TheSouseFamily;842300809 said:

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The team imploded in December when their leading scorer, Jerian Grant (19ppg) was suspended for academics. That surely didn't help the cause this year.

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They would have been better, no doubt. I get why you like Brey--he's a Coach K disciple. He's solid. I just want a different hire than Monty this time around, even if it's an unproven guy. Hiring Brey just signifies we're satisfied with being on a tier lower than the better teams in this conference. Brey has one Sweet 16 in all those years in SB, why would things be any different here at Cal?

tsubamoto2001;842300830 said:

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They would have been better, no doubt. I get why you like Brey--he's a Coach K disciple. He's solid. I just want a different hire than Monty this time around, even if it's an unproven guy. Hiring Brey just signifies we're satisfied with being on a tier lower than the better teams in this conference. Brey has one Sweet 16 in all those years in SB, why would things be any different here at Cal?

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Ditto.

tsubamoto2001;842300830 said:

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They would have been better, no doubt. I get why you like Brey--he's a Coach K disciple. He's solid. I just want a different hire than Monty this time around, even if it's an unproven guy. Hiring Brey just signifies we're satisfied with being on a tier lower than the better teams in this conference. Brey has one Sweet 16 in all those years in SB, why would things be any different here at Cal?

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Hold on. Over the last 6 years, we have arguably been the BEST team in this conference. We have certainly been the most consistently good team. I am really tired of people implying that we did not just have a good run under Monty. We ARE the upper tier right now.

And I'll be honest - I've enjoyed Monty's tenure immensely, and if that's what Cal basketball is in perpetuity (top 4 finishes, hoping for the right matchups in the tournament), then I will be happy.

I have no idea if Mike Brey is the right coach for Cal. But those throwing a tantrum and saying he isn't good enough are fooling themselves. I would take his record over the last 14 years in a heartbeat. This was his first losing season in 14 years and he had multiple seasons where he won 25+ games. And the Big East was not a joke of a conference, either.

Also: Those saying they want the "next" Shaka Smart are also fooling themselves. Do you know how hard it is to figure out who that will be? It's pretty much impossible. You can't predict such a thing. There are way too many variables.

grandmastapoop;842300836 said:

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Hold on. Over the last 6 years, we have arguably been the BEST team in this conference. We have certainly been the most consistently good team. I am really tired of people implying that we did not just have a good run under Monty. We ARE the upper tier right now.

And I'll be honest - I've enjoyed Monty's tenure immensely, and if that's what Cal basketball is in perpetuity (top 4 finishes, hoping for the right matchups in the tournament), then I will be happy.

I have no idea if Mike Brey is the right coach for Cal. But those throwing a tantrum and saying he isn't good enough are fooling themselves. I would take his record over the last 14 years in a heartbeat. This was his first losing season in 14 years and he had multiple seasons where he won 25+ games. And the Big East was not a joke of a conference, either.

Also: Those saying they want the "next" Shaka Smart are also fooling themselves. Do you know how hard it is to figure out who that will be? It's pretty much impossible. You can't predict such a thing. There are way too many variables.

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Over the last 6 years, this conference sent 2 teams to the NCAA Tournament twice. Think about that for minute (or longer, if you need to). Arizona and UCLA were going through hard times and now that they've recovered, a pretty talented Monty team (by his standards here) was unable to even be one of 6 teams to make it to the Dance.

tsubamoto2001;842300830 said:

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They would have been better, no doubt. I get why you like Brey--he's a Coach K disciple. He's solid. I just want a different hire than Monty this time around, even if it's an unproven guy. Hiring Brey just signifies we're satisfied with being on a tier lower than the better teams in this conference. Brey has one Sweet 16 in all those years in SB, why would things be any different here at Cal?

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To be honest, I'm not a huge Brey fan and I think we can shoot for better. However, if he were the guy, I'd consider him a decent, acceptable choice (maybe a B-) that would probably keep us on the same trajectory we've on for a few years: 40th-50th in the country with NCAA invites most years but nothing exciting. His "burn" offense can be effective, but games are low scoring and it's not very exciting for fans.

tsubamoto2001;842300838 said:

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Over the last 6 years, this conference sent 2 teams to the NCAA Tournament twice. Think about that for minute (or longer, if you need to).

