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I think that is by design this year for sure. Get 1 year culture fits that push the talent level up. Try your hardest to recruit over the roster in 2023, especially if you have a solid rebound year and can attract the next rung up.

The only by design part of it is… I’m a second year coach. I got obliterated in my first year and I need to win now. So I’m going to try and take the best available players and win now - worry about the rest later.

A less optimistic wording of the exact same thing…
 

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Coach might already have somebody ready to sign but I don’t think it would be a terrible strategy to absolutely shoot for the moon with the last scholarship. The opportunity cost is the players you miss by waiting but it could be worth a gamble to kick the tires on any talent that might hit the portal within the next month or so.
 
I think that is by design this year for sure. Get 1 year culture fits that push the talent level up. Try your hardest to recruit over the roster in 2023, especially if you have a solid rebound year and can attract the next rung up.
For the record...I was just pointing out that losing those five would mean 3 years in a row of 4 out of 5 starters being replaced.

This can all change anyway if Larry improves and still play 25 min and Avila is as good as advertised.
 
you didn’t see LN back then… I guess you will never know. Yes. Absolutely they would have. Those 2 went on as Freshman to carry Ohio State to the National Title game.

Evansville last year and this current roster with literally like 6 players is maybe a decent MIC high-school team. They’re terrible. LN of 2006 would have beat them by 30 without a doubt.
My bad, even tho I disagree that was supposed to be a joke. Guess I went to hard on the Bob Newhart style dry comedy there.

I did see LN back then. Those Conley/Oden teams were unreal. I broadcasted tons of MIC boys and girls bball (and unfortunately football) games in the early 2000's covering THS/THN. Just about every time my boss comes to my building I think about his brother talking ish to Oden, then Oden wrapping his legs around his waist and dry humping him on a dunk at THN (almost knocked over the equipment when I jumped up and screamed). Most savage sports thing I've ever seen. I would've been on the call for the LN/THS semistate game in 2005 but for some reason I agreed (well in advance obviously) to get married on that date. So dumb. When THS beat Bloomington South and won regional the week before I was sick to my stomach knowing I was gonna miss the next game. I was also on the call for the only high school bball championship that the city of Terre Haute has actually won. Then I watched LN snatch the crown jewel from that team and still fail to even win sectional the following year. So yeah, I know. But I still disagree.
 
pretty happy with how this roster is shaping up.

We return about 90 percent of our production + the freshman that has the most potential in Crawford:
Xavier Bledson
Julian Larry
Kailex Stephens
Cooper Neese
Cameron Crawford
Cam Henry
Sam Merivs
Zach Hobbs

Then our transfers/incoming freshman appear to be upgrades as well:
Robert Martin - Quimari Peterson: Nothing against Q but the writing was on the wall for him, Martin looks to be a pretty damn good PG
Robbie Avila - Nick Hittle: Again Hittle seemed like a great teammate but would be better suited at a lower level. If Avila is as good as advertised he could be special here.
Cade McKnight - Simon Wilbar: I'll take a 2 time DII all-American anyday of the week. Not to mention the mentor aspect for Avila.
Voss McCauley - Micah Thomas: Not the best comparison position wise, but Voss fits a roll in the system that Thomas couldn't. Don't get me wrong, Thomas could play but his maturity has to come into question with the incident preseason and Schertz comments throughout the year.
Jayson Kent - Tyreke Key: Obviously not an apples to apples comparison here either. Key is Key and will be talked about for a loooonnnnggg time around these parts, good luck to wherever he lands and I hope makes a splash and overcomes his shoulder issues. With that being said the length and athleticism of Kent and the proven ability to compete at his level gives us something that Key physically couldn't last year.
Dearon Tucker: Should be interesting to see where the staff goes with this one. If nothing else, it can't be much worse.
 
I think we will look for a freak athlete for the final scholly (wishful thinking). Time will tell?? Yes.....I know we could use another ball handler too.
 
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My bad, even tho I disagree that was supposed to be a joke. Guess I went to hard on the Bob Newhart style dry comedy there.

I did see LN back then. Those Conley/Oden teams were unreal. I broadcasted tons of MIC boys and girls bball (and unfortunately football) games in the early 2000's covering THS/THN. Just about every time my boss comes to my building I think about his brother talking ish to Oden, then Oden wrapping his legs around his waist and dry humping him on a dunk at THN (almost knocked over the equipment when I jumped up and screamed). Most savage sports thing I've ever seen. I would've been on the call for the LN/THS semistate game in 2005 but for some reason I agreed (well in advance obviously) to get married on that date. So dumb. When THS beat Bloomington South and won regional the week before I was sick to my stomach knowing I was gonna miss the next game. I was also on the call for the only high school bball championship that the city of Terre Haute has actually won. Then I watched LN snatch the crown jewel from that team and still fail to even win sectional the following year. So yeah, I know. But I still disagree.
I think THS would have won it all 2 years in a row if she stayed.
 
pretty happy with how this roster is shaping up.

