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Here's to the Future


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As we stand today, the immediate future (i.e. next year) looks bleak. Based on no inside info at all, my gut tells me AM, TL, BJ, MY are gone. MR might join that group too. I get that there were likely player personality issues, but to this uninformed MBM, I think JC probably could have handled the diverse attitudes better.

So, under my scenario, we have the following starting 5 next year: MB, MC/DR, AY, RA, AG. I like each of our guys, but yikes.

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I find it interesting to see all these - will Crews retire comments - when we had to hire a new coach so many where saying you have to hire Crews, only an idiot would not. Well the few idiots out there who were preaching caution now look a lot smarter. All this said, we are stuck with him at least for next year and maybe two - money concerns will dictate how long he lasts unless he improves and recruits well. We had a chance to go out an hire somebody with a better track record but we punted and so we are where we are. We were attractive given the returning seniors and a two year window for a new coach to recruit with a resume for the team having been to 3 NCAAs and winning the A-10 twice. We pissed that opportunity away and I blame May for that but like I said we are were we are and we have to hope for Crews to make it happen.

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I find it interesting to see all these - will Crews retire comments - when we had to hire a new coach so many where saying you have to hire Crews, only an idiot would not. Well the few idiots out there who were preaching caution now look a lot smarter. All this said, we are stuck with him at least for next year and maybe two - money concerns will dictate how long he lasts unless he improves and recruits well. We had a chance to go out an hire somebody with a better track record but we punted and so we are where we are. We were attractive given the returning seniors and a two year window for a new coach to recruit with a resume for the team having been to 3 NCAAs and winning the A-10 twice. We pissed that opportunity away and I blame May for that but like I said we are were we are and we have to hope for Crews to make it happen.

There is literally no chance we weren't extending the National Coach of the Year... Sorry, that's just the way it shook out

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-we can't rewrite history

-I believe at this point Crews is the only one who would prevent him from coaching next season

-that said, if next season is not showing marked improvement then Chris May will have a big decision to make as to that last year of the contract

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I find it interesting to see all these - will Crews retire comments - when we had to hire a new coach so many where saying you have to hire Crews, only an idiot would not. Well the few idiots out there who were preaching caution now look a lot smarter. All this said, we are stuck with him at least for next year and maybe two - money concerns will dictate how long he lasts unless he improves and recruits well. We had a chance to go out an hire somebody with a better track record but we punted and so we are where we are. We were attractive given the returning seniors and a two year window for a new coach to recruit with a resume for the team having been to 3 NCAAs and winning the A-10 twice. We pissed that opportunity away and I blame May for that but like I said we are were we are and we have to hope for Crews to make it happen.

I was in the camp that wanted us to bring in a big name coach following JC's interim season and there were quite a few others on the board at the time in the same camp. I was hopeful that after SLU experienced what the legendary RM built and with the backing of Doc Chaifetz we would go out and get another big name coach, but by early March after we win the conference AND the conference tournament I was resigned to the fact that there was no way they were going to dump Crews. And when he was named national coach of the year, that sealed it. How often had SLU won a regular season and conference tournament title in the same season? Probably never. In fairness, I don't think May had much of a chance. SLU would have gotten a lot of bad press for dumping the national coach of the year. Now I think where there could be some legit criticism was not having a clear succession plan. What could have made sense was to have had a coach in waiting - similar to what SMU has with Larry Brown. It may have helped recruiting near the end of the RM era and beginning of the JC interim era. It would have removed a lot of uncertainty.

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The thing is it wasn't just a this season problem. We are 5 and 20 in our last 25 games against conference opponents. That includes a 1-3 record against Duquesne.

It's actually 4-20 in the last 24. That said, I don't think the 1-4 stretch at the end of last season has much to do with the season-long headache this year. Last year's team just ran out of gas. I don't see a common thread.

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It's actually 4-20 in the last 24. That said, I don't think the 1-4 stretch at the end of last season has much to do with the season-long headache this year. Last year's team just ran out of gas. I don't see a common thread.

I went with 25 game so I wouldn't be accused of starting with a losing streak. Plus, 25 games just sounds like a better same than 24.

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This team did end the season on a five game losing streak that looked and felt worse than any of its previous losing streaks. So it's similar to last year in that they played their worst ball at the end of the season. But you certainly can't say the first five this year were worn out from playing too much for four solid months like last year's seniors were.

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slufan13, on 12 Mar 2015 - 09:13 AM, said:

Last year's team was worn down without a doubt, but again, maybe the A10 coaches have figured out Crews. I think it's a reasonable thing to think.

It seems more like Crews has not figured out the other coaches.

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Last year's team was worn down without a doubt, but again, maybe the A10 coaches have figured out Crews. I think it's a reasonable thing to think.

His gameplan last night was good for the first half but no adjustments were made at half time. We fed the high post, sprayed out for some open threes, and crashed the boards decently well. That high post was the key. I thought he used his timeouts well for the first time in awhile. What concerns me is his ability to coach on the fly and make in-game adjustments (questionable substitution patterns, combatting defensive adjustments). DU blanketed the high post in the second half and we looked content with it.

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What could they have "figured out?" That his offensive sets (or lack thereof) just aren't very good?

Our offense was never good. But maybe they did figure out how to beat our defense and they know Crews either can't or won't make adjustments.

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I don't believe in Bronson. He's apparently our X's and O's guy, and the players never wanted to buy into his offensive setups (if we even had any good ones). It might be time to let that ship sail and hire someone of much more caliber.

I'm wondering if this is at all connected to what was alluded to on here by BILLIKENSRG that even our own coaching staff are not all on the same page with how to do things.

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Our offense was never good. But maybe they did figure out how to beat our defense and they know Crews either can't or won't make adjustments.

It was always better than average the last 3 years. We could put up 70 whenever we needed to.

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It was always better than average the last 3 years. We could put up 70 whenever we needed to.

Last year ranked slightly below average and this year ranked 316th out of 351 in terms of efficiency.

It has dropped from 39 (Majerus' last year) to 75 (Crews year 1) to 181 (last year) to 316 this year.

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His gameplan last night was good for the first half but no adjustments were made at half time. We fed the high post, sprayed out for some open threes, and crashed the boards decently well. That high post was the key. I thought he used his timeouts well for the first time in awhile. What concerns me is his ability to coach on the fly and make in-game adjustments (questionable substitution patterns, combatting defensive adjustments). DU blanketed the high post in the second half and we looked content with it.

You are also gameplanning against a team you have played three times in two months, plays a soft zone defense, and is one of the worst defensive teams in the country. If there is one team we should consistently hit 60 and run a fluid offense against (as there is no pressure at all), it is them. Yet we went from scoring 78 to 66 to 55 against the 317th ranked defense per Pomeroy.

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As we stand today, the immediate future (i.e. next year) looks bleak. Based on no inside info at all, my gut tells me AM, TL, BJ, MY are gone. MR might join that group too. I get that there were likely player personality issues, but to this uninformed MBM, I think JC probably could have handled the diverse attitudes better.

So, under my scenario, we have the following starting 5 next year: MB, MC/DR, AY, RA, AG. I like each of our guys, but yikes.

Lol. Your transfer speculation is humorous.

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Quick, can someone get one of those guys who bends balloons into animal shapes?

I think you could recruit from any of the kids in the student section that don't realize that they are suppose to wave the balloons to distract the other team.

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