I am not sure that’s possible. We forget Walton started and had Stauskas-Levert-Robinson-Morgan around him. Simpson doesn’t have close to the same supporting cast.
Well said…it just seems the trend isn’t good.
I’m not asking him to have that impact for a top 10 team. I think he can do it for a top 30 team. Which is what I think we should be next season.
11-7 in a super down year for the conference isn’t really that optimistic. It will be MSU and then everyone else. Even this year, our record benefitted hugely from abysmal Rutgers and Minnesota, plus a bunch of mediocrity. And we can debate whether JB truly has the “veteran” team he wants next year but compared to the rest of the conference, he will.
There is no doubt, experience is no longer a mitigating factor. Three of our players actually regressed significantly with more experience…that is very bad.
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I agree an earlier comment in this thread was Beilein having a high ceiling. That ceiling is no longer high. There were players that regressed a lot. People are talking about players transferring well there’s no guarantee Beilein will find a suitable replacement this late in the game. Beilein detests the 5th year transfer route so that’s really not an option. People talk about a coaching shuffle we went through this once before, why should he be given another chance to do a coaching shuffle which could take years to see the benefit?
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If it is a super down year, then I’ll probably adjust my expectations to finish a little better in conference. But I haven’t looked at it enough to fully know the level of each team. 11-7 is a solid record in a standard year for the conference.
Hard to say how good the Big Ten will be until people announce, but it looks like Wisconsin will return everything along with OSU. Those two and MSU will be the likely conference favorites.
Your’re right… OSU returns everybody and although they were mediocre this year, they are stacked with talent and will only get better. They add a nice piece in Funderburk.
Is the consensus that Xavier definitely can’t come in and be as good as freshman Trey Burke? His high school stats are better than Trey’s at least and there are a lot of parallels. Hell, I’m pretty certain that Trey Burke’s success here is the #1 reason Xavier came here.
Like is it unreasonable for him to possibly be that good and I should get it out of my head now?
Rather than admitting that Painter is a terrible coach, you are going to double down on stupidity?
I think Burke’s slight edge in size and athleticism (and superior handles) allowed him to make a faster impact than we can expect from X. Plus even if he ends up being better than Walton (not entirely out of the question), the staff’s strong bias towards seniority may limit his opportunities to develop in year one. I expect he’ll still make a positive impact, though.
The irony in that post coming from you.
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I don’t think you rule out a 5th year transfer even though JB hates the rule. We’ve courted them in the past and wouldn’t be surprised if we did so again.
I think a coaching change can help quicker in basketball than other sports. If a quality defensive minded assistant is brought in, we could see an impact immediately IMO. Defense can be improved with mindset and effort much more easily than offense can. Offense takes much more repetition and development IMO.
Not saying an assistant is going to take us from bottom Half of the NCAA to top 20 defense, but one could make us average next year.
I know a team like Indiana loses Ferrel but if they don’t suffer any early attrition a team of Williams-Johnson-Hartman-Bryant looks good. Look at a guy like Anunoby who has made terrific strides this year, add in Blackmon who should be back. That has the makings of a good team.
If you ask me:
Top Tier: Indiana, Mich St, Wisconsin
Middle Tier: Maryland, Ohio St, Michigan, Purdue
Bottom Tier: Northwestern, Illinois, Penn St, Iowa
Why are they here tier: Nebraska, Minnesota, Rutgers
Who has said that “bubble team” is the expectation for this program?
Those folks that say we are meeting expectations inherently dictates that bubble team is the standard, no?
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Are you talking this season or in general? Given injuries, just making the dance, 23 wins, 10-8, is a reasonable outcome. As a program expectation it’s not, but I don’t see anyone making that argument.
Decent amount of people who contend that based on UM history JB has the program exceeding expectations. Again, this inherently dictates that as a program, from a macro level viewpoint, bubble is the standard.
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