My Favorite Hoops Coach

On By @gtmoblueIn college basketball 365

Iona Basketball’s HC Tobin Anderson

U da Man, Coach!

I’ve been following Coach Tobin Anderson for years. I made a sarcastic joke (2016-18 or so) referring to a Big East team losing to a lowly Div 2 team…I randomly used St Thomas Aquinas College’s team as the opponent. Later, upon looking up the STAC Spartans program, from Sparkill, NY.; I realized i had made a grave error. STAC is a Division 2 Hoops powerhouse school…and probably could beat several Divison 1 schools. The Spartans, at that time, were coached by none other than HC Tobin Anderson, Iowa’s Own!  I followed both STAC and Coach Anderson ever since!

Tobin Anderson Love??? :o â€‚Yes Sir! Da Lub comes from his consistently coaching up his teams at each level. Bringing a hard-nosed, defense 1st style of play to his teams. He learned from his Dad…a longtime successful HS coach in Truro, Iowa! His tenacity and instilling a winning culture at each of his career stops. Coach is a proven winner at 2 Div levels, and soon to be all three levels. He has a 14-8 NCAA Tourney record, Including 1-EE, 3-SS, 2-2nd Rounds, 2-1st Rounds, And 1-NCAA Play-in win (Dayton).

Past Success is not an accurate predictor of future performance. Although, we often/normally judge coaching proficiency and/or greatness by these very same measures when looking retrospectively…don’t we. DePaul can (and probably will) do far worse than my guy – Coach Tobin Anderson.

Coaching Stats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobin_And … ing_record

History: Coach has a 22 year history at NCAA level coaching. Coach Anderson has 11 years Div 3, 9 years at Div 2, and now 1+ years at Div 1. He is a proven winner at each level. Coach Anderson has tallied 8 onference championships, 4 2nd place finishes, (12) over his 22 year coaching history. His teams have earned 8 NCAA Tourney bids (not including the cancelled 2020 tourney), at 3 levels. He has amassed a 14-8 NCAA Tourney record overall.

Coaching Record: 

Overall: 421–215 (.662), 22 years.

Div 1: 27–24 (.529) 1+ years.

Farleigh Dickenson (NEC) 21–16 (.568);                             Iona Metro Atlantic (MAAC) 6–8 (.429)                              1 NCAA Div 1 Tourney (FDU) – 2nd Round (2-1*) *Play-in Round at Dayton.

Div 2: 209–62 (.771) 5 East Coast Conf. (ECC) Championships, 3 2nd Place, 1 5th place. 6 NCAA Div 2 Tourneys (7 if you count cancelled 2020 season)
1 EE, 3 other SS’s, 1 2nd round, 1 1st Round, 1 Cancelled 2020 Tourney.

Div 3: 185–129 (.589) 3 Liberty League Championships and 1 NCAA Div 3 Tourney – 2nd Round

Yes Sir…ol’ git is sold on Coach Anderson. Quiet as it’s kept, I’d like to see him wearing lil’ Creighton Gear, once ol’ Mac retires. Just sayin’. He should be a top candidate for most upcoming Division 1 coaching vacancies. (DePaul, others.)

PS: On Holyland of Hoops: Old Dash’s 2019 predictions (1st post of this thread) was a wee bit off. Looks as though Cincy, Houston, and UCF dodged bullets in 2023, huh.
gtmo

Overture, turn the lights…This is it, the night of nights.

On By @gtmoblueIn Basketball 365, Big East, college basketball, college basketball 365

Well, the prelims are done…On with the Show, this is it!

Connecticut head coach Dan Hurley celebrates with the trophy after their win against San Diego State in the men’s national championship college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Ahhh yes. The preliminaries are done, “No more rehearsing and nursing the part… We know every part by heart.” 

Time to git to gettin’ the conference slate has arrived. It’s real from here on out!

BigEast Standings:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/standings/_/group/4#:~:text=Big%20East%20Conference,of%20each%20game.

