Smith Post Game Interviews and Thougths

[Ravenute]

I have made it a point to listen to Craig Smiths post game interviews lately to try and glean from him what he is trying to do and what the team’s deficiencies are etc…

Here is what I can conclude:
1. He is very concerned about Points Per Possession both in how we do and how well we defend our opponent. He stated that when Lawson was in the game our Pts/Poss was better than Iowa State for example. BUt then Lawson got into foul trouble.

2. He keeps calling the Big 12 “This League.” “This league is no joke.” “This league is tough.” etc…

3. He used the fact that Cincinnati was 0-3 to prove his point at how hard this league was. As if to say even good teams are losing in this league. Also as if to make an excuse that being 0-3 is OK.

4. He thought the team took a step forward against Iowa State.

5. No hard questions are asked by Bill or Mooney. Its just puppy dogs and ice cream.

6. Post Baylor he said: “Ezra was 1-8, Miro 0-9, I mean Miro didn’t miss a shot in practice the last two days. I mean he was making everything.” “Gabe was 1-7 and Mike was 1-7, 3-31 for those 4 guys.”

7. So post Baylor he said after the team lost by 30 points he says: “As a whole I really thought we made some strides defensively tonight” Then we lost to Texas Tech by 30 at home. So we must not have made as many strides as he thought. Then we lost by 23 at Iowa State and he says He thought the team took some strides forward defensively. I can’t figure out Craig. Are we getting better? Do you really believe that?

8. Post Baylor he also said: “I know what the score said but it just doesn’t feel like….It just feels like we’re much closer than what the score indicated if that makes any sense.” AHHHH No it makes no sense to me Craig.

9. Obviously it seems to me that Craig wants his team to be good at defense and probably makes a good effort to coach them up on defense but it is very obvious to everyone that the team does not play great consistent, tough defense. This is either due to coaching (90% of the problem in my opinion) and personnel/talent (10% of the problem) in my opinion.

My conclusions:
I have a watched a ton of basketball over the years. I watch Rick Pitino’s teams. They play hard and intense and tough for 40 minutes. Devon Smith starts there and thrives. Great decision for him. Craig really isn’t a great defensive coach. That much is painfully obvious. He just isn’t. He needs more support from the AD and boosters to get the right players. The team does not value the basketball. We turn the ball over way too much and when we do turn it over it usually leads to points going the other way (so we’re not good at recovery either).

Would love to hear yall thoughts

[Tony (admin)]

I remember when we hired Craig. The initial vibe I got was that he seemed like a phony. He’s real, perhaps overly positive and is trying I guess, but seems like he’s not very good at many facets of his job.

[loyter]

It’s simply bad basketball.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not a talented basketball team, but some teams overachieve with a weaker roster by playing sound, fundamental basketball. Smith’s teams do just the opposite. They play at their level or below.

Why? Because they don’t do basketball well. The stats show it. Over the last 3 games they have put up some very telling numbers:
Scoring defense – 85.3 ppg
Scoring offense – 60 ppg
Turnovers – 14.6 per game
Free throws – 58%
FG% – 36.7% (vs 47.8% for opponents)

It’s really hard to watch. Especially knowing as an old timer what good basketball looks like.

PS I think we’ll see Iowa State fall out of the top ten as the season progresses. They appear to be a bit of a paper tiger.

[EagleMountainUte]

Number 7 is why I can’t stand him. It isn’t positive vibes. He is either a liar or myopic.

Not much you can say after beat downs I get it. Don’t say strides though. Maybe point the finer details in why you think defensively the strides are being made.

I think he is looking at the shots not falling and saying Utah loss because ball didn’t go in hoop. It is Boylen but he actually is self aware.

[AlohaUte]

It’s tough, because it seems in all three of the last big losses, the team kept it competitive for a half. So I can see where he’s coming from with some of the positivity comments. But the team simply isn’t good enough to compete in the Big-12 or even the Pac-12. He’s not able to attract the talent necessary. It’s likely both him not having the ability and cachet to get their interest and Utah not having the NIL pockets to attract talent.

