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I'm serious. Only your opinion matters, although I'd like it if you could defend it just a bit. What should WSU do, this year, in your opinion for you to be satisfied as a fan? What demands a change? I look forward to the responses and I'll start with my own.
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Compete for the American title, and an at-large bid to the tourney.-
Thank you. Last season the average NCAA tourney team won 65% of their games. IF we play a full schedule and 3 in the AAC tourney, I think that's 58 so roughly 38-40 wins should be on the bubble I'm thinking. I'm just asking here...if we win 40 and don't make the tourney, you're ready for a change? I know there are always variables, and I'm not holding you to it, just curious.
15-9 tied for the conference title last year. 14-10 work for you? Close enough (even if one team runs away and hides, or do we need to be close to whomever is there?) -
Sorry I realized after I posted there was a lack of specificity in my answer. I want to see 40 wins. Butler show me you can do it at least once. 14-10 in conference. And no “embarrassment games”, where we absolutely get throttled by 10 or more, especially to the big 12 schools around us. Play angry baseball style and quit the whiney “we are getting better” coaches show comments. I don’t really want to go through another coaching change (unless it’s Hooper) so just show me some fight.
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We're in a much harder conference that even Gene wouldn't have run over in his best years (considering what those other teams are spending today).
That being said, given the schedule, I expect a winning season, 31-23 seems like a minimum going into the conference tourney. Given the experience of this team and the time to build it, probably even 3-5 games better than that barring tragic level injuries. I expect to at least be in the discussion for an at large. Post season is a bit of crap shoot so that's tough. Lots of Friday aces in our league. Will be tough for anyone to overcome in May. If we had a good year on the cusp of the tourney or better, I could accept a step back next season (due to positional losses) IF the pitching continued to improve. We should not have a losing record. We should not be in the bottom 3rd of the American. Our kids should graduate (or be drafted) and the program should be clean.
Those are my expectations.Comment
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Being in the discussion for a regional bid would be nice, but I would say 10 games over .500 and build a foundation of pitching and defense that keeps us consistently in games. We lost games during Gene’s tenure and even to teams we shouldn’t have, but our consistentcy in those areas kept us in almost every game we played.
Last edited by shoxlax; February 25, 2018, 10:30 PM.Comment
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Sweep Nebraska next weekend and I imagine some tunes might change a little. I doubt that's gonna happen though.
This is year 5. 1 winning season (year 1 with gene leftovers), middle to lower level Valley finishes, non-competitive against higher-level competition. Is 1 NCAA appearance out of 5 years really that much to ask anymore? We fired some guy after we missed 3 straight tourneys and this guy has missed his first 4 opportunities.
I think there are still some leftover sludge after everything was handled (botched) with the previous athletic director. The other factor is the current head coach hasn't really delivered results (at this job or the previous HC job) that would garner a Top 1/3 level coaching salary (and extension).
We've seen 7-0 starts before. Look no further than last year. I think it's gonna take a little bit more than victories over struggling Southland and Summit League teams to convince anybody that something is actually different. Outside of the two big boys, the hitting hasn't been consistent and the bullpen still leaves a lot to be desired.
I'd wait til after next weekend, and even then it's still really early, before there's any kind of positive push around here. That's one dude's opinion.Deuces Valley.
... No really, deuces.
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"Enjoy the ride."
- a smart manComment
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Thanks 'Fev. I understand that sentiment and I can't argue against it (nor do I want to). Can I ask you just to ballpark where YOU expect the season to end, to satisfy you?
And I'll be totally honest, if you're at that point that basically ANY finish doesn't impress you because you know that even a really good finish is fools gold, then say that too, I'll buy it.
