Look what Tang did last year in his first season. Elite 8 I believe with having to fill an entire roster.
@Marquette, Sat., Feb. 10, 6p, FS-1
- Thread starter Knight
- Start date
Based on, Rick having more time to work portal? Vacant spots & being able to offer major minutes? Something else?
Names & stats are great, but it seems a lesson learned this year is chemistry counts. Just look at how UConn did by getting guys like Spencer, Newton over past two years.
Wow,”a fully formed roster” that was only extraordinary for their ineptitude on almost every level.
Redenbacher
Well-known member
Was it their ineptitude or their coach's?
Some of all the above. But the three most important things to me are:
1) Pitino and staff having time to really plant seeds for future portal recruits. Barbs is right, we were at a disadvantage last year since our staff was recruiting mid-major players throughout the year and not BE-caliber guys. We showed interest in guys and it was way too late. That won't really be the dynamic.
2) Matt A & NIL infrastructure is a lot better today than it was last March. Flat Top Fund didn't even exist until late August.
3) Hopefully, we'll have at least four guys returning have the work ethic to take big leaps in their sophomore year.
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last year We barely made it in. We hoped for miracles this year but let’s be realistic. I still think we get in but to dominate
his first year is not probable. Pitino is the best coach by far we have in 20 years. Give it time
We all hoped/ wished that we would be top 3 in big east and already locked in tournament. We haven’t been in tournament since Mullins
last year We barely made it in. We hoped for miracles this year but let’s be realistic. I still think we get in but to dominate
his first year is not probable. Pitino is the best coach by far we have in 20 years. Give it time
My observation about the last ~2 pages of this thread is this:
Winning requires more than talented players. It requires putting the talent that you have in the best position to optimize their ability. A team that has less talent but makes better use of it can often beat a team with "better players."
UConn has both - excellent talent and they are all put in situations to succeed. DePaul obviously has neither.
Two teams in the league that have a lot less talent but are getting everything out of the players they have are Seton Hall and Xavier. You could throw Providence in there also (though I think some of that may just be Carter and his will to win). Consider Butler in this category also.
A team that is getting way less out of the talent it has is Nova, which runs virtually nothing to maximize the skills it has on the roster.
And then we get to SJU, which resembles Nova a lot more than Xavier or the Hall. I have seen some argue that it is due to lack of talent. I have seen others argue that it is lack of effort. My own view is that the staff has refused to make adjustments to what they want to do to match the abilities of who they have.
Now, that may be part of a long-term plan to take some lumps to install a system for which better fits are expected to be acquired, or it could just be stubborn. But either way it has definitely had something to do with some of the outcomes this year.
For next year, I agree with Paultz - it's about finding the right fits for what the staff wants to do, since it seems pretty evident that the staff is not generally inclined to change what it wants to do to fit the players it has.
Winning requires more than talented players. It requires putting the talent that you have in the best position to optimize their ability. A team that has less talent but makes better use of it can often beat a team with "better players."
UConn has both - excellent talent and they are all put in situations to succeed. DePaul obviously has neither.
Two teams in the league that have a lot less talent but are getting everything out of the players they have are Seton Hall and Xavier. You could throw Providence in there also (though I think some of that may just be Carter and his will to win). Consider Butler in this category also.
A team that is getting way less out of the talent it has is Nova, which runs virtually nothing to maximize the skills it has on the roster.
And then we get to SJU, which resembles Nova a lot more than Xavier or the Hall. I have seen some argue that it is due to lack of talent. I have seen others argue that it is lack of effort. My own view is that the staff has refused to make adjustments to what they want to do to match the abilities of who they have.
Now, that may be part of a long-term plan to take some lumps to install a system for which better fits are expected to be acquired, or it could just be stubborn. But either way it has definitely had something to do with some of the outcomes this year.
For next year, I agree with Paultz - it's about finding the right fits for what the staff wants to do, since it seems pretty evident that the staff is not generally inclined to change what it wants to do to fit the players it has.
Chemistry counts which is why flipping the roster occurred in the first place. Hindsight is great but dysfunctional is dysfunctional. Maybe if the roster wan’t flipped, we don’t get Wilcher, Dunlap or Eijofor, and while I think he is gone and anyway am not that high on him, Luis. And maybe that group of players are as dysfunctional with Pitino as Anderson so Glover and the Greek don’t come.
Why does everyone assume success with that group of players? Oh, I forgot, we were an instant Top 25 team with Pitino, players sight unseen notwithstanding. We get a HOF coach everyone was praying for and now not 3/4 of the way through his first year, all he has made are mistakes? I am as disappointed as anyone but my fault is not with Pitino but rather the players. And I sure as heck don’t think a better solution was keeping last year’s team intact, maybe a minority of one but I thought and think good riddance. My feeling when Pitino was hired, that finally, we are going to have a sustained program again.
Finally, has anyone thought that maybe the success some of last year’s players are having this year is at least partly due to the fact that they separated?
We are 6 and 6 with 3 hopefully probable wins in February. When was the last we we had this ?
you have to crawl before you can walk. We all have had a awful a plus 20 years, now things are definitely
looking better
being hired in mid-March puts you way way way behind for the transfer portal too unless you have a Brink's truck to catch up.
Agree completely. - My prior response was in ref to the 'separated success' our prior year players are having...
But man- would i love to have Yaxel on this team... dude is killin it on the Boards.
Anyway.... BEAT MARQUETTE!
This.
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Redenbacher
Well-known member
Last year of Mullin's tenure, 2018-2019. We were 5 and 5 in conference at this point with 2 wins over Marquette, which was then ranked in the top 15. We went 3-5 after that, but one of those wins was at Villanova, also ranked in top 15. Combined with one win in the Big East tourney, that got us a play in game in the Dance.
Agree with a lot here. It would make sense to stick to what you want if you have a young team as a) a way to evaluate if they can progress to what you envision and b) send the message and set the tone for how you want things done. But, we have 5 5th year seniors getting major minutes so its best to adjust to get the best version they can become. I've always admired Pat Riley for winning three different ways between LA, NY and Miami.
I was hoping for closer to 5 for betting purposes. I will likely pass on this one. I do see Marquette going up 15 at some point.
The recent Jenkins-Dingle chemistry scares everyone playing us and betting against us.
Theirs, just the easy way out blaming Anderson for the way many of those players carried themselves and played.
Redenbacher
Well-known member
Well, Anderson was fired "for cause" which is not done lightly. Let a bunch of 20 year olds do whatever they want and 99% of them will take up that offer.
Don't really disagree except to say I think there was plenty of blame to spread around and CMA deserved some of it for sure as he put the group together and didn't really coach them much especially last year.