Zags

[Goose]

Donny is a great guy and recruiter. As for Zags possibly being dirty, the only thing that would surprise me in college ball today is if Wojo was running dirty program. Anyone else, any other program and I would believe it.

[Pakuni]

Honest question for those who follow recruiting much more closely than I:  are these over-seas kids that Few is bringing in heavily recruited by other programs?  Is Few winning recruiting battles with other high profile programs, or is he finding/developing hidden gems?

Gonzaga has landed a fair number of top 100 kids, but they've built their recent success mostly through dominance in international recruiting and a handful of key transfers.

[JWags85]

Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbingo

Nice try. It was a joke.  Mark Few had immediate success and has sustained that.  2 S16s and another pair of tourney wins in those 5 years, never missing it.  If Wojo had 1 quarter of that success, this board wouldn't be sick of him.

[brewcity77]

Nice try. It was a joke.  Mark Few had immediate success and has sustained that.  2 S16s and another pair of tourney wins in those 5 years, never missing it.  If Wojo had 1 quarter of that success, this board wouldn't be sick of him.

It actually wasn't a joke. I'm not saying Wojo is or isn't the answer, but the more I look around, the more convinced I am that "4-5 years to judge" is enough time to give you an inkling. It's more likely 10-15 years before you know anything conclusive.

[Benny B]

Does anyone else get the feeling that all of these calls for Gonzaga to join the Big East are merely a subconscious desire (on the part of the MU faithful) to embrace Mark Few's success and tenure at Gonzaga in an attempt to validate the sentiment that coaching stability and perennial tournament appearances is possible at MU?

[Goose]

Benny B

Spot on.

[Uncle Rico]

Does anyone else get the feeling that all of these calls for Gonzaga to join the Big East are merely a subconscious desire (on the part of the MU faithful) to embrace Mark Few's success and tenure at Gonzaga in an attempt to validate the sentiment that coaching stability and perennial tournament appearances is possible at MU?

Maybe, but there were Gonzaga discussions at the end of the old Big East as the Catholic 7 discussed who else to invite and Gonzaga was amongst the teams.  How real it was, who knows but the discussion was happening that long ago

[Cheeks]

Nice try. It was a joke.  Mark Few had immediate success and has sustained that.  2 S16s and another pair of tourney wins in those 5 years, never missing it.  If Wojo had 1 quarter of that success, this board wouldn't be sick of him.

He didn’t sustain it based on what is deemed successful on this board.

[Billy Hoyle]

We really do need to figure out how to make them being in the BE work. We need an injection after this past season.

LOL.  This one again. 

Yeah, Gonzaga is going to fly their 35 member baseball team or 27 member soccer teams to road games against St. John's and Seton Hall, and Providence is going to fly their 15 member volleyball team to Spokane every year.  I'm sure every conference member would be all about that Spokane/Omaha weekend swing.  And, we all know about that direct Providence to Spokane flight.

Maybe if every team from every chartered. I'm sure a high roller like yourself could foot the bill for MU to do that. I'm sure Tennis and soccer would love to charter.

[Cheeks]

Does anyone else get the feeling that all of these calls for Gonzaga to join the Big East are merely a subconscious desire (on the part of the MU faithful) to embrace Mark Few's success and tenure at Gonzaga in an attempt to validate the sentiment that coaching stability and perennial tournament appearances is possible at MU?

Sure, that would be great, too.  Anything is possible, but our track record shows it will be very difficult.  How many MU bball coaches have we had last as long was Few has?  But yes, anything is possible and I would be a pig in mud of it happened.

[Billy Hoyle]

Maybe, but there were Gonzaga discussions at the end of the old Big East as the Catholic 7 discussed who else to invite and Gonzaga was amongst the teams.  How real it was, who knows but the discussion was happening that long ago

No, there weren't. Few would leak that out to his buddies in the media but his AD was not in on that.

[Jon]

It actually wasn't a joke. I'm not saying Wojo is or isn't the answer, but the more I look around, the more convinced I am that "4-5 years to judge" is enough time to give you an inkling. It's more likely 10-15 years before you know anything conclusive.

Typical paradigm of someone whose career has been spent in the public sector.

Running a high major CBB team is a big business. Shareholders have a right to expect performance. I can see Larry Culp telling the Street that in 10-15 years... He would get laughed out of the room.

The starting point is the coach is running a business. And success doesn't mean harvesting annual championships. Success means being competitive for such. And that means consistently making The Dance because if you don't get invited you have Zero chance of winning.

Every school has its off season - UK can miss the Dance and lose to Robert Morris in the NIT but bounce back and make a deep run the next year. That is success.

[MUDPT]

LOL.  This one again. 

Yeah, Gonzaga is going to fly their 35 member baseball team or 27 member soccer teams to road games against St. John's and Seton Hall, and Providence is going to fly their 15 member volleyball team to Spokane every year.  I'm sure every conference member would be all about that Spokane/Omaha weekend swing.  And, we all know about that direct Providence to Spokane flight.

Maybe if every team from every chartered. I'm sure a high roller like yourself could foot the bill for MU to do that. I'm sure Tennis and soccer would love to charter.

They send 27 for soccer now?

[Jon]

Boo f#cking hoo. Flying in a jet-powered aircraft from Providence to Spokane is cruel and unusual punishment.

Must be the modern day "Bataan Death March."

Remind the little princes and princesses on college scholarships that there are hundreds of thousands of other 18-22 year olds who spend days taking a bus to get to DFW or BWI where they board aircraft with jump seats to fly half way around the world to go to war.

There are no porters to carry their bags. No Hilton at the end of the line. No restaurant meal awaiting them on arrival.

