1. Fortunately, I missed today's game/debacle. Lucky. I thought we'd win today and lose tomorrow, keeping us on the bubble but likely out. At least we spared ourselves Selection Sunday irritation.
2. In their last two outings, UM lost in 2OT at NW and beat Rutgers at home by something like 12 in a game where Aubrey Dawkins hit 8 threes. They are decimated by injuries right now, and simply aren't very good. Yet they blew us apart. Sounds like a coaching/effort problem to me.
3. It's apparent that John Groce, as things currently stand, is in over his head. He needs 1 or preferably 2 new assistants. The Ford brothers are simply not good. For us, Dustin Ford isn't bringing in worthwhile recruits, hasn't developed bigs, and sure isn't contributing to a winning game plan. Nice! For Bradley, things have been worse. Far, far worse.
4. I hate the "blame the administration" mentality. Blame the AD, fine. When did Wichita State and VCU commit to becoming basketball powers? Wisconsin became one by hiring a coach from UW-Milwaukee. Duke hired its great coach from Army. Indiana hired a coach from a major program that was made by D-Wade and lo and behold, without D-Wade he's not very good. They are super committed to winning with as much as they pay him and everything else they do, too. Basketball isn't football, where I agree the an administration needs to have outside pressure to win big (not necessarily to win 7-8 games a year but to be a perennial NYD bowl team or better).
5. College athletics is about coaching. You hire a bad coach, you'll suck. Mediocre coach, mediocre results (this is where I peg Groce). Great coach, you'll be elite or close thereto. The coaches bring in the recruits and implement the game plan. Unlike every other level of normal athletics (high school and below plus pros), college coaches have incredibly control over the players they get. College sports is almost like AAU in a coach's ability to assemble his team and structure it as he sees fit, except he gets to practice a lot more.
6. To go further, in December 2000, I was sitting courtside (great seats my senior year) as the soon-to-be #1 seeded Illini dismantled UW Milwaukee. In four years of attending games, one Bo Ryan is the only coach I can vividly remember on the sidelines. And it was not necessarily good. He looked totally bemused the whole game, somewhat like he was laughing at his players getting obliterated. And a year or two later, Wisky hires this dude as their HC, and he's an absolute star. We probably don't appreciate how lucky we were to get Henson, Kruger, and Self in three straight hires (two good coaches and one great one).
7. I'm not sure how anyone watching the Weber pile drive of KSU hoops by his third season thinks this is all an IL problem. Yes, we should have paid more for Smart, Stevens, etc. But Maryland didn't, and they are getting a #3 seed this year. UCLA didn't, and they competed well in a S16 game last season (not that hiring Alford strikes me as a good move). I entirely agree with the mentality of overpaying for the right guy, but plenty of other programs are declining that option and still succeeding. It goes back to this - you find the right guy at UWM or Army, you'll win. You don't, you'll lose. And if in doubt, the Xavier coach (or a brother of the Xavier coach) is a good option.
8. Groce deserves one more year. There should be zero hesitation on firing him if he misses the NCAAs. Missing three years in a row at IL is a total failure.
9. There's a decent argument that Beckman - despite his one massive flaw - is doing a better job than Groce. He's shown a willingness to attempt to correct his mistakes. I have doubts he'll get it done, but that's only because his rough start put him so far behind the 8-ball (IMO, recruiting in 2013 and 2014 would have been much better had it not been for the putrid 2012 on-field performance).
10. I have left it alone, but I still can't understand the "empty class" argument. This isn't football. Recruiting two high-quality players covers up tons of problems. Groce hasn't done it. His staff hasn't developed a post-scoring threat. He doesn't have a PG, and won't just "give it up" and play a Rice - Nunn - Hill perimeter.
11. I thought Groce was the guy. I love guys that win pressers, they usually can recruit. But Groce has come up short on all of his big recruitments. How different is this team if Dustin Ford's alleged but non-existent Canadian connection brings in XRM? If Groce finishes on DJax? He appears to be the anomaly.
12. The battle is only more uphill now. Lose Starks, no big deal, but can Tracy eat all those minutes because Tate stinks (Tracey isn't that good IMO)? Lose Rice, huge deal on every level. Lose Egwu, big problem for the post defense. Add now you add yet another large bunch of newcomers back - Tracy off a serious injury, DP a JC transfer, Finke from redshirt, and three frosh plus whomever uses the last scholarship. Groce ain't Dana Altman, can't just pull together a good team after doing this each year.
