Some of my thoughts while reading through this discussion:
1. I would take NCAA Tournament/Bowl disappointments any day over not losing by sitting at home.
2. Agree with OutsiderFan. Monty's specialty was maximizing wins by getting the most out of his frequently good-but-not-elite talent, especially big elbows, I mean guys. But really, I mean elbows. And that works really well against 90% of teams, but when you're facing elite teams with NBA athleticism, you get problems. Also, Monty's talent for maximizing wins meant that we had 20+ wins many years and were often ranked higher than teams with more talent but fewer wins. But that's why we were frequently upset in the tournament.
3. Monty's coaching style was epitomized by his starting Tony Giovacchini over Julius Barnes. Julius had wild athleticism (could jump out of the gym, rejected Carlos Boozer on a dunk attempt despite being less than 6') and sometimes made dumb PG decisions, while Tony was slow and reliable. So we continued to get wins with Tony, but he reached his ceiling very early without any room to improve. The same could be said for Monty's teams in general.
4. We coulda had Emeka.
5. Regarding the UNC upset, there were a few contributing factors: UNC was ranked too low as an 8-seed because their record reflected an injured Brendan Haywood, who naturally, heroically recovered to pull a Willis Reed against us. Also, as I recall, we were the second #1 seed in the West, so our reward was getting shipped out to the East, so we had jet-lag and UNC had home-court advantage.
6. Yeah, losing to Alabama just sucked so hard. And Maryland--Juan Dixon and that other guy just caught fire from the 3-point line. Every time I think of that game, the phrase "buzz saw" always comes to mind. And I feel like we put Gonzaga on the map--they're welcome.
7. Oh yes, if "will to win" was quantifiable, Art Lee would be the all-time champion. That guy wasn't as lightning-quick as Brevin, but he somehow had some invisible gear that he kicked into when it was insanely important (see last 1:10 against Rhode Island). Monty mentioned that the reason Art Lee got so good was because Brevin's style of "teaching" Art was to try to destroy him during practice, and Art rose to the challenge. I missed the game when he was a sophomore (USC?) when we were behind, and apparently Art Lee decided that he was the best player on the court and took over the whole game and Monty had no choice but to play with a 3-guard lineup from that point on.
8. Another random memory that I never actually saw, but my friend told me about. Chris Hernandez, after we lost to Cal was surrounded by Cal fans who stormed the court. They were taunting him and things were getting scrappy. Apparently, Joe Kirchofer ("The Human Victory Cigar") whose height was only exceeded by his SAT score just plowed through the Cal fans ("it was like the parting of the Red Sea") to retrieve Chris and bring him back to the Stanford side.
7. Anyway, none of this has to do with the present, but it was a nice memory jog to the golden years. I just want Haase to recruit more 5-stars. I'd be be perfectly happy with a starting team of 5 one-and-dones.
1. I would take NCAA Tournament/Bowl disappointments any day over not losing by sitting at home.
2. Agree with OutsiderFan. Monty's specialty was maximizing wins by getting the most out of his frequently good-but-not-elite talent, especially big elbows, I mean guys. But really, I mean elbows. And that works really well against 90% of teams, but when you're facing elite teams with NBA athleticism, you get problems. Also, Monty's talent for maximizing wins meant that we had 20+ wins many years and were often ranked higher than teams with more talent but fewer wins. But that's why we were frequently upset in the tournament.
3. Monty's coaching style was epitomized by his starting Tony Giovacchini over Julius Barnes. Julius had wild athleticism (could jump out of the gym, rejected Carlos Boozer on a dunk attempt despite being less than 6') and sometimes made dumb PG decisions, while Tony was slow and reliable. So we continued to get wins with Tony, but he reached his ceiling very early without any room to improve. The same could be said for Monty's teams in general.
4. We coulda had Emeka.
5. Regarding the UNC upset, there were a few contributing factors: UNC was ranked too low as an 8-seed because their record reflected an injured Brendan Haywood, who naturally, heroically recovered to pull a Willis Reed against us. Also, as I recall, we were the second #1 seed in the West, so our reward was getting shipped out to the East, so we had jet-lag and UNC had home-court advantage.
6. Yeah, losing to Alabama just sucked so hard. And Maryland--Juan Dixon and that other guy just caught fire from the 3-point line. Every time I think of that game, the phrase "buzz saw" always comes to mind. And I feel like we put Gonzaga on the map--they're welcome.
7. Oh yes, if "will to win" was quantifiable, Art Lee would be the all-time champion. That guy wasn't as lightning-quick as Brevin, but he somehow had some invisible gear that he kicked into when it was insanely important (see last 1:10 against Rhode Island). Monty mentioned that the reason Art Lee got so good was because Brevin's style of "teaching" Art was to try to destroy him during practice, and Art rose to the challenge. I missed the game when he was a sophomore (USC?) when we were behind, and apparently Art Lee decided that he was the best player on the court and took over the whole game and Monty had no choice but to play with a 3-guard lineup from that point on.
8. Another random memory that I never actually saw, but my friend told me about. Chris Hernandez, after we lost to Cal was surrounded by Cal fans who stormed the court. They were taunting him and things were getting scrappy. Apparently, Joe Kirchofer ("The Human Victory Cigar") whose height was only exceeded by his SAT score just plowed through the Cal fans ("it was like the parting of the Red Sea") to retrieve Chris and bring him back to the Stanford side.
7. Anyway, none of this has to do with the present, but it was a nice memory jog to the golden years. I just want Haase to recruit more 5-stars. I'd be be perfectly happy with a starting team of 5 one-and-dones.