I'll admit, I rushed to judgement over Kent early on...

[ttowncoug]

....the way this team came out of the gate, I had major concerns.

I give Kent, and his staff, a lot of credit. Ernie has made these kids believe in themselves. That's not easy to do when you haven't had success and the program has struggled.

 

[Loyal Coug]

Me too.....

I wasn't surprised but was not enamored by the hire of CEK. Now 2 Pac-12 wins, one of them over the hated mutts, does not make a season or a program, but it is a great start. So I'm a believer now.

My biggest surprise is the play of Hawkinson, and some of the others as well. Perception was that we had a roster full of Big Sky talent - but these kids are really performing. Good for them.

 

[YakiCoug]

Re: Me too.....

Originally posted by Loyal Coug:
I wasn't surprised but was not enamored by the hire of CEK. Now 2 Pac-12 wins, one of them over the hated mutts, does not make a season or a program, but it is a great start. So I'm a believer now.

My biggest surprise is the play of Hawkinson, and some of the others as well. Perception was that we had a roster full of Big Sky talent - but these kids are really performing. Good for them.

Even Big Sky kids can sometimes perform if they have direction and coaching. Btw, Loyal, didn't you predict Tony Bennett would fail at Virginia?

 

[Coug1990]

Originally posted by ttowncoug:
....the way this team came out of the gate, I had major concerns.

I give Kent, and his staff, a lot of credit. Ernie has made these kids believe in themselves. That's not easy to do when you haven't had success and the program has struggled.

I didn't have reservations regarding Kent. Still, I did not know how high he could take this program, but I knew it would be better than Coach Bone. You do not go to two separate Elite Eight's by accident.

I agree with it is hard to get the players to believe in themselves. One of the hardest things to do is to teach a team how to win.

 

[ttowncoug]

What Oregon fans told me was if Ernie can get strong assistants, who are core x and o guys, he should be successful here.

You see Ernie's strength are his ability to communicate and motivate. If he continues to have some success on the court, I can see him getting the attention of some top inland talent.

 

[SaveFerris]

Over the last 3 conference games I have been impressed by how prepared they have been, their confidence, and the energy level. Last year was literally a death march. Zero energy, confidence, etc. I wasn't thrilled with the hire although I did think it was better than a Leon Rice hire and even though it's still early I will adimit to being wrong.

Going back to the Cal game, anyone that thinks Kent is just back for a paycheck should look at the end of that game after the Iroegbu technical. He really was upset and let Iroegbu and the team know about it. Then he calmed down and coached. As upset as he was he really seemed to do a nice job of keeping Iroegbu focused on the rest of the game.

I am sure Kent had a discussion with Ike after the game but coming off the Cal game and into the UW game I think Iroegbu might have played one of the most complete games that I have seen him play in Pullman. First time I have seen him consistently try to create for others and for the most part he made good decisions with the ball. Then there is Railey, Boese, and hopefully Que Johnson.

Kent still needs to bring in talent but yeah, I was flat out wrong to question the hire.

 

[Coug1990]

Originally posted by ttowncoug:
What Oregon fans told me was if Ernie can get strong assistants, who are core x and o guys, he should be successful here.

You see Ernie's strength are his ability to communicate and motivate. If he continues to have some success on the court, I can see him getting the attention of some top inland talent.

I wonder if what the Oregon fans told you are true or is it just them becoming restless. For example, Mike Riley was by far the best coach that OSU had in football, but by the end a lot of fans had turned on him.

We all know how George Raveling was thought to only be a coach who could recruit, but was light on X's and O's. Plus, teams that play fast tend to get pigeonholed into a team that is light on fundamentals.

The Oregon fans could be right, but so far Kent has shown to be what the Cougars needed.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Originally posted by ttowncoug:
....the way this team came out of the gate, I had major concerns.

I give Kent, and his staff, a lot of credit. Ernie has made these kids believe in themselves. That's not easy to do when you haven't had success and the program has struggled.

No. No you didn't.

See my other post, but this team looked bad. No, I mean BAD. Untalented and undisciplined. Not a whole lot of reason to believe that EK could do much with that before being here a season to two, let alone HALF a season.