“Roster Management” has been brought up in every of the thread as one of the skills lacking in CMA. The current roster is a result of six seniors graduating and 2 underclassmen transferring and one not being medically cleared.
It just occurred to me that we were in a similar situation in the 95-96 season, following the loss to UCLA in the championship game. Darnell Robinson and Lee Wilson were the only returning players and Kareem Reid was redshirting. The roster turnover was due to seven seniors graduating and Corliss and Scotty leaving for NBA draft. That team had only 18 wins but still got invited to NCAAT, primarily based on our record the previous six years.
Did Nolan mismanage the roster too?
Incidentally, with Bob Huggins in his 12th year (since some bring up 8th year for CMA), West Virginia finds itself this year with just 5 returnees and struggling like us with inexperience, I am sure there are other examples like A&M, Missouri.
Mike has to do a better job no doubt and if he stays, i think he upgrades this current roster with some men this offseason BUT this is a epidemic amongst all of college basketball. UK lost a 5 star point guard before the first semester ended. They’ve actually gotten better as a result. TCU has lost a couple, including J Fisher, whom i’m hoping we get back involved with. It’s just where college basketball is these days. Hopefully it evens out, the end of OAD is fastly approaching and the playing field will level some. Mike’s taken on some bad talent but again, we aren’t going to play all 13 kids. Nobody does. That coupled with the fact that most of these kids have posse’s and people in their ears all of the time telling them they should be starting, they should be getting the ball. Move on to somewhere that will play you more. Everyone of them thinks they are going to play in the NBA due to bad advice and folks riding their coattails. It’s a shame.
If Mike stays, i can see him getting more aggressive on the recruiting trail and going after some alphas. We don’t have enough alphas.
The end of the OAD will greatly affected the amount of money that’s gets thrown around to pay for players too! Maybe recruiting becomes fair but I still think it will be dirty.
The transfers are the result of our society and the me or (I) syndrone. Then the negative influence of handlers get to running their mouth and it time to move on to another place to play.
The early departures of Portis and Qualies hit pretty hard when both of the two left for the NBA draft but the hogs have not recovered from a roster standpoint since then. Portis wasn’t a big suprise when he left but Qualies was a suprise. That caused CMA to end up having to go the JUCO route to land Macon, Bradford and Cook. Add the flip of Perry last summer and Garland not getting medically clear to play and here we are siting in the midst of a bad year without upperclassmen to lead on the floor.
Our fan base has forgot where we were before CMA got here and how much better off we’ve been since then. He knows what type of players he needs and understands the shortfalls of the this current roster. I have confidence he is doing everything possible to recruit. What fans need to do is stay off social media talking trash to current players and potential recruits!
Zero seniors is our most glaring weakness.
Gafford is only a sophomore and we have been lucky he chose to be a hog. If he enters the NBA draft after this year or comes back I’m proud he is a Hog!
I noticed earlier in an article that Joe has a little brother that played in a state tournament game tonight. Maybe he ends up being a hug down the road.
One other thing has played a part in the past few years. The transfer of J. Williams.
He got in trouble a couple of times the last instance CMA stood by his standard and kicked him off the team. He ended up being a all confercne player at Middle Tennessee.
Your last two sentences beg the question: why would he wait to get more aggressive on the recruiting trail? Isn’t that what the UA has paid him to do. It took 8 seasons to get more aggressive and go after some alphas?
Aggressive meaning he will part ways with some guys this year and go after some older, difference makers. He’s loyal to a fault, I see that changing. JMO
My issue this year, there are a lot of rumors out there, some of them being discussed by people waaaaaay more in the know than any of us. Those “rumors/discussions” are that at least six scholarships open up. With the mistake of 15-16 (yes I know we disagree) I understood the high roster turnover last year. I expected it, at least six guys, then we had two guys leave, so I understand the “youth” aspect, but if we have six more new guys next year, that’s 15 guys in two years. That’s usually a situation you see during the first 2 seasons of a coaching change. To me that shows some bad roster management. From missing out on guys, to taking chances on guys that don’t pan out. It’s the one aspect that is hard for me to defend Mike on. Years 8-9 of ANY coaches tenure shouldn’t have 15 new people (especially when there are only 13 scholarships total). I’m not even sure Calipari (who lives by the one and done) has done 15 in two.