We return about 90 percent of our production + the freshman that has the most potential in Crawford:
Xavier Bledson
Julian Larry
Kailex Stephens
Cooper Neese
Cameron Crawford
Cam Henry
Sam Merivs
Zach Hobbs

Then our transfers/incoming freshman appear to be upgrades as well:
Robert Martin - Quimari Peterson: Nothing against Q but the writing was on the wall for him, Martin looks to be a pretty damn good PG
Robbie Avila - Nick Hittle: Again Hittle seemed like a great teammate but would be better suited at a lower level. If Avila is as good as advertised he could be special here.
Cade McKnight - Simon Wilbar: I'll take a 2 time DII all-American anyday of the week. Not to mention the mentor aspect for Avila.
Voss McCauley - Micah Thomas: Not the best comparison position wise, but Voss fits a roll in the system that Thomas couldn't. Don't get me wrong, Thomas could play but his maturity has to come into question with the incident preseason and Schertz comments throughout the year.
Jayson Kent - Tyreke Key: Obviously not an apples to apples comparison here either. Key is Key and will be talked about for a loooonnnnggg time around these parts, good luck to wherever he lands and I hope makes a splash and overcomes his shoulder issues. With that being said the length and athleticism of Kent and the proven ability to compete at his level gives us something that Key physically couldn't last year.
Dearon Tucker: Should be interesting to see where the staff goes with this one. If nothing else, it can't be much worse.

Good breakdown. I tend to agree - especially given that I think some other MVC schools are actually in a lot worse shape than we are. Losing Peterson, Hittle, Wilbar, Thomas and Tucker really isn't that difficult to replace.

So you factor in the new additions to the pieces that we already have on the roster and it doesn't project too awfully bad. The metal development of Cam Henry is still really crucial for me. If he continues to have a pretty prominent role - we really need him to act like an adult, not complain to the officials and give 100% on both sides of the floor. That shouldn't be a lot to ask - but last year it was a lot to ask for him.

If he doesn't give that - does JS put him on the bench? If he's on the bench I can't imagine he's going to take that very well... Could it be toxic?

Just something to watch. But I don't really feel bad about this roster he's put together - it's intriguing.
 
I think THS would have won it all 2 years in a row if she stayed.
I do too. When they beat BD at semistate I knew they'd beat whoever came from the north. Losing that group of senior guards was a tough blow, but I firmly believe Bishop would've played if she stayed. This situation is the poster child for the fact that the grass on the other side is not always greener.
 
Good breakdown. I tend to agree - especially given that I think some other MVC schools are actually in a lot worse shape than we are. Losing Peterson, Hittle, Wilbar, Thomas and Tucker really isn't that difficult to replace.

So you factor in the new additions to the pieces that we already have on the roster and it doesn't project too awfully bad. The metal development of Cam Henry is still really crucial for me. If he continues to have a pretty prominent role - we really need him to act like an adult, not complain to the officials and give 100% on both sides of the floor. That shouldn't be a lot to ask - but last year it was a lot to ask for him.

If he doesn't give that - does JS put him on the bench? If he's on the bench I can't imagine he's going to take that very well... Could it be toxic?

Just something to watch. But I don't really feel bad about this roster he's put together - it's intriguing.
I firmly expect him to be on the bench next year if he acts like that again. If we're lucky Cam does too.
 
Good breakdown. I tend to agree - especially given that I think some other MVC schools are actually in a lot worse shape than we are. Losing Peterson, Hittle, Wilbar, Thomas and Tucker really isn't that difficult to replace.

So you factor in the new additions to the pieces that we already have on the roster and it doesn't project too awfully bad. The metal development of Cam Henry is still really crucial for me. If he continues to have a pretty prominent role - we really need him to act like an adult, not complain to the officials and give 100% on both sides of the floor. That shouldn't be a lot to ask - but last year it was a lot to ask for him.

If he doesn't give that - does JS put him on the bench? If he's on the bench I can't imagine he's going to take that very well... Could it be toxic?

Just something to watch. But I don't really feel bad about this roster he's put together - it's intriguing.
I think it will help Cam immensely if he doesn’t have to be our #1 option on offense. I am hopeful that will be the case. The kid is a great talent, he’s just got to stay out of his own way.
 

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The only by design part of it is… I’m a second year coach. I got obliterated in my first year and I need to win now. So I’m going to try and take the best available players and win now - worry about the rest later.

A less optimistic wording of the exact same thing…
I do not agree at all about the being obliterated. We were right there in nearly every conference loss only needing a healthy Key to push us over the top. It was more of unfortunate injury and a limited time to recruit that caused our poor record than a coach/team being "obliterated." Having said that, last season wasn't good enough, coach acknowledged rhat and he is making changes. I like the look of how the team is shaping up, lets let the iron get to sharpening!
 
