Batman v. Superman? Smith v. Queta?

OKAggie · Post by **OKAggie** » January 20th, 2021, 8:07 am

Who would be better? This year's team with Craig Smith coaching the same squad minus Queta? Or this year's team with Tim Duryea coaching the same squad including Queta?

In other words, as I've been enjoying this team's steady improvement behind Neemi's steady improvement, I ask myself whether Queta is making Craig look good, or Craig is making Queta look good.

I know it's a 3 am in the dorm lounge type of question. But just for sake of discussion.....

LarryTheAggie · Post by **LarryTheAggie** » January 20th, 2021, 8:16 am

Smith with this team minus Queta would beat Duryea with this team and Queta by 25 points.

Though that probably says more about Duryea than it does about Queta or Smith.

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » January 20th, 2021, 8:56 am

LarryTheAggie wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 8:16 am
Smith with this team minus Queta would beat Duryea with this team and Queta by 25 points.

Though that probably says more about Duryea than it does about Queta or Smith.

Yep Queta is great, but Duryea just wasn't a good head coach. His teams underachieved every year he was running the show. I have a hard time believing Smith would have a losing record with a team consisting of Jalen Moore, Sam Merrill and Koby McEwen. There is no way a Duryea coached team has us playing this well.

sam tingey · Post by **sam tingey** » January 20th, 2021, 9:00 am

I can't laud Smith enough, but really guys, Queta is the difference maker out there. the team defense can do what they do because of Queta. The offense goes through Queta. The entire game is played around and through the big guy. This team without Queta is a .500 team at best. Dorius is your center with Kuba as backup. Sorry but that is not going to get it done, no matter how well Miller shoots and how much the freshman guards do.

Aggie19 · Post by **Aggie19** » January 20th, 2021, 9:31 am

I wonder what the excuse will be after Queta leaves and Smith is still winning games. Last year it was, "Let's see him do it without Merrill", now it's Queta. Not saying Queta isn't everything to this team, he is. So was Sam. CSU fans are claiming it's because Smith took over a "loaded" team. Not sure about that, but what I do know is that at some point Coach Smith is just a great coach.

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » January 20th, 2021, 9:41 am

Aggie19 wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 9:31 am
I wonder what the excuse will be after Queta leaves and Smith is still winning games. Last year it was, "Let's see him do it without Merrill", now it's Queta. Not saying Queta isn't everything to this team, he is. So was Sam. CSU fans are claiming it's because Smith took over a "loaded" team. Not sure about that, but what I do know is that at some point Coach Smith is just a great coach.

I mean this as no disrespect to Merrill. The guy is an Aggie legend and gave me some of my greatest moments as an Aggie fan. Yet it should be known Merrill's two years before Smith the Aggies were a bad basketball team and the year after Merrill left we are a dominant 9-0 in the conference with 8 blowouts. Again not a knock on Merrill, but credit to Smith. He is a great coach and bigger than any one player no matter how great that player was or is.

FL350Aggie · Post by **FL350Aggie** » January 20th, 2021, 9:43 am

Aggie19 wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 9:31 am
I wonder what the excuse will be after Queta leaves and Smith is still winning games. Last year it was, "Let's see him do it without Merrill", now it's Queta. Not saying Queta isn't everything to this team, he is. So was Sam. CSU fans are claiming it's because Smith took over a "loaded" team. Not sure about that, but what I do know is that at some point Coach Smith is just a great coach.

In the college game I agree coaching makes the difference. It doesn’t matter if you have talent, if that talent isn’t utilized you still can lose. Just look how the season started for USU, it looked like they were going to be just above .500 at best. But here we are.
Sam even said he wouldn’t be in the NBA if it wasn’t for Smith. I think that says a lot.

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » January 20th, 2021, 9:49 am

I see a lot of Nate Oats in Craig Smith. Oats won big at Buffalo and now in his second year has Alabama at the top of the SEC.
We are going to have great success as long as he is here.

Yossarian · Post by **Yossarian** » January 20th, 2021, 10:14 am

This league has seen some extraordinarily talented UNLV, Fresno State, and UNM teams come through in the recent past. None of them were even really close to winning the conference regular season or tournament. The coach makes a big difference.

AGGIEinIOWA · Post by **AGGIEinIOWA** » January 20th, 2021, 10:31 am

Aggie19 wrote:I wonder what the excuse will be after Queta leaves and Smith is still winning games. Last year it was, "Let's see him do it without Merrill", now it's Queta. Not saying Queta isn't everything to this team, he is. So was Sam. CSU fans are claiming it's because Smith took over a "loaded" team. Not sure about that, but what I do know is that at some point Coach Smith is just a great coach.

