What you’re missing is that people are saying Judah may be more likely to return if Red is the head coach. I think these players respect JB but don’t like playing 100 percent zone and want some changes. And you know JB ain’t changin the zone or much of anything. It sounds like Red wants to play man to man and some zone and will hit the portal hard. Plus Red was Judah’s primary recruiter.
I’m doubtful the ‘switch everything m2m’ we play, aka zone, factors into many of the players’ decisions. It might, I just don’t know why it would. I mean, we’re mostly dealing with players we know aren’t going to be in plus matchups when it comes to on-ball defense.
But if Mintz likes Red and that switch wouldn’t cause him to leave, then I’m cool with that. I don’t think Red’s style will change from Boeheim’s much, which I’m in favor of. I like the idea of some continuity in the program. I like the idea of getting some transfers (I’m opposed to relying on transfers year-over-year), too.
If he’s going to play multiple defenses, it either needs to be all m2m or primarily zone with m2m mixed in. M2M with zone mixed in won’t work. As we’ve seen over the decades, the zone takes time to learn and run well. If we’re just mixing it in as a trunk monkey like every basic JV coach, it won’t work, so it’s better to just not do it, imo.
Circling back to the portal, if Boeheim is staying one more year, my assumption is that Red (assuming he’s the replacement) will have full recruiting control right away, if that’s not already the case. JB wouldn’t have much/any reason to get in Red’s way.