Alright alright, I think both sides of the “boom or bust” aisle have been reading the other’s as a lot more drastic, since criticism tends to feel harsher than it really is. I, during this recruitment period, have trended towards pessimistic I’ll admit, but I don’t think it’s without merit. Nor without some optimism as well truthfully, so maybe I can put some of my perspective in a long winded respectful post.
FWIW, I don’t think anyone is assuming Coleman won’t be fantastic. Or Morillo, or Brown, etc. for that matter. Though insiders have also said don’t be expecting a Keaton out of them. Understandable as Keaton is a 1-of-1 for this program. But it raises the question if it’s the same team minus Keaton, and we don’t bring in a new Keaton, do we take a step back? Realistically I think “no,” because a summer of training and development mean Coleman and the others don’t need to be a full Keaton replacement because the progression of the others will be enough to cover that gap, if they follow the right path.
I think for myself, again I’d just feel more confident if we noticeably filled in the gaps of last years team: Defense, someone that can prevent even a 6’ guard from repeatedly driving to the basket. Assists, how many assists did we have in the Final Four game? Other games across the season? True Depth, we have a mid season injury or event that keeps a starter out for weeks every year here lately. Do we have pieces to cover that so we don’t see our seed slide? Say that ten times fast. Athleticism, as we were getting torched and winded by the end of games last year. Positional size is great, but so is being able to out run high level teams, and make end of game free throws when we’re tired.
These are just where I see a big portal guard pick up assisting. Having an Anderson or Harris would also mean Coleman can become a dependable flamethrower off the bench and develop accordingly. And in rebuttal to we can’t bring someone that high profile because we have too many stars, I simply ask how Florida or Duke are expected to because they’re the favorites to land these two right now.
On the topic of too high of expectations, yeah we need to cool our jets on it’s either Title or failure. I am an Underwood truther and will sing his praises every single day, and he has raised us to a higher floor and ceiling. Rejoicing in our consistency of making the tournament is fantastic and will never be taken for granted, but also there’s justification that the bar moves up a bit now that we’ve gotten past the first hurdles. We also need to be realistic with expectations and I personally see, with how other programs are coming together, a preseason ranking easily in the top 10, with a shot at top 5. It feels like a bunch of us are looking at this team as title favorites at the moment and I think we’re just missing pieces to be in that conversation, but that’s just me. How the season unfolds though we can honestly become that!
I love this team. I love the retention, and I legit jumped around the house cheering when Drej announced he was back along with the others. Why some might be bummed is because there was considerable talk that we’d get both Andrej and Blackwell amongst the retention. So removing cornerstone piece of the excitement understandably feels a bit hollow. But, nothing on God’s green earth will ever make me cheer less for this team. Critiques come from passion and wanting to finally win it all, or at the least have a program that is consistently viewed as an annual threat like Houston is. I cannot wait for the Boys in Orange and Blue to run it back.
