Wow, we have really spiraled out of control as fans. Yes, we have taken some steps back since the end of last year but there is no reason to be calling for the coaches head. The stark reality is that is it not 1999 anymore. There are 344 D1A teams and with more and more kids going to the NBA, recruiting is harder than ever. You add the information age and there is nary a kid that slips through the cracks. Coach Wojcik has come really close to assembling an elite 8 level squad, McLean, Randle & Clarke are 3 guys that would be starting right now and we would be challenging Memphis for the league title. Hill would have made a great back-up PG as well. Alas, two guys left and two were 11th hour misses. While that does give us a glimmer of hope, it also raises questions about what we are doing wrong. Why did we miss on these guys? Why did they leave? I am so sick and tired of the Koolaid crowd calling every kid who leaves TU a "cancer" or a bad student or lazy etc. That is just a load of crap. Even if it WAS true, part of recruiting is making sure the kids can stay happy, eligible and motivated.
So where are we? I say we are probably a team ranked around 100, 75 on our best days and 125 on our worst. That is not too shabby really, I mean in football terms that would put us around #34. The bad news is that we are spoiled in hoops, we want an NCAA tournament berth every year and an NIT on the off years and IMHO we are just not close to that. Only 34 teams out of 344 will get an at-large bid. We really need to be in the top 30 to promise a spot and top 50 to be on the bubble and I dont see it, no matter what happens the rest of this year. Some say we have a lottery pick and another NBA player on our roster, sorry, I dont see it. You have to be able to guard the Shaq's of the world if you are going to even be an NBA backup and the guards in the NBA are either big or world class athetes.
Our biggest woes are at the PG spot. Hill left, Clarke went elsewhere and the JUCO we brought in has been injured and does not appear to be good enough to play against better teams. He is recovering from an injury so, we'll see, but it just doesnt look promising. That raises another question, Wojcik was a very good PG! Why cant he find and develop even an average PG? Perplexing.
In closing, it is too early to bail on this coach and this team. Last year was a fun ride but we were ONCE BOUNCE away from having a miserable season (the OT win against UAB in the CUSA tourny) before we turned it around, almost inexplicably. Sure it was fools gold and pretty meaningless in the GRAND scope of things but starring at a hand full of fools gold sure looks good after you have been holding a turd for so long.
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Let me answer the "look at what Woj almost had" argument. Yes, close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades but by all accounts (I dont have nearly the "scoop" as I used to have) Woj really thought he landed Clarke and Randle. Randle is a STUD, he can play the true point and can flat out shoot. Last I looked he was averaging 20+ppg with 5 assists and shooting lights out... in the Pac10. The point here, is that Woj has shown that he can bring these guys to the cusp, he just needs to land a couple. Our previous staff didnt come close on guys like that.
ReplyDeleteNo harm in that. I actually think it's encouraging that Woj went down to the wire on a guy who's now competing for all-PAC 10 first team PG.
ReplyDeleteAs for the PG argument, I think we would still have the same problem even with Rotnei on the team. He's a great player, but not any more of a point guard than Uzoh is. Even with a starting backcourt of Clarke and Uzoh, I'm sure we'd be complaining about the lack of a PG. The Brandon Jackson situation is the real head-scratcher for me in this whole saga.
I guess I understand why it upsets people to talk about what could have been, but as fans that's exactly what we're doing half the time anyways. For me, it eases some of the frustrations to know how close we were and hoping that we can make it actually happen on the second go-round.