I do too. When they beat BD at semistate I knew they'd beat whoever came from the north. Losing that group of senior guards was a tough blow, but I firmly believe Bishop would've played if she stayed. This situation is the poster child for the fact that the grass on the other side is not always greener.
A coach from Indy told me that they’re second team would have been ranked in the top 10 that year but once Russell left and bishop didn’t play, they had just an ok year the next year
 
I do not agree at all about the being obliterated. We were right there in nearly every conference loss only needing a healthy Key to push us over the top. It was more of unfortunate injury and a limited time to recruit that caused our poor record than a coach/team being "obliterated." Having said that, last season wasn't good enough, coach acknowledged rhat and he is making changes. I like the look of how the team is shaping up, lets let the iron get to sharpening!

Spot on. Additionally, breaking down games, they are often about runs or responding to a run. I don't think Tyreke's loss can be overstated enough because there were have been tons of instances where we went to him to stop the bleeding or get us a tough bucket. Him eating up minutes would have also led to playing inexperienced players less, which could have had a compounding effect defensively.
 
So you factor in the new additions to the pieces that we already have on the roster and it doesn't project too awfully bad. The metal development of Cam Henry is still really crucial for me. If he continues to have a pretty prominent role - we really need him to act like an adult, not complain to the officials and give 100% on both sides of the floor.
Agree with this. The one piece of info I'm hanging onto and hoping Cam truly takes to heart is the article where he is quoted to saying how he noticed the top players in the MVC don't get rattled by the good or bad and how he needs to be more level headed if he wants to elevate his game.

With that being said, I think a more athletic team around him where he doesn't have the be alpha 100% will let him just play instead of having to force things. At least that's what I'm hoping
 
I do not agree at all about the being obliterated. We were right there in nearly every conference loss only needing a healthy Key to push us over the top. It was more of unfortunate injury and a limited time to recruit that caused our poor record than a coach/team being "obliterated." Having said that, last season wasn't good enough, coach acknowledged rhat and he is making changes. I like the look of how the team is shaping up, lets let the iron get to sharpening!

We disagree. 11-20 and first round exit in STL is obliterated. You focus on the closeness of it all and I will focus on the outcome of it all. And you can also lean on the excuse of Key being hurt all you want… If that helps you to reason the outcome in your mind then great. I’ve moved on from that - Drake had to deal with Roman Penn being injured multiple times over the last two years and managed just fine.

No wrong approach… Do you. We got obliterated in my mind and nothing will change my mind. Nor does it matter because the season over and we’re on to a new season. But since you wanted to discuss - I will oblige.

But I’ve heard about enough of iron sharpens iron…
 

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We disagree. 11-20 and first round exit in STL is obliterated. You focus on the closeness of it all and I will focus on the outcome of it all. And you can also lean on the excuse of Key being hurt all you want… If that helps you to reason the outcome in your mind then great. I’ve moved on from that - Drake had to deal with Roman Penn being injured multiple times over the last two years and managed just fine.

No wrong approach… Do you. We got obliterated in my mind and nothing will change my mind. Nor does it matter because the season over and we’re on to a new season. But since you wanted to discuss - I will oblige.

But I’ve heard about enough of iron sharpens iron…
So does that mean if we go 20-11 this year we are dominant? Since outcomes are all that matters.
 
So does that mean if we go 20-11 this year we are dominant? Since outcomes are all that matters.

I mean generally speaking based on the history of this program 20-11 is pretty dominant. So I guess for the sake of being consistent then my simple answer is yes.

Outcomes are absolutely all that matters. It’s college athletics being close means nothing especially when you win 11 games. We were close to being average - but we were below average. It’s not like we were close to being in the NCAA Tournament or close to not being in the play in game.

I’m really sorry that my observations on the reality of the situation are different and inconvenient for some of you… I’ve tried to be objective and point out positives and negatives. I’m just not in this overly positive about everything that happens here camp. If given a reason to feel that way then certainly I will jump on that boat with ya’all… Until then I’ve got a ways to go.

But like I said earlier in another thread - current roster is definitely encouraging. Like what we have with one more piece to go… Will definitely be on board if Cam Henry acts like an adult.
 
Him eating up minutes would have also led to playing inexperienced players less, which could have had a compounding effect defensively.

Not just less playing time for the inexperienced players, but less minutes for Neese which would have kept him “fresh” later in the season.

There’s little doubt in my mind that Key would have won us another 4-5 games. A lot different feeling about this past season if we were 15-16… coulda, shoulda, woulda…
 
A coach from Indy told me that they’re second team would have been ranked in the top 10 that year but once Russell left and bishop didn’t play, they had just an ok year the next year
They for sure would have been. They just had the team back for the 20 year anniversary at a game this past season.
 
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