(01-17-2023 09:15 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  It is a message board where fans give their opinion... Big picture? Feasibility within a game? I am reacting and opining on what I see in games, which again, is kind of the point of this board...

I agree. Speculation is half of the fun. I found your viewpoint and the discussion interesting. When you pulled the inflammatory card - there was nothing stated or implied to that effect - I then began questioning your motives. Especially when other posters have been baiting and trolling in this thread.

(01-17-2023 09:15 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  Do I think Penny is a good coach and can get win at a very high level? Very possible. Do I think Penny is perfect? Definitely not.

I absolutely agree with you here.

(01-17-2023 09:15 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  Am I concerned that after 5 years of basically the same season being played out that Penny has dug his heels in on a system that is not proving to be consistently successful at the college level? Absolutely.

I don't share the same concerns. I believe that Penny has a big picture vision that he's trying to achieve. From the beginning, Penny's experience has been a bit atypical for a newly minted college coach. First we had the Wiseman challenges, which then brought ongoing NCAA challenges (only recently resolved), followed by COVID challenges, player integration difficulties, and now this season which is the result of the culmination of all the aforementioned factors.

As with all things in life, people learn as they go. Penny's hiring was a bit of an anomaly, and we all knew there would be growing pains. He had never coached at the collegiate level until he landed the head coaching position at Memphis. Every year has shown me that he has been incrementally learning through experience, and he definitely is going to make mistakes as part of that process. Sometimes you just have to let them play through mistakes to continue to grow, and there may very well be reasons aside from ego or stubbornness that would explain why he is implementing and sticking with the system that he has in place.

Let's see how this season plays out. Even if all of our guys are healthy, I am of the opinion that this year's team isn't nearly as talented as we had hoped. If Lomax and Dandridge return to the rotation, and we see continued development of Franklin and Kao, I'm still confident we make the tourney and at a minimum get past the first round. If we can do that, I'll call this season a success.

Next season, we appear to have quite the incoming recruiting class, one that should have no problems with the system that Penny is trying to establish at Memphis as part of the school's identity. It's not unusual for a school to have an identifiable "brand" of basketball and that can be one of the distinguishing factors that make a school attractive to both players and fans. I believe that Penny can pull this off, he just needs the horses, and I'm optimistic that he'll get there sooner rather than later now that the program is over the hump and facing zero external factors that could impact recruiting and competing.