Dement

[PonyTales]

There are (at least) two newspapers in Arkansas that have included Mike Dement's name on a list of candidates for the Arkansas job. I don't know whether these are names that have been considered seriously by UA officials, or if it's just a list off the top of the head of some pea-brained sportswriter who felt the need to fill space in the paper by spouting off the names of coach candidates. Who knows if there's any legitimacy to the suggestions (one list also includes UNC's Matt Doherty, who won't leave Chapel Hill until he's fired.)

There's a strong chance these candidates are just the musings of a sportswriter with too much time on his hands. At least we didn't see John Shumate's name on either list. (Anyone know if that guy is still working as an NBA assistant?)

[Kiper]

There's a better chance of Billy Tubbs ending up in Fayetteville than Mike Dement. He's not going anywhere.

[PonyGirl]

If you were the Arkansas AD, would you rather hire a young (sort of) coach like Dement, with the hope that he improves with more talent, or pay more money for a "name" coach like Tubbs?

[Hilltopper]

Before we go shipping Dement off to Arkansas, or any other place, let's remember what he had to deal with this year:
* Voc Atkins, who was counted on to share the ball-handling chores and was the team's best returning long-range shooter, missed the year because of injury.
* Brian Miller, who was expected to fit in the shooting guard rotation, showed nice shooting range and played solid (if not smothering) defense, missed most of the year with his bad back.
* Eric Castro, who surprised everyone with his rebounding and better-than-advertised offensive game, broke his hand and missed the last month.
* Patrick Simpson had a terrific year, but hit the freshman "wall" in the last month.

We basically had two experienced players with superior talent, Q and Hancock. Each endured a slump, and when you rely so heavily on just two players, an inevitable slump can be a back-breaker.

The only thing that truly falls on the coaches is the fact that the two biggest Ponies, Jon Forinash and Nigel Smith, never fully played themselves into game shape. And no matter how much the coaches make them run in practice, that's not the same as game shape. Plus, you can't babysit college students to the point of watching everything they eat, drink, etc.

Dement did OK -- not great, but at least OK -- with what he had. Let's see what he can do next year with the Hopkins brothers, with Miller, Voc and Castro back and healthy, and with Q leading the team, as he should have been allowed to do this year.

[TheSkelf]

I concur completely.

[Charleston Pony]

I agree with Hilltopper. Good players make coaches good. We really missed Voc Atkins this year, and Miller may have helped, too. Castro was giving us productive minutes and his late season injury was at least part of the reason we closed so poorly.

We do need improved chemistry on this team. I think having a TRUE point guard in BHop will give us a chance to be a much improved TEAM next year. We should have a good mix of youth and experience and I look for much more balanced scoring next year. I could see us having 4-5 guys in double figures, with nobody averaging more than 15 ppg.

[Guest]

If Dement isn't to blame for the team's ability to develop a big man with some offense, he needs to bring in an assistant who does nothing but work with the big guys - no recruiting, no scouting .... nothing else. How many big men have blossomed since Dement's been in Dallas? Zero.

[PX]

I'm sorry, but if you were counting on Voc to do anything this year, you were a fool. I dont normally engage in name calling, but I dont know any other way to put this. The kid should never have played his freshman year, it was obvious the original injury had never healed, even after he was out for almost 8 months. There was no way he was coming back after reinjuring the same knee, in less than a year. Why so many people apparently thought that Vocs knee was going to heal by magic and he would have some kind of big impact this season is baffling to me. Why we dragged our feet about redshirting him is baffling. We didnt "miss" Voc this year, he shouldnt have ever been a part of the game plan, because it was obvious he was going to take a long time to recover.
Now I hear people saying they expect him to be a key player next year. I just hope we all remember that this is a guy who has been injured during his entire 2 year stay on the Hilltop. Dont create expectations so high they cant be reached. From my perspective if Voc contributes at all next year it'll be a gift.