Question For The Experts

[rangermarkb]

I am a MAC Basketball fan and have enjoyed BG Basketball over the years. I follow a great deal of message boards in the league and in the midwest. I played and coached D-1 ball for nine years and help out a HS now. Sorry just a quick history lesson on myself.
Question 1) Why has it been so long since BG has been to the Dance
2) If you were going to list the best jobs in the league, where
does BG stack up out of twelve
3) Where are they budget wise and facility wise out of the twelve
4) Larranaga had 1 20 win season and 1 18 win in 11years, did he
become a better coach when he left or is it that hard at BG,
Dan has doubled those totals in 9years he has 2 20 and 2 18
with 24 the most in the modern era at BG.
I think I know the answers but would be intersted to here what the true experts that are on this board have to say.

[hammb]

1) No clue. I'm sure it's been a number of different factors over the years. Poor coaching at times, poor players at times, chokejobs, etc. Over the course of 30+ years it has to be a myriad of issues.

2) Not sure, but it's definitely near the bottom. I love Anderson, but it is a dump in many respects. We do have some tradition though, plus BG is a great place. Those things definitely help make the job a little more enticing. I would definitely think KSU, Akron, UT, Miami, and EMU are absolutely better jobs than BG. I've never been to any of the other arenas and am not familiar enough with their history to say which are better jobs than BG, but I'd bet that most of them are better than BG.

3) Anderson is a dump. I absolutely love the place, and I'll cry when we no longer play our games there, but to the untrained eye it's a dump. Bleachers held together with duct tape, leaky roof, lack of facilities/concessions, etc. The place can be a great homecourt advantage, and it's a great place to watch a game, but from a facilities standpoint it's gotta be among the two or three worst arenas in the conference.

4) I imagine that it's hard to recruit kids to come play at a school that is not well known nationally, has not made the tournament in 35+ years, and has one of the more rundown arenas in all of D1. No doubt that plays heavily on the minds of a lot of recruits, and probably is a major reason why Coach L. looks much better off now. Still, was he that highly regarded at GMU before this magical run this year?

[dduncan]

4) I imagine that it's hard to recruit kids to come play at a school that is not well known nationally, has not made the tournament in 35+ years, and has one of the more rundown arenas in all of D1. No doubt that plays heavily on the minds of a lot of recruits, and probably is a major reason why Coach L. looks much better off now. Still, was he that highly regarded at GMU before this magical run this year?

He did make the NCAA's 2x before last year's run. And 2 other NIT berths. Not to mention he has the most wins of any CAA coach and George Mason.

[hammb]

4) I imagine that it's hard to recruit kids to come play at a school that is not well known nationally, has not made the tournament in 35+ years, and has one of the more rundown arenas in all of D1. No doubt that plays heavily on the minds of a lot of recruits, and probably is a major reason why Coach L. looks much better off now. Still, was he that highly regarded at GMU before this magical run this year?

He did make the NCAA's 2x before last year's run. And 2 other NIT berths. Not to mention he has the most wins of any CAA coach and George Mason.

Okay, thanks. I haven't really followed GMU that closely, so it sounds like he has done a very good job over there. I wasn't sure if he was only getting applauded after his one stellar run this past year.

[BleedOrange]

I am a MAC Basketball fan and have enjoyed BG Basketball over the years. I follow a great deal of message boards in the league and in the midwest. I played and coached D-1 ball for nine years and help out a HS now. Sorry just a quick history lesson on myself.
Question 1) Why has it been so long since BG has been to the Dance
2) If you were going to list the best jobs in the league, where
does BG stack up out of twelve
3) Where are they budget wise and facility wise out of the twelve
4) Larranaga had 1 20 win season and 1 18 win in 11years, did he
become a better coach when he left or is it that hard at BG,
Dan has doubled those totals in 9years he has 2 20 and 2 18
with 24 the most in the modern era at BG.
I think I know the answers but would be intersted to here what the true experts that are on this board have to say.

1) Since 1968, BG has had some very good teams and some very good players. However, BG has not had any great teams, and I do think that we've had more than our share of bad injury luck. During L's tenure, BG never performed in March because, frankly, L's motivational skills left a lot to be desired. Weinert's teams were never disciplined/hungry enough to win consistently, although the talent levels were higher. DD has had two near misses. I know that we had some impressive players in the early 70's, but some of our older posters will need to address that era. In short, there's no one clear answer. It's not the case that BG has ever had a consistently bad program.

2) Personally, I'd rank the OU job as the MAC's clear best. The EMU, Ball State and Toledo jobs are good as well. Beyond that, it's very hard to differentiate among them. Kent and Akron may have incrementally better facilities, but not so much better that they make a real difference for recruiting. IMO, the CMU job has the least going for it.

3) Physically, AA is the smallest gym in the MAC and a bit of an embarrassment to the university. HOWEVER, when it's rockin, you'd be hard pressed to beat it for atmosphere and home court advantage. The students make ALL of the difference.