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It's a seemingly simple question, but ultimately when you dive in it becomes multifaceted. That said, I will throw my entire baseball encyclopedia in there with you experts and answer with what I consider to be one of the vital pieces of the "acceptable" equation:
I'd consider the season partially successful if they stop checking for 3.2 beer on the hill.Kung Wu say, man who read woman like book, prefer braille!Comment
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my take on this season is optimistic. I was impressed with them winning two games coming from behind as I said in previous posts. Unlike last season when the boys started 7-0 they arent hitting at home. they've proved they can hit on the road and come to play. Whether or not McNeese was a good squad, they hit. They've won 3 road games already in comparrison to the 5 total they won all year against teams like indiana state, bradley, etc. whom we can all agree arent very good... I feel this team will impress a lot of people with their experience, and depth in all aspects. Although I do feel we need another outfielder to step up/ trey vickers back... This team if they stay relatively healthy should win 40 games. Call me crazy. :)Comment
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Butler needs to take a step forward this year. An NCAA bid would be a giant step forward. I'd like to see this team land in the Top 75 of the RPI and finish 4th or 5th in the American. That probably looks like 33-35 wins.Comment
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Acceptable for me this year is a winning record, finish in the top half of the conference, and at least be in the NCAA at large discussion.
Barring a ridiculous amount of injuries that seems like more than reasonable expectations for a 5th year head coach with our program's history and resources.
Last edited by WheatShock; February 26, 2018, 11:00 AM.Its a good landing if you can walk away, its a great landing if the plane can be reused the next day.Comment
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I could accept a 25-win season because that would mean a change had to be made. A top-half finish in conference play, or being in the discussion for an NCAA bid would only mean that Butler was going to be around a little longer.
It would be embarrassing to take this team into a Regional. The ERA of the pitching staff is a solid indicator that we'd be facing double-digit scoring by any Regional opponent.The future's so bright - I gotta wear shades.
We like to cut down nets and get sized for championship rings.Comment
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It's year 5.
Top 3 finish in AAC.
NCAA appearance.
Non-embarrassing performance in NCAA appearance.
Zero excuses.
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I would go with a top 3 finish in the AAC*
ncaa appearance
Improved pitching
Improved fielding
Improved baserunning
Improved hitting
*After reading the results of the weekend and 4 AAC teams may be ranked I'll go top 1/3 of the conferenceLast edited by pogo; February 26, 2018, 10:17 AM.Comment
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Through 6 games, batting average is in line with our final season average of last year and pitching is 0.75 runs less than where we ended the year last year.
NU is coming to town this weekend after getting smoked by Oregon State in a pair of games. NU is not on the same level as the Beavs, but should be an NCAA tournament team out of the B1G and is well-coached. This could be the early barometer for the season.Comment
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First off, nothing short of a Regional final is good enough in year 5 with the results of the previous 4 years. That said, Winning record overall, 13-11 or better in conference play (4th place or better in AAC). We have an extremely veteran team of Juniors and Seniors that have started/played since being Freshmen. We have 2 projected 1st round draft picks and several really good recruiting classes.
This all would have equated to CWS expectations 10 years ago and it should at least mean expectations of competing for a Regional championship today. After this season we will lose a huge amount of experience in the field. I don't think one good year every five or six seasons cuts it. We all know there won't be a coaching change after this season regardless of the outcome so there really are no expectations on this staff.
I just don't see any consistency or any improvement. We might be better this year, but so what, we were TERRIBLE last year and finished 5th in the 16th ranked conference (we finished below .500 in a conference where over half of our games were played against teams with 200+ RPIs). The only way to go is up after 3 dismal seasons. I for one will not be celebrating a team that is just "better" this year.Comment
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Year 5, we need to be at-large quality (especially since we have not cycled up to that level in any of the 4 prior seasons). If we are the last team in the field then great, that's the cut line for me.
Year 1 went pretty much as expected, Year 2 was slightly disappointing but pretty much also in line with my expectations given the inevitable rebuild. Years 3 and 4 were unmitigated disasters.
Gotta perform at a level commensurate with salary eventually, and there is no time like the present. I do like our current assistants very much and think we have a shot (not banking on it but there is some hope based on early returns) at meeting this goal. I will continue to root hard for us every game and will support our players to the fullest, as with every season of all Shocker sports.
Hopefully this weekend can generate a confirmation of progress. Go Shocks!Comment
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