I’m not sure how CSU fans can claim Smith inherited a loaded program. That’s just laughable. Look at that 2018-19 Aggie roster. Smith had very few known commodities on that team other than Sam and a few role players like Diogo and Quinn. By the end of his first season he was starting two walk-ons (Bean & and Porter) and a lightly recruited freshman big man from Portugal (Queta)...who he recruited. That first team of his definitely over performed and Smith should get a ton of credit. The Rammie fans are just sour....and smoking too much wacky tobacky.

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » January 20th, 2021, 11:09 am

AGGIEinIOWA wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 10:31 am

Aggie19 wrote:I wonder what the excuse will be after Queta leaves and Smith is still winning games. Last year it was, "Let's see him do it without Merrill", now it's Queta. Not saying Queta isn't everything to this team, he is. So was Sam. CSU fans are claiming it's because Smith took over a "loaded" team. Not sure about that, but what I do know is that at some point Coach Smith is just a great coach.
I’m not sure how CSU fans can claim Smith inherited a loaded program. That’s just laughable. Look at that 2018-19 Aggie roster. Smith had very few known commodities on that team other than Sam and a few role players like Diogo and Quinn. By the end of his first season he was starting two walk-ons (Bean & and Porter) and a lightly recruited freshman big man from Portugal (Queta)...who he recruited. That first team of his definitely over performed and Smith should get a ton of credit. The Rammie fans are just sour....and smoking too much wacky tobacky.

Yep that is total revisionist history. What were we predicted before the 2018-2019 season? Like 9th?

Nobody thought that 2018-2019 team was going to do close to what it did. Many of the supposed most talent players from the 2017-2018 team abandoned the program leaving what many believed a tough rebuild.

cdaAg · Post by **cdaAg** » January 20th, 2021, 12:36 pm

For me, this is trying to deconstruct synergy. Both are excellent, and somehow, the combination of the two enables each to probably exceed their probable high level of achievement. It sure has been fun to watch!

sam tingey · Post by **sam tingey** » January 20th, 2021, 12:38 pm

cdaAg wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 12:36 pm
For me, this is trying to deconstruct synergy. Both are excellent, and somehow, the combination of the two enables each to probably exceed their probable high level of achievement. It sure has been fun to watch!

I agree, but it is more fun to take sides and argue.

thegreendalegelf · Post by **thegreendalegelf** » January 20th, 2021, 12:54 pm

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 8:56 am

LarryTheAggie wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 8:16 am
Smith with this team minus Queta would beat Duryea with this team and Queta by 25 points.

Though that probably says more about Duryea than it does about Queta or Smith.
Yep Queta is great, but Duryea just wasn't a good head coach. His teams underachieved every year he was running the show. I have a hard time believing Smith would have a losing record with a team consisting of Jalen Moore, Sam Merrill and Koby McEwen. There is no way a Duryea coached team has us playing this well.

This just kinda makes me sad that Jalen Moore never got to play under Smith. Like the Moore family are Aggies through and through. Jalen is a class act and one of the best players we have had in the past decade. Would have been awesome to see him under Smith.

cval · Post by **cval** » January 20th, 2021, 1:10 pm

The way the team works changed a bit when the "best player" changed from Sam to Neemie. It will change again when a new "best player"emerges. Smith is really good at figuring out what will work with the players he has. It may look similar, and even run the same system... but there will be subtle differences based on the team strengths.

I don't know who the new "best player" will be after Queta, but Smith probably does and will adjust the system to make use of the talent he has.

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » January 20th, 2021, 2:14 pm

thegreendalegelf wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 12:54 pm

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 8:56 am

LarryTheAggie wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 8:16 am
Smith with this team minus Queta would beat Duryea with this team and Queta by 25 points.

Though that probably says more about Duryea than it does about Queta or Smith.
Yep Queta is great, but Duryea just wasn't a good head coach. His teams underachieved every year he was running the show. I have a hard time believing Smith would have a losing record with a team consisting of Jalen Moore, Sam Merrill and Koby McEwen. There is no way a Duryea coached team has us playing this well.
This just kinda makes me sad that Jalen Moore never got to play under Smith. Like the Moore family are Aggies through and through. Jalen is a class act and one of the best players we have had in the past decade. Would have been awesome to see him under Smith.

Yeah it is a shame. He played during a rough 4 years.

bluegrouse · Post by **bluegrouse** » January 20th, 2021, 3:35 pm

No Aggie fan in their wildest dreams could have predicted the 2018-19 squad would win a regular season co-championship and tournament championship with a Nevada team that was considered a top 10 team going into the season and in a league that we had barely sniffed 4th place once. The single greatest coaching job I've ever witnessed at Utah State and its not close.

Then to follow it up by beating teams like LSU and Florida (without Queta BTW) and then the #5 team in the country in the tournament championship game to once again qualify for the NCAA tournament.

Now to be 12-3, an 11-game trail-of-destruction winning streak, 9-0 in conference with 2 convincing wins over SDSU with a team of 8 freshmen (7 now that the Rocket Launcher has departed) and just one contributing senior is truly amazing.

