Based on the discussion in another thread.
What are our short term expectations of this team?
What are our long term aspirations?
Is the last decade of results good enough?
For reference, since 2012-2013 (the season after VCU left):
NU is #1 in the conference in regular season wins and winning %
NU is #1 in the conference in CAA tournament wins and winning %
NU is #1 in the number of QFs made, SFs made, and Finals made
NU is tied for #1 for the number of CAA tournament championship wins
That said, some mitigating factors:
Our conference has gotten weaker over the last decade, from typically 9th-14th in RPI to 14th-19th in RPI.
We haven't had any NBA talent with NU, while some other CAA teams have. (Though in general that's dropped off across the board).
Save for the one-off game, attendance has been bad.
We can say we're the best team over the decade in the CAA and that's great, but is it enough? We aren't dominating the league, we aren't a perennial NCAA tourney team.
Is being a good CAA team good enough with the way our league trajectory has been? I know it's early in the season but the Colgate loss helped me think about these questions.
I often think about how great it would be to join the A-10 and play against better competition while creating a better reputation nationally. But does that really happen? Do we really think we'd be happy with the results George Mason has had over the last 8 seasons? Not sure if that is the answer. And if it's not the answer to get into a better conference, then what is our long term aspiration? (Maybe it simply is to get there and hope we compete and get better?)
Getting blown out by a mediocre Kansas team was a tough pill to swallow in 2019. Sometimes I feel like this team has mental fragility that costs us (also why maybe we have some teams with turnover problems?). I'm not sure if it's a coaching problem. If it is a coaching issue, then is it simply good enough to be best of the CAA but never get national recognition because we aren't strong enough? Do we ride Coen for everything he's got or try to switch it up for something bigger? I'm young enough were I've never known any other coach but Coen for NU since I enrolled, so this might be more suited to vets here who have seen coaches come and go.
STL, thanks for doing the research. I'll opine on one of the questions because I don't have strong feelings about many of the issues you raise. With respect to expectations....or what I would be happy with....I know what I was NOT happy with....the Keeling reign of six or seven hopeless years. THERE was a coach who won just enough games every year not to get fired......at least it worked for a while. Maybe that helped me form my current hopes and expectations because what I now hope for is to be a top contender almost every year. If I needed my team to go to the post season every year I'd start rooting for Kansas.
Our CAA journey has been interesting. We took our America East level talent in there and strugged for a few years. It took a while to fill our roster with CAA level talent but we weren't able to get ODU or VCU type talent. (Still, our all time conference winning percentage is almost sixty percent). When the top schools left we were left with a conference that every year has maybe three or four fairly evenly matched favorites. With that situation you wouldn't expect one team to dominate and it doesn't disappoint me that NU hasn't dominated because I don't see that as realisic and I don't need that to be happy with my team, anyway I totally get that others will have diifferent expectations.
A good question. I think NU should be and can be on the level of a St. Mary's or Utah State, a top 50 program, a consistent tourney team able to get an at large bearth on a semi regular basis, able to compete with top mid major schools with the occasional win over a power 5 school. I don't expect them to be the Fonzaga of the East but aspirations should be high. Being a mid level CAA team is nice, but NU can do better. Maybe I was spoiled by the Jim Calhoun days. I cringe when I hear that was a good Patriot league school that beat us.
What I expect and what NU's Administration wants seem to be on two different playing fields. Our academic status and quality of student has had a meteoric rise over the last 20 years. Next level research buildings and dorms have been built to cater to this new NU. Our amenities spaces are in line with any top school in the country. The athletic department and its facilities have not seen such attention. While we moved to the CAA at a peak time, the conference has since become a shell of itself while schools with larger athletic asperations and fan bases have consistently moved away from us. Our overall facilities are below par. Yes Matthews is home and a wonderful old barn that can keep going for another 200 years as the concrete superstructure, wood ceiling, plumbing and electrical all outlive their life expectancies. Cabot served a nice purpose in its day 30-50 years ago, but it certainly needs to be reconfigured. Can they demolish and rebuild? If it happens, do you think Aoun will give it back to Athletics? We finally build a football field on campus and give it to the neighborhood. If that wasn't a direct message to NU fans to take it or leave it then I'm a Harvard grad. I know we are tight for space, but we know that NU has figured out how to turn a concrete jungle into an award winning urban campus. I guess what I expect is that NU commit to athletics like it has with academics and enrollment. Build a department that is needed to get us to a place where we can be proactive and attractive to potential suitors. Let Jim Madigan do what he does best and take NU to the next level. Is that too much to ask for?