Surely we’ve had many seasons with fewer wins, and seasons with higher expectations that didn’t turn out as expected. My question is: when thinking back on disappointing seasons, how did this season rank among others?

I certainly have my thoughts, but would like to hear what others think.

I am always disappointed when we don't win, and don't particularly like to talk about it, but since you asked.. Looking back after all the dust has settled, I can't put this past season up there as one of the top disappointing seasons. We had an assistant coach and one player that got limited minutes back from a team that went 30-4. Whole new coaching staff and players that had never played together and a coaching staff that had never coached with each other. We had starts and stops throughout year, and never really had a preseason practice schedule. Never could get a rhythm going. We had no fans in the stands for the team to feed off of. We knew we had good athletes, but didn't really know how they would gel.

I have never been more disappointed, then when they canceled the NCAA tournament. But that's self explanatory.

As far as the most recent disappointing season, I have to go with 2017-18. Had to win just one of the remaining three HOME games and we are regular season champs. We crash and burn and lose all three. To finish it off we get smacked in second half of the SoCon tourney championship. No post season for a team that went 25-9, but should have done so much better.

(03-13-2021 01:51 PM)kevster Wrote:  Surely we’ve had many seasons with fewer wins, and seasons with higher expectations that didn’t turn out as expected. My question is: when thinking back on disappointing seasons, how did this season rank among others?

I certainly have my thoughts, but would like to hear what others think.

I like everyone else expected Bucs to compete for a championship as we do every year. After reflection I came to the realization that our problems were due to the large number of new players who had never played together before. I think Vonnie was the only Buc that saw significant playing time last year and he was joined by ten new players that had to learn to play together. Then we had all of the Covid start/stops that kept the team from developing as they should. Coach Shay never truly got the team to gel and we sputtered down the stretch. Next year we should have a nucleus returning(even after transfers) to build a team around. We will need some important transfers to help inside. If we can get some help to take the place of Silas I think the team will be much improved. This time next year will be very telling as we should know by then if the new coaching staff is truly working out. I am hoping for a much better team next year.

It's only moderately high - but then my expectations were low - much lower than many here, I think. After the Corely episode, I lost respect for shay, and lost a significant degree of emotional "caring" - altho I still cared about the players individually. So take my comments with that disclaimer.

The one which will likely always rank highest is the much-discussed one of '93-'94 and '94-'95. Pelphrey, Niblett and Palmer had just finished, but we still had Trazel and Patterson; and LeForce had signed what must have been a top-20-in-the-country class. Which included Corrie Johnson, a 40-pt.-game scorer in H.S. - among other stars-to-be mentioned often on this board.

I guess it depends on how one defines them. Surely, the '02-'03 and '03-'04 teams were ultimately disappointing because of how close they came to winning NCAA games - but I don't think it'd be fair to call the *seasons* disappointing, really.

Certainly bartow's second year, when it quickly became obvious he didn't know what he was doing, would have to be right up there. I'd rank that one high because many of us (those who knew what was going on) were soon aware we had boxed ourselves into a very bad corner.

The one ('06?) in which we 'lost' to G-W at home in the conference tournament final after having been WAY up, due to bartow not listening to Timmy frantically trying to tell him that they weren't properly set up to defend the G-W (winning) inbounds play. That one left a very, very bitter taste - and still does, actually. And further instructed us that bartow was a loser (and I don't use that term lightly).
Then was it the very next year when Belmont came into the Dome and destroyed us (and bartow's zone) in the tournament finals, causing bartow to acknowledge that yes, Rick Byrd was indeed his daddy?

Then how does one place bartow's last 4 whole wasted years, in none of which did he win his vaunted ("it gives us) 20 wins". Most of us knew he was just riding out the clock and his days/years were numbered - despite the sordid fact that they kept renewing his contract.

Last season, tho, has to rank right up there - maybe most disappointing of all, since we were loaded and ready.

Oh, heck - enough......................
Because my expectations were not high, and because it was such a wonky season all the way around, I don't feel much sense of loss with this one - just the sense of losing the whole year to the virus. So.........probably not even in the top 7 or 8 for me. Maybe not even in the top 10 - but remember my beginning caveat/disclaimer.

I’d go with the 13-14 80-81 team. It was loaded with star talent: Charles Thaxton, Troy Lee Mikell, George Underwood, Winfred Reid. But questionable coaching kept them from being a winning squad.

All of Barton’s teams disappointed me, but mostly because of his coaching, not their playing.

I’d rank this year’s squad in the top 5 or 6 most disappointing, not because they were THAT bad, but because they made me believe in them early on, only to disappoint down the stretch.

