I am so torn on this, between the camps of ‘Brad gets a little leeway given his regular season success’ and ‘Brad loses the big ones (especially without a TSJ)’ and it’s time to go’.
I do really value the regular season and BTT championships, more so than some here, as I recall past threads in the subject (vs NCAA Tournament success). But it’s how we lost in the dance as much as the losses.
Brad’s dichotomy between season and career flexibility, vs in-game flexibility, is jarring. Keep running the same offense and defense, keep going at Clingan, don’t adjust for the Loyola big, keep shooting threes. I don’t understand why it continues.
In the end, and after reading literally thousands of posts here, the one that has resonated the most with me was the one about the Loyola game. Apologies as I do not recall the name of the poster, but he or she said that had we won that game, and Brad had another S16 or E8 next to his name, it would be much clearer that leeway this year had been earned.
That finish is the biggest disappointment of his tenure here, even more than the MM team shenanigans and the current situation.