2. In their last two outings, UM lost in 2OT at NW and beat Rutgers at home by something like 12 in a game where Aubrey Dawkins hit 8 threes. They are decimated by injuries right now, and simply aren't very good. Yet they blew us apart. Sounds like a coaching/effort problem to me.
3. It's apparent that John Groce, as things currently stand, is in over his head. He needs 1 or preferably 2 new assistants. The Ford brothers are simply not good. For us, Dustin Ford isn't bringing in worthwhile recruits, hasn't developed bigs, and sure isn't contributing to a winning game plan. Nice! For Bradley, things have been worse. Far, far worse.
4. I hate the "blame the administration" mentality. Blame the AD, fine. When did Wichita State and VCU commit to becoming basketball powers? Wisconsin became one by hiring a coach from UW-Milwaukee. Duke hired its great coach from Army. Indiana hired a coach from a major program that was made by D-Wade and lo and behold, without D-Wade he's not very good. They are super committed to winning with as much as they pay him and everything else they do, too. Basketball isn't football, where I agree the an administration needs to have outside pressure to win big (not necessarily to win 7-8 games a year but to be a perennial NYD bowl team or better).
5. College athletics is about coaching. You hire a bad coach, you'll suck. Mediocre coach, mediocre results (this is where I peg Groce). Great coach, you'll be elite or close thereto. The coaches bring in the recruits and implement the game plan. Unlike every other level of normal athletics (high school and below plus pros), college coaches have incredibly control over the players they get. College sports is almost like AAU in a coach's ability to assemble his team and structure it as he sees fit, except he gets to practice a lot more.
6. To go further, in December 2000, I was sitting courtside (great seats my senior year) as the soon-to-be #1 seeded Illini dismantled UW Milwaukee. In four years of attending games, one Bo Ryan is the only coach I can vividly remember on the sidelines. And it was not necessarily good. He looked totally bemused the whole game, somewhat like he was laughing at his players getting obliterated. And a year or two later, Wisky hires this dude as their HC, and he's an absolute star. We probably don't appreciate how lucky we were to get Henson, Kruger, and Self in three straight hires (two good coaches and one great one).
7. I'm not sure how anyone watching the Weber pile drive of KSU hoops by his third season thinks this is all an IL problem. Yes, we should have paid more for Smart, Stevens, etc. But Maryland didn't, and they are getting a #3 seed this year. UCLA didn't, and they competed well in a S16 game last season (not that hiring Alford strikes me as a good move). I entirely agree with the mentality of overpaying for the right guy, but plenty of other programs are declining that option and still succeeding. It goes back to this - you find the right guy at UWM or Army, you'll win. You don't, you'll lose. And if in doubt, the Xavier coach (or a brother of the Xavier coach) is a good option.
8. Groce deserves one more year. There should be zero hesitation on firing him if he misses the NCAAs. Missing three years in a row at IL is a total failure.
9. There's a decent argument that Beckman - despite his one massive flaw - is doing a better job than Groce. He's shown a willingness to attempt to correct his mistakes. I have doubts he'll get it done, but that's only because his rough start put him so far behind the 8-ball (IMO, recruiting in 2013 and 2014 would have been much better had it not been for the putrid 2012 on-field performance).
10. I have left it alone, but I still can't understand the "empty class" argument. This isn't football. Recruiting two high-quality players covers up tons of problems. Groce hasn't done it. His staff hasn't developed a post-scoring threat. He doesn't have a PG, and won't just "give it up" and play a Rice - Nunn - Hill perimeter.
11. I thought Groce was the guy. I love guys that win pressers, they usually can recruit. But Groce has come up short on all of his big recruitments. How different is this team if Dustin Ford's alleged but non-existent Canadian connection brings in XRM? If Groce finishes on DJax? He appears to be the anomaly.
12. The battle is only more uphill now. Lose Starks, no big deal, but can Tracy eat all those minutes because Tate stinks (Tracey isn't that good IMO)? Lose Rice, huge deal on every level. Lose Egwu, big problem for the post defense. Add now you add yet another large bunch of newcomers back - Tracy off a serious injury, DP a JC transfer, Finke from redshirt, and three frosh plus whomever uses the last scholarship. Groce ain't Dana Altman, can't just pull together a good team after doing this each year.
