GopherHoopsFan
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- Jan 17, 2011
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A coach should have enough depth to cover for some of those loses. Texas A & M have yet to play a game with their full roster including a projected NBA 1st rounder. We lost 2 bigs & have 0 options after. Our best options on the wing after Amir & Dupree injuries are Hurt & Fitz. It's not about the bad luck that we are experiencing. It's about not having viable alternatives in case those things happen. If Lynch & Curry were healthy, who do we turn to if both & Murphy are in foul trouble or foul out. How is the lack of effort & constant complaining to officials not on him. We were a top heavy to with minimal depth before the season & last year that's why we crumbled after Springs injury.
Well, I'm pretty sure everything's been said about BK and GD. I guess you either give Pitino a pass on their recruitment or you don't.
You also need to remember that Fitzgerald is coming off of a second ACL tear, and likely isn't the player he was when he arrived on campus, so there's a bit of additional bad luck for you.
You're correct in stating that we don't have viable options behind many players, but next year's roster construction appears to be trending in the right direction, especially when/if RP gets the PG situation figured out.
The real question, and the purpose of this thread is to decide whether or not RP deserves to be fired. I believe it to be too soon for that. Those scholarships to BK and GD turned out to be disastrous. Those are nearly in the past, and the next season or two will be very telling for RP, when he has legitimate options on the bench. If he can't get it done with Stockman, and the stable of PF's at his disposal next year then I think we'll have to reassess.
I guess I think it's a bit funny that some people on here expect greatness, and they expect it immediately. Everything in life is temporary. The highs with this team will (hopefully not, but probably will) be temporary, the lows will be temporary. We're not Duke, we're not UCLA, hell we're not even Wisconsin. We're not in a position as a basketball program to demand greatness or even sustained (moderate) success over a four to five year period.
I agree with the posters griping about his roster construction, but you have to maintain perspective. The recruiting misses in basketball are a lot more glaring in basketball where you only get 13-14 scholarships. The mistake at Center was compounded by missing badly on two extremely substandard players four years ago. That is absolutely a ding against RP, but does it really constitute his being fired over? I think he's recruited well enough (and consistently) over the past four years to prove that he's better than making big reaches for unproven talent.
Honestly, the only other player on our roster that I disagree with the recruitment of is Michael Hurt. I understand that some people on here like him, and believe he can be a contributor, but I don't see it, not if this team wants to go places. HOWEVER, if RP thought it would help get Matthew on campus, then it was the right decision, because Michael's decent, and isn't really going to hurt (no pun intended) you in the 7 minutes he plays per game.
Pretty much every other recruit I think has been worth the chance taken.
Can he coach? Not as well as we'd all like, but I'm an optimist and believe that he can improve.