Well, there are simply different ways of interpreting 'data.' Plotting our history on a graph, if you stand back and look at it, you could assess it as 'impressive.' If you look at the end of the graph, where it shows three consecutive years at .500, and zero ACC tourney wins, and missing on recruits, and now the expectation that we will perform again at the median level... then you might assert its now a trend rather than a blip. Trends need to be addressed. And it's not just the downward slope. There are easily observable factors that cause that dip. For one thing, jimmy isn't getting younger. Jimmy has been 'on the way out' for a couple of years, and recruits are naturally going to have less faith in a program with an outgoing chief and a replacement without a track record. If those recruits are as impactful as we would need them to be, it makes sense that they'd have better, more guranteed options.
Here is how I interpret the data. He's in the HOF. He has more wins than anybody except K. He has a handful of Final Fours. He has a National Championship. A lot of his players go to the NBA. His off the court generosity is off the charts. You can plot it on a line graph , a pie chart, a bar graph or a spirograph for all I care. I'm still going to interpret the data the same. Yes, the team is losing too much lately. Your easily observable factors for what you describe as a trend, downward slope and dip are flimsy and simplistic. Meanwhile you ignore the more varied and complicated reasons because they don't fit the narrative. You bolster this weak argument with conjecture about what recruits are thinking or what they have faith in.
Even in down years he's taken us to final fours. Well, yeah. That's the unexpected end of the year bonus for the fan. But you've been living on PB&J the other 11 months leading up to that. The recruits pay more attention to the 11 months of struggle than to the big celebratory red lobster meal at the end. Go an entire year unranked, then have all the commentators talking constantly about how they don't know if you're in or out of the big dance because you lost so many games, and some mid-tier program maybe deserves to get in over you, and then you do controversially sneak in and win some games that no one would have crowed about had they been on our out of conference schedule... and you claim that as an indication that everything is solid? That entire unranked season and then the bubble status — that's a stink that a kid smells and doesn't want to be a part of the next season.
Again, more conjecture about what recruits are thinking and now what they're smelling too. We had a below average team (for us) make a Final Four run to end the season. That's a good thing. It makes the coach look good. It makes the program look good. Since that's not part of the narrative it gets described in terms like controversial, lucky, undeserved and now it apparently has a stink and repels recruits.
Some people freak out and scream The sky is falling. Well, I'd probably see it differently here, too. Just the way You characterize it is more hyperbolic than the comments you're condemning. Freak out? People are freaking out about people freaking out. Whatever. Read the stuff that doesn't pierce your bubble and don't read the other stuff. You've probably been around long enough to know there are always going to be people who prefer a more Objective than Optimistic perspective. And since You are only the Decider of what is Objective in your own mind, stop trying to regulate how other people see and feel about things, especially when they have supporting rationales.
There are about a thousand threads on this board authored by the same small group of posters saying the same things over and over. I'll stand by my description. I have no idea What you're talking about with the rest of this paragraph, but it looks like you're claiming to know what I'm reading and that I have some sinister motive of regulating people's thoughts. More conjecture, though somewhat comedic this time.
Because they heard a podcast? Jeez, friend. Way to get inside our heads! I won't speak for everyone else, but for me, The Podcasts have only validate what I have already thought, and sometimes give me more information than I have access to, toward confirming he reasons for those thoughts. If you need to think about it more simplistically to push your narrative, have at it.
Yes, because they heard a podcast. There are plenty of posts which cite the latest installment as living proof that the narrative is real. I have no desire to be in anybody's head. Although in a few cases there appears to be plenty of room. I'm touched that you think we're friends. I can assure you we are not and I'm not the least bit interested.