4) GMU has 2-3 times the basketball budget that BG does. But the real reason behind GMU's success was that the right bunch of guys came togethor at the right time. That was a rare collection of savvy, talent, and toughness. L will continue winning at GMU, but he won't come close to sustaining consistent Final Four, Elite Eight, or Sweet Sixteen appearances.

[JoeFalcon]

Great synopsis Bleed. Larranaga definitely caught lightning in a bottle and that shouldn't be used as a hammer to bludgeon his past places of employment. The previous year he was just 16-13 and 10-8 in conference play.

I would just reinforce your point that there's much more to a job than a gaudy arena.

Ohio and EMU have sparkling facilities that can seem (and in some cases, are) nearly empty at times. While we have had our own attendence issues, big games usually bring out enough of a crowd to give BG a special home court edge.

The program has been consistently solid for other reasons, one of them being their ideal location and atmosphere: small town feel, yet close enough to the major MAC recruiting hotbeds. Two current NBA players and a slew of other overseas professionals validate this. It's definitely an upper-tier MAC job, IMO.

[rangermarkb]

No one has addressed budget issues that i put on here. I no for recruiting that is a huge factor in what your limitations can be. Where does BG stack up with rest of the league with that. It sounds as if the facilities are the worst in the league so I dont understand how a previous post could say it was an upper teir job it sound to me like it isnt even in the top ten. Is there any commitment from the University to fix the problems? By the way George Mason has seen 5 post season under Coach L in 9 years did he become a better coach there.

[dduncan]

Great synopsis Bleed. Larranaga definitely caught lightning in a bottle and that shouldn't be used as a hammer to bludgeon his past places of employment. The previous year he was just 16-13 and 10-8 in conference play.

I don't get the lightning in the bottle theory. So he just got lucky? Was almost every team his team faced in the tourney have more athletic talent? How much of coaching was involved in that NCAA run? The guy can coach, obviously. He has the most wins ever at George Mason and for the whole conference.

[transfer2BGSU]

1) Why has it been so long since BG has been to the Dance

For some time, we just haven't been a basketball power and for those years where we played some good ball, we didn't win the MAC Tournament which garnered the automatic berth. We won the regular season title but lost in the tourney and the selection committee awarded only one bid to the MAC. The regular season title meant nothing to them.

2) If you were going to list the best jobs in the league, where does BG stack up out of twelve

I would say OU and Kent rank as #1 & #2. Not sure where we would rank.

3) Where are they budget wise and facility wise out of the twelve

Can't answer the budget.

Facility - Anderson Arena is not looked highly upon by our opponents. Some call it a high school gym. Moistly because they don't like playing in it. AA is a home court advantage (when the team is playing well) because the crowds get into it and the place is LOUD! Students are right on the floor and can talk to the opponents (even give a high five for a good play). Tommy Amaker doesn't want to play us at AA.

We are looking at a new facility. But what good is a 10,000 seat arena when it sits half-empty? Give me AA over those newly built $30 million facilities.

4) Larranaga had 1 20 win season and 1 18 win in 11years, did he become a better coach when he left or is it that hard at BG,

I was not a fan of L's so I can't say much about him other than I'm glad that he is enjoying himself at GMU. BG is a great place for the right person. Dakich was king his first time at BG. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to repeat the magic since his weeklong vacation at WVU.

[JoeFalcon]

No one has addressed budget issues that i put on here. I no for recruiting that is a huge factor in what your limitations can be. Where does BG stack up with rest of the league with that. It sounds as if the facilities are the worst in the league so I dont understand how a previous post could say it was an upper teir job it sound to me like it isnt even in the top ten. Is there any commitment from the University to fix the problems? By the way George Mason has seen 5 post season under Coach L in 9 years did he become a better coach there.

1) Maybe Larranaga did become a better coach with more experience under his belt and traditionally weaker conference opponents to do battle with.

2) As was said, Anderson Arena is not necessarily a "problem." In fact, it has been a huge asset in many cases. Nevertheless, feasibility studies have been conducted and the new AD has publicy spoke about renovation options. As was also said, other MAC schools have similarly-sized areans and some have unattractive, carneverous ones that aren't that much better to make a difference one way or another.

3) There are other things besides the arena that make a good, upper-tier program! Location, atmosphere (mentioned before), off-season strength and conditioning...

4) The recruiting budget is commensurate with the rest of the league as far as I know.

[JoeFalcon]

Great synopsis Bleed. Larranaga definitely caught lightning in a bottle and that shouldn't be used as a hammer to bludgeon his past places of employment. The previous year he was just 16-13 and 10-8 in conference play.

I don't get the lightning in the bottle theory. So he just got lucky? Was almost every team his team faced in the tourney have more athletic talent? How much of coaching was involved in that NCAA run? The guy can coach, obviously. He has the most wins ever at George Mason and for the whole conference.

He did a terrific job. The 'lightning in a bottle' reference was about the unique dynamics of that squad in that particular year. It's hard to duplicate, hence the fact that it hadn't been done before since Indiana State and Larry Bird in the 1970's. It also shouldn't be seen as a negative reflection on the BG job as some seem to want it to look like.