I sense a lot of frustration right now with our program and I feel it too. Every year we think there is potential to bust out of this mediocrity and every year 2-3 things knock us back (this off season it was Wahab transfer and Tre King situation). That is difficult for any fan base, much less one of a team with a glorious history in the 80s and 90s when many of us became fans. Most of us thought Coach Ewing would make this team more competitive than it was under the last few years of JT3. That has not happened. If anything, we are in a worse situation presently.
There are many reasons for our problems. Here is a short list of what I think are the top 5 issues that cause us not to succeed (with the exception of last year's BET) and to remain a mediocre basketball team. To me, these are the issues that need to be addressed.
1. Our best recruits have not stayed: Akinjo, McClung, LeBlanc, Sibley, Wahab, Walker. We have had some very good college basketball players come through here and others who might be good and have potenital. You simply cannot sustain a team losing your best players after 1-2 years to transfer every year. These are not NBA guys who are making an impact and leaving for the league They are leaving before they reach their peak. Cannot build a winning program with exits of top guys at this rate. Retention of top players must improve. Period.
2. Our recruiting is not good enough. We just do not get the top guys and we must do so. We are in the mix for guys like Cisse, Baldwin Jr., Timberlake, Holgrem, but other than Aminu, we lose every time. You have to be able to recruit some top 25 guys to be a consistently elite team in the Big East. Patrick Ewing has to be able to recruit the best big men in the country and land a few, but he has not. Y7 and Wahab are good, but we need the best guys and someone of Ewing's stature should be able to get them. Juwan Howard came in around the same time and seems to be able to land excellent players. We also seem to be very lacking recruiting in areas where we actually should be good: 1. Internationally (how can a school like Gtown be so woefully inadequate at landing top international talent?); 2. Locally (we never seemed to develop the local relationships necessary here although it appears Coach Crouch is making some progress).
3. We have not drawn one major impact transfer. With so many guys on the transfer market, you would think we could get a guy who can really step in and do damage. We have picked up some good guys, but nobody that is a game changer like a Mike Smith was at Michigan, Juzang at UCLA, Oscar Tshiwebe likely will be at KU. Just think of what Kofi Cockburn could have done this year in Blue and Gray. The best we have had is Yurt7 and he was not even second team all conference. In today's CBB you need high impact transfers every 1-2 years, especially if you have the recruiting woes we have described above. We have none.
4. We do not have a good atmosphere for basketball (which affects attendance and recruiting). Many thought the Thompson Center will help, but we need much more than that. As Ron likes to say, it is the entire culture. We simply do not have it and the program as a whole is not helping itself in this regard. Compare Creighton and Xavier or even Grand Canyon University. We have to build enthusiasm.
5. Although I think it is improved the last 1-2 years, our in game coaching and fundamental teaching was lacking for a long time. Some of our inbound plays were absolutely ridiculous. I watched the way we cut and ran our press break and wanted to puke many times. Our last second execution was horrible for many years. Our defense was woeful until last year. I do not know if it is Coach Crouch or not, but this was markedly improved last year, particularly on the defensive level. We must continue to improve in this area.
I do not have the solutions to fix these problems, but in my humble opinion, if even 3 of these problems are materially addressed and improved we will again be consistently competing for Big East Titles and be a Top 25 team on a regular basis. Okay. I feel a tiny bit better.
Thoughts?
There are many reasons for our problems. Here is a short list of what I think are the top 5 issues that cause us not to succeed (with the exception of last year's BET) and to remain a mediocre basketball team. To me, these are the issues that need to be addressed.
1. Our best recruits have not stayed: Akinjo, McClung, LeBlanc, Sibley, Wahab, Walker. We have had some very good college basketball players come through here and others who might be good and have potenital. You simply cannot sustain a team losing your best players after 1-2 years to transfer every year. These are not NBA guys who are making an impact and leaving for the league They are leaving before they reach their peak. Cannot build a winning program with exits of top guys at this rate. Retention of top players must improve. Period.
2. Our recruiting is not good enough. We just do not get the top guys and we must do so. We are in the mix for guys like Cisse, Baldwin Jr., Timberlake, Holgrem, but other than Aminu, we lose every time. You have to be able to recruit some top 25 guys to be a consistently elite team in the Big East. Patrick Ewing has to be able to recruit the best big men in the country and land a few, but he has not. Y7 and Wahab are good, but we need the best guys and someone of Ewing's stature should be able to get them. Juwan Howard came in around the same time and seems to be able to land excellent players. We also seem to be very lacking recruiting in areas where we actually should be good: 1. Internationally (how can a school like Gtown be so woefully inadequate at landing top international talent?); 2. Locally (we never seemed to develop the local relationships necessary here although it appears Coach Crouch is making some progress).
3. We have not drawn one major impact transfer. With so many guys on the transfer market, you would think we could get a guy who can really step in and do damage. We have picked up some good guys, but nobody that is a game changer like a Mike Smith was at Michigan, Juzang at UCLA, Oscar Tshiwebe likely will be at KU. Just think of what Kofi Cockburn could have done this year in Blue and Gray. The best we have had is Yurt7 and he was not even second team all conference. In today's CBB you need high impact transfers every 1-2 years, especially if you have the recruiting woes we have described above. We have none.
4. We do not have a good atmosphere for basketball (which affects attendance and recruiting). Many thought the Thompson Center will help, but we need much more than that. As Ron likes to say, it is the entire culture. We simply do not have it and the program as a whole is not helping itself in this regard. Compare Creighton and Xavier or even Grand Canyon University. We have to build enthusiasm.
5. Although I think it is improved the last 1-2 years, our in game coaching and fundamental teaching was lacking for a long time. Some of our inbound plays were absolutely ridiculous. I watched the way we cut and ran our press break and wanted to puke many times. Our last second execution was horrible for many years. Our defense was woeful until last year. I do not know if it is Coach Crouch or not, but this was markedly improved last year, particularly on the defensive level. We must continue to improve in this area.
I do not have the solutions to fix these problems, but in my humble opinion, if even 3 of these problems are materially addressed and improved we will again be consistently competing for Big East Titles and be a Top 25 team on a regular basis. Okay. I feel a tiny bit better.
Thoughts?