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Post by luhoopsfan on Jan 9, 2013 13:09:53 GMT -5
What if the "Summer events" of 2004 never happened. How different would things be at 20th and Olney now? it's been nearly a decade (unbelievable to think that) since then. but if it weren't for those events, Doc G would never have been here.
How long would Billy Hahn have lasted? After the frustrating end to the season I remember Billy emphatically saying that they would get the program turned around
Would Gary Neal have been an all-time great? the guy is making a living in the NBA right now, surely he, Jermaine Thomas and Steve Smith could've been a solid trio.
Or did those events allow us to get Doc G and ultimately this group of players that has been the best 2 teams of the last 20 seasons?
Sometimes i think about stuff like that.
The other one is what if Ruben, Kimmanni and Yves were all healthy their senior year, could that have been something magical as well?
On the flip side, if Murray wasn't such a head case, we wouldn't have had a slot open up for Galloway last year and things would be much, much different had he landed at Villanova or Temple or SJU somehow.
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Post by explorer88 on Jan 9, 2013 13:24:28 GMT -5
What if Donnie didn't get sick?
Sorry hoops, I had to throw that in there before someone else did. We might get 15-20 replies on Donnie getting sick in this thread.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2013 13:27:04 GMT -5
G had more wins with Hahn's players than Hahn in the first three seasons, and we now can appreciate that he did it with no time to recruit, and recruiting is G's best strength.
Recruiting was supposed to be Hahn's strength too, but his attitude about it was all wrong. He felt he couldn't recruit at the A10 level, except for a few under the radar guys or guys close to home. Giannini has no qualms about putting the right time in for the right guy, even if means failure on some commitments, he casts a much wider net. Hahn couldn't admit failure, so he was overly selective.
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Post by luhoopsfan on Jan 9, 2013 13:48:44 GMT -5
I was trying to keep the what if's to Doc G's tenure. I got to thinking about how we might never have had him if it weren't for that summer and wondered what life might've been like now at 20th & Ol-uh-knee
Donnie getting sick will forever be the sting of my senior year at La Salle.
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Post by explorer88 on Jan 9, 2013 13:56:25 GMT -5
La Salle approched G after Speedy left in 2000. He did not want to leave Maine at the time. My guess is La Salle still would have approached in 2005, 2005, 2006 or whatever season Hahn would have been fired given the same administration was in place.
I say that because no doubt in my mind he would have been fired by La Salle at some point because his act would wear thin. I also don't believe he would have turned it around at La Salle. His recruiting was subpar. His best recruits were Steve Smith, Gary Neal, and Jermaine Thomas and none of them were because of his hard work. Steve Smith was being recruit by Speedy's staff and Neal and Thomas he was recruiting for Maryland.
His recruits were Lewis Fadipe, David Bell, Sherman Diaz, Mike St. John, Sean Neal etc.... None of them were leading us out of the bottom of the A-10.
It was very rough for La Salle and the fans in 2004 but 9 years later the program is in a much better place and G deserves the credit.
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MisterD
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Post by MisterD on Jan 9, 2013 13:58:49 GMT -5
Donnie getting sick will forever be the sting of my senior year at La Salle. Yup. The one-two punch of K'Zell getting denied another year and Donnie getting sick killed the chances of ending what, at the time, seemed like a really long 3 years of caring drought. So naive.
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Post by SICguy84 on Jan 9, 2013 15:10:10 GMT -5
Does anyone remember after Morris was fired, who else Brennan interviewed? G? Joe Mihalich? Just wondering....
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2013 15:13:46 GMT -5
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Post by luhoopsfan on Jan 9, 2013 15:16:17 GMT -5
K'Zell Wesson, Reggie Okosa, and Vernon Goodridge playing in their final year of eligibility really hurt a number of teams at La Salle. Well, the Okosa thing was self-inflicted on his part, but you get the point. On the plus side, Ramon getting the hardship waiver was pretty huge and Garland electing to transfer mid-year instead of after the season helped as well since he is eligible to play alongside of Galloway which lets us put 3 BCS-level guards on the floor together (Duren, Garland, Galloway) and bring in 2 A10 level guards behind them, Mills, Petersen.
If only Stardhinger (sp?) hadn't been caught with his pants down (pun intended)...
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Post by SICguy84 on Jan 9, 2013 15:17:15 GMT -5
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Post by luhoopsfan on Jan 9, 2013 15:24:42 GMT -5
I clearly recall Howard Eskin calling into Cataldi's morning show on a Friday afternoon to break the news that Dunphy was going to La Salle - I literally almost drove off route 309 after suffering a minor stroke/heart attack. I was overcome with such joy it was too much to handle.....and then Monday came and he decided not to come.
It was like when Kobe Bryant was going to join Donnie in the back court.
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Post by lasallescreamer on Jan 9, 2013 16:27:16 GMT -5
Does anyone remember it this way: That Dunph said he would come if he could report straight to Brother President and not to the AD? I am not saying it was that way, but that was the unconfirmed buzz.
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Post by explorer88 on Jan 9, 2013 16:32:49 GMT -5
Does anyone remember it this way: That Dunph said he would come if he could report straight to Brother President and not to the AD? I am not saying it was that way, but that was the unconfirmed buzz. I heard that and also heard Brother Mike agreed to that demand and Dunphy still declined to come. Bottom line is I think Dunphy was worried the job was a career killer and he didn't think he could turn it around. Just my opinion.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2013 16:39:34 GMT -5
The story going around La Salle at the time was that the only reason Dunphy took the interview for coaching positions was so that he could extort a raise out of Penn. When he took the next offer at Temple, it reaffirmed these suspicions, though I think it's painful to think of one of "our own" in that context.
The good coaches all have high aspirations, and at least he didn't pull a T-Ford, sign a huge 5 year extension and ask for a release in the same month! I was at a Minutemen Club brunch with the coach a few months before he left and boy did he blindside them. Time to eat and run!
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Post by SICguy84 on Jan 9, 2013 16:43:53 GMT -5
Things run together in my memory. Dunphy turned down the job in 2000 and again in the Summer of 2004. I recall hearing he would take the job if he was also made AD.
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Post by coqui900 on Jan 9, 2013 19:06:54 GMT -5
If the events of 2004 didn't happen, something would have happened at some point with that creep leading the ship. He's a total scumbag, as made evident by his sterling appearance on the witness stand during the trial, and by his yearly whimpering to any media member who will speak to him about his raw deal.
It probably wouldn't have been something so tragic but I could have certainly seen a DUI or fist-fight with player or public fight with administration or multiple recruiting violations with Billy H.
Say what you want about Dr. G's coaching acumen but he's loads better than Billy Hahn.
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