My heart bleeds for the horrors to which we subject our poor college athletes.

Spare me.

[wadesworld]

Boo f#cking hoo. Flying in a jet-powered aircraft from Providence to Spokane is cruel and unusual punishment.

Must be the modern day "Bataan Death March."

Remind the little princes and princesses on college scholarships that there are hundreds of thousands of other 18-22 year olds who spend days taking a bus to get to DFW or BWI where they board aircraft with jump seats to fly half way around the world to go to war.

There are no porters to carry their bags. No Hilton at the end of the line. No restaurant meal awaiting them on arrival.

My heart bleeds for the horrors to which we subject our poor college athletes.

Spare me.

Lol.  Then quit crying about bad athletics results.

[GooooMarquette]

Teleportation, at least the initial technology, requires that the subject be destroyed - atom by atom - at the departure and then reassembled at the destination.  This is going to give the road team a huge advantage, with essentially having a completely refreshed body and all every time they teleport.

But would the road team really have a huge advantage...or would it just neutralize the current home court advantage? And come to think of it, what would prevent the home team from teleporting to, say London, the night before the game, and returning shortly before game time? Would this reestablish the home court advantage?

[Cheeks]

Boo f#cking hoo. Flying in a jet-powered aircraft from Providence to Spokane is cruel and unusual punishment.

Must be the modern day "Bataan Death March."

Remind the little princes and princesses on college scholarships that there are hundreds of thousands of other 18-22 year olds who spend days taking a bus to get to DFW or BWI where they board aircraft with jump seats to fly half way around the world to go to war.

There are no porters to carry their bags. No Hilton at the end of the line. No restaurant meal awaiting them on arrival.

My heart bleeds for the horrors to which we subject our poor college athletes.

Spare me.

 Crash, their travel budget would be insane.  The wear and tear on missing classes, from constantly flying.  It is one thing to do this for football where you travel 5 away games a year on a Friday and miss very little school.  For every other sport, this is a nightmare.  Not fair to the kids, to their alumni.  Are Zags games at St John’s going to start at 4:00pm local in a Wednesday?  Or 9:00pm EST to screw the east coast market?

It makes zero sense on all levels.  Well being of students, financially, budget, fans, etc.

[Billy Hoyle]

They send 27 for soccer now?

it depends on the roster size and coaching staff size.

[Coleman]

We really do need to figure out how to make them being in the BE work. We need an injection after this past season.

I've been saying this for years.

[Billy Hoyle]

Boo f#cking hoo. Flying in a jet-powered aircraft from Providence to Spokane is cruel and unusual punishment.

Must be the modern day "Bataan Death March."

Remind the little princes and princesses on college scholarships that there are hundreds of thousands of other 18-22 year olds who spend days taking a bus to get to DFW or BWI where they board aircraft with jump seats to fly half way around the world to go to war.

There are no porters to carry their bags. No Hilton at the end of the line. No restaurant meal awaiting them on arrival.

My heart bleeds for the horrors to which we subject our poor college athletes.

Spare me.

I'm talking about budget costs.  But when one is as self-important and bitter as you, I can see how you would so badly misconstrue it.

[Coleman]

LOL.  This one again. 

Yeah, Gonzaga is going to fly their 35 member baseball team or 27 member soccer teams to road games against St. John's and Seton Hall, and Providence is going to fly their 15 member volleyball team to Spokane every year.  I'm sure every conference member would be all about that Spokane/Omaha weekend swing.  And, we all know about that direct Providence to Spokane flight.

Maybe if every team from every chartered. I'm sure a high roller like yourself could foot the bill for MU to do that. I'm sure Tennis and soccer would love to charter.

I don't know why people act like this is so impossible. The University of Hawaii literally does this for every sport, including football which has way more athletes than anything Gonzaga fields.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

It's too bad that Denver's basketball team hasn't done anything.  Adding both Denver and the Zags would at least make it more of a logical extension.

[StillAWarrior]

Boo f#cking hoo. Flying in a jet-powered aircraft from Providence to Spokane is cruel and unusual punishment.

Must be the modern day "Bataan Death March."

Remind the little princes and princesses on college scholarships that there are hundreds of thousands of other 18-22 year olds who spend days taking a bus to get to DFW or BWI where they board aircraft with jump seats to fly half way around the world to go to war.

There are no porters to carry their bags. No Hilton at the end of the line. No restaurant meal awaiting them on arrival.

My heart bleeds for the horrors to which we subject our poor college athletes.

Spare me.

You're smarter than this, Crash.  If the standard for everything that we do with our kids is "but 18 year old kids go to war" then we might as well just disband college athletics.  It's an impossible standard and you know it.

Is it a death march?  Of course not.  But is there any corresponding benefit to offset the added time, expense and burden that would come with the cross country travel?  None.  Because you'd like to see a couple of additional quality basketball games each year, you think hundreds of kids -- many of whom tend to skew more toward the "student" side of "student-athlete" than a lot of basketball players -- should travel across the country a couple times a year. 

[Coleman]

The only school that would be inconvenienced is Gonzaga, and we could more than make up for it with TV revenue money.

One additional road trip per season for other schools is not a big deal.

[StillAWarrior]

I don't know why people act like this is so impossible. The University of Hawaii literally does this for every sport, including football which has way more athletes than anything Gonzaga fields.

I'm not sure I've seen anyone say it is impossible.  It just doesn't make much sense.  There really is only one reason kind of makes sense:  Gonzaga has a great MBB program and as Big East fans, we'd love to see them play in our conference.  There are many, many reasons it doesn't make sense ranging from logistical, financial, academic, etc.

Hawaii presents a very unique situation because they have no choice if they want to compete at the D1 level.