Smith has done just an extraordinary job. If someone would have told me that this would happen when we fired Duryea I would have said that person was sniffing glue. I was just hoping we might end up in the top half of the league.

With all due credit to Sam and Neemi, none of this happens without Craig Smith (and his staff).

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » January 20th, 2021, 3:48 pm

bluegrouse wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 3:35 pm
No Aggie fan in their wildest dreams could have predicted the 2018-19 squad would win a regular season co-championship and tournament championship with a Nevada team that was considered a top 10 team going into the season and in a league that we had barely sniffed 4th place once. The single greatest coaching job I've ever witnessed at Utah State and its not close.

Then to follow it up by beating teams like LSU and Florida (without Queta BTW) and then the #5 team in the country in the tournament championship game to once again qualify for the NCAA tournament.

Now to be 12-3, an 11-game trail-of-destruction winning streak, 9-0 in conference with 2 convincing wins over SDSU with a team of 8 freshmen (7 now that the Rocket Launcher has departed) and just one contributing senior is truly amazing.

Smith has done just an extraordinary job. If someone would have told me that this would happen when we fired Duryea I would have said that person was sniffing glue. I was just hoping we might end up in the top half of the league.

With all due credit to Sam and Neemi, none of this happens without Craig Smith (and his staff).

Yep. Anybody who doubts Craig Smith should read this board during the 2018 offseason. Nobody saw this coming.

Aggie in Boise · Post by **Aggie in Boise** » January 20th, 2021, 4:05 pm

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 3:48 pm

bluegrouse wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 3:35 pm
No Aggie fan in their wildest dreams could have predicted the 2018-19 squad would win a regular season co-championship and tournament championship with a Nevada team that was considered a top 10 team going into the season and in a league that we had barely sniffed 4th place once. The single greatest coaching job I've ever witnessed at Utah State and its not close.

Then to follow it up by beating teams like LSU and Florida (without Queta BTW) and then the #5 team in the country in the tournament championship game to once again qualify for the NCAA tournament.

Now to be 12-3, an 11-game trail-of-destruction winning streak, 9-0 in conference with 2 convincing wins over SDSU with a team of 8 freshmen (7 now that the Rocket Launcher has departed) and just one contributing senior is truly amazing.

Smith has done just an extraordinary job. If someone would have told me that this would happen when we fired Duryea I would have said that person was sniffing glue. I was just hoping we might end up in the top half of the league.

With all due credit to Sam and Neemi, none of this happens without Craig Smith (and his staff).
Yep. Anybody who doubts Craig Smith should read this board during the 2018 offseason. Nobody saw this coming.

Some people doubted Craig last year after the loss to BSU in Boise but by the end of the season everyone loved him again. Then at the beginning of the season after a few losses some people doubted Craig again and surmised that Craig's success was due to inheriting Sam. Now some are questioning whether Craig's success is due to his recruiting of Queta.

Anybody that believes Craig Smith inherited MWC Championship Teams must be CANCELLED.

aggiesdidwhat · Post by **aggiesdidwhat** » January 20th, 2021, 11:08 pm

bluegrouse wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 3:35 pm
No Aggie fan in their wildest dreams could have predicted the 2018-19 squad would win a regular season co-championship and tournament championship with a Nevada team that was considered a top 10 team going into the season and in a league that we had barely sniffed 4th place once. The single greatest coaching job I've ever witnessed at Utah State and its not close.

Then to follow it up by beating teams like LSU and Florida (without Queta BTW) and then the #5 team in the country in the tournament championship game to once again qualify for the NCAA tournament.

Now to be 12-3, an 11-game trail-of-destruction winning streak, 9-0 in conference with 2 convincing wins over SDSU with a team of 8 freshmen (7 now that the Rocket Launcher has departed) and just one contributing senior is truly amazing.

Smith has done just an extraordinary job. If someone would have told me that this would happen when we fired Duryea I would have said that person was sniffing glue. I was just hoping we might end up in the top half of the league.

With all due credit to Sam and Neemi, none of this happens without Craig Smith (and his staff).

Agree 1 million %!! Great post sir!

USU78 · Post by **USU78** » January 20th, 2021, 11:39 pm

Both Marthas approve this thread.

BearLakeMonster · Post by **BearLakeMonster** » January 21st, 2021, 8:47 am

What about Smith v. Two Mini Quetas?

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » January 21st, 2021, 9:39 am

USU78 wrote: ↑
January 20th, 2021, 11:39 pm
Both Marthas approve this thread.

WHY'D YOU SAY THAT NAME!!!!

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » January 21st, 2021, 9:39 am

BearLakeMonster wrote: ↑
January 21st, 2021, 8:47 am
What about Smith v. Two Mini Quetas?

How tall are the two mini Quetas when one is standing on the other's shoulders?

NVAggie · Post by **NVAggie** » January 21st, 2021, 9:55 am

If Smith is driving the bus to the arena then I'm going with Smith on this one.

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