21-22 Wishlist

[pie n eye]

The only thing off with your assessment is the last sentence. If he hadn’t been hired, that would be valid. The consternation is about the future being tainted by the horrible showing in the post season.

I just don’t agree it was that horrible. It looked a lot like the regular season except we lost two close games instead of winning.

There were times in all three games where we played really well and looked like a team ready to put the other team away. Then predictably, because it happened in almost every single game, we took dumb shots, played great defense only to have two guys knock the easy rebound off each other or have it bounce off their hands or some other bizarre thing. Not to mention our best player missing free throws while the other team gets every big bucket and break right when they needed to get back in the game almost immediately.

Could we have gone out and hired someone who had a long track record of success as a head coach? Probably? I don’t see why not. It still wouldn’t guarantee anything.

At the same time, I don’t think it’s fair to think that Brown can’t or won’t learn and grow from this season or that things we all complained about this year won’t improve next year when he and the new players are settled in with a year under their belts.

I don’t know about you guys but my first go around at a new job or task is never as good as my next. This was a pretty good start, I’m excited and interested to see what happens next.

[shock]

You are really hung up on the Marshall thing, you have been all season. I think it’s clouding your judgment.

You act like the good times with Marshall were the blip on the radar when it’s actually the other way around. We remember the good times because they were bountiful.

Sure, keep mentioning the loss to Marshall because no other team has ever been upset by a lower seed in the NCAA tourney.

I have as much respect for what the team did this year in winning the American but you’re acting like Marshall never sniffed the title when in fact we were a bounce away from winning it in a year where the conference was very good at the top.

It just seems like you’re twisting yourself into a pretzel trying to defend Brown when, in my opinion, he really doesn’t even need defending. Some people are bringing up some questions that, while reasonable, no one will know the answer to for years. Other people either just don’t know what they’re talking about or had some pretty weird expectations for a guy who was forced into the HC job a week before the season started.

The only thing off with your assessment is the last sentence. If he hadn’t been hired, that would be valid. The consternation is about the future being tainted by the horrible showing in the post season.

[pie n eye]

This is a very fair statement. I just think the overreaction, considering how much we exceeded expectations this year, is a little embarrassing for the fanbase. We won the Fing league (Marshall never did that). We went to the tourney from the AAC (something Marshall only did 1 out of the 2 years (last year was a toss up if we would have made it). Yet we have people on here saying that a couple bad games saying we have tanked our program forever and the entire athletic department needs to be fired. Seriously. The amount of people that only remember the good times from Marshall is amazing. We lost to 13 seed Marshall with a freaking first round draft pick on the team.

You are really hung up on the Marshall thing, you have been all season. I think it’s clouding your judgment.

You act like the good times with Marshall were the blip on the radar when it’s actually the other way around. We remember the good times because they were bountiful.

Sure, keep mentioning the loss to Marshall because no other team has ever been upset by a lower seed in the NCAA tourney.

I have as much respect for what the team did this year in winning the American but you’re acting like Marshall never sniffed the title when in fact we were a bounce away from winning it in a year where the conference was very good at the top.

It just seems like you’re twisting yourself into a pretzel trying to defend Brown when, in my opinion, he really doesn’t even need defending. Some people are bringing up some questions that, while reasonable, no one will know the answer to for years. Other people either just don’t know what they’re talking about or had some pretty weird expectations for a guy who was forced into the HC job a week before the season started.

[pie n eye]

Not hiring the AAC Coach of the year and coach of the team that won the AAC wouldn't have played out well. It might end up being the wrong decision in the long run, but it was the only decision in the short term. We literally went from being the dark story of the season to the feel good story of the season. That matters ... no matter how much people like to scream on here that it doesn't .. how the program is perceived in the national spotlight matters. The opinion of fans on message boards does not matter. That's just the reality of it. We repaired our program image in 3 months.

The “story” doesn’t matter anymore than what Shockernet thinks. That’s called being a prisoner of the moment. Making a decision because you’re worried some media member(s) are going to write a nasty article is not smart.

If we hired him or if we hired someone else people are going to have opinions. And then 10 minutes later something else will happen and they’ll move on.

Hiring Isaac Brown when we did could end up looking just as dumb long term as waiting until the end of the season and hiring someone else. It’s called life. You take the available information, make a decision, then live with the results.

If he was hired because he was our best option based on all available information then great. If he was hired because of a feel good story...not so great.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Coming from the person who, on April 18, 2021, didn’t know that this year doesn’t count against players eligibility.

Can I have the lottery numbers for the 17th, please? In PM if you don’t mind. Don’t want to share.

[pie n eye]

Honestly think giving him a multi year contract extension was stupid... And can't give any reason to why it was done. Beating Houston at home in a Covid year is not the reason. Boatwright made a quick rash decision and i hope it doesn't come back to bite is in the @$$. Hope I'm severely wrong.

Coming from the person who, on March 18, 2021, didn’t know that this year doesn’t count against players eligibility.

[ShockTalk]

Oh give me a freaking break. If the roles were reversed, you'd be arguing against it just to be a homer.

We also could've games to ECU, Temple, etc. but we have know way of knowing because we didn't play the games. We won the league this year by a technicality. I'll take the No.1 seed and it shoul'dve given us a clear path to the title game and an avoidance of the NCAA play-in game, but of course that didn't work out. There definitely is an asterisk on the championship this year.

