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Message: [QUOTE="Zelda Zonk, post: 3979729, member: 966"] I didn't say Villanova was the Rays. I'm saying the basic thought of saying we should do something like another successful program, when that program has certain unique variables that enable it to work under that set of variables—that's something that isn't a set of 'rules' you can universally apply. No, that's not what i'm suggesting. Your characterization of my perspectives is pretty binary. There aren't just two tiers in terms of recruiting. To use your own 'blue bloods' standard, sure, there's UK and Duke and Kansas. My point is that we have been nearer to them than we are now, and the chasm is wide and we're just saying 'that's them and we can't be them,' so "it's fine" that we're competing against Rutgers and Auburn. You ignored possibly my clearest illustration, where i said i don't like that we're struggling to get the 35th best player at his position in the country each year, and when we get him, we say, 'Oh, well, he would be ranked so much higher if he committed to X,Y,Z,' or 'He's only ranked #90 because he was out of the country,' etc. We've been doing that for 10 years and we have an ACC record to match. I have no idea what the top 10-20 kids are expecting now, in terms of 'bags' or NIL. I think we ought to be players in that arena, though. Bottom line is that, until we do start signing higher-level talent, we're going to be where we are. But, there will still be a contingent here who will say, "oh, it's cool, because (even though we're not ranked in the top 25), we beat Duke one out of three tries, and then we made the Sweet 16." And that's not a standard i am happy with. Everyone is entitled to their own standard. That will never be mine, though. I've said it before—a lot, actually—that what we expect from our program may be very much dependent upon what it was like when we first arrived at it. My introduction was my freshman year of 1985. We had Pearl—who had been a national high school star. We had Seikaly. We were a power in the conference. And my soph year, we beat Carolina and went to the NC. Then we got Coleman. Then Owens... We were a force. Maybe that 'spoiled' me, but it was who we are and it was all i practically knew of who we were. A power. And now, we're all up in arms about how Duke can basically have our backyard 4-star, just for the asking. I don't like that. It's not "fine." [/QUOTE]

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