers. Forget about the assistant coaches. Just look at the results. He's taken us to two (2!) NCaa tournaments: One which ended in the sweet sixteen on a team that featured three (3!) good to very good NBA players (i know, I know: Kuzma was a redshirt); and one which ended in the second round on a team that merely featured two (2!) NBA players. I don't know about you, but I think the over-under on the number of future NBA players in the current lineup is .5 and I'm definitely taking the under.

So, we have a not-very-good coach coaching a team with average talent and we are asking him to get us to the tourney, something he has not done without multiple future NBA players. Sounds like a death sentence to me.

I've become really jaded on Krstko. The transfers are poison. Losing the Charles Jones of the world happens all of the time in college sports; consistently losing your best, most promising players makes it really hard to enjoy the program. But the worst part for me is that the Utes are just not very well coached. It's time for Krystko to go.

[UtahsMrSports]

Krystko-Meth is a dead man walking. I have no inside information about anything: not about the buyout, the donors, the AD, men's lacrosse, etc. But I do know that missing the NCAAs for the 4th and 5th years in a row will not sit well with the fans.

Krstko is just not a very good coach. Forget about recruiting. Forget about the transfers. Forget about the assistant coaches. Just look at the results. He's taken us to two (2!) NCaa tournaments: One which ended in the sweet sixteen on a team that featured three (3!) good to very good NBA players (i know, I know: Kuzma was a redshirt); and one which ended in the second round on a team that merely featured two (2!) NBA players. I don't know about you, but I think the over-under on the number of future NBA players in the current lineup is .5 and I'm definitely taking the under.

So, we have a not-very-good coach coaching a team with average talent and we are asking him to get us to the tourney, something he has not done without multiple future NBA players. Sounds like a death sentence to me.

I've become really jaded on Krstko. The transfers are poison. Losing the Charles Jones of the world happens all of the time in college sports; consistently losing your best, most promising players makes it really hard to enjoy the program. But the worst part for me is that the Utes are just not very well coached. It's time for Krystko to go.

We really need to football to start. This is Dave Portnoy level trolling at this point.

[sancho]

We really need to football to start. This is Dave Portnoy level trolling at this point.

No it isn't. Seattle lives to troll, but AJ isn't saying anything crazy here. It does look grim for Larry for the reasons AJ listed. We aren't going dancing, and the transfer thing, which used to only involve mediocre players, has finally started to involve good players. We lost actual starters this off season.

Offsetting the lack of tournament appearances and transfers are two things: Larry is bringing in our highest ranked recruiting classes ever, and Larry is widely regarded as the Pac-12 coach who can get the most out of his talent.

The positives can only keep him afloat for so long if we don't start making the tournament. And we aren't about to make the tournament unless Rylan Jones is much much better than I expect him to be.

[UtahsMrSports]

No it isn't. Seattle lives to troll, but AJ isn't saying anything crazy here. It does look grim for Larry for the reasons AJ listed. We aren't going dancing, and the transfer thing, which used to only involve mediocre players, has finally started to involve good players. We lost actual starters this off season.

Offsetting the lack of tournament appearances and transfers are two things: Larry is bringing in our highest ranked recruiting classes ever, and Larry is widely regarded as the Pac-12 coach who can get the most out of his talent.

The positives can only keep him afloat for so long if we don't start making the tournament. And we aren't about to make the tournament unless Rylan Jones is much much better than I expect him to be.

To suggest that larry isn't a good coach and then throwing in hyperbole like "consistently losing your best, most promising players" is trolling to me.

[Applejack]

To suggest that larry isn't a good coach and then throwing in hyperbole like "consistently losing your best, most promising players" is trolling to me.

I'm not interested in message board back and forth. Some thoughts: That's great that you have faith that Larry can right the ship. For me, the only thing Larry does well is develop/find good talent: Poetl, Kuzma, Delon, etc. He has done an otherworldly job of identifying talent that no one else does (Delon, Poetl) and he develops kids from the first day they get here to the last (Kuzma, B. Taylor, etc).

As for coaching chops, his teams improve as the year progresses, but how much of that is how awful they are at the beginning? And does it really mean much to be better against the PAC-12 (minus Oregon) when the conference has been stinky for the past couple of years? I don't know, I have not felt like we had a real coaching advantage in years (except when we play USC and Enfield).