Now, I’m not advocating a change, I’ve been vocal about keeping Mike, but if I’m the AD, roster management is something that I’m taking into consideration.
But that is my point. It is easier to hindsight all this. Heck, even I can be a great coach if I am allowed the luxury of hindsight. You know all that has happened. What would you have done, assuming you did not know what was going to happen?
Did Nolan manage his roster badly as I pointed out after the NC runner up finish?
Did Bob Huggins mismanage his roster this year? Did Billy Kennedy? Did Cuonzo Martin? Did several others?
Mike has some coaching issues as every coach does. Usually talent bails out some as K and Cal. Mike just did whatever he had to win and keep his job. Some moves worked out. Some moves did not. I am not sure what could you have done differently, other than maybe give PT to certain players that didn’t deserve it, so you can keep them here.
No it didn’t take 8 seasons for MA to get aggressive in recruiting, but there have been more than couple mishaps along the way starting with 2015 class, that was a highly touted class & within 2 years not a single one was still here & 1 never qualified. Think about that, one year of recruiting completely lost, which left Mike scrambling with JuCos which ultimately pushed the final 2015 recruit (Whitt) out the door.
Then lately, the unexpected transfers and this years top recruit bought out at last minute.
Mike will scramble again and get what he needs in the JuCo ranks and recruiting “if” given the chance.
So Mike’s recruiting is aggressive and gets very aggressive from everywhere when he has to. Just needs to get more aggressive at keeping the premadonnas on campus.
Ok, PJ, let’s not compare Mike to other coaches. Mike is Mike. And to say, would you have done something different if you didn’t know, is not a valid question, because it WAS KNOWN what was happening in 14-15. Me and Blu just had a discussion on here last week about Nick Mason (someone who is around the program A LOT) saying in Oct 14 that Portis and Qualls we’re leaving after the season. At the least that means there were rumors, Kapita’s situation was well known to everyone that he was awaiting a ruling on his home country transcripts. So, there is NO excuse for not being prepared that those three would not be there in Oct 15. Mike says, “recruit and the numbers work themselves out.” He DID NOT do that, he waited. That screwed him in 15, and again this year. That’s 100% on Mike, it’s not hindsight, it’s Mike not practicing what he preaches.
That’s not counting the funny money situation, or the unexpected transfers of Whitt, Hall, and CJ Jones. That’s stuff that Mike didn’t do, that he himself says he does. You can’t defend Mike on the 16-16 year, or this year, with or without hindsight, because he just plain didn’t do his job the way he says he does.
Well, I wasn’t comparing coaches. The point was roster turnover could happen to any coach, how good they or how bad they are.
I don’t think Portis leaving was a shock. Mike probably thought Kingsley can take over the 5 and he had a commitment for Kapita. That was my take at that time. Qualls was a surprise to Mike, I am sure. I thought Nick Mason was predicting Qualls was not leaving as late as day before he left.
I am sure they thought Kapita’s transcripts were in order when they signed him. When it came unglued, it was very late and they couldn’t find anyone of the same talent level for either Kapita or Qualls. I don’t know whether they did a good job of recruiting replacements or not. RazorAg is probably the one that can tell us.
So, as a wrap up to that, I agree that Mike should have found a replacement for Portis in other than Kapita, given that his transcripts came from a foreign country.
If that is the reason given to release Mike, it is probably a valid reason.
I do think that was a teaching moment for Mike.
Man, I am getting tired of this. Like I said I thought with 9 new players, it would be a relaxed year with no stress, having made the tournament 3 out of 4 previous years. I am close to wishing now that they fire him after the conclusion of the championship celebration tomorrow, so I can relax again and enjoy Hog basketball without stress.
