HookEm

I think most of us realize how important the coach is. That is why it was so devastating when Beard fucked up. It was literally my worst moment as a sports fan. I have said many times that we are never going to get a coach better than him again. He was the perfect coach in the perfect situation. And in a vacuum, not a single one of us would have hired RT. If he was still at UTEP when the job came open he wouldn’t get a single phone call. Everyone acknowledges this. But that wasn’t the situation. There was no way we weren’t hiring him after the job he did last year. You can debate how much he was responsible for our success, but he was getting the job. And he is going to be in the job for at least 2-3 more years. Maybe longer. I don’t think many people are blind to who RT is. He isn’t a top-10 coach. Or a top-25 coach. But he might be a top-10 recruiter. And we might have a top-10 staff. And he has the resources of the 1,000 pound gorilla of college athletics in a time when we can flex all of our power. So I doubt we are going to suck much more than we do this year even with his flaws. And the season isn’t over yet. The team could very well make a run. [emoji2369]

Wait a second... are you saying that Abmas is better than any player we lost last year? Carr, Rice, Allen, etc? But those guys were recruited and developed by BEARD! It seems impossible that RT could recruit someone who is even better than the guys portal master Beard brought in!???

Now show last year.

I think I just have an over-sensitivity to forecasts of roster doom in the NIL era. The game has changed from what it was just 3-4 years ago. We could turn over the ENTIRE roster and still go get plenty of talent. None of us know what it is going to look like. But I am willing to bet that this coaching staff (and boosters / administration) will do what is necessary to go get some good players. Now, whether this staff can develop them into an elite team is another topic entirely.

In fairness we were all in euphoria

I wouldn't expect you to understand the reaction, but I will try. Negative people are a beating, but they rarely realize it. Whether at work, at home, in social circles, on message boards, among fellow fans, wherever. People with a pessimistic outlook try to infect everyone else with their negativity. By definition, it is a drag because that is exactly what the negative person is trying to do: drag down their optimism and convince them that the future is bleak. And it is often done with a smug attitude that they are the only enlightened ones who have a realistic view, or who are smart enough to understand what is going on. They simultaneously make others feel stupid while also tearing down their hopeful view. Do you think people will react in a cheery manner? Nope. It is a beating. I admit I have been wrong before about our prospects, thought I still contend that some of the Shaka teams were pretty unlucky. The team you mentioned lost 14 games by 10 points or less. We had the talent to be better and I always thought Shaka would revert back to his winning style (which he eventually did at Marquette). Whatever. You have been wrong before as well. We could very well add two top-10 portal players to the roster. We will likely have two top-6 HS recruits starting. We will potentially have two upper-class guards. Who knows. Or maybe we will just backfill everyone with players like Horton and Onyema and win 10 games next year. My point wasn't that we will be great. My point is that we won't know until July-August.

Wow, is it already time to start fretting about NEXT year? My goodness what a beating to be so pessimistic. I thought everyone learned last year not to worry until like August. The losses last year were much more significant than they will likely be this year. We lost Carr, Rice, Allen, Bishop, and Morris. That is 3 starters and two key role players. Then we had the very late, surprise recruiting loss of National #2 Ron Holland and #24 AJ Johnson. And capped it off by losing 4-star Brumbaugh. Holy shit. The fact that we even have a somewhat competent team this year should tell you that RT is pretty decent in the portal. To summarize, last year we returned: Disu, Hunter, Mitchell, Cunningham and Anamekwe. Everyone was freaking out. We literally returned only ONE guard... and a flawed one at that. So, RT went out and got the #1 guard in the portal in Abmas. This year we could return: Hunter (80%), Mitchell (80%), Weaver (95%), Shedrick (90%), Onyema (90%), Johnson (50%), Pryor (70%), Anamekwe (50%). We are bringing in one elite recruit and another solid one. I think the team will look like this: PG - Hunter - The complaints are justified, but he is playing better this year according to almost every measurable stat. PER, TS%, eFG%, PTS, AST, STL. If he stays, he will continue to get marginally better. And we are still talking about a senior, 3-year starter on a S16 and E8 team (plus whatever we do this year) SG - Weaver - Already good and improving. Has the potential to be great. The athleticism is there. The shot is clean. I will be surprised if he doesn't make a moderate leap. G/F - Tre Johnson - National Top-5 HS Player. Great scorer off the dribble and from 3. Good rebounder. Could be really good. Will give us size on the perimeter we are missing this year. PF – Dillon Mitchell - Should continue to improve. Hopefully we see a shot start to develop C - Elite Transfer. Hopefully someone on the level of a Hunter Dickenson or Kel'El Ware. Time to open the checkbook. -------------------------------------------------- G - Elite transfer who might end up starting depending on how good he is. C - Kaeden Shedrick - Another year of continuity and hopefully a lack of injuries could help him PG - Chris Johnson - TBD. If he stays, I would expect him to be marginally improved. SG - Cam Scott - Should be a role player SF - Devon Pryor - Enrolled early, so he is more like a true freshman who got the benefit of a year of college level training. Doubt he does much for another year. PF - Ze'Rik Onyema - Don't think he will ever be more than a 10 mpg spot defender There is still more talent on this roster than most. You have two National top-6 HS recruits starting. Plus a handful of other top 30-50 players. The guards will be upper-classmen. All of this and we will be in the SEC, which should be considerably easier.

