my two cents

[powdersmack]

Maybe because they had Burton yesterday. We got a chance to see the teams play without each guy and without each guy.

To some extent I agree with that, but everyone has been saying it since the first ND game. Plus, road game vs home game definitely plays into it as well.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Agreed. If we get the guys, you mention back, add two solid portal players we will have a good team.

Yeah, I'd like to believe this. Talent looked pretty good on paper this year, too. I am so troubled by our defense. It's not just the players.

 

[bballbeadle]

Okay, not sure why the talent needs to be even. That isn't how life works. In my corner of the world I get to watch a lot of Wisconsin basketball. Similar NIL budget to SU. In addition, they recruit 3 stars in the "mighty" Big 10, so they do not out talent anyone. Wisconsin has a known system and philosophy. I would say coaching matters A LOT. Greg Gard was a career assistant coach like Red when he got the head job.

People complain that SU will struggle to compete with the big public universities that have more students, etc. The Badgers are a great example with football and basketball. Big NIL football budget and poor coaching, what does all the talent get you with poor coaching? No bowl game for the first time in forever. On the flip side, basketball has limited NIL resources, doesn't choose to recruit 4 or 5 stars and does well. It can work with a good coach.

Hello, fellow Badger! Class of 72 here. Welcome to interesting times with Cuse basketball.

 

[SWC75]

Maybe because they had Burton yesterday. We got a chance to see the teams play without each guy and without each guy.

And us without another guy.

 

[SoBristol]

Yeah, I'd like to believe this. Talent looked pretty good on paper this year, too. I am so troubled by our defense. It's not just the players.

Maybe the talent looked good on paper but then we saw the first three games. We as fans do get our hopes up, though not many projected this team in the top half of the conference. Still, the 2025 class is ranked in the top 10.

Did you like the second half defense vs ND? Got many stops (or ND missed shots they were making) and did not give up many second chance points. But that was against ND not a talented team as we will now face for the next several games. Players do matter.

 

[Sherman20]

Red is a proud alum, great guy, and a good recruiter. Unfortunately he has shown next to nothing that makes you believe he can coach a team up to perform at a top 25 level. How many times the past two seasons have Cuse players looked over at the sideline with their palms up when an opponent slices in for an uncontested layup? On his radio appearance this week, he was asked to explain how Cuse defends screens…his answer, after seeming baffled by the question, was we try to blow them up and help with the passers defender if need be. That was a legit answer by a power 4 head coach. How many times have we get looked absolutely clueless and without a plan trying to defend ball screens this year(which btw you can’t blow up a ball screen and help with the passer’s defender). How many times has Autry given a helpless expression on the sideline? How many times has he allowed antics (Chris Bell tantrums, etc) go on without serious consequences? The culture around the team is laughable. Lampkin flexing after a made basket down 20 against Louisville. And I’m all for the players getting excited after a win, but it does feel to me that the #orangestandard that he talks about has been greatly lowered. Again, as a coach you want your players to be enthusiastic, but they also must be held to a standard that is much greater than what we’ve seen effort wise in too many games the last two seasons.

Sadly I have to agree with most of this. Wildhack has to do a serious evaluation of the program and Red. At the very least Red needs to bring in a defensive guru because he seems out of his depth coaching man to man. Griff taught the pack line D at a good Dayton program under Archie Miller. I don’t understand how he can’t be more of a help. I fear that Red and these coaches can’t scheme well and are simply poor communicators in teaching and getting the team to execute.

 

[orangecuse]

Always great to see Notre Dame collapse.

The NIL thing is overblown; there are plenty of teams out there having good seasons while making do with less. There are even more that are not great that would boatrace Cuse. Just shows how out of his depth Red is. Cuse was never offering the biggest bag, even before NIL when everyone was *spoiler alert* offering bags.

I think the folks who wanted an outside hire were being the definition of objective. I know I wanted that, then I became a Red convert after last year... before his actual coaching chops were revealed with this group. It wasn't because of some animosity towards JB; it was because I saw nobody with qualifications worthy of promotion on that staff. I generally don't like to be proven wrong, but I really wish I was here.

It really, really sucks that we are probably going to have to glide forward with this non-tournament season and then at least one more before the obvious occurs. Next year is going to heart-wrenching with Kiyan (if he still comes), an empty dome, little shot at a postseason outside of the ACCT, and all of the conflict that is going to bring. It's going to be a dumpster fire of epic, Rutgersian proportions.

Indeed. Similar type deal as those who weren't pegging the sanctions as the proximate cause of our issues at that time, but rather the more honest/accurate reason being the plethora of consistent swing and misses in landing our top point guard and center position main targets and settling for Plan D type guys.