[EagleMountainUte]

Competitive at half? It took Utah 6 minutes or something to even score against Baylor. They only had 17 at half trailed by 20. Texas Tech, Utah trailed by 11. Gave up 47 and then another 46.
Iowa state you trailed by 13 giving up 38.

Turnovers that they commit combined with their bad defense. Once a team gets past that 6-8 margin no way Utah could compete.

[Ravenute]

Probably also worth asking… Why the complete staff exodus last year. Clearly coaches were looking elsewhere. Craig didn’t ask them all to leave.

[AZUTE]

Burgess stabbed him in the back and bailed to BYU. Slocum was hired to recruit and he wasn’t so he was let go Still have no idea what happened to Tim Morris.

I feel bad for Smith a little. He’s was Harlan’s guy and you’d think he would’ve given Smith a little more support.

[Utesbyfive]

What would support from Harlan look like? I keep hearing Harlan isn’t doing enough, but nobody ever expresses exactly what he should do. At this point, what could Harlan even do but fire Smith and start over.

[Rick]

When I watch them it is like watching a high level AAU super league team vs. a Junior Jazz team. The basketball skill is not there. The basketball IQ is not these. The athleticism is not there. You cannot play great defense lacking these things against opponents that all have them. Our first three opponents all have them. We got killed three times! We may have a shot against OSU, UCF, BYU, K-State, Colorado and ASU but that is probably about it and when I say have a shot, I mean not lose by 30+.

[The Miami Ute]

Did you hear Bill RIley’s interview with Smith last night at Slackwater Pizza on 700? I listened to it on my way to the Jazz game versus the Heat. Put simply, the man’s delusional. If you heard him talk, you’d think that Utah was undefeated and that they actually beat Iowa State. All he did is talk about all of the positive things that happened in that game and how the team is progressing on an upward tick. I mean, he’s had a front row seat to three consecutive blowouts. Does he not know that some people actually watch the games on TV or go watch the team in the Huntsman? I have season tickets and I’m seriously thinking about giving them away to my next door neighbor. It’s one thing to get blown out. It’s quite another to get blown out and have the HC try to gaslight you into thinking the team is getting there.

[Utah#1]

Four years later and the basketball program is a dumpster fire thanks in large part to Craig Smith who I knew was a bad hire the day he was announced as Utah’s next head basketball coach. Utah will probably lose the rest of their games and even though they started conference play with at least 18 more games to go.

I think Smith has had more than enough opportunity to right the ship. He needs to go and so does Mark Harlan. UofU’s big mistakes when they hired these two guys. Wasted millions on their incompetences.

[TruckStopTerrors]

I recall when the hire was made thinking that he better be able to coach up the talent he gets, because he’s not a good recruiter. Well, he himself hasn’t been a good recruiter during his tenure, and to me, there’s no proof he’s coached up the talent he has gotten. Do they fire him after the season or do they wait for one more miserable season to fire him? Then we have Harlan in place making another hire after his first botched hiring. Not good.

[Utopia]

Check out this presser from another short bald coach who actually has standards (UCLA’s Cronin):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwaLey5pkVc

Polar opposite attitudes. Smith’s participation trophy standards are f’n pathetic. I’m not going to bother listening to anymore of Smith’s press conferences. Every postgame presser is always the same crap, no matter the opponent or outcome: “they are really, really good; the conference is so good/deep; we did some really good things; [Utah player] played really well and was really impactful”. Literally the same fluff every time — just a combination of excuse-making, delusion, and lowball standards/expectations/accountability. I can’t imagine a D1 coach being any softer, let alone P4.

[The Miami Ute]

Yeah, unfortunately, I’ve come to the decision that I can’t support the team as long as Smith is the Head Coach. There’s too much of a sample size over four seasons to let me know that he’s not the guy and all I’m doing is wasting my time and money supporting this version of the MBB Utes. With some good fortune, this team might win, what 4-5 conference games? That would put them at 13-16 for the season with no legitimate blueprint for future success. So, if you think fans are apathetic now, just wait until Harlan says at the end of the season that Smith is running it back…

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