Just imo.......................you've (and a few others) always thought more of Thaxton than I have. He had his moments, but never was able to get a rhythm or any period of consistency. He could be a force - but only for brief stretches. Beyond that, Underwood and Reid were good players, maybe Reid especially, but they were never what I'd call guys who could carry a game. Well, maybe Reid could at times. Underwood didn't have the best hands, especially shooting around the basket (where he was most of the time), altho he did good board work. It's hard to criticize Reid - and so I'm not - but he wouldn't be in my top 20 ETSU players, and maybe not in my top 25. Not gonna look it up, but was he something like second-team All-SoCon?

And..........as I'm sure you know.......Motley (RIP), Reece, and Aaron Douglas were on that team. It was a good team, and indeed they probably underachieved. But they had *nobody* effective inside. Sorry, I like Craig Lester, but at that time his hands were terrible, and his foot speed was atrocious. (Curiously, post-college his hands got very good.) So that left it to rebounding by committee with Motley, Underwood, and Troy Lee. And then you've got Quesenberry. Great FT shooter, but what else? If you'll recall, he just wasn't a full-grown major college PG. He tried, he just didn't have it. Sorta like a poor man's Ryan Lawson, imo. There were a LOT of parts there, but they never meshed well. Sometimes I think some of the guys were standing around almost like fans waiting to see what Troy Lee would do next. Maybe he was *too* big a presence. Certainly his senior year, when Winfried King came on board, *then* that was a team because nobody (except Chatt, 3 times) could stop both of them. That team beat 3 big P5 teams, and nearly beat Vandy in the NIT. That was also the year Chatt was awesome, and went to the Sweet 16 (I think). But bottom line on that team.............I think Quesenberry just wasn't good enough to make all those other good players around him better.

I see your point...............but I'd rate those '93-'95 teams at least 1.5 times as disappointing. Those teams had superior talent (other than compared to Troy Lee), but even less discipline and cohesiveness.

[P.S. -- Haven't we already had this discussion - maybe even twice?]

I wish the season would have been better, but it wasn't really that big a surprise. A number of key contributors graduated or transferred. The head coach left and was replaced with another without any head coaching experience. Covid threw another instability into the mix. Frankly, I would have been more surprised with a first or second place regular season and an appearance in the conference tournament championship game than being in the bottom part of the conference.

(03-14-2021 03:05 AM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  Just imo.......................you've (and a few others) always thought more of Thaxton than I have. He had his moments, but never was able to get a rhythm or any period of consistency. He could be a force - but only for brief stretches. Beyond that, Underwood and Reid were good players, maybe Reid especially, but they were never what I'd call guys who could carry a game. Well, maybe Reid could at times. Underwood didn't have the best hands, especially shooting around the basket (where he was most of the time), altho he did good board work. It's hard to criticize Reid - and so I'm not - but he wouldn't be in my top 20 ETSU players, and maybe not in my top 25. Not gonna look it up, but was he something like second-team All-SoCon?

And..........as I'm sure you know.......Motley (RIP), Reece, and Aaron Douglas were on that team. It was a good team, and indeed they probably underachieved. But they had *nobody* effective inside. Sorry, I like Craig Lester, but at that time his hands were terrible, and his foot speed was atrocious. (Curiously, post-college his hands got very good.) So that left it to rebounding by committee with Motley, Underwood, and Troy Lee. And then you've got Quesenberry. Great FT shooter, but what else? If you'll recall, he just wasn't a full-grown major college PG. He tried, he just didn't have it. Sorta like a poor man's Ryan Lawson, imo. There were a LOT of parts there, but they never meshed well. Sometimes I think some of the guys were standing around almost like fans waiting to see what Troy Lee would do next. Maybe he was *too* big a presence. Certainly his senior year, when Winfried King came on board, *then* that was a team because nobody (except Chatt, 3 times) could stop both of them. That team beat 3 big P5 teams, and nearly beat Vandy in the NIT. That was also the year Chatt was awesome, and went to the Sweet 16 (I think). But bottom line on that team.............I think Quesenberry just wasn't good enough to make all those other good players around him better.

I see your point...............but I'd rate those '93-'95 teams at least 1.5 times as disappointing. Those teams had superior talent (other than compared to Troy Lee), but even less discipline and cohesiveness.

[P.S. -- Haven't we already had this discussion - maybe even twice?]

There's no law that says something can't be discussed more than once. Just sayin.

(03-14-2021 08:52 PM)kevster Wrote:  There's no law that says something can't be discussed more than once. Just sayin.

No, of course not. But it makes future references and searches MUCH easier, comprehensive, *and* cohesive, if it were all together. Just sayin'.

Has the 2021-22 season started, yet?...

Definitely 2017-2018 season was as heartbreaking as I can remember.We had a chance in all three remaining games to win the socon title.....also this year was disappointing because of our talent. But last year was the team that would have made the most noise in awhile in the ncaa tournament .....