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Post by BBFran on Mar 7, 2011 15:08:16 GMT -6
This game is what the last 5 years were pointed towards. The Championship game, in Milwaukee, in a sold out, raucous Cell, on national TV, against a great team, for the right to go back to the tournament. All the work of the last five years by our coaches and staff to rebuild the program, all the work by the student-athletes who bought into the program, stuck with it, made it better. All the support by the fans who stuck with them through tough days and years.
This game is what we needed to prove to everyone -- to the college basketball world in general, to our Horizon League rivals, to potential recruits. but by far most important to our own fans, our students, our alums, and the Milwaukee community, that this is a real program. That we weren't a flash in the pan, but a program with real staying power. In fact, that Milwaukee's great urban University is a sleeping giant athletically, and that anyone who is a fan of college sports, of basketball or just of great entertainment can get behind this program and be rewarded for it.
This game is all of that, and I know that win or lose, this game has brought us back so far.
But you know what? I feel like Wilford Brimley in The Natural when he said "I wanted to win that pennant worse than I wanted any goddamned thing in my life. You'd think I could just this once, wouldn't you? I didn't care nothing about the Series. Win or lose,
I would have been satisfied."
I don't care anything about the NCAA this year. Don't care how we'd be seeded or who we'd play. Nobody expects us to do anything there anyway.
I just want to win this game. Just this once.
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Post by TBone on Mar 7, 2011 15:11:54 GMT -6
Preach on brutha Fran!
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Post by jhart05 on Mar 7, 2011 15:25:59 GMT -6
You only missed three words there Fran...
"All the work of the last five years by our coaches and staff to rebuild the program, the right way, all the work by the student-athletes who bought into the program, stuck with it, made it better."
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Post by Super King on Mar 7, 2011 15:31:36 GMT -6
Ugh. One of my absolute least favorite parts of the year was all the people who claimed that because Jeter kicked Johnson, Flowers, Johnson, et al off the team he was somehow a bad coach for doing it.
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Post by BBFran on Mar 7, 2011 15:33:04 GMT -6
Correction accepted. It's not just that Rob and his staff have rebuilt the program -- it's how they have done it. No cutting corners, no putting up with bad behavior, no questionable recruiting, no smoke and mirrors. This isn't just a team whose record we can be proud of -- this is a team we can be proud of.
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Post by Hack on Mar 7, 2011 15:36:14 GMT -6
Ugh. One of my absolute least favorite parts of the year was all the people who claimed that because Jeter kicked Johnson, Flowers, Johnson, et al off the team he was somehow a bad coach for doing it. I think those experiences helped Rob figure out the type of player he wants and needs for this program. |
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Post by Hack on Mar 7, 2011 15:37:29 GMT -6
Correction accepted. It's not just that Rob and his staff have rebuilt the program -- it's how they have done it. No cutting corners, no putting up with bad behavior, no questionable recruiting, no smoke and mirrors. This isn't just a team whose record we can be proud of -- this is a team we can be proud of. Well, there was questionable recruiting (as far as character goes ... see above), but to his credit he corrected it quickly. |
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Post by Super King on Mar 7, 2011 15:40:33 GMT -6
But what could the warning signs possibly have been? Especially for Torre Johnson, who as far as I know had been on college basketball teams for four years without incident leading up to his arrest.
And I still believe that Kevin Johnson and Tim Flowers, even if there were a billion warning signs, would have been worth the risk to recruit anyway. Especially Johnson, who could have been an NBA player had he stayed for four years. Just because you recruit players with attitude problems doesn't mean they can't be corrected. Look at Avo. Look at Ricky. Look at Ant.
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Post by uwmplanner on Mar 7, 2011 15:43:48 GMT -6
Correction accepted. It's not just that Rob and his staff have rebuilt the program -- it's how they have done it. No cutting corners, no putting up with bad behavior, no questionable recruiting, no smoke and mirrors. This isn't just a team whose record we can be proud of -- this is a team we can be proud of. +1 Love how Coach Jeter was went about assembling this team by recruiting mainly four year players and mix in transfers and juco guys where we need it. He has built such a solid foundation we can redshirt a player like Evan Richard. |
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Post by parkerj on Mar 7, 2011 15:45:21 GMT -6
Torre got kicked off of OK State
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 7, 2011 15:48:16 GMT -6
And I still believe that Kevin Johnson and Tim Flowers, even if there were a billion warning signs, would have been worth the risk to recruit anyway. Especially Johnson, who could have been an NBA player had he stayed for four years. Just because you recruit players with attitude problems doesn't mean they can't be corrected. Look at Avo. Look at Ricky. Look at Ant.
Johnson wound up in jail. Tim Flowers is now reduced to being mentioned in SI articles about Derrick Rose as one of Rose's roommates. |
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Post by Hack on Mar 7, 2011 15:48:59 GMT -6
Torre got kicked off of OK State Correct. And there were some red flags developing around Flowers/Johnson before they got here. I'm not saying he shouldn't have recruited them. We all were happy that Rob landed them and brought Torre home. I'm just saying I think experiences like that help any young coach for future recruiting. |
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Post by PantherU on Mar 7, 2011 15:49:02 GMT -6
Torre Johnson had a DUI and got ran out of OK State. By the Suttons, no less. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
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Post by uwmplanner on Mar 7, 2011 15:50:00 GMT -6
But what could the warning signs possibly have been? Especially for Torre Johnson, who as far as I know had been on college basketball teams for four years without incident leading up to his arrest. And I still believe that Kevin Johnson and Tim Flowers, even if there were a billion warning signs, would have been worth the risk to recruit anyway. Especially Johnson, who could have been an NBA player had he stayed for four years. Just because you recruit players with attitude problems doesn't mean they can't be corrected. Look at Avo. Look at Ricky. Look at Ant. I highly doubt Johnson would've ever worked hard enough to be in the NBA. The attitude problems that Avo (and I'm not sure why you list Ricky or Anth) aren't even close to what the Simeon crew did. |
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Post by uwmplanner on Mar 7, 2011 15:51:43 GMT -6
And I still believe that Kevin Johnson and Tim Flowers, even if there were a billion warning signs, would have been worth the risk to recruit anyway. Especially Johnson, who could have been an NBA player had he stayed for four years. Just because you recruit players with attitude problems doesn't mean they can't be corrected. Look at Avo. Look at Ricky. Look at Ant.
Johnson wound up in jail. Tim Flowers is now reduced to being mentioned in SI articles about Derrick Rose as one of Rose's roommates.Yeah I recall Flowers being the more highly thought of recruit as well but they both were thought of as talented recruits for Coach Jeter. |
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