Alex jensen

Basketball
1

This is Sports Illustrated so have a few grains of salt handy. Also, simply sending him a contract doesn’t necessarily mean much.

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It’s actually info from Alex Markham

https://x.com/amarkhamrivals/status/1896729804633985142?s=46&t=_bZk7iudoxaI6ONfb91dZg

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This needs to happen. If he turns it down, it would be a big blow.

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It’s a Sports Illustrated URL and masthead. Looks like they updated it, because it has more info than when I first saw it. Maybe the SI reporter stole it from Alex then decided not to plagiarize.

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Looks like this is for real.

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When is the big pile of NIL cash coming in?

p.s., I’m keeping my cash for retirement, especially given the shrinking value of my invested assets. ha

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8

I think there’s no doubt that the donors (and perhaps secondarily, Mark Harlan) knew they wanted Alex well before Craig was fired. It’s my understanding that a lot of money people were very upset about how the AD handled Alex’s candidacy the last time around.

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9

I’ve heard last night from someone who attends games with me and whom avoids the fan boards that Chris Hill spent a few hours reaching out to Alex.

Hope we get him.

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10

It’s interesting to me how Chris Hill is seen.

He’s a legend, don’t get me wrong. But many have forgotten some of his big mistakes, or have taken to blaming Harlan for things he did.

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My first thought on seeing that Chris was talking with Alex was “Well, he hired one great basketball coach (RM) and another who was promising but fizzled out (LK), and two duds.” Then I thought “He must have a good relationship with Alex or they would not have allowed him to be involved.” I also wonder if Harlan is even taking the lead in recruiting Alex.

What do you think Hill did that Harlan is being blamed for? I’m not disagreeing, just honestly curious.

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Lots of gripes about scheduling for football in the last few years. Including this Wyoming game.

Things about the RES expansion were blamed on Harlan, which were done under Hill.

I just think we have a lot of fans who romanticize the past.

Interesting to note. Greg Marsden was so cognizant of not wanting to be that guy he’s never been back in the JMHC.

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13

Not that Harlan is blamed, but Chris hired two bad basektball coaches after Majerus and gave Larry a huge extension that proved unwarranted.

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IF what is reported elsewhere is true, Harlan went through some cursory motions when Smith was hired - the reason why AJ withdrew his name, when it was apparent he was not the primary candidate.

Only makes sense for Hill to reach out to AJ this time, even if he’s emeritus. Chris was at most - if not all - of the games I attended. On Alumni night, it was apparent the connection he has with Donnie Daniels, Byron Wilson, Doug Chapman, David Collette and a number of other Utes.

I’m not going to speculate on what this means for Harlan, if anything. It’s a team effort, and Hill’s connections go way back.

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15

Harlan can’t be blamed for hiring Smith. Smith was a hot commodity at the time. He had a .755 winning percentage in three years at Utah State and three straight NCAA appearances. He won two MWC tournament titles in those three years while San Diego State was on a roll. Before that he turned Mayville and South Dakota around. As a result, Wilner called it a homerun hire.

I believed that it was a great hire. My philosophy is try first to hire someone who has had a track record of success as a head coach in college basketball. That is a lot less risky than hiring someone who hasn’t–though every head coach was an assistant at some time in the NBA or college game.

Lawyers instinctively know that you can’t challenge someone’s discretion. That’s true when you’re appealing a trial court decision or suing a doctor or lawyer for malpractice. Harlan exercised his discretion and Monday morning quarterbacking him is wrong.

I don’t know why Smith failed. I’ve said before he had enough talent. With BYU’s two hotshot recruits turning out to be nothing special, I say Utah has at least as much talent as BYU. The problem was coaching.

It seems there’s just something in the water in Logan that keeps making their college basketball teams good even though Utah State over and over again loses coaches and players to better financed programs.

I am still concerned about Alex Jensen’s lack of college basketball head coaching experience. But I was skeptical about BYU’s Kevin Young hire for the same reason. Now he’s looking like possibly a pretty good college basketball coach.

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Jensen, when he was HC at Grand Rapids, was getting a lot of publicity about his ability to win and develop players. He is well regarded in NBA circles.

Given all the changes at the college level that have happened, he will bring what the Utes need.

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Great points. I do have to admit that I don’t think Utah is as talented as BYU. If the talent is equal, then Young is a much, much better coach than Smith.

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For that matter, I can’t figure out how Smith couldn’t take a team with Gabe (Utah’s [now] all-time three point leader), NBA-level-talent Branden Carlson, and Davion Smith, Utah’s all-time leader in triple doubles to the NCAA tournament.

Man, teams with WAY less than that have gotten in. I think it was CS’s failure last year that doomed him more than what DIDN’T happen this year. Both the '23-'24 season failings, his wretched '24 offseason losing Burgess and Keita to BYU and spurning Miller and the NIL that would have come with that, and frankly (though this is unfair), BYU’s home run offseason. That’s a lot to overcome.

Smith was a dead man walking this year unless he pulled a rabbit out of his hat. He didn’t. Time to move on.

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I really liked Smith, too. After wins his infectious enthusiasm was endearing. He had 2 NBA players at USU - Queta (now with the Celtics) and Bountiful’s own Sam Merrill with the Cavs, who is far better than anyone in Bountiful could have predicted.

NIL got out of control and for whatever reason we didn’t seem to keep up. Losing Deivon last year was a major wakeup call, IMO.

I’m less concerned about Alex’s lack of college head coaching experience, since he’s been a head coach in the G-league and NIL helps open doors in college recruiting, nowadays.

Here’s a time warp - remember when Majerus got in trouble with the NCAA for providing cookies at team meetings? Now NIL has depressed the market for paper bags. All that creativity cheating programs used to pass money to players… all down the drain.

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Majerus also got in trouble for taking then-freshman Keith Van Horn out for breakfast—the day after Keith’s father died for crying out loud. Now school’s like BYU of all teams can have an incoming freshman get paid $8.5 million. Absurd.

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