Personally Fev, I think there is an asterisk on the whole NCAA basketball season, not on any of the teams. A team could somewhat control the COVID thing for themselves, but not for other teams. Maybe an asterisk should be put on OSU's victory at WSU. They won against a short-handed team by only 3. Maybe we hurt ourselves by not properly preparing our COVID response to make sure we could have played in Dakota. Yet, we beat ORU who, as a 15 seed, just beat a 2 seed from the top conference in NCAA basketball in Ohio St. If putting an asterisk by the conference championship it should also state that WSU was not at all responsible for the number of missed games or teams/coaches/league that would make sure as many as possible of those games were made up. Just what did WSU do NOT to deserve the championship??

[apkbaum]

Trevin Wade enters the portal. That was fast!

[ShockerFever]

There is no asterisk. We won because we won a higher percentage of games put in front of us than Memphis/SMU/Houston (which is what all the schools agreed upon before the year). Houston and Memphis didn't lose the title because they had to play the tougher teams. They lost the title because both of them lost to Tulsa (which we didn't) and Houston lost to ECU also. Winning titles is more than just beating the top teams .. it's not losing to the crap teams.

Oh give me a freaking break. If the roles were reversed, you'd be arguing against it just to be a homer.

We also could've lost games to ECU, Temple, etc. but we have no way of knowing because we didn't play the games. We won the league this year by a technicality. I'll take the No.1 seed and it shoul'dve given us a clear path to the title game and an avoidance of the NCAA play-in game, but of course that didn't work out. There definitely is an asterisk on the championship this year.

[molly jabali]

This is a very fair statement. I just think the overreaction, considering how much we exceeded expectations this year, is a little embarrassing for the fanbase. We won the Fing league (Marshall never did that). We went to the tourney from the AAC (something Marshall only did 1 out of the 2 years (last year was a toss up if we would have made it). Yet we have people on here saying that a couple bad games saying we have tanked our program forever and the entire athletic department needs to be fired. Seriously. The amount of people that only remember the good times from Marshall is amazing. We lost to 13 seed Marshall with a freaking first round draft pick on the team.

I loved Marshall but you are not wrong here

[Shockm]

On one hand, I agree with GWB and Marshall's offense. It was infuriating at times. However, I don't know if that is because it's too hard for some players to execute or it's just not my style of offense. I think Fred, Ron, and Tekele were unique. They seemed to think and act as one mind. So did Marshall's offense work? I suppose it did (or it was those teammates spin of it).

I don't care for an offense than relies on a player's level of athletic ability to make it run or that has too few moving parts. Maybe my thinking asks more than most players can give. After all, one of the best offenses I've ever watch was Pete Carril's "Princeton Offense". If your players can run that, I guess they could run any kind of offense.

For those not familiar (or you just want to enjoy good basketball being taught) and have 30 minutes to kill:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoYkihO2BAw

And the Single Wing, Power I, and Wing T are great offenses too. No players will ever be recruited to run them, but they were great 50-60 years ago.

[pinstripers]

On my wishlist is 6 new players (and I hope that's all we need)

[ShockTalk]

Pretty much this. WSU has not run a real offense for years. I'm tired of one guy dribbling around while everyone else stands there watching. The jacking up a stupid shot at the end of the sequence is also not enjoyable.

We knew what to expect from Marshall offense. It wasn't going to change. Considering IB took over a week before the year, it was fairly obvious that he wasn't going to change up the offense mid season. He's now on the clock to implement his own touch on the program. With him having 7 years under GM, I don't expect drastic changes, but he might have a few tricks up his sleeve.

On one hand, I agree with GWB and Marshall's offense. It was infuriating at times. However, I don't know if that is because it's too hard for some players to execute or it's just not my style of offense. I think Fred, Ron, and Tekele were unique. They seemed to think and act as one mind. So did Marshall's offense work? I suppose it did (or it was those teammates spin of it).

I don't care for an offense than relies on a player's level of athletic ability to make it run or that has too few moving parts. Maybe my thinking asks more than most players can give. After all, one of the best offenses I've ever watch was Pete Carril's "Princeton Offense". If your players can run that, I guess they could run any kind of offense.

For those not familiar (or you just want to enjoy good basketball being taught) and have 30 minutes to kill:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoYkihO2BAw

[Shockadaisical]

Enjoying all the friendly banter about Coach Brown !! LoL. Personally I am going to give him next season before jumping to too many conclusions one way or another. This was his first season as the head man and I am sure there is some adjustments to that. I think the fact that we didn't finish the season playing our best basketball is disappointing, but sometimes happens with good teams.

[Shockm]

Not hiring the AAC Coach of the year and coach of the team that won the AAC wouldn't have played out well. It might end up being the wrong decision in the long run, but it was the only decision in the short term. We literally went from being the dark story of the season to the feel good story of the season. That matters ... no matter how much people like to scream on here that it doesn't .. how the program is perceived in the national spotlight matters. The opinion of fans on message boards does not matter. That's just the reality of it. We repaired our program image in 3 months.

If you don't win, the national spotlight won't be on you either.