Another 20 Game Win Season

TheTastyGreek · March 6, 2011

I'm not saying the past 5 years have been a failure, but eventually it gets to a point where 20 wins doesnt mean much. If our recruiting class this year finishes their careers without a NCAA tourny win I would consider that a huge disappointment. If we want this program to go to the next level it's going to take more than just winning the Sun Belt

If you're growing your program, every class should build on the results of the previous one.

1) JJ came in and immediately took Trilli's team from 4-6 wins per year to .500 basketball, starting in year one.

2) JJ gets his recruits and gets competitive in league, finally winning a Sun Belt tournament and getting a 20 win season and an NCAA bid in year 6 with a team of all his own guys that have only played at NT in his system.

3) The class that comes in off that NCAA bid and first 20 win season keeps the streak going for 4 more years, earning another NCAA bid, and only ever loses in the SBC tournament (this year's results pending) to a team that goes on to win one or more NCAA tournament games

Phase 4 is the next round of recruits. Jordan, Chris, Tony... This is the group of guys, if we're evaluating and recruiting well, who should have the talent and ability to take us up another level.

Building a program isn't an overnight process. As much as I'd love to see us win a game in the NCAAs, I'd rather see us build a foundation and a reputation like WKU that makes us a perennially respected and competitive program. If I had to choose between winning a fluke game (like crappy teams can sometimes do with one superstar or a very fortunate game/draw) or slowly and methodically building this thing up the way that we seem to be doing... I'm more than satisfied with the track we're on.

Cooley had a great post about it a few weeks back when we were buried in the losing streak. We're taking the entire program up in stages, in a way that is sustainable and isn't just a fluke or freakish blip. I'm very eager to see us get those postseason wins that casual fans will notice and get excited over. But I don't think a program outside the BCS leagues can consider a season to be a success or failure based on just those NCAA games, because of the nature of a tournament. But I do think the guys coming in are going to be good enough to give us the chance to see those types of wins.

MeanMag · March 6, 2011

I'm not saying the past 5 years have been a failure, but eventually it gets to a point where 20 wins doesnt mean much. If our recruiting class this year finishes their careers without a NCAA tourny win I would consider that a huge disappointment. If we want this program to go to the next level it's going to take more than just winning the Sun Belt

This is the recruiting class that got us to this level. Nothing from this group of seniors will be a disappointment. Winning 20 games means a great deal for our program, especially when you consider where we've come from.

UNTcrazy727 · March 6, 2011

This is the recruiting class that got us to this level. Nothing from this group of seniors will be a disappointment. Winning 20 games means a great deal for our program, especially when you consider where we've come from.

I was talking about the recruiting class we signed this year