Chris Datres

Oh come on, you don't like the 15-18 & 16-17 matchups to open the Big Ten Tournament?

You might get your wish granted. I'm trying to be in Seattle that weekend and SLC would be an excellent stopover point on my way there.

First puzzle piece...Utah https://x.com/RunninHoopsPod/status/2055299840054333897?s=20

To your #9, Stanford can definitely play some point guard. He made such a nice leap from his freshman to sophomore year at Temple that he would have been top 2 or 3 for AAC POY had he stayed on Broad Street instead of going to the Main Line. He's a guy that you definitely want to have the ball when time is running down.

If you thought it was torturous to have a basketball team keep the same coach and never make the Tournament, double it and you have softball. At least we made a few conference finals over the years. Had she started the #1 pitcher in Game 2 up 1-0 a couple years ago, maybe they get over the top.

This athletic department is cursed

Think of the Drexel fans you’ve encountered and then turn up the entitlement about 10 notches and you get a Nova fan. Yes, winning 2 championships in a 3-year span will cause that but they’ve always had this air about them that they’re a higher tier than any of the other Big 5 schools. Again, results on the court kinda justify it. Anyway, I wouldn’t take much from their observations. As stated already, they also employ one of the more abhorrent coaches in the game so that’s another knock. Stanford had that ankle injury early on in the season and it must have been nagging throughout the entire season to keep him from being a regular part of the bench rotation. Time for him to make up for lost time with us next season.

This is an EXCELLENT get. Most of you know that I also have Temple fandom in my blood so getting someone familiar who I liked when he was at Temple is going to get high marks from me. His last year at Temple, he shot 45.5% from the field and just under 35% from 3. But he wasn't one of those who looked for 3's. His specialty was driving to the basket and getting pullup jumpers from the midrange and the lane. He was also the leading assist guy with a 64-51 assist-TO rate. He's a guy with size that can get his own shot but is bigger than DW and has more athleticism than Tejada. He was also the guy that you'd go to with the shot clock running down or in a final-possession situation and he won't settle for some fadeaway shot. He'll actually try to get to the basket. Hopefully he's over the ankle injury that plagued him at Nova and that we can see the Stanford that I saw in his two years at Temple.

Didn’t even remeber Onuetu doing anything and he’s going to a Big Ten team? What a country.

We won the league 2 out of the last 4 years. Great, and what did that get us? ONE NIT game. And while that’s great, that avenue is no longer available because the CAA gets no love from the ratings systems. Fact of the matter is there’s zero confidence that the portal is gonna reap anything based on a long record of mediocrity. Once those players get here, there’s also little confidence that the way we play is gonna change. I stated in my email to Dr Steve at the end of the season, “But with your SEC pedigree, I'd think that a consistent tapping at the ceiling within a major program might be enough evidence that it's time to think about a change.” Apparently, his SEC pedigree doesn’t involve impatience for a winner.

The Towson to Big XII pipeline continues...

Punt on the next 3 seasons. I've seen a lot of dumb things come out of that account but this may be top of the heap. Is there some draft lottery we'd be tanking for? I don't care what KenPom ranks our conference or who is in it. Whatever gets us back to the Dance is the sole goal. We've seen over the years that any seed can win a tournament game whether it's Gulf Coast, St. Peter's, FDU, almost Siena this year. So if you want to keep getting whacked in the semis of a "true mid-major" while yapping at the UMBCs and Howards of the world who win their conference tournament and advance, go right ahead. I'll take on whatever gets us announced on the Selection Show and those Tournament unit$.

We get a personalized gift box every year - full of disappointment and shot clock violations.

Interesting what he cited for why he decided to leave…

Instant offense...