Big East Conference

Big EastCONFERENCEOVERALLPOLLS
TeamW-LGBPCTW-LPCTHOMEAWAYSTRKAPUSA
UConn0-0–.00010-1.9096-00-1W33-13-1
Butler0-0–.0009-2.8187-00-1W60-20-2
Cr8n0-0–.0009-2.8186-02-0W10-00-0
Marquette0-0–.0009-2.8186-01-1W33-14-1
Prov0-0–.0009-2.8188-00-1W20-10-1
St. Johns0-0–.0007-3.7004-11-0W10-00-0
Gtwn0-0–.0007-4.6366-31-1W20-00-0
Nova0-0–.0007-4.6364-10-2W11-02-0
The Hall0-0–.0006-4.6006-10-1W10-20-1
Xavier0-0–.0006-5.5455-30-1W20-21-2
DePaul0-0–.0002-8.2002-50-1L10-20-1
Eve of Big East play – Standings

Expected: Top half teams that are where they are expected to be. Huskies, Jays, Warrior/GEs. DePaul is being more DePaul than usual at 2-8. Typically, the Blue Demons have done well in the non-con and waited until the conference slate to fold. Not this season.

Surprises to date, in order of magnitude: #1 9-2 Butler Bulldogs- picked 10th in Big East Coaches Pre-season Poll. Currently 2nd in the standings. Thad Matta and a slew of transfers!       Anonymous Eagle/Brewtown Andy’s summer take. https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2023/7/25/23664454/big-east-mens-basketball-team-preview-butler-bulldogs-matta-thomas-alexander-davis-telfort-screen

Big Surprise #2 – The Wildcats of Radnor! The Cats have struggled in the non-conf slate. Four (4) losses, including 1 at home, 3 of which were against Big 5 opponents. The St Joe’s loss was at the Finn (Finneran Pavilion) no less – where the Cats are unbeatable! They have beaten Maryland, Memphis, Tex Tech, UCLA, and #14 UNC Cheat. The Radnorites currently sit in a tie for 7th place, with Georgetown, after being picked 4th by the coaches preseason poll.

Big surprise #3 – Da Friars. 9-2 Providence was picked 7th in the pre-season. Team is excelling under Coach English to start the season. Currently in a 4-way tie for 2nd (5th alphabetically).

Mild surprises: The Hoyas of Georgetown are playing surprisingly well and are 7-4, in a tie for 7th with Villanova. Easy Ed…making a turnaround? 

The Redmen are holding serve. Currently 6-3 and alone in the 6th position. Da Johnnies were picked 5th in the BE coaches pre-season poll.

The Muskies of Xavier are currently 6-5, sitting alone in the 10th position. Injuries to both starting Bigs prior to the season have derailed the Muskies. I am surprised they are playing as well as they are. Good coaching. 

Git’s Expectations (1st Ten Games):

  • Jays go 9-1 Only loss to Xavier in the first ten BE games.
  • Butler 8-2 Losses @ Marquette, @ Xavier in the 1st ten games.
  • Providence 7-3 Losses to Butler, @ Cr8n, @ UConn
  • Marquette 7-3… Losses @ Providence, Creighton, @ Villanova.
  • UConn goes 6-4 in the First ten. Losses @ Butler, @ Xavier, Creighton in Storrs, @ Villanova. 
  • Villanova goes 6-4 1st ten. Losses @ Cr8n, @ Marquette, @ Johnnies, @ Butler.
  • Johnnies hold at 5-5 over the first 10 games. Losses @ UConn, Butler, @ Nova, @ Cr8n, @ Xavier.

Promises to be another excellent gauntlet run in the Big East…as usual. With 4 (or more) losses in the 1st ten games, UConn, Nova, and St Johns are out of contention for the BE RS title. The first half of the conference slate should definitely not lack for excitement. 

Should not only be a war, but potentially a surprising run to the champeenship by the Dawgs or the Friars.