3star_recruit

9 players isn't a short rotation. I rarely see teams with the double digit rotations you're demanding. If this is the panacea, why aren't Hall of Fame coaches with more talent than we have using it?

I've seen teams get blown out by 30 and still make it to the final four. Bad games happen. Teams move on. Our future will be determined by our ability to win on the road not some game in mid November where everything went wrong.

Hughes and Thames currently play about 4 minutes a game and have played in over half of our games. Once conference play starts, the 11th and 12 guys rarely play at all, whether it's the 10th of the 200th team in the country. This is a strange hill to die on.

Any coach that takes a program to the NCAA tournament 10 times will make a couple of Sweet 16s and an Elite 8. That's just a numbers game. The hard part is making the tournament 10 times. Those guys are Hall of Famers.

I hear what you're saying but he's making these bad decisions after he's already drunk. He's not aware of anything at that point. Even if he makes preparations when he's sober, his drunk self can always overrule them. I hope DMac gets the help he needs before he hurts somebody.

Thanks.

Winning on the road against good teams is what separates good teams from great teams. This game is not a must-win for an at-large bid. But if our guys want to get on the path to greatness, the journey starts here.

Gonzaga became Gonzaga by dominating a mid-major conference year after year. I don't think we can create enough talent differential to do that in the A10. Dayton and VCU are recruiting at the same level that we are. Dayton and VCU have had some horrible luck with injuries so far this year but that's sports. Last year we experienced similar luck.

At the end of the day, the non-conference determines whether you need to finish first in the conference to get an at-large. We're the only A10 team that has an opportunity to get in at-large without finishing first.

I'm glad you started this thread so we can keep it as a teachable moment. I think you'll be amazed at how dramatically different these rankings look 60 days from now. Early on, a couple of blowout wins or an undefeated record skew the rankings when there are so few data points.

We're still at the stage of the season where there are undefeated teams who haven't played anybody. Those teams leapfrog you when you lose. When those teams start playing real competition, most of them will take multiple Ls and disappear from the polls.

Franco's slow start this year is almost a carbon copy of his start last year. He ended the season as one of the top 5 bigs in the A10. We're already the best offensive team in the league, even with Perkins' and Okoro's early struggles. Just ruminate on that for a moment.

Progress rarely happens in a straight line.

The tandem of Yuri and Pickett have done a good job breaking pressure recently. I can see them growing in confidence with each game. I knew Pickett was going to be good but I didn't know he would be this good. It's a luxury to have a player of this quality step up while Perkins is getting up to speed.

Tournament appearances half the time by an A10 team over a 10-year period is elite performance. If coach Ford accomplishes that at SLU, it will be recognized by the national media as such.