Paul Mills Not Hot Seat

[rjl]

Knew I could wade into this cesspool today for a good laugh.

Let's dig into this a bit more. See attached photo of this team versus a PM team that he brings up with his own recruits who can play his style. Start with Adjusted Tempo - same, year over year. But look at the offense - we're ranked 215 in the country, and his guys at OR were 32nd. Why? Because these categories were better than ours: Effective FG%, TO%, 2P%, 3P%, and FT%. What does that tell you?

To me, it's a skill issue. These guys suck. Last year we had an NBA point guard on our team to facilitate. We're quite a ways away from that. Let him get his guys in - if you thought we were going to have a Jerome Tange level turnaround in one season, I don't know what to tell you.

Nope. The transfer portal has made "wait until he gets his guys in here" a much less valid excuse. Mills had just as much time to work the transfer portal as every other coach, and most of the team are guys he brought in.

Right now, we've got two new guys coming in next year, which means Mills is going to have to work the transfer portal again. He'll have the same amount of time this offseason to work the portal as he had last offseason.

Not that it matters. We're stuck with Mills for at least 2 more seasons no matter what happens.

[Stickboy46]

Nope. The transfer portal has made "wait until he gets his guys in here" a much less valid excuse. Mills had just as much time to work the transfer portal as every other coach, and most of the team are guys he brought in.

Right now, we've got two new guys coming in next year, which means Mills is going to have to work the transfer portal again. He'll have the same amount of time this offseason to work the portal as he had last offseason.

Not that it matters. We're stuck with Mills for at least 2 more seasons no matter what happens.

Yea, we keep getting beat by guys that had the same or less time than Mills to recruit ....

[rjl]

Cute quip, but I wouldn't really say those 7 players are "his guys". Recruiting is a long-term process - it doesn't usually involve signing a guy ONE DAY before your team flies to Greece for three games. So forgive me, but I'm not going to say that this is a roster he was confident in. Never said he's not too blame for some issues....I'm just saying Craig Porter Jr isn't running out of that tunnel this year.

Invalid. You can't recruit anyone from the transfer portal until they themselves enter the portal, and that doesn't generally happen until the season is over. Right around the time that Mills got hired.

[pinstripers]

Cute quip, but I wouldn't really say those 7 players are "his guys". Recruiting is a long-term process - it doesn't usually involve signing a guy ONE DAY before your team flies to Greece for three games. So forgive me, but I'm not going to say that this is a roster he was confident in. Never said he's not too blame for some issues....I'm just saying Craig Porter Jr isn't running out of that tunnel this year.

nobody is RUNNING out of the tunnel

[wsushockerdude]

The funny part .. the guy he signed ONE DAY before the trip is arguably his best recruit.

I guess we will see... if he doesn't kick some of these guys to the curb .. it wont matter, since most all of them are eligible to come back. So no excuses for year 2

I totally agree, he is the best recruit. My optimism tells me that he CAN recruit these guys when given time. I don't think a single player from this squad should come back next year. And if we're this bad next season, sure, continue the thread.

[Stickboy46]

I totally agree, he is the best recruit. My optimism tells me that he CAN recruit these guys when given time. I don't think a single player from this squad should come back next year. And if we're this bad next season, sure, continue the thread.

I don't see why we need to wait until next season. Mills isn't donating his million+ dollar salary back because he's not getting results, so results should be graded and criticized appropriately. As mentioned by rjl, there is no excuse for not getting players with the transfer portal. Other coaches in our own conference had the same or less amount of time as Mills then proceeded to wipe the floor with us. If he needs 2-3 years to build a team .. its never going to happen because the roster is going to turnover every year

[wsushockerdude]

Invalid. You can't recruit anyone from the transfer portal until they themselves enter the portal, and that doesn't generally happen until the season is over. Right around the time that Mills got hired.

The portal is a big part of recruiting now. But let's not pretend that recruiting guys out of high school is just dead in the water. I'm struggling to find data more current than 2022, but at that point there were 5,510 NCAA D1 mens basketball players. Here's the link. I don't see that number changing much to 2023. Last year, just over 1,000 players entered the portal. Source. People still recruit.

Yes, some of those schools are quite a bit smaller and skew the data, but still - recruiting high school athletes is important. It is far and away the majority of most rosters in Division 1 basketball.

[rjl]

The portal is a big part of recruiting now. But let's not pretend that recruiting guys out of high school is just dead in the water. I'm struggling to find data more current than 2022, but at that point there were 5,510 NCAA D1 mens basketball players. Here's the link. I don't see that number changing much to 2023. Last year, just over 1,000 players entered the portal. Source. People still recruit.

