SS,  I feel the same way.  I think they win tonight.  I think Shaka gets the best out of the team or even he will be a little discouraged.  In the end Shaka is a good coach.  We all have to have some faith that he knows what he is doing and seeing at practice.  Like you said, who knows what it will mean long term but it would be nice to get a win tonight for Shaka and the boys mental health moving forward in the short term.

Quote from: 21Jumpstreet on Today at 09:41:57 AMI'm not ready to write off both classes, but I do have to wonder if those classes are the "let's prove to kids we believe and live what we preach." You can already see it paying off with the freshman class and incoming class. The entire philosophy was uprooted, it takes a little time to prove to kids that MU is the place to play.

I'm not entirely writing off for now either. The miss rate has to be lower with this philosophy in the current landscape of college hoops.

Honestly its pretty embarrassing that Costa Rica and Honduras couldn't manage to qualify in such a watered down group. Not to mention Jamaica, who likely has little chance now.

Quote from: JWags85 on Today at 11:38:58 AMLittle less interesting considering its just the Netherlands JV team.  Not a single player on the roster last night was born or raised in Curaçao.  I think there is just a single player in their pool who is actually from there nor have any of them played a single minute in the Curaçao domestic league.  I get the relationship between Curaçao and the Netherlands but its just less cool, especially compared to the Cape Verde story which is largely home grown.

Compare it to Guam, who is an island nation of roughly the same size.  They are terrible so they obviously will never qualify, but their coach, captain, and most of their main players are both and raised in Guam.  Not kids from LA, Dallas, and NYC that grew up playing for MLS academies and then switched their allegiance once they didn't make the USMNT player pools.

That being said, congrats to them, always cool to have new clubs in the WC and even moreso, amazing for the ankles and knees of at least 1-2 players who won't be hacked to injury by the dirty tactics and butchery of Honduras.

Didn't want to sound negative re curacao but there is no magic there. Also not a ringing endorsement for Concacaf competitiveness when the Dutch F team can qualify out of the region.

Quote from: Billy Hoyle on Today at 12:43:56 PMIt's about Izzo recognizing a weakness and using the Portal to find one guy (from low-major Samford and not a high-priced guy) to plug the hole while staying committed to a roster full of guys he recruited out of HS. You can still play the RVG game while also acknowledging that bringing one guy at a position of obvious need won't destroy the model.

Michigan State is playing 8 guys over 10 minutes per game.  One of those players was brought in from the portal, Trey Fort (your "three point shooting grad from low-major Samford and not a high-priced guy).  Said "three point shooting grad" was probably not so high priced because he is shooting 33% from the field and 27% from 3 (on 5.5 attempts).  He's averaging 7.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists, and 1.3 turnovers per game.

We can get that kind of production from guys like Sean Jones without going into the portal.

Again, not sure MSU is exactly the example you want to be using to point at a guy who nailed it in the portal.  If you think Trey Fort is why MSU is having success, I'm not sure what to tell you.

Quote from: wadesworld on Today at 11:49:14 AMKentucky portalled way harder than MSU, so not sure this is your best data point to show portalling leads to success.

It would be a real shame if people practiced nuanced thinking on here.

It does not have to be all portal or no portal.

Quote from: wadesworld on Today at 11:49:14 AMKentucky portalled way harder than MSU, so not sure this is your best data point to show portalling leads to success.

It's about Izzo recognizing a weakness and using the Portal to find one guy (from low-major Samford and not a high-priced guy) to plug the hole while staying committed to a roster full of guys he recruited out of HS. You can still play the RVG game while also acknowledging that bringing one guy at a position of obvious need won't destroy the model.

Quote from: MU82 on Today at 12:32:46 PMOh, that's certainly true. They so desperately want ND to be in the playoff every year. It's sickening.

They don't need Notre Dame in.  They'll get huge ratings regardless.

However, like Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama or any other huge college football name, they'll always have an advantage in these rankings over the lesser programs.

Quote from: JWags85 on Today at 11:45:52 AMYea its not feeling bad for Miami, its yet again the absurd kiddie gloves that ND gets every year.  Give them an automatically high preseason ranking, and then let them cling to the top 20 when they lose, then let them climb up beating middling P5 teams while other people lose.

If Purdue or Kentucky had their resume, nobody is talking about them as a top 10 team

Oh, that's certainly true. They so desperately want ND to be in the playoff every year. It's sickening.

Quote from: Newsdreams on Today at 12:19:55 PMNeed to be proactive...

Didn't replace Justin Lewis with a portal player, so it was only a matter of time.  If we don't beat either Wisconsin or Purdue, we could win every other game this year and not make the Tournament because we lost to Maryland and Indiana a couple weeks before Thanksgiving.  So, Shaka's time here is coming to an end.

I bet Jay Wright is missing coaching.  Make the call, Mike.