Impressive news conference as far as expectations. I had watched the Tulsa interview and maybe the room was like 100 degrees, but he was more hesitant and sweating like a pig. Also didn't really smile and spoke for I think 15 seconds before opening it up to questions, so this was great.
I think Wellman anticipated a shakier effort thus set the Quad celebration so close to the press conference to control it as much as he could. Ended up he didn't need to that.
I give Manning an A for the presser, but that is somewhat because I thought he'd deliver a C. Probably a B+ minus that. I did like a lot of the specifics he said seemingly off the cuff. Most interesting bit to me is he started as a towel boy at Kansas after a 15 year NBA career. This is a man with no ego, a rarity in sports. Second, was the bit about being a 1st overall pick, an all-star, a 6th man, a DNP guy, traded three times, injuries - he understands probably every player's role on the team personally more than most. I thought that was great and true. Good stuff. Go Coach.
My ringing endorsement is a deathnel, so I'll refrain from that. I have never seen Tulsa play so I am hopeful. I actually am still a Wellman guy and I think he nailed the football hire so hopeful he has with hoops. I will be interested in where we are in 10 years and where Smart is. I am not much of a Dan Collins fan as a writer or thinker - he's okay - but I thought it was revealing when he said there was one or two coaches in the search whom he's heard are horrible to deal with in his role. I am sure one of them is Smart. So it will be interesting to me whether we are tapping away here 4 or 6 or 8 years from now talking about how humble hall of famer, Danny Manning is a perfect fit for Wake or not ...