Yes, some of those schools are quite a bit smaller and skew the data, but still - recruiting high school athletes is important. It is far and away the majority of most rosters in Division 1 basketball.

I agree with what you are saying here. High school is still extremely important, and probably disproportionately important to a school like WSU.

But the portal still exists, and the portal means there is no valid reason why we have the cellar-level talent that we have on the team right now.

I'm not saying Mills should be fighting for the conference title. But I am saying that it's very reasonable to believe we should be seeing a lot better results than we are. And, aside from coaching, the reason why we are not is due in large part to the players that Mills brought in.

The fact is that we'll probably need to lean heavily on the portal next year (and probably every year that follows). And that will again be up to Mills. I certainly hope he has better results using the exact same tools this time.

[asiseeit]

I'd prefer Mills take a more consultant type of approach and allow Acy to coach and inspire. If Mill's practices are anything like games, and they probably are, we need a hard ass to get after this team. Those who get their feelings hurt by it can find a place at the end of the bench and that would apply them ALL

[SubGod22]

Judging by how lackadaisical pregame and halftime warmups go, I can't imagine practices are all that tough. I don't completely buy into you play how you practice, but there is some truth to it. I was always a better game day player than practice, but that doesn't mean I was dicking around at practice. I do know that during warmups, it was meant to get you ready for the game and the half-assed approach this team takes to both it's no wonder the performance on the court sucks.

Also, what the **** is the point of not playing Joy at this point? We aren't playing for jack **** this season. This season was lost a long time ago. At least make an effort to develop (might be asking too much) and prepare for next year. Joy showed promise. He's young and I think most of us could handle some FR mistakes from a kid who's busting his ass to get better than we are from upperclassmen making the same dumbass mistakes game after game. Hell, I'd be in favor of playing Bamba if he's game. At this point, playing may be a waste for him, especially if he might plan on transferring to a place that gives him a chance. But Joy doesn't have that option. His year has already been wasted and playing more isn't going to hurt anything.

Thank God the Chiefs play Sunday afternoon.

[ShockTalk]

Lest we forget, we've had some pretty salty Jucos who have heavily impacted our success in the past. The last one is in the NBA, others in the Dance and F4, NIT, and so on.

[wsushockerdude]

Judging by how lackadaisical pregame and halftime warmups go, I can't imagine practices are all that tough. I don't completely buy into you play how you practice, but there is some truth to it. I was always a better game day player than practice, but that doesn't mean I was dicking around at practice. I do know that during warmups, it was meant to get you ready for the game and the half-assed approach this team takes to both it's no wonder the performance on the court sucks.

Also, what the **** is the point of not playing Joy at this point? We aren't playing for jack **** this season. This season was lost a long time ago. At least make an effort to develop (might be asking too much) and prepare for next year. Joy showed promise. He's young and I think most of us could handle some FR mistakes from a kid who's busting his ass to get better than we are from upperclassmen making the same dumbass mistakes game after game. Hell, I'd be in favor of playing Bamba if he's game. At this point, playing may be a waste for him, especially if he might plan on transferring to a place that gives him a chance. But Joy doesn't have that option. His year has already been wasted and playing more isn't going to hurt anything.

Thank God the Chiefs play Sunday afternoon.

O/U 2000 fans in attendance Sunday? I certainly won't be.

[SubGod22]

O/U 2000 fans in attendance Sunday? I certainly won't be.

Under. With this **** play and the Chiefs vying for another Super Bowl I'd expect a sparse crowd, even by our current sparse crowd standards.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

Paul Mills deserves most of the blame, but Kevin Saal:

1) Chose to fire Isaac Brown a year before his buyout was set to drop, even after the team improved over the course of last season.
2) Did not have a replacement hire lined up, despite the rush to fire Isaac Brown (this is the most unacceptable part, in my opinion).
3) Hired a coach from a low-major program, who won more than 20 games once and always had poor underlying metrics.

I think Kevin Saal is doing a good job as AD in other areas, but this is (by far) the biggest decision he has made and so far it looks to be a bad one.

[Stickboy46]

Paul Mills deserves most of the blame, but Kevin Saal:

1) Chose to fire Isaac Brown a year before his buyout was set to drop, even after the team improved over the course of last season.
2) Did not have a replacement hire lined up, despite the rush to fire Isaac Brown (this is the most unacceptable part, in my opinion).
3) Hired a coach from a low-major program, who won more than 20 games once and always had poor underlying metrics.

I think Kevin Saal is doing a good job as AD in other areas, but this is (by far) the biggest decision he has made and so far it looks to be a bad one.

Yup, exactly my thoughts. Number 2 is the craziest one IMO. Especially considering the contract buyout difference from last year to this year