How Many Current Players on Roster Nov 1?

[Billyboy78]

Hopefully, Adam, when we get good and have P5’s tempting our players, we can beat them off with a big stick - like the meme of beating a dead horse - from a core group and just between a starting/rotation spots.

Hopefully! Obviously it won't be realistic to keep them all every year, but the dream is that you become a good enough program that more players want to stay and then even when some do leave you are in a good enough spot to replace them with more good players.

It reminds me a lot of the same conversations that would take place whenever we get a really good coach who then inevitably leaves for a bigger/better program. Of course it sucks when those types of guys leave, but if they do it usually means that you had some really good years leading up to it! And the alternative is nobody else wants your coach because you stink.

The problem always has been when we do have really good coach, and we've had quite a few in our history, when they leave we usually follow that up by hiring a shitty coach. That's a big reason why we've never been able to sustain that success.

[adam914]

Hopefully, Adam, when we get good and have P5’s tempting our players, we can beat them off with a big stick - like the meme of beating a dead horse - from a core group and just between a starting/rotation spots.

Hopefully! Obviously it won't be realistic to keep them all every year, but the dream is that you become a good enough program that more players want to stay and then even when some do leave you are in a good enough spot to replace them with more good players.

It reminds me a lot of the same conversations that would take place whenever we get a really good coach who then inevitably leaves for a bigger/better program. Of course it sucks when those types of guys leave, but if they do it usually means that you had some really good years leading up to it! And the alternative is nobody else wants your coach because you stink.

The problem always has been when we do have really good coach, and we've had quite a few in our history, when they leave we usually follow that up by hiring a shitty coach. That's a big reason why we've never been able to sustain that success.

Yeah we definitely need to stop doing that!

[Blue Man]

Doesn't that show what a poor job the staff has been at evaluating talent and bringing players in?

It does, I don't think anyone would disagree that there have been some recruiting misses, but there were also some extenuating circumstances in play the first year at least and to some extent the second year to. I think the quality of player we're bringing in has gotten better each year that Archie has been here so the goal obviously has to be to keep that going.

Agreed. This is on pace for Archie's "plan" relative to getting a core of a couple guys and building off of that.

Year 1, while frustrating, was understandable when you consider the following:

1) Program left in it's worst place in 10-20 years, literally 1 upper D1 player on roster.
2) Best coach available was out of the game for a year, had no players to bring with him.
3) Best assistant coach available was out of the game for a year, had no players to bring with him.
4) Beginning of NIL, had literally ZERO dollars to give to players
5) Had to take late high-risk/high-reward guys (Harris, Freeman) that didn't pan out.

Year 2 saw improvement, even if it wasn't exactly what we wanted, but it was in the face of some serious roster upheaval and injury issues. We lacked maturity and leadership - things that only come from upperclassmen and roster/system continuity. We've addressed all of that by retaining a very good core comprised of 4 of our best players. We also retained 2 of the most promising freshmen in the A10 - despite the lack of accolades given at the end of the year.

Now that the portal is closed, we are most certainly on track to build this roster the way Archie wanted to. Player development and a few key pieces through the portal.

I think this just confirms Archie's goals and timeline.

[reef]

Doesn't that show what a poor job the staff has been at evaluating talent and bringing players in?

It does, I don't think anyone would disagree that there have been some recruiting misses, but there were also some extenuating circumstances in play the first year at least and to some extent the second year to. I think the quality of player we're bringing in has gotten better each year that Archie has been here so the goal obviously has to be to keep that going.

Agreed. This is on pace for Archie's "plan" relative to getting a core of a couple guys and building off of that.

Year 1, while frustrating, was understandable when you consider the following:

1) Program left in it's worst place in 10-20 years, literally 1 upper D1 player on roster.
2) Best coach available was out of the game for a year, had no players to bring with him.
3) Best assistant coach available was out of the game for a year, had no players to bring with him.
4) Beginning of NIL, had literally ZERO dollars to give to players
5) Had to take late high-risk/high-reward guys (Harris, Freeman) that didn't pan out.

Year 2 saw improvement, even if it wasn't exactly what we wanted, but it was in the face of some serious roster upheaval and injury issues. We lacked maturity and leadership - things that only come from upperclassmen and roster/system continuity. We've addressed all of that by retaining a very good core comprised of 4 of our best players. We also retained 2 of the most promising freshmen in the A10 - despite the lack of accolades given at the end of the year.

Now that the portal is closed, we are most certainly on track to build this roster the way Archie wanted to. Player development and a few key pieces through the portal.

I think this just confirms Archie's goals and timeline.

Well said BM , hopeful for a bit of a jump in year 3 of the Archie Miller era !