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That's not entirely relevant to the future, is it? I said I'd be happy if we continue to be a Top 4 team in the conference. That will mean we would need to be better if the conference gets better (as it was this year, when we finished 4th).

grandmastapoop;842300836 said:

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Hold on. Over the last 6 years, we have arguably been the BEST team in this conference. We have certainly been the most consistently good team. I am really tired of people implying that we did not just have a good run under Monty. We ARE the upper tier right now.

And I'll be honest - I've enjoyed Monty's tenure immensely, and if that's what Cal basketball is in perpetuity (top 4 finishes, hoping for the right matchups in the tournament), then I will be happy.

I have no idea if Mike Brey is the right coach for Cal. But those throwing a tantrum and saying he isn't good enough are fooling themselves. I would take his record over the last 14 years in a heartbeat. This was his first losing season in 14 years and he had multiple seasons where he won 25+ games. And the Big East was not a joke of a conference, either.

Also: Those saying they want the "next" Shaka Smart are also fooling themselves. Do you know how hard it is to figure out who that will be? It's pretty much impossible. You can't predict such a thing. There are way too many variables.

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I think people are only going off Brey's record and the fact he is a Coach K "product." Stanford fans think Dawkins (another K "disciple") is a bad coach.

At some point, you have to listen to the guy and evaluate if he is a good coach and how he will be at Cal. IMO, Brey is worse than Braun in that regard, and there is NO WAY he is as successful as Monty (or even Braun) here, but I would love to be convinced otherwise. Finally, there is almost ZERO chance he achieves MORE than Monty did and gets us to a Sweet 16.

Would be an excellent hire. Big East featured Louisville, Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, UCONN, etc. Havin success in that league was not easy. I like this guy.

tsubamoto2001;842300838 said:

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Over the last 6 years, this conference sent 2 teams to the NCAA Tournament twice. Think about that for minute (or longer, if you need to).

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tsuba - I am not sure what point you are trying to make. In the two times that the P-10/12 sent only 2 teams to the NCAA tournament, it was Cal and UW and Cal and CU. And in both cases, Cal was the only team in the conference with a resume worthy of an at-large bid (UW and CU won the conference tournament auto-bids). I think this a great illustration of GMP's point that over the last 6 seasons, Cal may have been the most consistently good team in the conference.

I've been at ND for 5 years and I have seen a lot of games. This would be a bad hire. Not absolutely terrible, but not particularly good. Think Ben Braun.

calumnus;842300843 said:

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I think people are only going off Brey's record and the fact he is a Coach K "product." Stanford fans think Dawkins (another K "disciple") is a bad coach.

At some point, you have to listen to the guy and evaluate if he is a good coach and how he will be at Cal. IMO, Brey is worse than Braun in that regard, and there is NO WAY he is as successful as Monty (or even Braun) here, but I would love to be convinced otherwise. Finally, there is almost ZERO chance he achieves MORE than Monty did and gets us to a Sweet 16.

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I'm baffled at the comparisons of Brey and Braun. Braun was .500 in conference during his time at Cal. In 12 seasons, he had 5 winning conference records, 6 losing conference records, and went 9-9 once. He was in the bottom half of the conference as often as the top half. He was the definition of "average" in his time at Cal.

In 14 seasons at ND, Brey had 11 winning seasons and 3 losing seasons in conference. He was consistently near the top of a very strong conference (as bigcocoon pointed out).

There is no guarantee that success would translate to Cal, but that is true of anyone we are going to hire. And in a comparison between Brey and Monty, I would take Monty, but that point is now moot. Brey is absolutely a reasonable candidate, and while I don't think it will happen, I also think we could do a lot worse.

EDIT: calumnus - I kind of missed your point about "listening to the guy". I know very little about Brey other than his record at ND. I completely agree with your point that it is dangerous to talk about making a hire based solely on the guys wiki page. The resume gets you the interview, the interview gets you the job. If your opinion is that listening to Brey, you think he would be a bad hire, I completely respect that. But whatever flaws he may have, he has competed at a very high level in a very good conference for 14 years. I don't think I would ever say there is "no way" he could be successful here.

bigcocoon007;842300846 said:

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Would be an excellent hire. Big East featured Louisville, Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, UCONN, etc. Havin success in that league was not easy. I like this guy.

