Where do we go from here

[ShockTalk]

On a resume? I think so.

He happened to be the AD when Wedge was hired. One could say, if someone better than Butler had been here, Wedge may not have had the opportunity to inquire about the job, IMHO.

[Kung Wu]

He happened to be the AD when Wedge was hired. One could say, if someone better than Butler had been here, Wedge may not have had the opportunity to inquire about the job, IMHO.

I don't think the President at Southwestern South Dakota State will have that insight.

[ShockingButTrue]

Is it too late to give Alterique Gilbert a scholarship? Anybody remember him? It seems the last several games that WSU was lacking a smart point guard in crunch time.

[SubGod22]

Is it too late to give Alterique Gilbert a scholarship? Anybody remember him? It seems the last several games that WSU was lacking a smart point guard in crunch time.

I prefer Porter. In crunch time, Gilbert was just a worse shooting Etienne. He wasn't going to pass and was going to do everything he could to throw something up.

[pinstripers]

Is it too late to give Alterique Gilbert a scholarship? Anybody remember him? It seems the last several games that WSU was lacking a smart point guard in crunch time.

not eligible

[CBB_Fan]

The simple answer? Down, potentially for longer than anyone is comfortable with.

• The money may not exist to pay three coaches through 2026
• The AAC will lose significant basketball standing with expected departures, hurting recruiting for whoever is at the top.
• In a 'what have you done for me lately' world, it will be hard for us to keep quality players out of the transfer portal.
• If we wait out a few bad seasons to try and snatch a great coach, we may have lowered our national profile to the point that it will be difficult to find one.
• Even if we get a great coach, it may take them several seasons to get the wheels on the bus, and develop recruiting trails; assuming they can actually keep their players.

This points to a cold and disappointing reality. It may take a decade, or more, to fix the mistakes of the program, even assuming we hit with one swing in the coaching search. The quickest route, but not necessarily the route that will take us the farthest, is terminating Brown's contract at the end of season and paying a proven low-major coach but the program needs to have confidence in the AD and money from boosters to make that happen.

Worst case scenario? Rather than becoming the big fish in a small AAC, we drop to the dead-last bottom and flounder with 15, 10, 7 win seasons. With that kind of stink, we lose booster money and fan passion, and any hope of finding a quick fix goes out the window. It becomes our normal, and we slowly become willing to offer long-term contracts to coaches that even promise to bring back to mediocrity and the rare top-4 in the AAC finish.

To prevent that, the program probably needs to strike while the hammer is warm and keep the spark alive. Replace the AD, hire a proven coach from the low majors (for example, Chris Jans) and hope that the gamble plays off and you are at least a top echelon conference member that occasionally gets to the NCAA.

[Shock Top]

I’d pledge my $$$ right now, if WSU presented a plan to hire a new AD and that AD would be hiring a new HC for MBB.

I expect I would not be alone in this.

[proshox]

IMO - momentum can shift quickly. Saturday was a heart breaker based on how well the team played after getting punched in the mouth early.

With that stated - I do believe these are good people working their butts off to figure it out. The effort and resiliency continues; therefore, I am not giving up on improvement.

The defense is starting to get back on track with a 38 KenPom rating. You can’t achieve this without a lot of belief, effort and execution. Especially with only one remarkably gifted defender in DD.

The offense remains a challenge, but we are starting to see signs of Ricky, Tyson and Craig co-existing in a mutually beneficial way.

Luck - Last year’s team had a belief things were going to work out in late game situations unfortunately this team is battling the exact opposite problem. In some ways it was awesome to have luck go our way for an entire season (got us a CHAMPIONSHIP)… Kenpom currently shows us the 276th luckiest team in the nation (admittedly much of it of our own making)

If I were coach… I would do my best to play six primary players: CP, TE, RCIV, DD, MU, KP. I don’t think the rest of the roster can play consistently at this level…using DD at the four allows us to switch almost everything defensively and provides the best offensive match-ups. I think there has been too much effort in trying to figure out whether JP and MJ can be an effective four… we just need to go small and get really good at it.

