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Cormac
04-04-2008, 11:45 AM
ESPN Radio is reporting that Mike Montgomery has been named the head coach at Cal, replacing Braun. Good move? To be honest, I dont' know much about him. I know his Stanford team beat Duke a few years back in a tip off tournament. I think it was by a point or something like that, very close game.

Cormac
04-04-2008, 11:48 AM
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3329152

I don't know how to post links, don't kill the newbie, so hopefully that works!

roywhite
04-04-2008, 12:31 PM
Seems like a natural fit in some ways...he was a successful coach in college, didn't do well in the pros, knows the area and the conference.

But that Stanford/Cal rivalry is pretty fierce and I'm sure the supporters and alums of those two schools have some thoughts about this transition. Can you imagine Coach K leaving to go into the pros, then 3 or 4 years later decides to take an opening at Chapel Hill??

pfrduke
04-04-2008, 01:00 PM
Seems like a natural fit in some ways...he was a successful coach in college, didn't do well in the pros, knows the area and the conference.

But that Stanford/Cal rivalry is pretty fierce and I'm sure the supporters and alums of those two schools have some thoughts about this transition. Can you imagine Coach K leaving to go into the pros, then 3 or 4 years later decides to take an opening at Chapel Hill??

I think the utter implausibility of the K to UNC scenario demonstrates the difference between Duke-UNC and Stanford-Cal in rivalry terms. If their rivalry were really that fierce, Montgomery never would have been on the interview list. I'm sure the Stanford folks are peeved, but I'm equally confident that Cal fans are happy with the selection. I'm not sure many Duke fans would be happy with someone from the UNC family as a head coach (and vice versa).

ugadevil
04-04-2008, 01:02 PM
So much for Montgomery coming to the ACC when Dave Leitao is forced out at UVA.

Rich
04-04-2008, 01:04 PM
Similar to Pitino's moves.

dkbaseball
04-04-2008, 01:10 PM
I think the utter implausibility of the K to UNC scenario demonstrates the difference between Duke-UNC and Stanford-Cal in rivalry terms. If their rivalry were really that fierce, Montgomery never would have been on the interview list. I'm sure the Stanford folks are peeved, but I'm equally confident that Cal fans are happy with the selection. I'm not sure many Duke fans would be happy with someone from the UNC family as a head coach (and vice versa).

Well to that point, I can pass along this: Tom Butters told me in Dec., 1989 that if he had to replace K his first choice would be Roy Williams. (This was right after Roy's second Kansas team had impressively torn through a pre-season NIT field that included pre-season favorite and eventual national Champ, UNLV.) Deal with it.

sagegrouse
04-04-2008, 01:24 PM
I think the utter implausibility of the K to UNC scenario demonstrates the difference between Duke-UNC and Stanford-Cal in rivalry terms. If their rivalry were really that fierce, Montgomery never would have been on the interview list. I'm sure the Stanford folks are peeved, but I'm equally confident that Cal fans are happy with the selection. I'm not sure many Duke fans would be happy with someone from the UNC family as a head coach (and vice versa).

The Stanford-Cal rivalry is across-the-board but strongest in football ("the Big Game"). Neither team, despite some successes, is seen as a top ten basketball program.

Thus, thoughts of disloyalty are somewhat muted vis a vis Duke-UNC or even Kentucky-Louisville.

sagegrouse

jipops
04-04-2008, 01:56 PM
I think the utter implausibility of the K to UNC scenario demonstrates the difference between Duke-UNC and Stanford-Cal in rivalry terms. If their rivalry were really that fierce, Montgomery never would have been on the interview list. I'm sure the Stanford folks are peeved, but I'm equally confident that Cal fans are happy with the selection. I'm not sure many Duke fans would be happy with someone from the UNC family as a head coach (and vice versa).

When Chapel Hill freezes over.

Turk
04-04-2008, 02:32 PM
Montgomery should be a good hire for Cal; I couldn't speak to the rivalry aspect of Stanford / Cal in hoops. I do like the Pitino UK/UL comparison, even though UK/UL do not play in the same conference...

Cal has some catching up to do... Didn't realize Cal was barely over .500 last five years....

I do sorta recall Montgomery's Stanford teams seemed to get bounced earlier from the NCAAs than their seeding warranted, but that also could be due to my lousy picking and/or selective memory... Maybe I'll go look that up later tonight....

From http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_8705586


..."Four out of the last five seasons, not to go to the NCAAs, concerns me about putting our student-athletes in the best position to have, as I said to them this morning, outrageous success," Barbour said.

...

More recently, Cal was just 79-75 overall the past five seasons, including 39-51 in conference play. The Bears finished 6-12 in the Pac-10 this season for the third time in the past four years....

Heelo
04-04-2008, 04:27 PM
I was hoping that an ACC school like UVa or NC State would hire Montgomery, since it's kind of embarrassing for our conference to be as weak as it has been lately.

I think the ACC is in danger of becoming like the Big 12 and the SEC in basketball, where there are a couple dominant teams with an occasional upstart or two thrown in every once in a while. Quite embarrassing.

pfrduke
04-04-2008, 04:31 PM
I was hoping that an ACC school like UVa or NC State would hire Montgomery, since it's kind of embarrassing for our conference to be as weak as it has been lately.

I think the ACC is in danger of becoming like the Big 12 and the SEC in basketball, where there are a couple dominant teams with an occasional upstart or two thrown in every once in a while. Quite embarrassing.

Um, last season alone the ACC put UNC, Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke, Boston College, and Georgia Tech in the NCAAs, and saw Clemson go to the NIT finals (in a field that included FSU and NCSU). Only Miami and Wake sat out the post-season. And in the 00s we've had 7 final four participants, with 3 champions and another runner-up (and one currently playing).