RE: Is this the beginning...
i look at this team vs. the tourney teams of the past four seasons and the key characteristic that stands out to me, relative to the player personnel, is that the lack of upper classmen performance.
10 - 11: Bishop, Davis, Dixon, Gates and Wilks
11 - 12: Dixon, Mbodj, Gates, Parker, and Wright
12 - 13: Mbodj, Wright, Parker, Rubles and Killa
13 - 14: Killa, Rubles, and JJ
i know i'm not saying anything new but the lack of Senior performance is staggering when you compare it to previous seasons. You can argue that it's the fault of the coaching staff. Certainly that is a contributing factor. But i look at Sanders and i think he's tapped out his potential. i look at Shaq and, in my mind, he hasn't maxed out his potential, but it hasn't come together for him for whatever reason, and i don't know if it ever will.
At this point in time, i have written this season off as a rebuilding year. Yes, i know we can still make the tourney, and if that happens i will be cheering for this group as hard as any of the other Bearcat teams. That said, a tourney appearance is a "cherry on top" type thing. i want to see steady improvement, even if incremental, on both sides of the ball. i want to see maximum effort. i want to see Troy become the leader we need him to be, both on and off the court.
i look back and one question i have is what would this team look like if Jeremiah Davis was still here, especially given KJs struggles.
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