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Poll; Is Coach K the GOAT?

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Random UK Fan

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Dec 10, 2018
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Thought I'd propose this off of a post by @SIhoosier26 . Is he the best statistician? The best motivator? Has he had advantages or has he done it organically? What are your thoughts this on this man?
 
Great sure, not the goat.

With the advantages of ESPN groping his foreskin for the past 20 years he's become a recruiting messiah. Accumulating an insane amount of talent. He gets every call down the stretch in big tournament games, (Wisconsin, UCF ect..) to go along with having the easiest road in EVERY bracket.

I would take guys like Wooden, Knight in their prime as better pure basketball coaches. One game for my life I would take them both over K.
 
I won't call K the best ever for the simple fact that I only have 35 real years of being able to watch and understand hoops. In that time, K is the best, IMO. However it is difficult for me to compare him against coaches from other eras. Wooden, et all were amazing coaches.

I do like SiHoosiers regurgitating old talking points though. Always like hearing someone call a coach great and then go on to say why they aren't great in the very next paragraph.
 
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i voted "no" only because there were no other options
he is the goat of his era
it is very hard to compare era's
 
If you have to pick one, yes. Wooden is the other candidate. Wooden obviously has titles over K, but it is a little different... went 11 of 12 or something, but in a totally different era, and in a SINGLE era where the number of teams you would face and have to beat was just far far fewer. Ks are like 25 years spread, which to me is more impressive, against the best teams in the country instead of a tiny pool of challengers, and he also had the Team USA era.
 
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If you have to pick one, yes. Wooden is the other candidate. Wooden obviously has titles over K, but it is a little different... went 11 of 12 or something, but in a totally different era, and in a SINGLE era where the number of teams you would face and have to beat was just far far fewer. Ks are like 25 years spread, which to me is more impressive, against the best teams in the country instead of a tiny pool of challengers, and he also had the Team USA era.

This! Doing it it different decades is the reason why he’s the GOAT!
 
No men’s coach has won national championships in 3 different decades and gone to multiple FF’s in four different decades.
 
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I think it comes down to this question:

If you had your choice of any coach from history to lead a given roster, who would it be?

Give me Knight.
 
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I think it comes down to this question:

If you had your choice of any coach from history to lead a given roster, who would it be?

Give me Knight.
Knight was great. He may have been the best in the 70’s. He won it again in 87, but his time was starting to fade. K, like Quavarius said, has won it all in 3 different decades. He has adapted as the game has changed. Knight didn’t adapt. Dean tried to adapt, but he couldn’t control the thugs he started bringing in.

I don’t think K is the coach he once was, but he’s the best ever.
 
Knight was great. He may have been the best in the 70’s. He won it again in 87, but his time was starting to fade. K, like Quavarius said, has won it all in 3 different decades. He has adapted as the game has changed. Knight didn’t adapt. Dean tried to adapt, but he couldn’t control the thugs he started bringing in.

I don’t think K is the coach he once was, but he’s the best ever.

K’s method of “adapting” to the modern game has been to reel in all the talent. And I think we know that Nike has been a huge player in that.

If recruiting is out of the equation, and your roster is set, are you taking K over Knight?
 
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If not for Knight, K wouldn't be as successful as he has been. No doubt.
 
i voted "no" only because there were no other options
he is the goat of his era
it is very hard to compare era's
This is the best answer. Remember, freshman were not eligible for most , if not all of Woodens titles. He still won 7 straight. Slice it as you'd like. But 7 straight, is 7 staright. 10 in 12 years is crazy.
 
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Knight was great. He may have been the best in the 70’s. He won it again in 87, but his time was starting to fade. K, like Quavarius said, has won it all in 3 different decades. He has adapted as the game has changed. Knight didn’t adapt. Dean tried to adapt, but he couldn’t control the thugs he started bringing in.

I don’t think K is the coach he once was, but he’s the best ever.
Good post. Knights stubbornness cost him. But on the flip side, injuries probably cost that dude 2-3 more titles; definitely cost him one (75). I do think as far as preparing his team , there was simply no one better than Knight. IMO his greatest coaching job ever was the 87 Final Four . Everyone but their sister thought the only way IU had a chance vs UNLV, was to slow it down. What's he do? Runs it right at Vegas. Then two nights later, he beats Syracuse. Colemam,.Douglas, etc, etc...He won the title with Steve Alford, Dean Garrett, Galloway, Thomas and a juco transfer [Smart]. That's crazy .
If I had to choose one coach, with one week to prepapre, one day, it would be Knight. No.question.
 
