EITHER the 2016-1017 or 2018-2019 teams win a national championship under Otzelberger. Can you imagine the offensive firepower of those teams playing lock-down defense?
Am I crazy for thinking this?
- Thread starter UnCytely
- Start date
Does he have Green as an assistant?
Too many unknowns for the tourney but perhaps he gets more out of the regular season.
Let's see how this whole season plays out.
No. Otzelberger's SDSU and UNVL teams didn't play defense like this. It's either a Kyle Green thing, or an Oztelberger + the right players type of thing.
100% agree here. TJ has grown since 2016...the time as a head coach certainly has ingrained how important assistant coaches like Green are to overall success. The TJ of 2016 likely would have had the same offensive tendencies as Fred, along with the defensive deficiencies. Will 2021-22 be similar to 2016...stay tuned.
Yes, but I bet if TJ coached that team they would have been better than 9-9 in the Big 12.
No, completely different players and team structure. Those players were recruited because they could put the ball in the hoop, not play elite defense.
I think Prohm even said he was trying to implement a tougher defense and didn't even practice offense his first year and they were still bad on defense.
Guys like Brockington, Gabe were brought here because they were known for playing elite defense in a physical conference.
I think Prohm even said he was trying to implement a tougher defense and didn't even practice offense his first year and they were still bad on defense.
Guys like Brockington, Gabe were brought here because they were known for playing elite defense in a physical conference.
I think the 2015-2016 team had even more offensive firepower. That team probably would have only needed TJ as an assistant to win a national title.
I think this is a unique situation. Kyle Green is for real. Current players are older, experienced, elite defenders. We won’t have that every year.
Yeah, those ISU teams were built to outscore people, so I'm not sure you'd have the correct components to make it work. Every pickup TJ made this offseason was all about defense and high motors. May have done better from a continuity standpoint though, but there's no way of knowing.
I think we are getting a better version of TJ now than had we hired him instead of Prohm. At the time we had a team built to win that we needed someone with previous head coaching expirience. At the time Prohm ran a similar style offense and even Fred supposedly endorsed him as the right fit for that team. I think TJ is better prepared now for this job than he was back then by being a head coach elsewhere.
There is no point in looking back as what we can't change, let's keep our focus at the present and future which at this moment is exciting.
There is no point in looking back as what we can't change, let's keep our focus at the present and future which at this moment is exciting.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Imo the 16-17 team played some very good D and overall basketball at the end of the season.
But even with his hand injury I'd bet Solo gets more time with a defined role earlier than February and so far I think players knowing where they stand looks improved.
Although playing Solo earlier is what about any coach would have done. The 5 was weak that year no matter what so learning on the go may have been needed more than yo-yoing playing time.
Side note on Solo, his primary recruiter was TJ even though he was technically one of Prohms first signings. Imagine if he had come back for his covid year this year, would have been nice to have his physical presence in the paint with this group. I don't blame him for moving on though, he had enough injuries and already had a redshirt year so he was probably ready to move on.
I don't think TJ comes out of the gates as furious if the circumstances aren't the same. This team NEEDED a fire lit under them. Those players were who they were before TJ would have taken it over in this scenario. This team has amazing effort but it takes more than that to be a good defense.