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From a hazy memory, The Big East in those days had 37 teams, OK maybe only 14 or 16. But most teams did not play home and home series. If you get Syracuse at home and pull out a win, no chance for the Orange to get even. Looks good on the resume but come tournament time, it didn't really pan out IMO.

Where was Pitino during that period? Was Calhoun still coaching UCONN?

Just a lot of details that muddies that blanket statement. More important can he recruit and can he recruit SoCal? This one doesn't excite me.

I think it is safe to say that the Big East during that time was probably the dominant basketball conference - maybe top two. 16 teams - all of them decent in hoops except for Rutgers. Do not discount winning in the big east historically. Much easier than winning in the Pac 12 historically - not so much now, though.

The Pac 12 refereeing would kill him, though. Totally different game.

NVGolfingBear;842300859 said:

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From a hazy memory, The Big East in those days had 37 teams, OK maybe only 14 or 16. But most teams did not play home and home series. If you get Syracuse at home and pull out a win, no chance for the Orange to get even. Looks good on the resume but come tournament time, it didn't really pan out IMO.

Where was Pitino during that period? Was Calhoun still coaching UCONN?

Just a lot of details that muddies that blanket statement. More important can he recruit and can he recruit SoCal? This one doesn't excite me.

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We are ONLY talking two years ago...Syracuse came out of the Big East the year we lost to them in the tourney..It's to NO ONE's advantage that the Big East did not have Home and Home...

If you are comparing him to Braun, you have NOT followed Brey at ND. Compare Craig Robinson and Ken Bone to Braun. Brey is more like Monty (WE DID NOT HAVE THE STANFORD MONTY AT CAL)

So, why would Brey leave ND? The guy is 55, and Cal is not much more than lateral move at best, and probably even viewed as somewhat of a step down in those parts. My hunch is that he may see Cal as an escape route. Football is king at ND, but I'nm sure they want to at least be competitive on the hardwood in the ACC. Another losing season could get him on the hot seat.

The Duke!;842300854 said:

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I've been at ND for 5 years and I have seen a lot of games. This would be a bad hire. Not absolutely terrible, but not particularly good. Think Ben Braun.

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Thanks, I agree. As far as I can tell the people who like him are going off his W/L record only. That is VERY dangerous. He would not be a disastrous as Howland (whose resume looks even better), but he is definitely not worth the money it would take to get him out of his Notre Dame contract. He would be a very disappointing hire, IMO. And yes, very Ben Braun like.

calumnus;842300878 said:

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Thanks, I agree. As far as I can tell the people who like him are going off his W/L record only. That is VERY dangerous. He would not be a disastrous as Howland (whose resume looks even better), but he is definitely not worth the money it would take to get him out of his Notre Dame contract. He would be a very disappointing hire, IMO. And yes, very Ben Braun like.

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The worst part about this type of coach is that they stick around forever. They aren't bad enough to fire, but they aren't good enough to ever take you to the final four. On good years you will finish third (or maybe second) in the conference and make it to the second round. On bad years you will finish seventh but still make the NIT.

This is exactly what happened with Braun. And it is exactly why ND fans would be happy if we take Brey off their hands.

If we're gonna hire an ND coach, it should be


Muffet McGraw

Fyght4Cal;842300908 said:

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If we're gonna hire an ND coach, it should be


Muffet McGraw

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I've been to many sold out ND WBB games. The crowd goes absolutely nuts as soon as she walks in. Bananas. In contrast, no one seems to notice when Brey walks in.

I love Coach Gottlieb. But I have never seen anything else like this. Not even when Tedford was really, really good did I ever see us go as crazy for him as ND fans go for McGraw.