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This is the best answer. Remember, freshman were not eligible for most , if not all of Woodens titles. He still won 7 straight. Slice it as you'd like. But 7 straight, is 7 staright. 10 in 12 years is crazy.

i think you also gotta factor in that in the old old days if you never won your conference you never got to play in the NCAAT
i wonder how titles since then have been won by teams not winning their conference
 
Good post. Knights stubbornness cost him. But on the flip side, injuries probably cost that dude 2-3 more titles; definitely cost him one (75). I do think as far as preparing his team , there was simply no one better than Knight. IMO his greatest coaching job ever was the 87 Final Four . Everyone but their sister thought the only way IU had a chance vs UNLV, was to slow it down. What's he do? Runs it right at Vegas. Then two nights later, he beats Syracuse. Colemam,.Douglas, etc, etc...He won the title with Steve Alford, Dean Garrett, Galloway, Thomas and a juco transfer [Smart]. That's crazy .
If I had to choose one coach, with one week to prepapre, one day, it would be Knight. No.question.

two coaches i never liked were Knight and Calhoun
both are probably the two best basketball minds of my lifetime
 
K’s method of “adapting” to the modern game has been to reel in all the talent. And I think we know that Nike has been a huge player in that.

If recruiting is out of the equation, and your roster is set, are you taking K over Knight?
Nobody in their right mind would, if I'm judging best coaches of all time, I'm including game day coaching every bit as much as recruiting.

Coaching has nothing to do with how many top 5 recruits ESPN/NIKE can convince to commit to Duke. With equal talent I would take Knight every day of the week against K.
 
Roy and Dean ahead of Bob Knight in terms of basketball coaches is laughable at best. Knight owned Dean consistently with less talent. If you said as recruiters then yes I would agree.
It’s not laughable when you look at their resumes. That’s really all we have to go off of.

I have Bob Knight ranked #6. It’s not like I ranked John Calipari or Bill Self over him. Everybody I have ahead of him is an incredible coach. Don’t be so defensive because schoonerwest from the Internet didn’t rank a dude from 30 years ago high enough to your liking.
 
It’s not laughable when you look at their resumes. That’s really all we have to go off of.

I have Bob Knight ranked #6. It’s not like I ranked John Calipari or Bill Self over him. Everybody I have ahead of him is an incredible coach. Don’t be so defensive because schoonerwest from the Internet didn’t rank a dude from 30 years ago high enough to your liking.
Bob Knight had more national championships and wins than Dean Smith, and he did it without guys like Michael Jordan/Perkins/Worthy.

He also knocked Dean/MJ out of the tournament one year with freakin Dan Dakich guarding MJ.

You're right, it's up to you what order you have your list, but in terms of having Smith and Roy ahead of Knight, you would be wrong.
 
1) Wooden
2) K
3) Rupp
4) Dean
5) Roy
6) Knight
7) Phog
I'd put Knight before Dean.
1) K
2)Wooden
3)Rupp
4)Roy
5)Knight
6)Dean
Also...Phog? Lot of coaches I'd put before him..
Also, a coach IMO who.gets overlooked is Branch McCraken. Won two titles at Indiana. Roughly 360 games. A career interrupted by WW2. Dude ran the fast break as good as anyone. Terrific coach.
 
Bob Knight had more national championships and wins than Dean Smith, and he did it without guys like Michael Jordan/Perkins/Worthy.

He also knocked Dean/MJ out of the tournament one year with Dan Dakitch guarding MJ.

You're right, it's up to you what order you have your list in but in terms of having Smith and Roy ahead of Knight, you would he wrong.
Knight also had over 100 more losses than Dean and he had less than half as many Final Fours.
I'd put Knight before Dean.
1) K
2)Wooden
3)Rupp
4)Roy
5)Knight
6)Dean
Also...Phog? Lot of coaches I'd put before him..
Also, a coach IMO who.gets overlooked is Branch McCraken. Won two titles at Indiana. Roughly 360 games. A career interrupted by WW2. Dude ran the fast break as good as anyone. Terrific coach.
It can be hard to include Phog in these rankings but he did coach for 30+ years before the tournament began. He’s arguably the most important college basketball coach in history so he really should be included on any list. He’s certainly one of the 4 that would make the Mt. Rushmore for the sport.
 
