(04-09-2014 10:32 AM)gsloth Wrote: (04-08-2014 03:42 PM)Hambone10 Wrote: (04-08-2014 03:11 PM)Bay Area Owl Wrote: All of Wilson's last 15 teams weren't as good as his first team.
Again, while you may certainly believe this, it isn't the 'obvious' thing you want to claim.
In 1993 we were 18-10 overall... 11-3 in conference. Made the NIT. In 2003 we were 22-11... 12-6 overall, with similar records in 2002 and 2004. We made the NIT twice in that period. If those teams weren't as good, they didn't miss by much.... and you have to go back decades to find another team anywhere close to any of them.
My problem isn't with your opinion... We all have them. My problem is with the apparent vigor with which you pursue this. The man hasn't worked for us for 7 years and you can't even let him get an 'atta boy' without trying to impune his efforts.
You can respond if you want, I'm done.
You can quibble about what SRS means in the sports-reference.com system, but it tries to be at least somewhat internally consistent about comparing within a year and applying the same methodology, after doing its rankings. I laid this chart out before (arguing in part about how comparatively bad the Braun years were), but 2003-04 was the best basketball year, by far, in the last 20+ years.
original posting: http://csnbbs.com/thread-677889-post-104...id10457581
Here's the chart I threw together, found at the link above. Interestingly, it said that the 1990-91 Thompson team was actually slightly better/more consistent than the 91-92 team.
PHP Code:
Season Conf W L W-L% SRS Coach(es)
2003-04 WAC 22 11 0.667 7.52 Willis Wilson (22-11)
1998-99 WAC 18 10 0.643 6.80 Willis Wilson (18-10)
1990-91 SWC 16 14 0.533 6.62 Scott Thompson (16-14)
1991-92 SWC 20 11 0.645 6.42 Scott Thompson (20-11)
2004-05 WAC 19 12 0.613 6.21 Willis Wilson (19-12)
1992-93 SWC 18 10 0.643 6.17 Willis Wilson (18-10)
2002-03 WAC 19 10 0.655 3.29 Willis Wilson (19-10)
1993-94 SWC 15 14 0.517 2.34 Willis Wilson (15-14)
2000-01 WAC 14 16 0.467 2.33 Willis Wilson (14-16)
1996-97 WAC 12 15 0.444 2.03 Willis Wilson (12-15)
2010-11 CUSA 14 18 0.438 1.67 Ben Braun (14-18)
2011-12 CUSA 19 16 0.543 1.42 Ben Braun (19-16)
1995-96 SWC 14 14 0.500 0.75 Willis Wilson (14-14)
1994-95 SWC 15 13 0.536 0.73 Willis Wilson (15-13)
1989-90 SWC 11 17 0.393 0.15 Scott Thompson (11-17)
2006-07 CUSA 16 16 0.500 -1.67 Willis Wilson (16-16)
1997-98 WAC 6 22 0.214 -2.16 Willis Wilson (6-22)
2001-02 WAC 10 19 0.345 -3.01 Willis Wilson (10-19)
1988-89 SWC 12 16 0.429 -3.25 Scott Thompson (12-16)
2005-06 CUSA 12 16 0.429 -4.00 Willis Wilson (12-16)
2008-09 CUSA 10 22 0.313 -5.05 Ben Braun (10-22)
2009-10 CUSA 8 23 0.258 -5.72 Ben Braun (8-23)
1987-88 SWC 6 21 0.222 -8.81 Scott Thompson (6-21
2013-14 CUSA 7 18 0.280 -9.00 Ben Braun (7-18)
1999-00 WAC 5 22 0.185 -9.42 Willis Wilson (5-22)
2007-08 CUSA 3 27 0.100 -10.29 Willis Wilson (3-27)
2012-13 CUSA 5 26 0.161 -11.12 Ben Braun (5-26)
Sports-reference.com is a great website. While it is always good to analyze data, the assumptions in how data is gathered and assembled must also be taken with a sizable grain of salt. The 92-93 team was the culmination of Thompson's rebuilding campaign, and it was tragic that Thompson left when he did. The team would have benefited from an experienced coach. According to many observers at the time, the 1992-93 Owls were stocked with talent with Brent Scott in his senior year flanked with many veteran play-makers (Torrey Andrews, Marvin Moore, Adam Peakes, Scott Tynes, a good bench). I can't think of any Rice team with a greater depth of talent, with the possible exception of the previous year's team. In the opening game against the Fab Five of Michigan (the Calipari-led Kentucky of the day; Wilson's first game as head coach), the Owls gave them all they could handle, demonstrating the quality of the team. Wilson was finding his way in his rookie season as coach, and Rice had some disappointing results that season, most notably the crushing flop against Texas A&M which cost Rice the SWC championship. Rice could still have made the NCAA Tournament with a decent showing the conference tournament, but the first-round flop to Texas sent the Owls to the NIT. At least Rice won the first game of the NIT against Wisconsin, but Rice was then embarrassed by Boston College. I don't remember BC being particularly good, but the Owls were in noticeable disarray with the crushing collapse of such a promising season.