I am micromanaging goals the rest of the way. For the team I am setting a goal of two wins out of three this week.

Longer term - it is all about players. If I am the administration I am going all-in on NIL looking to get every sponsor in on the action

I distinctly remember a FHCGM rant to his assistants DURING a game in the Virgin Islands. A timeout had just ended (I think we were playing Monmouth) and he came back to the bench and told his assistants “you all better find my some ^%#€{>}\¥ ‘s (players) I can look up to.” This current roster has size and basketball skill limitations that tend to show themselves at the worst times. With a proper plan and execution these roster limitations can be glossed over, but it has been a few years since we had a roster that looked “big time.”

I am at Wichita Hoops three to five times a week watching the local prep teams practice. Each team has 5 to 10 players who could “bully ball” a number of our players. We look small and immature compared to pre-college players. All WSU fans are going to be disappointed until that changes. I would kill to have any of our 2011 to 2017 MVC rosters right now.

Finally, to help with recruiting I would dump one of our current assistants to hire an “offensive coordinator” from a program with a proven offense. I think too many of our assistants are cut from the same cloth. We need to find a respected coach who has new ideas and concepts… we are in a “defense above all else” death spiral that many once great programs fall into (SIU in the late 00’s was the first program I saw fall into this trap).

[Kel Varnsen]

If we do fire IB (highly unlikely) and hire a new coach, there are two choices: Chris Jans, or another guy who took his new school from a Top 170 Team in his first year (still making the tournament) to a Top 70 team over the span of a year.

Both good options. Both with their drawbacks. But I would LOVE to see either of them on the sidelines. They are geniuses.

[WuShock16]

If we do fire IB (highly unlikely) and hire a new coach, there are two choices: Chris Jans, or another guy who took his new school from a Top 170 Team in his first year (still making the tournament) to a Top 70 team over the span of a year.

Both good options. Both with their drawbacks. But I would LOVE to see either of them on the sidelines. They are geniuses.

Who is your other option (not Jans)? I'm blanking on who you are referencing.

[eeshocker]

Is it too late to give Alterique Gilbert a scholarship? Anybody remember him? It seems the last several games that WSU was lacking a smart point guard in crunch time.

The problem isn't that Porter isn't smart in crunch time, the problem is that they put the ball in TE hands in crunch time and he tends to go hero ball. I can only assume this is the coaches plan, if not he has no control over the players. I honestly think TE should be used as a decoy in late game situations and let CP make a play or dish.

[Kel Varnsen]

Who is your other option (not Jans)? I'm blanking on who you are referencing.

Rick Pitino.

Not exactly a realistic option for a number of reasons but the guy can coach his ass off. And he still has the energy to do it.

[Shock Top]

Rick Pitino.

Not exactly a realistic option for a number of reasons but the guy can coach his ass off. And he still has the energy to do it.

That’s my pick.

Dude is a winner. Dude can recruit. Dude can bring in fans and donors.

Have him come in with an AHC to take over when he retires, and it would be a slam dunk.

[Maizerunner08]

I’d pledge my $$$ right now, if WSU presented a plan to hire a new AD and that AD would be hiring a new HC for MBB.

I expect I would not be alone in this.

I've never donated to WSU, however if there was a clear vision and plan in place to get this ship headed in the right direction, I would absolutely throw some money in the pot.

[AZ Shocker]

Wonder how good of a relationship both Coach Brown and Coach Jans have. Would IB be willing to step back into a high paid assistant role and bring Jans in next year. Maybe split the compensation 60-40.

Perhaps after the season is over IB may reasses his God-given talents of being a very good recruiter and assistant coach. Maybe he finds himself not really liking the head coach gig and would be open to going back to what he's good at.

I know I know you're asking what world do you live in AZ Shocker that would never happen...but hey...desperate circumstances calls for desperate ideas. The program has GOT TO DO SOMETHING ASAP after the season.