(01-26-2013 12:23 PM)Psicosis Wrote: Five and maybe six of the recruits will come if we keep Pastner, and we won't have to find a new coach in the middle of conference realignment returning us to the brink of being old-C-USA (which did have Crean and Cal and Huggy and Pitino, but was by no means as nationally respected as it deserved). And we get to keep the rookie head coach we've been grooming who's already keeping pace with the biggest coaching names in our program's history instead of letting another school reap the fruits of our growing pains.
I have no compunction about wanting coaches out when they start smelling like doo doo. It happened with West long before the depressing end came, and despite wanting to give Porter three years it was blatantly obvious we needed to change something halfway through 2011. The only thing that's obvious in this situation is that a lot of people are either trolling or out of their damn minds.
Personally, and I've said this before. I don't think Josh Pastner will not be up to the challenge of the real Big East next year. If Tarik, Joe Jackson, Adonis, and Shaq come back, and the recruits are eligible, he'll probably have the most talent in the BEast and really enough talent to win the NCAA title.
I think we brag on empty accomplishments too much. Cal winning CUSA three straight years undefeated may seem like something, but he didn't beat anybody. Cal's regular season accomplishments were always based on the out-of-conference schedule. Yes, the CUSA teams would give it their all... But our talent would run circles against the guys they put on the floor.
The CUSA story hasn't changed, but that's really all we have to brag on. How valuable is 90 wins in 3 and a half seasons when you played almost 60 games against the current CUSA and another 24 or so buy games?
Yeah he might have gotten there the 2nd fastest, but he might have also had the easiest road to get there.
I don't believe in lowering expectations. This school values basketball enough and puts enough money into basketball that we don't need to ok with mediocrity. And winning 80% of your games against schools they don't really have a commitment to basketball is mediocrity.
So next year, when we have the best conference schedule in the history of Tiger basketball, and we have a great opportunity, what happens if we go 9-9 or 8-10 and we have the deepest roster in the league?
Even if it's so bad that Pastner is fired, that would be a great opportunity lost on the levels of squandered seasons in 1994 and 2005. Then our basketball league goes back to being on the level of CUSA its first couple seasons and Memphis is known for four straight seasons of being in the preseason top 20 and underachieving, and we have a reputation for not being good.