(11-14-2020, 11:06 AM)winflop Wrote: I remember some predictions about a strong team last year too, and then look what happened. Haase has yet to demonstrate that he can build a team that is greater than the sum of its parts. I hope he does this year. I'm long past sick & tired of mediocrity
Last year's team WAS greater than the sum of its parts. Not sure whose rosy prognostications you're remembering. Here was my extremely gloomy preseason outlook:
- Lost 4 of top 7 players from previous season, all of whom looked like significant losses
- KZ Okpala to the NBA
- Cormac Ryan to Notre Dame ("Has Haase lost the team?" No. Papa Ryan is a control freak. I doubt ND is his last stop.)
- Marcus Sheffield grad transferring to Elon ("Has Haase lost the team?" No. He's from Atlanta and wanted to be close to his sick grandfather.)
- Josh Sharma graduating, because he lost RS eligibility after
playing just 2 games as a true freshman under Dawkins
- Only 11 of 13 scholarships filled, and three of them were Kodye Pugh (ACL tear before the season), James Keefe (was supposed to be a walk-on for his first 2 seasons), and Keenan Fitzmorris (not a D1-level basketball player)
- Zero seniors in the starting rotation
- Incoming freshman recruiting class looked mediocre at best on paper
- S&C coach was poached by the Phoenix Suns
Considering all the above, they were predicted to finish 10th in the Pac-12, with which I agreed. I had basically written them off entirely.
A team that looked to be much worse than the previous season's team (which went 15-16 and finished 10th in the Pac-12)...did significantly better. On paper, there didn't appear to be many parts to sum in the first place.