I think this year is the example of too much too soon can lead to high expectations.
We were really only rated high because, well who else? And as this season has shown there isn’t really any great teams.
We are mad because we expected a title contender due to preseason rankings. But say we had been preseason #20 or so, maybe we wouldn’t be so mad right now.
Remember our first year in the Big East? We rose to #5 after an undefeated start and hot off a Final 4. We got beat by sUcKs and Big East play sent us to the NIT. We weren’t a great team, lost 4 of our top 6 scorers. But we got high on them because of the rankings.
This team, if we had been evaluated right as a top 15-20ish team, we’d be happier. We should be saying it’s great that in year 2 Mack has us ranked. Mack just brought in a top 5 class with 6 good freshman for the future even with sanctions.
The guard spot is what it is. We weren’t good at the guard spot last year, and lost CC and Fore. We replaced them with another GT in Kimble who wasn’t really a point guard, Perry who was a role player combo guard, and David Johnson was was a top 100 recruit as a combo guard and came here to develop more as a point guard.
Other than Sam Williamson and Malik Williams, the rest of the roster is about what I expected.
This roster is a roster that:
1. 3 coaches in 4 seasons
2. Facing sanctions
3. Guys recruited for Rick’s system
4. Grad transfers to plug holes
5. 6 good freshman, but 5 weren’t ranked where you’d consider them instant impact.
For what we have and what Mack has dealt with, this is pretty good coaching. We are just plain limited right now.
If we played the freshman more and they struggled, people would cry about how he isn’t trying to win now and is only focused on his own recruits. We’d be seeing “give Ryan a chance off the bench” threads.
I think we have a good team with a top player in Nwora and an NBA level big in Enoch. Surrounded with a bunch of decent players. A good draw and we can make a run.
We were really only rated high because, well who else? And as this season has shown there isn’t really any great teams.
We are mad because we expected a title contender due to preseason rankings. But say we had been preseason #20 or so, maybe we wouldn’t be so mad right now.
Remember our first year in the Big East? We rose to #5 after an undefeated start and hot off a Final 4. We got beat by sUcKs and Big East play sent us to the NIT. We weren’t a great team, lost 4 of our top 6 scorers. But we got high on them because of the rankings.
This team, if we had been evaluated right as a top 15-20ish team, we’d be happier. We should be saying it’s great that in year 2 Mack has us ranked. Mack just brought in a top 5 class with 6 good freshman for the future even with sanctions.
The guard spot is what it is. We weren’t good at the guard spot last year, and lost CC and Fore. We replaced them with another GT in Kimble who wasn’t really a point guard, Perry who was a role player combo guard, and David Johnson was was a top 100 recruit as a combo guard and came here to develop more as a point guard.
Other than Sam Williamson and Malik Williams, the rest of the roster is about what I expected.
This roster is a roster that:
1. 3 coaches in 4 seasons
2. Facing sanctions
3. Guys recruited for Rick’s system
4. Grad transfers to plug holes
5. 6 good freshman, but 5 weren’t ranked where you’d consider them instant impact.
For what we have and what Mack has dealt with, this is pretty good coaching. We are just plain limited right now.
If we played the freshman more and they struggled, people would cry about how he isn’t trying to win now and is only focused on his own recruits. We’d be seeing “give Ryan a chance off the bench” threads.
I think we have a good team with a top player in Nwora and an NBA level big in Enoch. Surrounded with a bunch of decent players. A good draw and we can make a run.
