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Message: [QUOTE="Flacusian, post: 2198970, member: 264"] Never like to double dip on a thread... but I have to weigh in on the JB aspect of this thing. JB's career speaks for itself. He is one of the greatest Collegiate coaches of all time and his defensive genius will be embodied in zone defense long after he is gone from the college scene. He is also synonymous with Syracuse Basketball and what he was able to do in central New York with this program is almost miraculously remarkable. People who have been in step with the program for the better part of the last 5 decades don't need to be told any of that. It's just fact. But... There has been plenty of critical takes on JB as well and many contained more than a kernel of truth. JB's unwillingness (read stubborness) to never depart from his line of thinking has at times been costly. Some will point to that as being an asset but there can be a strong argument that there has been an appreciable amount of hardship and criticism that program has been subjected to as a result of it. Most importantly, and what I was alluding to with my original post is the fact that we are positioned at a crossroads with the program. Several factors come into play, we are playing in a different conference in which we ostensibly may not be able to recruit at the same level as other teams. As mentioned by others, we have an aging facility (ies) We are a program which is STILL facing an uncertain future with respect to our coaching. Some posit that JB is owed the option of being able to structure the terms and conditions of his calling it quits. Perhaps, but at what cost? The past couple seasons have provided plenty of data that indicate that the current trend is less than desirable. We still have some degree of swagger with the program and SU Basketball is, I would hope, still considered one of the more elite programs in the Nation. But a couple more years of bubbledom... or maybe not even making the tourney... and a few more sub par recruiting classes and conspicuous misses on prized recruits... and then were do we find ourselves? I love JB but I think we may have missed the boat on letting Hopkins slip away after having waited patiently like a good soldier for all these years. He has been our best recruiter for over a decade and his enthusiasm is often mentioned by players as being a key component in why they came to Cuse and it's been chronicled that he relates really well with the younger players. We've just kicked the can down the road a piece IMHO and we will still be challenged with having to revamp the program at some point unless we are content with slipping into mediocrity. I hope I'm totally wrong about this but in my heart of hearts I think that the time was ripe to go in a different direction, a new and younger direction which embraces the changing nature of collegiate basketball. Hop represented that change and he deserved a chance to do that as much as JB deserves to go out on his own terms. [/QUOTE]

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