Coaching Styles

I really thought Tennessee vs. Louisville was going to be a good game. Looks like I'm wrong again. Louisville got out to an early double-digit lead and didn't really look back. Tennessee made a few runs to get it close, but there wasn't much doubt that Louisville was going to win the game handily...and they did.

Here's the thing:
There was no doubt that Tennessee was significantly more talented than Louisville. UL's starting 5 was weaker at every position than UT's...by a long shot. And yet UT lost by 20. The reason for the defeat can be summed up in one word -- COACHING.

Everyone (except for University of Illinois boosters) loves Bruce Pearl. He's a personable guy...he's a great motivator...he occasionally shows up at women's games sans shirt...and he's single-handedly built UT into a basketball force to be reckoned with by his aggressive recruiting powerful motivational techniques.

But he can't coach.

Tennessee wins their games by being faster, stronger, higher jumpers, and better shooters. Their offense (if you can call it that) consists of 4 guys standing around while 1 guy does a little shake-n-bake. The guy with the ball either shoots or kicks it to one of the other guys standing around who repeats the shake-n-bake. They get a bunch of second-chance points off of offensive rebound tip-ins (aka "garbage points") and difficult shots (see: Smith, Tyler).

Their defense is relatively unimpressive as well. They don't switch on screens. They don't rotate or play team defense. It's just man-to-man or a simple 2-3 zone. Their defensive philosophy seems to be "let them score less than we do".

Pearl doesn't make in-game adjustments. He doesn't call many (any?) plays during time outs. He functions as a middle-aged cheerleader / father-his-players-never-had. Not that this is a bad thing - as I said, Tennessee has one of the more successful basketball programs in the country thanks in large part to Bruce Pearl. He will, no doubt, be a hot commodity this off-season when schools are looking to hire a new coach. In most cases, Pearl is an upgrade as a head basketball coach. Just don't expect him to win any games against Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, Coach K, or Keno Davis.

(That's right...I went there.)