The previous two seasons (90-91, 91-92) under Thompson were exciting too, and I remember the 90-91 season being better than the W-L record would indicate. The 90-91 Owls were very competitive and produced the first winning season after a long drought, but they were still "learning how to win" and lost some games that could have gone in the W column with more experience. For anyone who was around the program at the time, the Thompson years were exciting.
Why was the 93-94 campaign so disappointing? Brent Scott was gone, but the team still had plenty of talent. We could perhaps understand and forgive Wilson's rookie blunders in 92-93, but it was the disappointing 93-94 season that began to call into question his coaching ability.
The following seasons were also disappointments, and most D1 programs would have fired Wilson by the end of 1998, if not earlier. The momentum of the Thompson years was all gone. The 98-99 season was a pleasant surprise dependent on the scoring of senior guard Robert Johnson, but I don't remember the squad being a high-quality team, just one that could rack up some wins against a weak schedule. Look at the low SOS for that season on the website. Only 8-6 in the WAC, Rice was crushed twice by Bill Self's Tulsa team that year.
The 98-99 campaign was followed by the disastrous 5-22 season in 99-00. At this point, Wilson really needed to be shown the door. Then two more bad seasons. Ahem. After extreme patience by Rice, Wilson's Owls began to show some life in 2002-03 against a weak schedule, but bringing the father of a recruit onto staff is an ugly aspect of college basketball and not a classy move (it's essentially a laundered payout). The 2003-04 and 2004-05 squads were clearly Wilson's best assemblages of talent post-Thompson: Mike Harris, Jason McKrieth, and Brock Gillespie as upperclassmen, with a young, under-utilized Morris Almond. The 2003-2007 "Almond Years" should have been the long-awaited golden age for Wilson after such extreme patience by Rice, but in many ways, they brought back the frustrations of the 92-93 campaign. Why weren't we better? Why couldn't we make the Tournament? Why was Rice always bounced out early in the conference tournament? Why were we embarrassed in the first game of the NIT (losing to UW-Milwaukee 91-63 in 2004 and losing to Southwest Missouri State 105-82 in 2005)? By definition, the NIT doesn't have powerhouses, yet Rice was simply over-matched. Why couldn't Wilson win the big, important matches??? Coaches at top programs are judged by how they do in the winner-take-all post-season, and Wilson's post-season record is abysmal.
The 2004-05 and 2005-06 campaigns were deep disappointments, because Rice had Morris Almond as an upper-classman with a decent supporting cast. When Davidson went on a Tournament run with scoring machine Stephen Curry, I wondered why we couldn't have done so with Morris Almond. Rice had a better supporting cast than Davidson, but Davidson was much better coached. Then the floor fell out with the 3-27 season, revealing how dependent Rice was upon stars like Harris and Almond. The cupboard was bare.
When Braun had a full squad to work with (his third and fourth seasons), Braun at least fielded scrappy, competitive teams. Braun had problems delivering wins at the end of games, but at least his full squad teams could hang with pretty much anyone. I always felt Wilson's teams went down quickly against superior opposition. Braun's 14-18 season didn't have many wins, but I thought the only game that season in which Rice was over-matched was against Arizona. Braun couldn't hold his teams together, but his 2011-12 team was clearly better than Wilson's 98-99 team.