Year 1: improvement of 4 games overall and 2 in SEC from Horns last year (14-18, 4-14)
Year 2: 14-20, 5-13 in conference. About the same. No improvement, no drop off
Year 3: 17-16, 6-12 in conference. Winning overall record. Clearly on right track.
Year 4: 25-9, 11-7 in conference. NIT appearance. Improvement. Still convinced this team should have danced. Went 2-1 vs the 3 SEC teams that made it. Beat a Tulsa team that made it and beat Memphis too. Ultimately lost 3 to Georgia and that cost us. They had our number.
Year 5: Final Four. Improvement. Enough said. 26-11, 12-6 in SEC. Finished with #6 rank.
Year 6: Folks I’m not sure if you understand this, but it’s really hard to improve on a final four season. Only one way to go. Lose Thornwell, Dozier and Felder. 17-16, 7-11 in SEC. Not improvement.
Year 7: No doubt frustrating. Pretty good in conference 11-7, but 16-16 overall. Bad non conference losses but also a challenging schedule (Michigan & Virginia non conference).
Year 8: 18-13 overall, 10-8 in SEC. Wouldn’t have made the NCAAs. Maybe an NIT team. A couple of games cost this team from possibly being an NCAA team. Maybe not as much improvement as you would like, but better than year 7. Good win at Virginia. Most teams don’t win there.
Year 9. This year. Covid year from hell.
So in 9 years—5 years of clear improvement from previous season. 1 year about the same. 3 years of not improving, but coming off the final four year one of those 3 was inevitable. And this year Covid hit him personally not once but twice. His team lost a month of practice and games. No one got hit harder.
Year 2: 14-20, 5-13 in conference. About the same. No improvement, no drop off
Year 3: 17-16, 6-12 in conference. Winning overall record. Clearly on right track.
Year 4: 25-9, 11-7 in conference. NIT appearance. Improvement. Still convinced this team should have danced. Went 2-1 vs the 3 SEC teams that made it. Beat a Tulsa team that made it and beat Memphis too. Ultimately lost 3 to Georgia and that cost us. They had our number.
Year 5: Final Four. Improvement. Enough said. 26-11, 12-6 in SEC. Finished with #6 rank.
Year 6: Folks I’m not sure if you understand this, but it’s really hard to improve on a final four season. Only one way to go. Lose Thornwell, Dozier and Felder. 17-16, 7-11 in SEC. Not improvement.
Year 7: No doubt frustrating. Pretty good in conference 11-7, but 16-16 overall. Bad non conference losses but also a challenging schedule (Michigan & Virginia non conference).
Year 8: 18-13 overall, 10-8 in SEC. Wouldn’t have made the NCAAs. Maybe an NIT team. A couple of games cost this team from possibly being an NCAA team. Maybe not as much improvement as you would like, but better than year 7. Good win at Virginia. Most teams don’t win there.
Year 9. This year. Covid year from hell.
So in 9 years—5 years of clear improvement from previous season. 1 year about the same. 3 years of not improving, but coming off the final four year one of those 3 was inevitable. And this year Covid hit him personally not once but twice. His team lost a month of practice and games. No one got hit harder.