Norm did nothing to make these players better. Norm couldn't figure out that Dwight Hardy was starting material. As a senior he was a Wooden award finalist. I didn't see anybody get much better under Norm.
You cannot seriously be arguing that TGAPL turned Hardy into a good basketball player between the spring when he was hired and the fall when he coached his first game. You simply cannot be making that argument. He made a personnel decision. He said here Dwight, have the ball. That's what turned him into a Wooden award winner.
You didn't see Paris Horne get better under Norm? Kennedy? Gene Lawrence? Evans? No one? What I saw was some players stay the same, some get better and some get worse. It's the same thing I've been seeing in college BB for 30 years. Those are the only three results. None of them happen in 3 months and none of them happen for one reason. It's just as likely that Hardy wouldn't have had the year he had as a senior if Norm had thrown him to the dogs as a junior as it isn't. Prove it not. Post hoc ergo propter hoc.
Last two seasons I've seen majority of players, both Norm's and Lavin's get better. I don't understand how you don't see it? I'm not crediting Lavin alone. Dunlap, Hines and others have a LOT to do with it.
[interior monologue]
For GOD SAKE can some one write one stupid post without CAPITALIZING a word for emphasis. FOR GOD SAKE. One SINGLE post. One single SOLITARY POST where the author doesn't feel the need to EMPHASIZE some stupid RANDOM word. If we were chatting, as ONE does, would you randomly SCREAM a word in the middle of a SENTENCE? I had a stack of PANCAKES for breakfast. I'm wearing a RED shirt. I'm typing in CAPITAL letters. Look, EXCLAMATION marks!!!!! Winkie, winkie, WINKIE!!!!!! God I LOVE Lavin. I want to HAVE HIS BABIES. He's infallible like the POPE. Everything good that happens in the world is due to his beneficence. Yes, and no doubt Hines and all the other college of cardinals others had a LOT to do with it. Archbishop Dunlap OBVIOUSLY. But Tony CHILES? Doubt it. I don't like his BODY language. That other guy from RICE or wherever? Maybe, but I wouldn't trust him in the sacristy with the ball boys. Better safe than sorry. But NOT Norm. NO WAY!!!!!
Thanks I feel BETTER now.
[/interior monologue]
Yes, I see it: most players get better as they get older. That is in fact the theory behind the university. Math majors multiply better as seniors than they did as freshmen. History majors know more dates. Artists draw prettier pictures. Some of TGAPL's players get better. Some of Norm's players got better. Some of Jarvis's players got better, some got worse, some stayed the same. In general they mature mentally, they work out, they practice. That's the point. Yes, Norm was a lousy coach. Also, the ocean is damp. His players failed to thrive because of his ineptitude. Yes. Bringing in someone who was not completely incompetent certainly advanced the prospects of the players. That's obvious. OTOH blaming Cedric Jackson's atrocious freshmen year on Norm is absurd. Crediting Quincy Roberts year at Grambling to the lack of Norm is similarly nonsense.