Sure, but even against the house-on-fire Washington team with Fultz, we only won, at home, by 7 points, with Fultz leading the Huskies with 34 points. Subtract him, and we have an easy win, get to play deeper into our bench, develop our younger players more, rest our players like Travis, etc. etc. All these things add up.
Think of our steep drop-off on the women's side when Chiney left and we lost the WNBA no. 1 draft pick (the equivalent to a top one-and-done) - we went from 33-4 and a Final Four to 26-10 and the Sweet 16. The rest of the cast was largely the same, if improved. And that was with Tara, a HoF coach. One player can make a brobdingnagian difference in basketball. And let's be honest - if women's players could make as much in the WNBA as the NBA and play in it after one season of college, do we really think we get six years of Ogwumikes? Doesn't that make UConn even more of a force to be reckoned with if none of the top players cares about finishing their degree? How do we stand out to recruits like Haley Jones if she's only looking at one year of college? The answer is, we don't.
And another counter-factual to consider: does Travis transfer to Kentucky if Calipari has sent far fewer of his top players to the draft, and the same handful of schools aren't collecting all the reliable draft picks every year? The 40-year decision isn't as distinguishing of a factor in a marketplace where a lot of the top programs are launchpads to the NBA. If all those launched players disappear from college basketball, the 40-year decision suddenly makes Stanford stick out way more. And I think it's a significant reason why we are so much more competitive for top women's recruits than top men's.
I agree that Villanova is the model we should aspire to, although Philly basketball culture and their far less stringent admissions standards still make it a brobdingnagian stretch for us to ever match that. But that model, scaled to reasonable expectations, is our best shot at being a regular tourney team. There's no man currently coaching in men's college basketball that I respect more than Jay Wright.
Ok, my two (ten? twenty?) cents on this one. Moral of the story is I'm giving Haase four full seasons, and I'm hopeful we'll want to see more from him after that.
Think of our steep drop-off on the women's side when Chiney left and we lost the WNBA no. 1 draft pick (the equivalent to a top one-and-done) - we went from 33-4 and a Final Four to 26-10 and the Sweet 16. The rest of the cast was largely the same, if improved. And that was with Tara, a HoF coach. One player can make a brobdingnagian difference in basketball. And let's be honest - if women's players could make as much in the WNBA as the NBA and play in it after one season of college, do we really think we get six years of Ogwumikes? Doesn't that make UConn even more of a force to be reckoned with if none of the top players cares about finishing their degree? How do we stand out to recruits like Haley Jones if she's only looking at one year of college? The answer is, we don't.
And another counter-factual to consider: does Travis transfer to Kentucky if Calipari has sent far fewer of his top players to the draft, and the same handful of schools aren't collecting all the reliable draft picks every year? The 40-year decision isn't as distinguishing of a factor in a marketplace where a lot of the top programs are launchpads to the NBA. If all those launched players disappear from college basketball, the 40-year decision suddenly makes Stanford stick out way more. And I think it's a significant reason why we are so much more competitive for top women's recruits than top men's.
I agree that Villanova is the model we should aspire to, although Philly basketball culture and their far less stringent admissions standards still make it a brobdingnagian stretch for us to ever match that. But that model, scaled to reasonable expectations, is our best shot at being a regular tourney team. There's no man currently coaching in men's college basketball that I respect more than Jay Wright.
Ok, my two (ten? twenty?) cents on this one. Moral of the story is I'm giving Haase four full seasons, and I'm hopeful we'll want to see more from him after that.