Men’s Basketball Team Reality vs Myths....

[Gamecockben1979]

1. Some are saying we “should have recruited better on the heels of the final 4”

Fact: Most recruits last year committed before we even finished the regular season. How Frank recruits based on the Final 4 birth will be shown this year and next year. It takes at least 2 seasons to determine how those recruits will pan out. We are never going to get the one and done types....I don’t care if they’re born on Greene Street at the Russell House.

2. We should make the NCAA tourney this year.

Fact: Folks we lost 2 guys (Thornwell and Dozier) that played in the NBA this season. When is the last time that happened? I’m guessing like the Final 4 appearance....never. This team will be lucky to make the NIT based on what we lost and most importantly how the SEC has improved. Felder makes us an NIT team but I doubt even that gets us to the NCAAs this year. Too much gone. Beating Florida and Kentucky was nice and gave us hope, but reality is this team is just not deep enough. Felder and Bowen could get us back to 20 wins and at least on the bubble next season.

3. Frank has too much turnover in the program

Do you want wins? Most of these guys leaving are going to D2 schools. While you can question whether they should have been recruited at all, would you rather us keep an undeveloped player around in hopes of a turnaround or replace him with a higher caliber recruit? Some of these projects pan out (Silva) and some of them don’t. This turnover is mutually beneficial. The kid gets to play instead of riding pine and we get an opportunity to sign better talent.

4. I settle for mediocrity

As many of you know I’m not a Roper fan and the football team made the appropriate change. Liked Holbrook as a person, but wasn’t the right coach and his firing was justified.

Martin has put together solid seasons the last 3 years. He built this program back up from a Horn dumpster fire. As bad as it’s been this year it’s still a heck of a lot better than it was. We will be a 20 win team again with Frank as coach soon.

Lot to chew on here. Your respectful thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

 

[chucktowncock]

well articulated, but way too accurate

 

[jonesz21]

Might be now. He was 18th among coaches in the tournament last year. I’m sure he got a pay boost and rightfully so after the first final 4 in school history.

What do you want to do if you acknowledge firing him isn’t the right call. Let him walk, Fire an assistant, give him the win next year or else talk. Really staying patient and trusting the process is the best option.

A lineup with Bowen, Silva, Kotsar and Felder next season should win 20 games.

True and this team would have won five more games at least if PJ would have stayed

 

[pettyw]

Showing the players a little love might help. I tired of seeing him frown and yell into the players faces every time they come off the court. Maybe someone should yell in has face because he is not doing that great of a job either.

 

[Horseshoe 04]

Did he win more tournament games in one year than our total in history?

Not sure how many we won prior to 2017, but I know what I saw last year I had never seen in my life as a Gamecock (40+ years), and the players on the team loved their coach.

I want to go back and am willing to support our team for a few seasons while we reset

 

[rogue cock]

Might be now. He was 18th among coaches in the tournament last year. I’m sure he got a pay boost and rightfully so after the first final 4 in school history.

What do you want to do if you acknowledge firing him isn’t the right call. Let him walk, Fire an assistant, give him the win next year or else talk. Really staying patient and trusting the process is the best option.

A lineup with Bowen, Silva, Kotsar and Felder next season should win 20 games.

Agree...the only thing I question is his inconsistent to poor evaluations and recruiting. Hopefully we can get Bowen cleared by the NCAA...and he's everything he is advertised to be. But what happened to all the shooters we were supposed to have THIS year? Thought we took a couple of grad transfers that were supposed to be shooters. And we should have more than one PG on the team.

 

[psmith5532]

All I can say is this team over the last few weeks is the worst shooting team I have seen in some time. Outside Booker everyone else is just awful. Hopefully that will change next year, because this team is just hard to watch right now.

 

[funktavious]

Agree...the only thing I question is his inconsistent to poor evaluations and recruiting. Hopefully we can get Bowen cleared by the NCAA...and he's everything he is advertised to be. But what happened to all the shooters we were supposed to have THIS year? Thought we took a couple of grad transfers that were supposed to be shooters. And we should have more than one PG on the team.

Holden was supposed to be our PG but he has been injured for the most part and when he has been out there, he's been ineffective. Our shooting has been ineffective. Booker has been our best shooter all season and probably the difference between us having a winning record and us having a losing record. However, graduate transfers are kinda like JC football players. They're mostly used for patching deficiencies here and there. If you have to rely on them for success you're going to find yourself in some trouble. We lost a couple of extra players last season that I don't think we expected to and the grads were brought in to cover up those losses. That's my theory anyway. They have helped to keep the season from being a complete disaster because I shudder to think what we would be like without them this year. We have a lot of young guys who will be better. I like Minaya and think he will be a strong player for us down the road. Having Felder and Bowen on the team next year will be huge. Beatty needs to get better. I'm thinking we can only bring in 1 recruit unless we have a transfer, losing the 3 grads and getting Felder and Bowen ready to go.

 

[anon_n4c0cp5zhdxn7]

Agree...the only thing I question is his inconsistent to poor evaluations and recruiting. Hopefully we can get Bowen cleared by the NCAA...and he's everything he is advertised to be. But what happened to all the shooters we were supposed to have THIS year? Thought we took a couple of grad transfers that were supposed to be shooters. And we should have more than one PG on the team.

I wonder how much of that is related to his reputation. Does it limit who is willing to play for him? It would be interesting to hear from a players perspective.

 

[Art__Vandelay]

Good post. I agree there seems to be some misses on talent evaluation, or the evaluation on their potential. Some of the projects just haven't worked.

A Final Four run was beyond our wildest dreams and will sustain me as a fan for a long time, but I hope we don't trade a single Final Four run and never make the tournament again.

I do have confidence in Frank as a person and his style of coaching. I think we'll get back on track