Does It Bother Anyone Besides Me

UNTLifer · April 22, 2019

That we are in the middle of a signing period and the only active topic on here is about Texas Tech’s head coach?

Salsa_Verde · April 22, 2019

It’s very worrisome. Yes the team has two back to back 20 win seasons but this hasn’t transferred to an uptick in recruiting. At least as far as I can tell.

chrisfisher · April 22, 2019

Benford really damaged our program..... Two 20-win seasons has been refreshing and great....but the monumental mid-season lulls (in both years of current coach) didn't help either even though I know mostly due to injuries (at least for last season).... going to take a little more to reverse five years of Benford......Benford'd!!

Edited April 23, 2019 by chrisfisher

UNTLifer · April 22, 2019

On 4/22/2019 at 7:56 AM, chrisfisher said:

Benford really damaged our program..... Two 20-win seasons has been refreshing and great....but the monumental mid-season lulls (in both years of current coach) didn't help either even though I know mostly due to injuries (at least for last season0.... going to take a little more to reverse five years of Benford......Benford'd!!

I would agree if this were McCasland's first year, but, as you stated, he has led us to 20 win seasons in back to back seasons. That alone should drive recruiting. Benford is long gone.

Edited April 25, 2019 by UNTLifer

GrandGreen · April 22, 2019

I too am a little impatient with McCasland's recruiting. He certainly does not seem to be doing much this year.

However, Benford is long gone and I doubt he is a factor at all in recruiting. Benford was a good recruiter, something that McCasland has not yet demotivated at this level.

greenminer · April 22, 2019

4 hours ago, chrisfisher said:

Benford really damaged our program..... Two 20-win seasons has been refreshing and great....but the monumental mid-season lulls (in both years of current coach) didn't help either even though I know mostly due to injuries (at least for last season0.... going to take a little more to reverse five years of Benford......Benford'd!!

This is an erroneous argument. Basketball is not like football. Roster turnover is much more rapid and a program can practically be built from ground up in 2 years. Benford was a dumpster fire, but it's not like we had no roster at all going going into year 1 of GM.

GM had us winning 20 games and a post season tournament in year 1. IMO, the emotional aspect of Benford still lingers but there is almost zero logistical argument left to defend a slump or failure under our current staff.

There are plenty of examples of basketball programs getting their act together in 2 years. Don't let this football cliche about rebuilding a program bleed over into this sport.

EDIT: You're right about the mid-season lulls not helping, but we should still be seeing something refreshing/inspiring in recruiting.

Edited April 22, 2019 by greenminer

Cooley · April 23, 2019

At some point, maybe 5-6 more years from now, folks will finally stop blaming Tony Benford for the failures of this coach. I still can't comprehend how awful that 2018 class was. How can you have 5-6 scholarships available in a year and get zero (0) production out of any of them? Redshirting guys is something rarely done in college basketball. That was the first sign of how bad the class was. This is not a 20 win program; with so many inflated wins over inferior competition. Thank God Benford left behind Ryan Woolridge and Zac Simmons. Additionally, that most teams who were left out of the NCAA's and NIT passed on that CBI joke tournament.

BillySee58 · April 23, 2019

Recruiting has been bad under Mccasland. What’s even more frustrating is that he has given scholarships to players who don’t seem to bring the program anything yet have multiple seasons of eligibility left. I don’t want to go into next season hoping players are able to do things they have shown no signs of being capable of doing.

TheReal_jayD · April 23, 2019

12 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

Recruiting has been bad under Mccasland. What’s even more frustrating is that he has given scholarships to players who don’t seem to bring the program anything yet have multiple seasons of eligibility left. I don’t want to go into next season hoping players are able to do things they have shown no signs of being capable of doing.

agreed!!

UNT Texas Hooligan · April 23, 2019

I check this thread every day to see if there is even a slight nudge in recruiting. Nothing. What exactly in Mccasland doing this off season?

chrisfisher · April 23, 2019

On 4/22/2019 at 12:03 PM, greenminer said:

This is an erroneous argument. Basketball is not like football. Roster turnover is much more rapid and a program can practically be built from ground up in 2 years. Benford was a dumpster fire, but it's not like we had no roster at all going going into year 1 of GM.

GM had us winning 20 games and a post season tournament in year 1. IMO, the emotional aspect of Benford still lingers but there is almost zero logistical argument left to defend a slump or failure under our current staff.

There are plenty of examples of basketball programs getting their act together in 2 years. Don't let this football cliche about rebuilding a program bleed over into this sport.

EDIT: You're right about the mid-season lulls not helping, but we should still be seeing something refreshing/inspiring in recruiting.

I don't think a totally erroneous argument. We were dumpster fire bad for many years.... Our new coach comes along and turns it around to a degree, but then had mid-season fallouts of epic proportions in each season.... So no, not all Benford....but the combo our reputation provided by Benford plus mid-season falls from grace (despite 20 win seasons) has not been enough to turn our program around in the eyes of recruits....Ya, this is over-simplified explanation, but I think it is definitely part of current recruiting woes. Not hopeless either.... McCasland may surprise us with some late recruiting season heroics.

Edited April 23, 2019 by chrisfisher