[SeattleUte]

I'm not interested in message board back and forth. Some thoughts: That's great that you have faith that Larry can right the ship. For me, the only thing Larry does well is develop/find good talent: Poetl, Kuzma, Delon, etc. He has done an otherworldly job of identifying talent that no one else does (Delon, Poetl) and he develops kids from the first day they get here to the last (Kuzma, B. Taylor, etc).

As for coaching chops, his teams improve as the year progresses, but how much of that is how awful they are at the beginning? And does it really mean much to be better against the PAC-12 (minus Oregon) when the conference has been stinky for the past couple of years? I don't know, I have not felt like we had a real coaching advantage in years (except when we play USC and Enfield).

What about his in-game coaching?

[Applejack]

What about his in-game coaching?

Very mediocre, imo.

To be fair, Krstyko is in the strange position of being compared to recent coaches (as everyone is) and those coaches being the best/worst of all-time. some (like SU, myself, and others) compare him to the Fat Man: a basketball savant who would out coach people so bad that they would want to cry (Lute Olsen, the guy who followed Dean Smith). Others compare him to Giac and Boylen, the former one of the worst basketball minds ever put in charge of a team and the latter a slathering ball of energy. Nearly every coach looks like a moron next to Rick and a genius next to Giac-Boylen.

I fall back on results. He brought us back from nowheresville. He's had 2 NCAA tourney appearances in 8 years. He's had amazing talent (3 NBA first round draft picks). Yet, I think it is fair to say that he has generally disappointed. To me, he is an average coach and the recent results (CBI) are what we should expect barring a Delon or Poetl level talent falling in our lap.

[SeattleUte]

No it isn't. Seattle lives to troll, but AJ isn't saying anything crazy here. It does look grim for Larry for the reasons AJ listed. We aren't going dancing, and the transfer thing, which used to only involve mediocre players, has finally started to involve good players. We lost actual starters this off season.

Offsetting the lack of tournament appearances and transfers are two things: Larry is bringing in our highest ranked recruiting classes ever, and Larry is widely regarded as the Pac-12 coach who can get the most out of his talent.

The positives can only keep him afloat for so long if we don't start making the tournament. And we aren't about to make the tournament unless Rylan Jones is much much better than I expect him to be.

This is similar to what University of Washington went through with Romar. Eventually they decided they had to fire him when he had the #1 recruiting class in the nation, knowing full well they would mostly decommit. Now they have a good coach who won the regular season last year, got into the NCAA playoffs within a year, and a top ten recruiting class.

[mpfunk]

We really need to football to start. This is Dave Portnoy level trolling at this point.

Nothing about that is trolling. Every line of that post is accurate.

Also, I <3 SeattleUte

[U-Ute]

You win, or lose, because of talent.

Do you think Calipari is the next Wooden? Actually, I take that back. Wooden had Alcindor and plenty of people to drop bags of money for him. Rick is probably among the few coaches I can think of that appeared to do it only with Oreo cookies and Crown Burger. The last time I checked, we still aren't located any closer to LA than when Rick was coaching.

The talent level has continued to improve each year under K. I think he got over his skis with reaching for a few knuckleheads and has learned his lesson. Onwas was never going to take this team to the Sweet 16. The Headband was a nice player, but I never got him confused with Zion Williamson.

He has better talent now than we have ever had in the past. Gach and Thioune are a level above anything we've had here athletically since Byron Wilson, but with serious length. I think he can develop those guys. He has developed talent in the past. Brandon Taylor, Dakari Tucker, PVD, and JLove come to mind. Gach and Thioune are at a different level than those guys. If he can develop the new guys like he did those guys, we will be just fine.

I admit that I am perplexed by the Tillman situation. That's one I don't understand. He is the only guy I can think of that had serious talent that didn't progress. But to say that the coaching staff is a failure because of one kid is pretty ridiculous.

[sancho]

He is the only guy I can think of that had serious talent that didn't progress. But to say that the coaching staff is a failure because of one kid is pretty ridiculous.

He improved defensively quite a bit. He was our closest thing to a lock down defender by the end of last season.