So, was it a disappointment or a meeting of expectations or more than expected? TBH, I'm not sure but I probably err on the side of disappointment. New coaches, new conference, same players. But I have to look at each game and say to myself, was the preparation, the schemes and the play up to snuff or not. Its kind of a mixed bag of good and bad.

1. Coaching ----There simply were some ridiculous mistakes by the staff and a few games where the team was simply NOT ready. And there is absolutely no excuse for being beaten by a lower division team as well as not being able to beat ORU. That is something thats just not acceptable to me. ORU should not have the same caliber athlete we do.

2. Conference ----The new conference is great and something we can build on as well as some great TV time - almost every single game was on the tube. But we were in position to win the league and go to the dance and that didn't happen. We bl,ew the opportunity to win some home games that we should have - SMU and Cincy. We beat an injured Temple team who was no better than an NIT team at the end - our only quality win.

3. Record ---- We ended up going to the NIT and being two and out. For a Wojcik team that would be a positive, but for this group it was not acceptable. Last year under DM we went to the dance, came off a 10 game conference win streak and had basically an all sophomore team. This year those sophs were experienced Juniors with more maturity. Going from a 23-11 NCAA team to a 21-13 NIT second round embarrassing loss (by 21 points) is not a success IMO. And will it get any better? I just don't think our recruiting under Haith is going to get us to the mountain top when these kids leave.

4. Players ---- We basically had a junior dominated team with vitually noone behind them with any experience. After next season, we will obviously fall off the map and I don't think our recruiting is going to change that. And when we are beaten out by another conference team for a local 4 star player (Milton) - that says something about where we are headed.

5. Future ---- We need to get some 3 ball shooters and more beef up front. I was a little shocked that Murray looked bigger than us - bulk wise. That should not be the case. And vitually all our players were recruited by DW and DM - at least the good ones. I was really happy when we kept Littlejohn after the coaching change, but still can't figure out why he "unshirted" and sat the bench. Dew is a decent athlete but evidently not ready and "E" is, well, just big. We need some changes and they need to be quick. This league will not stand by and wait for us to reload.

Hope I'm wrong, but we can do better IMO.

I think you pretty well covered it.......our offense was the biggest problem, very streaky, if any, outside shooting......and very little interior offense. It's actually kind of unbelievable we had the record we did.......without any real outside or inside scoring. So yes, we need a really good 3 point threat and we need the inside guys to learn some offense. I am not happy with the style of basketball we play......55 to 65 point games will get us a 20-12 record most years if we are real lucky.......if you don't have the horses you better be runnin'........our best teams averaged over 80 points a game with a 6'6" center and 5' 10" guards.

I'll throw out a few crazy thoughts & observations :

1. If I could replay the whole season for TU, I would start Ray @ PG from the first game on. My starting 5 would be Ray, Shaq, Woodard, Smith & Wright. Swanni 1st off bench, then Edogi, then Curtis. I would press....a lot. I would play Dew & Littlejohn a lot more than they played. I would have more of a 10 man rotation.
2. Back to reality, Littlejohn is transferring. I think we missed the boat with him. I hope we don't regret this.
3. The only way I see real improvement next season is by signing 2 really good players this spring. First a Juco PF or Center, second a good 3 point shooter.
4. I will be very pleasantly surprised if any of our juniors improve greatly as seniors. Our juniors have had plenty of playing time experience to become who they are. I didn't see much improvement from soph. to junior except for maybe Swanni.
5. I would still press next season. I think Taplin & Birt could both play that style, along with everyone on our current roster, assuming Big E doesn't return.
6. I like Haith, I still don't know if he can recruit to Tulsa. I also still have questions about how his teams play in March.
7. We have a great coaching staff in place. If anyone of our assistants leave, I hope we find an aggressive young recruiter to replace him.

I don't think we missed the boat on him. From what I understand, he had a bad attitude and couldn't keep his grades up... That opens up a spot for a juco big we desperately need.

I'll use a crystal ball and predict ML, "E" will be gone. I agree with some that ML was a player that could help us, but evidently didn't adapt to Haith and staff. We don't run a nursery school, but we also need to make sure we have the players in place that can compete. I think there is an outside chance Haith leaves when our seniors next year graduate. That would set the program back quite a bit. Behind the scenes, I think there is a little trouble in river city. I'm not sold at all on what we are doing from a scheme standpoint.

Not sure if Big E will be gone or not. It seems like they might have announced it at the same time as Reps and Littlejohn if that was the case. It's still a firm possibility though. I wish we were hearing more about recruiting for that now open spot in the last several weeks. It seems that the offers/visits have gone quiet on twitter and elsewhere.

Haith really needs to learn to use his timeouts better, and when to use that zone of his. He lets his team suffer through droughts and collects timeouts for no reason.

We need a productive big man and a scoring g/f that can flat out shoot the ball and defend.

I haven't heard any rumblings of issues behind the scenes - the only thing I've heard is Dave Leitao is being targeted for a couple of lower level head coaching jobs.

I'm just waiting for news of a juco big to come through so we can all take a sigh of relief for next season.

DePaul it is - if you believe what's being said on Twitter this afternoon.

(03-29-2015 12:02 PM)goldenhurricane2 Wrote:  I haven't heard any rumblings of issues behind the scenes - the only thing I've heard is Dave Leitao is being targeted for a couple of lower level head coaching jobs.

I'm just waiting for news of a juco big to come through so we can all take a sigh of relief for next season.

Kind of funny that DePaul would be called a lower level job. They are a Big East team in a huge market that has some good history.

I think it's impressive that a Tulsa assistant coach was hired by a Big East school.