I believe that Chris's statement at the beginning of the year implied it was imperative we earn our way into the NCAA or NIT. He wasn't talking about some "buy your way in with your Rich Daddy's money" tournament. I'm sorry our seniors didn't get to play further, but unfortunately they weren't able to do what was necessary to earn a bid. Our women did. Maybe someday we'll be able to earn our way into a tournament, not have to buy our way in.
I, along with a few others, said from the beginning we didn't want to play in one of those meaningless tournaments. Others chose to. That's their right. We must have chosen not to. Got to move on to next year. I still contend that if we don't make the tournament (NCAA or NIT) next year, Steve will be on the hot seat. At some point you have to take that next step. And we know that Chris won't hesitate to pull the plug (See UALR baseball) if he thinks the program has gone as far as it can go with a current regime, no matter how much he likes a coach. And to clarify, I'm not saying our coach should be fired. I'm only speculating as to what could happen in the future if certain goals aren't met.
(03-16-2009 09:56 AM)Dr. J. Wrote: [ -> ]I believe that Chris's statement at the beginning of the year implied it was imperative we earn our way into the NCAA or NIT. He wasn't talking about some "buy your way in with your Rich Daddy's money" tournament. I'm sorry our seniors didn't get to play further, but unfortunately they weren't able to do what was necessary to earn a bid. Our women did. Maybe someday we'll be able to earn our way into a tournament, not have to buy our way in.
I, along with a few others, said from the beginning we didn't want to play in one of those meaningless tournaments. Others chose to. That's their right. We must have chosen not to. Got to move on to next year. I still contend that if we don't make the tournament (NCAA or NIT) next year, Steve will be on the hot seat. At some point you have to take that next step. And we know that Chris won't hesitate to pull the plug (See UALR baseball) if he thinks the program has gone as far as it can go with a current regime, no matter how much he likes a coach. And to clarify, I'm not saying our coach should be fired. I'm only speculating as to what could happen in the future if certain goals aren't met.
I
personally wouldn't want to play in one of the new tournaments, as I feel that the post season has already been watered down enough. But, I also realize that the public perception is that a team is playing in post season, and that can't be bad, even if you lose the game. For the publicity that it might bring to the Trojan program,
I think it would have helped to have played somewhere, even in a watered down post season. If money was the problem, say so. If Chris Peterson thought as I do,(too many post season tournaments), then say so.
I feel like the new college post season is like the playoffs in professional sports, too many teams involved. I liked it like it used to be when I was a kid. 8 major league teams in the American League and 8 in the National. The top team in each league went to post season(World Series), and everyone else went fishing, or whatever they did in the off season.
If you have to pay to get into one of the new tournaments, that would be a reason for not going.
But, give us an answer why we aren't going, not a "no comment." Most of us understand finances and budgets.
(03-16-2009 11:15 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ] (03-16-2009 10:41 AM)LRTrojan Wrote: [ -> ]I personally wouldn't want to play in one of the new tournaments, as I feel that the post season has already been watered down enough. I feel like the new college post season is like the playoffs in professional sports, too many teams involved. I liked it like it used to be when I was a kid. 8 major league teams in the American League and 8 in the National.
You got it there, LRT!
It's absolutely insane for a program like ours to snub our noses at a postseason tournament. Are we better than Cincinatti, Bradley, Richmond, UTEP, etc. No way. Based on history, it will be years until we win 23 games again. So it comes down to the crapshoot of winning the tournament, which based on history we aren't going to win. I would have loved the opportunity to play Stanford, Oregon State, Houston, Cincinatti, or UTEP in postseason. I'm sure our players and coaches would have loved to as well. I wonder if we snubbed our noses at these tournaments this year, if they'll even ask us again in the future.
The "other" tournaments are really no different than the holiday or preseason tournaments. The fact that they happen to be at the end of the season doesn't give them the stature of the NCAA, certainly, or even the NIT.
(03-16-2009 12:04 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]The "other" tournaments are really no different than the holiday or preseason tournaments. The fact that they happen to be at the end of the season doesn't give them the stature of the NCAA, certainly, or even the NIT.
Who are we to be talking about "stature"? Beating a Cincinatti or Stanford would mean a heck of lot to a program like ours. Not saying we would have won, but I'd like to be able to tell a recruit "We went to a Big East school (or Pac 10 school) and won in postseason".
(03-16-2009 12:17 PM)mjs Wrote: [ -> ] (03-16-2009 12:04 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]The "other" tournaments are really no different than the holiday or preseason tournaments. The fact that they happen to be at the end of the season doesn't give them the stature of the NCAA, certainly, or even the NIT.
Who are we to be talking about "stature"? Beating a Cincinatti or Stanford would mean a heck of lot to a program like ours. Not saying we would have won, but I'd like to be able to tell a recruit "We went to a Big East school (or Pac 10 school) and won in postseason".
If that's our selling point to a recruit, we can easily solve that. We don't have to pay to play Cincinnati or Stanford. I'm sure they love to pay us to come play them at home, which we'd be doing anyway. Hell.
Just schedule some of those guys in the regular season. A loss can't hurt us in any way, since no matter how many regular season games we win, we're not going to be selected to the NCAA or NIT, unless we win our tournament. Wright Waters better come up with a better solution for the conference since this one sure as Hell didn't work.
