17 Comments

Nobody is thrilled with the way things are going, but lost in all of this is the Wyking talent drain. Justice is currently starting and one of the leading scorers for a top 5-10 OSU team; Vanover is a key contributor on a borderline top 10 team at Arkansas; and McNeil is a key contributor on what seems to be a pretty good SMU team. They would be 3 of our 4 best players right now, and the recruiting the last two years has been nowhere close to being at the level to replace any one of those guys, much less all 3 of them. Against that backdrop, I think that the injuries and other time missed by guys like Bradley and Grant means more to this team than it does other programs.

Looks like there is maybe/sorta a bit of an uptick this year in recruiting? But unless we start re-stocking with legitimate power 5 caliber players, this isn't going to get meaningfully better no matter what else Fox does, though I don't think the apparent lack of improvement by any of the players here is a vote of confidence that recruiting is going to get significantly better anytime soon. And if we are pinning our hopes on the transfer portal, yikes. Maybe the late-game ball will bounce our way and we'll win a few more close games some season than we did this year and inch closer to a .500 conference record, but that seems like the ceiling here, and that seemed like it was the ceiling even when he was hired. There is no reasonable opportunity to move on, but maybe our next coaching search will include something resembling a real process instead of the AD simply going with a consultant's recommendation.

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Maybe it’s faulty memory, but the Berkeley disruption to preseason practice seemed way more than schools in other geographies experienced. The teammates had to be outside and couldn’t even touch the same ball all summer. If defense takes more practice to get right, I am unsurprised at the result and chalk up this season as doomed from the start because of Berkeley’s health restrictions.

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I'm not a Fox fan. Mostly because of the temper tantrums he pulls on the sideline during games, so old school and doesn't sit well with players, parents and fans. That said, the staff did a poor job developing players from year 1 to year 2 but get a full pass due to COVID 19. A glaring miss by the staff was not giving KK more minutes. He is one of the few players on the team with the athleticism and length for the PAC12. Only way to get better is to play and KK's butt was in the seat way too much. Celestine got increased minutes, which was good (should have gotten a lot more) and Bowers should have been given a lot more minutes as well. Just not enough development or "trial by fire" for these 3 players, IMO.

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That's a good question: What does the AD want out of the men's basketball program? I know next year (if Covid is gone, a big if) then it will be interesting to see how many folks show up at Haas. I suspect it will take a long time to recover the fanbase which is shrinking with each passing year of futility.

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Removed (Banned)Mar 1, 2021
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