So they have any money left to pay a buyout?

In Massey rankings, we are #25. Lunardi: Virginia is #31, Purdue #2 CBS: MSU is #21, UConn #1 USA Today: CSU is #34

Last night was one of the worst shooting nights I can remember. Sometimes shots don't fall. If we had simply shot from deep to K-State's opponent average (31.4%), we blow them out. I thought the rotations last night were ok. Horton played more than I would have liked, but I can see RT trying to find a hot hand. Abmas + Hunter + Weaver were a combined 0-10 from 3. Yikes. At least Horton hit a couple. On the plus side, we had 38 rebounds... and somehow only 9 turnovers. Some of the shots were so bad though that they may as well have been turnovers. (I'm looking at you Shedrick corner 3). I would like to see Hunter get fewer minutes. He finished with 37 last night. Get him down in the 30 mpg range and give more to Weaver. Also good: Disu 10-11 from the line including some huge FTs when it really mattered.

Good point. If we had played defense and hustled like that against UCF or at WV we win both of those. Some of that is simply getting Weaver more minutes. I’m still reeling from the game. So many bad decisions, bad shots, and boneheaded plays. Ugghh. Just bad basketball. Some of that can be attributed to K-State. Most of it can be attributed to RT.

This game was always going to be a bloodbath. It was more like a tourney game. And K-State dirties it up but they generally play everyone close. Lost by 3 to TCU, by 6 at BYU, by 1 at Tech. They beat KU and Baylor. This was a critical win and we won playing absolutely terribly.

This team is stupid. Like really stupid.

After that flagrant foul, they are playing harder than we are. That says something.

This KState team is garbage. Just a hacking, poor shot jacking, turnover machine of a team. People complain about Terry, but that they a better coached than this KState team.

Like I said. Dude just drives me crazy. I can't imagine a world where he thinks that is the shot we needed right there.

this is some of the worst basketball I have ever watched

Onyema never plays so I don't have to get frustrated at him. Horton is also spectacularly frustrating to watch.

Remember when we had Beard and a 7 point lead felt like it may as well be a 20 point lead?

There are some frustrating players on this team, but nobody is worse than Shedrick. Dude just adds nothing. Runs around flat footed, always out of position, taking terrible contested 12 foot shots, can't rebound, etc. Whenever he comes in, I know that the other team is about to go on a run. He is the definition of a stiff. Hunter at least gives some effort now and again. And shows some fire and occasional explosiveness.

That was me. I believe no team ranked under 38 has ever failed to make the tournament.

Right now we are 33 in NET, 29 in Kenpom, 27 in Massey. We will end up in the top half of tournament teams according to computer rankings, regardless of what our seed is if we get in. Our losses are to: #1, #3, #3, #8, #9 #17, #23, #76, #112. And we have wins over: #10, #22, #29, #50. Our first game in the tournament would be against a team in the 20-50 range on a neutral court. So we are 3-1 against teams of the caliber we will get in round 1. Our 2nd game would likely be against a team in the 1-10 range. We are 1-5 on that front. Not great, but you never know. I could see us getting an 11 seed and having to face a ~20-25 ranked team in round 1. That is winnable for this group. We win and now we are playing the winner of the 3-14 game. Worst case we face a team in the 10-12 range. Best case, there is an upset and we are facing a team ranked more like 45-50. Bottom line, if we get in the tourney anything can happen.

If this team gets into the tourney, there is a real possibility that they can make a run to the S16. If that happens he gets 2 years for sure. On the other hand, if we miss the tourney this year and miss it again next year, he is probably gone.

Beard had some NBA talent at Tech. Zhaire Smith went #16 in 2018. And then Jarrett Culver went #6 in 2019. And Jahmi'us Ramsey was a 2nd rounder in 2020. They haven’t done much in the NBA but they were drafted highly.