Roy and Dean ahead of Bob Knight in terms of basketball coaches is laughable at best. Knight owned Dean consistently with less talent. If you said as recruiters then yes I would agree.
Dean, sure. But Roy? Man, I dunno. Roy's won 3 titles, been to 9 FF's, and won 897 games. Not to forgey, but two of his IT's came at the expense of Knights Hoosiers [91 and 93]. Though I would argue that IU with a healthy Henderson wins that game in 93.
Roy >Knight isn't that far fetched ...Now, as for preparing a team? Rough to go against Knight . IMO there was no one better. He was gonna take away what you wanted to do.
 
Knight also had over 100 more losses than Dean and he had less than half as many Final Fours.

It can be hard to include Phog in these rankings but he did coach for 30+ years before the tournament began. He’s arguably the most important college basketball coach in history so he really should be included on any list. He’s certainly one of the 4 that would make the Mt. Rushmore for the sport.
If they had 2 teams with exactly equal talent who are you taking in that game?

Gun to my head give me Knight everytime, and I think if you were honest with yourself you would agree.
 
Knight also had over 100 more losses than Dean and he had less than half as many Final Fours.7

It can be hard to include Phog in these rankings but he did coach for 30+ years before the tournament began. He’s arguably the most important college basketball coach in history so he really should be included on any list. He’s certainly one of the 4 that would make the Mt. Rushmore for the sport.
Meh...I dunno, man..Just because you were influential to a sport,.doesnt mean you belong among the best. I know he won over 700 games. But he coached for 50 years. No doubt a true pioneer for the game we have today. I just wouldn't put him among the greats.
 
If they had 2 teams with exactly equal talent who are you taking in that game?

Gun to my head give me Knight everytime, and I think if you were honest with yourself you would agree.
That’s too difficult of a question to answer. There’s so much that it would depend on.

I will say that Roy learned a lot from Dean and Roy beat a few top 10 Indiana teams in the early 1990’s when he was an underdog. So there’s that atleast.
 
Meh...I dunno, man..Just because you were influential to a sport,.doesnt mean you belong among the best. I know he won over 700 games. But he coached for 50 years. No doubt a true pioneer for the game we have today. I just wouldn't put him among the greats.
Just saying. It’s tough to do that ranking with a guy like him. He did have 3 Final Fours and a title in the twilight of his career. No telling what he would’ve done if the NCAA tournament was around 25 years earlier.
 
Dean, sure. But Roy? Man, I dunno. Roy's won 3 titles, been to 9 FF's, and won 897 games. Not to forgey, but two of his IT's came at the expense of Knights Hoosiers [91 and 93]. Though I would argue that IU with a healthy Henderson wins that game in 93.
Roy >Knight isn't that far fetched ...Now, as for preparing a team? Rough to go against Knight . IMO there was no one better. He was gonna take away what you wanted to do.
I couldn't care less, North Carolina is the dirtiest program of all time. I lost all respect for them when they got away with fake classes a few years ago.

Anything they've done or do going forward is meaningless as far as I'm concerned. Bob Knight was a lot of things, but he always ran a clean program with kids that took REAL classes. Roy can mutter awww shucks over and over again until he retires, it doesn't change the fact they got away with a fake class, while mocking the term "student athlete" in the process.

All in all Bob Knight did it clean while Roy did not.

Knight > Roy
 
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Just saying. It’s tough to do that ranking with a guy like him. He did have 3 Final Fours and a title in the twilight of his career. No telling what he would’ve done if the NCAA tournament was around 25 years earlier.
Agree. He's a tough one to gauge. Dun fact: My grandfather was recruited by Kansas. Had Phog stayed, he would've been a JayHawk. Instead , he enlist3d in the Navy. Who knows how my fandom plays out, had he played at KU. Instead of my Pa being a Hoosier , he may habe been a die hard KU fan; He was a big fan, though. It's why I always liked KU.
 
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