Update from Faraudo:

Update: A source just reached out to me saying not to believe the South Bend Tribune report. :bravo

http://www.ibabuzz.com/beartalk/2014/04/03/basketball-notre-dames-mike-brey-reportedly-high-on-sandy-barbours-coaching-wish-list/

philbert;842300922 said:

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Update from Faraudo:

Update: A source just reached out to me saying not to believe the South Bend Tribune report. :bravo

http://www.ibabuzz.com/beartalk/2014/04/03/basketball-notre-dames-mike-brey-reportedly-high-on-sandy-barbours-coaching-wish-list/

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Phew. Sandy must've read the BearInsider forums, heeded our advice, and immediately cut off talks with Mike Brey.

The Duke!;842300900 said:

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The worst part about this type of coach is that they stick around forever. They aren't bad enough to fire, but they aren't good enough to ever take you to the final four. On good years you will finish third (or maybe second) in the conference and make it to the second round. On bad years you will finish seventh but still make the NIT.

This is exactly what happened with Braun. And it is exactly why ND fans would be happy if we take Brey off their hands.

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You just described Monty at Cal

MiZery;842300969 said:

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You just described Monty at Cal

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That is foolish and wrong.

grandmastapoop;842300981 said:

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That is foolish and wrong.

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Sounds like Monty's resume to me! the farthest we have gotten was winning 1 game in the NCAA (Louisville, UNLV) 2 separate times, out of 6 years.

that means we haven't finished higher than #32 at the end of season in 6 years

Arcadiabear;842300985 said:

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Sounds like Monty's resume to me! the farthest we have gotten was winning 1 game in the NCAA (Louisville, UNLV) 2 separate times, out of 6 years.

that means we haven't finished higher than #32 at the end of season in 6 years

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Monty won the conference. Duke's scenario placed a high of 2nd. Monty never finished below 4th. Duke's scenario placed a low of 7th.

Edit: Also might want to brush up on those math skills. When you make the Round of 32, you are among the Top 32. Which means we never finished higher than 17th under Monty, given your simplistic definition of "finish".

Arcadiabear;842300985 said:

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Sounds like Monty's resume to me! the farthest we have gotten was winning 1 game in the NCAA (Louisville, UNLV) 2 separate times, out of 6 years.

that means we haven't finished higher than #32 at the end of season in 6 years

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I think most think Monty could have done much better with better recruiting and had hopes that he would do better in the future. Monty is a MUCH better coach.

Instead compare Brey's Notre Dame record with Monty's at Stanford. Doesn't come close. If Brey comes to Cal, just like Monty, we will say his BEST years were at his previous school and that they both succeeded partly because of those schools' unique niches.

Fyght4Cal;842300908 said:

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If we're gonna hire an ND coach, it should be


Muffet McGraw

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The Duke!;842300913 said:

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I've been to many sold out ND WBB games. The crowd goes absolutely nuts as soon as she walks in. Bananas. In contrast, no one seems to notice when Brey walks in.

I love Coach Gottlieb. But I have never seen anything else like this. Not even when Tedford was really, really good did I ever see us go as crazy for him as ND fans go for McGraw.

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Let me be clear. I mean McGraw for the men's job. She and Lindsey can be the Thelma and Louise of college basketball.

what would Monty's record, including the NCAA tournament if he coached at Duke?

"what would Monty's record, including the NCAA tournament if he coached at Duke?"


I'll take a stab at it;

Not that good because, Monte can't recruit.

1947;842301055 said:

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"what would Monty's record, including the NCAA tournament if he coached at Duke?"


I'll take a stab at it;

Not that good because, Monte can't recruit.

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With Duke's basketball budget and appeal, a silly stab.

Go Bears!

Fyght4Cal;842301045 said:

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Let me be clear. I mean McGraw for the men's job. She and Lindsey can be the Thelma and Louise of college basketball.

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That would be awesome.

Fyght4Cal;842301045 said:

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Let me be clear. I mean McGraw for the men's job. She and Lindsey can be the Thelma and Louise of college basketball.

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Recruiting would be greaaaaaat.

Why not that African american woman who wears those tight skirts. She can coach and she's good to look at. The players would be attentive and do any thing she'd say.

We need to think outside the box. Talked to a couple of players and they think it would be a great idea. :p

P.S. Could you imagine all the 5 star walkons?