You don't get into the NCAA Tournament based upon TV appearances or even on recruiting alone. Putting together talent is one thing. Using it appropriately and keeping a proper cycle of players that fit the needs of your system is another. Both important components.
Our opponent on Friday, San Diego St University has been to the Tournament every year for the past 6 years with an at large bid every one of those with the exception of one Conf. Championship. They barely get any national TV exposure and are dwarfed by much bigger names in their recruiting sandbox. They have a system. They stick with it and recruit accordingly. The point being that as I specified, in the Big East (meaning as it is today), there is no reason St Johns should not be going to the Tournament every year with not going, being an aberration.
Do you really think that San Diego St. would have 6 bids in a row if they were in a major conference. Most people refer to the mountain west as a mid major and as such, even though they were 1st place in their league at 14-4, and sport a 27-9 record, they are exactly one seed better than SJU, a fifth place Big East team and downgraded by the NCAA seeding because of Obekpa's suspension. You might as well compare Harvard's success in dominating the Ivy League.
In our league, Villanova at this point should go every year. Georgetown pretty also. After that, it's one big fray. Providence is an up program now, so is Butler. Last season Creighton and Marquette were near the top, and will probably become more competitive. Xavier's not a bad program, and for a while this season Seton Hall seemed as tough as nails.
We now have over 20 years and 5 coaches to return to the gold standard of post season most years under Carnsecca - Repeat MOST years. Even Lou would fall short of your standard.
Nova to most observers doesn't have an NBA player on their roster. Yet they are the crown jewel of the conference.
They recruit kids that fit their system and style of play. They also haven't had the recurring ineligible kids, transfers out and suspensions. So there is a consistency there.
We don't have a system. We were supposed to be a running team that pressed defensively all game long. But it's taken 4 years to see any semblance of that.
Now we're chasing int'l kids.
It's consistency vs chaos. And that is why tourney bids have been out of reach. 10 wins in this conference should be an annual occurrence for us.
Jay Wright would have been destroyed here if he took over the irrelevant program Steve Lavin did. It's just not fair or accurate to paint Jay Wright as a saint who runs a drama-free program. I would love to have him here, but let's not pretend he is something he's not.
Wright was in a highly publicized cheating scandal with a
Nova student. There were several fights among Nova players over the years, and there was also the drama about Fisher impregnating Scottie Reynolds gf. What about Nova suspending 12 players in 2003 over in the Phone Card Scandal? The two years of
probation? The transfers out (King, Yacouba, Armwood, Brzoja, Kennedy, Chennault, Johnson off just in the last five years)? Taylor King's substance abuse? Let's not make them out to be choir boys.
New York Post article from 2005:
In his fourth season, Wright’s seat is getting hotter, and Villanova fans are getting antsy, waiting for their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1999.
“I’m very aware that [the pressure] is there,” Wright said.
Nova made the tournament 4/5 years from 95-99. Wright took over in 2001 fresh off recruiting New York for the last several years. Lavin took over a team that was 12-24 in conference the prior two seasons and that hadn't made the the tournament in nine seasons.
