Tulsa/pitt Upheaval...do We Pounce On Tu's Dfw Recruits?

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Among its 2011 Texas plunderings, TU had three Area Top 100 players at WR alone committed to Graham & Co. Surely, Graham & Co. will not be foolhardy enough to think Tulsa-quality recruits will work en masse against weekly Big East competition.

It stands to reason, then, that some of these fellows are now in flux. Here's hoping that McCarney can pick off one or two. Or, am I now drinking the Mean Green Kool-Aid?

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Tulsa had 21 commitments, basically its 2011 class was done - nine from Texas, four from DFW area schools.

[pastorgrant]

Among its 2011 Texas plunderings, TU had three Area Top 100 players at WR alone committed to Graham & Co. Surely, Graham & Co. will not be foolhardy enough to think Tulsa-quality recruits will work en masse against weekly Big East competition.

It stands to reason, then, that some of these fellows are now in flux. Here's hoping that McCarney can pick off one or two. Or, am I now drinking the Mean Green Kool-Aid?

Maybe I'm off my rocker, but Tulsa is a pretty good team and the Big East isn't anything to write home about. Seems to me like Tulsa could be pretty competitive in the Big East. There are an awful lot of good recruits in this Tulsa class and I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see Graham take a few standouts with him.

[DeepGreen]

To answer you question TFJF, damn straight I'd pounce on them ASAP. They haven't signed anything.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Maybe I'm off my rocker, but Tulsa is a pretty good team and the Big East isn't anything to write home about. Seems to me like Tulsa could be pretty competitive in the Big East. There are an awful lot of good recruits in this Tulsa class and I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see Graham take a few standouts with him.

I doubt Tulsa would be very competitive in the Big East. Tulsa's defense is sketchy. It lives and dies with it's gimmicky offense, which can work in non-AQ conferences. But, even so, SMU's defense shut it down this year.

Look at the national title game, two very gimmicky offenses, but a defensive struggle to the end. Defense wins championships. Tulsa doesn't have it.

Graham was good at outscoring his C-USA opponents. The Big East will have better defenses.

Having earned a degree from TU, I'm happy that they've done well in the mid and later half of the aughts. But, I'm as realistic about their football as I am about UNT, my undergraduate alma mater.

Right now, it looks as if UNT has more upside than TU. And, that's definitely something I couldn't say a year ago.

Tulsa's AD has made the huge mistake of not even interviewing Steve Kragthorpe, even though he was the architect of their resurgence and lives in Tulsa with two kids in high school there. The AD will mistakenly hire Bill Blankenship, Garrick McGee, or Chad Morris, all of whom will be in over their heads.

TU will take an inexperienced head coach over one with experience. Even setting Kragthrope aside, TU's AD is not even interviewing anyone with FBS or FCS head coaching experience. It's a mistake. Tulsa isn't the type of program that can just reload on its name and history.

[greenminer]

Tulsa isn't the type of program that can just reload on its name and history.

Off topic, but were you a fan of Tulsa Bball during the mid-late 1990s?

They had a ridiculous run of Bball coaches. Always a thorn in UTEPs side, for many years. In fact, and maybe this was under Self, I believe they had an E8 run, IIRC.

[untjim1995]

Off topic, but were you a fan of Tulsa Bball during the mid-late 1990s?

They had a ridiculous run of Bball coaches. Always a thorn in UTEPs side, for many years. In fact, and maybe this was under Self, I believe they had an E8 run, IIRC.

Tulsa did go to the Elite Eight in 2000, where they lost to UNC in Austin. That was Self's last game there, as he went off to Illinois right after that.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Off topic, but were you a fan of Tulsa Bball during the mid-late 1990s?

They had a ridiculous run of Bball coaches. Always a thorn in UTEPs side, for many years. In fact, and maybe this was under Self, I believe they had an E8 run, IIRC.

Nolan Richardson was the first, jumping from Tulsa to Arkansas in the mid-80s. Then, Tubby Smith from Tulsa to Georgia, then Kentucky in the mid-90s. Then, Bill Self from Tulsa to Illinois to Kansas.

I remember going to the Tulsa/UTEP battles in the early 2000s. I coveted Jason Rabedeaux and Billy Gillespie, even though Rabedeaux's second squad caved in, and Gillespie's initial squad was a rebuilding project. I thought they were better than the guy who replaced Buzz Peterson and the guy who replace him. Funny, I think both are out of college basketball now.

[meangreendork]

I doubt Tulsa would be very competitive in the Big East. Tulsa's defense is sketchy. It lives and dies with it's gimmicky offense, which can work in non-AQ conferences. But, even so, SMU's defense shut it down this year.

Look at the national title game, two very gimmicky offenses, but a defensive struggle to the end. Defense wins championships. Tulsa doesn't have it.

Graham was good at outscoring his C-USA opponents. The Big East will have better defenses.

Having earned a degree from TU, I'm happy that they've done well in the mid and later half of the aughts. But, I'm as realistic about their football as I am about UNT, my undergraduate alma mater.

Right now, it looks as if UNT has more upside than TU. And, that's definitely something I couldn't say a year ago.

Tulsa's AD has made the huge mistake of not even interviewing Steve Kragthorpe, even though he was the architect of their resurgence and lives in Tulsa with two kids in high school there. The AD will mistakenly hire Bill Blankenship, Garrick McGee, or Chad Morris, all of whom will be in over their heads.

TU will take an inexperienced head coach over one with experience. Even setting Kragthrope aside, TU's AD is not even interviewing anyone with FBS or FCS head coaching experience. It's a mistake. Tulsa isn't the type of program that can just reload on its name and history.

You should've seen the Hawaii Bowl if you haven't. To put it nicely, Tulsa's defense ate Hawaii alive. 6 turnovers in just the first half and the offense created a very nice 20-ish point difference in scores in a game that Hawaii was expected to win big but in the end, lost. Don't get me wrong, I wanted Tulsa to win but I didn't think it'd destroy Hawaii like it did.

[Cerebus]

Nolan Richardson was the first, jumping from Tulsa to Arkansas in the mid-80s.

Little Know Fact: Nolan Richardson was my mothers basketball coach at El Paso Bowie High School (aka "La Bowie").

[greenminer]

Viva la Bowie! Laaaa Bears.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

What kind of weird life have I led - one alma mater fired a high school coach, and a few months later another hires one? My sports karma is cursed! Cursed, I say!