This season - odds and ends

[Orangezoo]

Today is always the worst. You put so much into getting amped up as we make a run and then it ends, no matter how well prepared you are it still is a rug being pulled out from under you.

This year is going to sit as a really fun tourney run with a ton of what ifs. It seems we can't get out from underneath the poor timing of players leaving, injuries and now CoVid to really get back on the horse as a program. Add some things we as fans are alarmed by with coaching decisions.

When I look at this year I wonder why Hughes has to be last year's NBA offering and not this year's piece that puts us over the top. You look then at Sidibe's injury which had it not happened everything is different. Add to that Joe spending most of the year between CoVid and playing in empty gyms trying to get back to just being the player he was last year let alone making a leap as a second year guy.

I then look at what if the second pause doesn't happen as well and Woody never stops his progression. I think that is an either or in respect to Braswell who is a trooper. Braswell also is not healthy and in our final game you can just see where that pain limits him vs such a physical team.

I look at Jesse and Frank, from the delayed arrival to CoVid and what could have been all year with depth at the 5.

What if Quincy stayed 100 pct all year as well. There was another universe where things aligned better and this team was easily top 10.


Now we stand waiting on the Portal news and it feels like we begin the next chapter of what looks far too much like the last where players who could be the pieces to make this an elite team leave and we sit short handed and recruiting the portal ourselves which has been nothing less than a mixed bag.

I wish AG only the best. I think he is a great kid but has some maturing to do and to figure out what he wants. Kid is loaded with talent but mentally just is hard to place. He really emphasized the hole that Eli left. I so badly wanted him to have things click and just take off and it never happened.

Lastly- I couldn't be more thankful for Marek, Sid, QG for everything they gave. Marek has been a pleasure to watch and while a rough last game he held things together at times when we so badly needed it. He deserved a shot to play forward for a whole year but it wasn't to be. Sid deserves that monster season he never got and his knees aren't going to give it to him. QG played hurt the better part of two whole seasons. I would love to see him back even though it doesn't sound good. Fingers crossed to the portal not gutting our team to the point of no return.

 

[SBU72]

From my view point, a big problem will be trying to integrate new players, whom ever they are and replace, into JB's zone concept. This year really highlighted how important practice and the preseason is. Add those weeks and games into the current team and the season would have looked so different. Instead of "getting it" for the last weeks of the regular season, it could have been early February at least. So if there are as many 3 or 4 new players who need to play, expect an adjustment period.

 

[Sherman20]

Today is always the worst. You put so much into getting amped up as we make a run and then it ends, no matter how well prepared you are it still is a rug being pulled out from under you.

This year is going to sit as a really fun tourney run with a ton of what ifs. It seems we can't get out from underneath the poor timing of players leaving, injuries and now CoVid to really get back on the horse as a program. Add some things we as fans are alarmed by with coaching decisions.

When I look at this year I wonder why Hughes has to be last year's NBA offering and not this year's piece that puts us over the top. You look then at Sidibe's injury which had it not happened everything is different. Add to that Joe spending most of the year between CoVid and playing in empty gyms trying to get back to just being the player he was last year let alone making a leap as a second year guy.

I then look at what if the second pause doesn't happen as well and Woody never stops his progression. I think that is an either or in respect to Braswell who is a trooper. Braswell also is not healthy and in our final game you can just see where that pain limits him vs such a physical team.

I look at Jesse and Frank, from the delayed arrival to CoVid and what could have been all year with depth at the 5.

What if Quincy stayed 100 pct all year as well. There was another universe where things aligned better and this team was easily top 10.


Now we stand waiting on the Portal news and it feels like we begin the next chapter of what looks far too much like the last where players who could be the pieces to make this an elite team leave and we sit short handed and recruiting the portal ourselves which has been nothing less than a mixed bag.

I wish AG only the best. I think he is a great kid but has some maturing to do and to figure out what he wants. Kid is loaded with talent but mentally just is hard to place. He really emphasized the hole that Eli left. I so badly wanted him to have things click and just take off and it never happened.

Lastly- I couldn't be more thankful for Marek, Sid, QG for everything they gave. Marek has been a pleasure to watch and while a rough last game he held things together at times when we so badly needed it. He deserved a shot to play forward for a whole year but it wasn't to be. Sid deserves that monster season he never got and his knees aren't going to give it to him. QG played hurt the better part of two whole seasons. I would love to see him back even though it doesn't sound good. Fingers crossed to the portal not gutting our team to the point of no return.

Great post. Watching the season end is always an emotional gut punch. I really believed we’d make the Final Four with how well we were playing the past few weeks. It felt like the surprise 2016 run all over again. But Houston was just too tough of a defense to overcome. I really wish Rutgers had taken them out for us.