bill: I’ll always pull for the Pack and hope we win tonight. Tonight is one of the most winnable games left on the schedule in the regular season.
I don’t think that a win or loss tonight really changes the overall picture. Sure a win helps Gott and maybe he goes on a late season tear like DD did and gets into the Dance. I tend to doubt it, but stranger things have happened.
I would say when one is on a game by game referendum, it’s not good. I personally don’t think people should be swayed by that. I wasn’t more positive on Gott after the Duke win than I was negative after the UNC loss. My mind has personally been made up on Gott. The question is whether the admin and the real money brokers feel the same way because it doesn’t really matter what I think.
cowdog: I think you and are in the same boat. One isn’t terrible if they’ve made the 2 Sweet 16s, but we’re clearly trending downward and haven’t shown the type of in season consistency that most other teams in that 2+ Sweet 16 group has shown.
My biggest thought is that the two Sweet 16s isn’t the huge achievement that some make it out to be. It feels that way after wandering in the desert under Les, HWSNBN and Sid, but eight teams in the ACC have done that in the past 5 years. It sort of seems to be table stakes given the type of resources that programs in our league have. Our goal should be in that 3 or more group, as well as a consistent staple in the top 25 during the regular season (i.e. a real top 25 program).
I was with you on Marshall last time around. I also liked Sean Miller, but knew that ship sailed when they beat Duke in the NCAA tournament. Up until then, I thought we had a 50/50 shot. I liked Randy Bennett (and still do). I actually thought we’d end up with Mike Brey, but I guess his ties to his home (Bethesda) were what had him in play at Maryland and not the relationship to Yow (as some claimed). I’d have been okay with Lon Kruger as the desperation hire because he’d built winners multiple places. He wasn’t going to be the long term answer, but would have quickly righted the ship before growing bored and leaving.
owen: Is Marshall really going to turn down the Koch brothers’ money? Are we really going to pay that premium? I don’t know. My first call would be to Arch. I’d happily take Marshall, but am just not as sure about that one working out. I would definitely engage with Keats as well as what he has done at UNCW has impressed me, but there’s more risk there than with Arch or Marshall. My longer shots would be Randy Bennett (am very impressed with what he’s done at St. Mary’s) and then a desperation hire of Vinny.
Roo: I get your point about the separation of the WPC and Yow’s budget. At the same time, if we spent money on Reynolds to build a museum, but then can’t take care of the actual program it is a shrine too, then we are even more incompetently managed than many fear. I also think Woodson is making a big endowment push, and a healthy men’s basketball program will make his job easier.
shoes: I’d agree that the 4 Sweet 16 and 3 Sweet 16 teams are the blue bloods. Year in and year out, they’re turning out the type of team that we aspire to be. I personally think we could get there and really want us to model our program after Wisconsin’s. I really liked Bo Ryan when we hired Sid and there were rumors of talks there.
bjd: There were rumblings when we brought in Schroyer that he might fill in as interim in case of an emergency or might even inherit the program. I guess they were hedging on Gott’s health issues. Unfortunately, as the season wears on and we continue to be bad on defense, I would hope we would go a different way. Of course, maybe that’s on Gott. I don’t know. Defense and effort seem to start with the head man, the culture he sets, and what dictates game time. Maybe Schroyer as head man would set up a different incentive system which would reward better defense?
