https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/1091480337073532928
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“Amigo” was one of my favorites. Those late 80s teams were fun to watch, and seeing Herrera win championships with the Rockets was pretty cool.
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I swear I saw him at one of the UH games recently but probably not since he doesn’t seem to follow UH basketball. Just Rockets basketball.
Foster had a knack for recruiting Central and South America but too few after Phi Slama Jama didn’t appreciate his focus was on defense.
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The problem with Foster was in his 7 year tour of duty, he won only 1 Nit game in 3 trips and ZERO NCAA Tourney games in 3 trips.
NCAA Tourney Record
87 SE Regional: Lost to KU 55-66
89 SE Regional: Lost to UC Santa Clara 66-70
92 MW Regional: Lost to Georgia Tech 60-65
NIT Record
88 1st Round: Won 69-67 over Fordham, 2nd Round: Lost to Colorado State 61-71
91 1st Round: Lost to Standford 86-93
93 1st Round: Lost to UTEP 61-67
Following Guy that just didn’t cut it.
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Which made us a consistent top 100 team. Now throw in the attendance stats. Foster’s teams regularly ranked higher than the attendance that supported the teams.
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Nonsense stat. Top 100 means out of the tournament, unless you are in the top 45-50. I was there in that time. Zero excitement. Lost every first round game. Bring those stats up or admit you are just wonking numbers. Hard following a legend, but blame the fans if you want.
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I will blame the fans. Crappy attendance equals crappy seeding and crappy local recruiting. The crappy attendance didn’t start with Pat Foster. Our legendary coach’s final season we were .500 and averaged well below 5k just two short years after 3 straight Final Fours.
Foster’s post season games:
87 NCAA We are the 12th seed and lose to 5th seed Kansas.
88 NIT We beat Fordham in Houston and then lose to Colorado State at Colorado State. Colorado State beats Arkansas State in Colorado then loses to Ohio State on the road.
90 NCAA We are the 8th seed and lose to 9th seed UC Santa Barbara in New Orleans.
91 NIT We lose 86 to 93 against Stanford at Stanford. Stanford goes on to win the tourney.
In 91-92, we were conference co-champs with Texas, had a 25-6 record and were still seeded 10th having to play the first round against 7th seed Georgia Tech in Milwaukee. Georgia Tech went on to beat 2 seed Michigan next round and lose in overtime to 6 seed Memphis State.
93 NIT We lose 67 to 61 against UTEP at UTEP. UTEP loses to Georgetown at Georgetown, the tourney runner up.
1990 is the only year you can point to where we under preformed in the post season. The rest of the games we lost to higher seeds or at the opponent’s arena. So yes, Foster had one NCAA/NIT tourney win in 7 years at Houston and only one more NCAA/NIT win in 6 years at Nevada but compare that to us. It took our 24th year after Foster left before we got our second NCAA/NIT without him. So to say Foster was the problem and not Houston and it’s fans it’s just plain ignorant.
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What always baffled me was how his Lamar teams always overachieved in the postseason. In fact our 1986 invite was mostly the result of the respect The selection committee had for Pat
Thank you! Finally someone who understands.
It feels like they over-achieved because it’s “Lamar.” When Foster beat Lewis in 85, the game was played in Beaumont. His 81 NCAA win, they were actually the 8th seed playing a 9th seed. So the over achieving years would just be 83 and 84 when they won an NCAA game as a lower seed and an NIT game on the road. In 86 Lamar lost hosting George Mason in the NIT.
Think about this though, Lamar got to host 3 out of 6 NIT games under Foster and Houston got to host 1 out of 4 and won the game they hosted. I’m pretty sure I remember Foster was a little vocal about Houston’s post season treatment before he moved on.
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Wasn’t the fans it was Foster.
During the 90 season, Foster was mass subbing a second team. Then when he made the tournament, he stopped. What coach stops doing what helped them win all season when they make the tournament. That would be like Sampson telling the team to stop playing defense.
In 1991-92 the committee said our one and done in the tournament was why we excluded.
Foster started our fall and the administration pulled the rug out from us with bad hires.
Our fans are not great but we are not the problem for everything.
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Explain why Stanford and UTEP got to host our first round NIT games in 91 and 93 if it wasn’t the attendance.
The problem was we were in the NIT.
Just don’t understand how so many can defend that if a coach has to remain a top 25 program to get top 100 attendance, it’s an uphill battle very few can win. Foster had more success at Lamar than Houston. McCallum has more success at Ball State than Houston. Penders had more success at Texas than Houston. Dickey had more success at Texas Tech than Houston. Unless Sampson takes us to 7 straight NCAA tourneys that include Sweet 16, Elite 8 and a Final Four appearance, he has more success at Oklahoma than he is having in Houston.
Why would Foster be expected to go to NCAA tourneys every year if our beloved legendary Hall of Fame coach made 5 NCAA tourneys in his last 13 years including no appearances in his last two? Foster was handed the reigns of an ordinary team that was 16-16 in conference the previous two years.
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Because I am a fan and have crazy high expectations. When fans start coaching the kids that is when I will blame them for poor performance on the court or teams not making the NCAA tournament.
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Yeah, that’s why I will never agree with anyone that equates not over-achieving with “poor performance.”
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Overachieving is exceeding expectations. If the expectation is to make a post season tournament AND win games then none of Foster’s teams overachieved. They under achieved. So why are you defending him?