Quote:
Originally Posted by KC_Connection
Let's not beat around the bush, many aren't watching as closely because the team isn't as good as it used to be under Self in this era. It's really as simple as that. If they were playing great and up to their talent level, the NIL/transfer portal stuff wouldn't matter. But they're not. Self himself also appears to be mailing it in (there's literally no justification for an NBA player in Flory getting benched for someone as limited as KJ and on some level he must know that).
That's just normal, it's not like we all don't detach ourselves somewhat from our struggling teams. It's abundantly clear how the season is ending for this group despite having a significant amount of talent, so I'm not as emotionally invested myself. I do believe there are different roster iterations among this group of players that could work to contend, but I have no expectation that we'll see those at this point.
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Ultimately yes, but I think all those other things listed are why the team isn’t as good.
The conference streak kept pressure on the team to perform through what would otherwise be meaningless games.
One and dones make it harder to keep high level talent.
NIL attracts talent away constantly and obscures why a player chose a program.
Transfer portal eliminates any required commitment from a player to work through their issues.
Then, keep in mind, Self was “raised” as a coach during a completely different era. It’s hard to imagine a coach being elite then and now.
The next great coaches are going to be “raised” during this era. The older ones likely won’t be able to completely reinvent everything that made them successful. I’d wager most won’t even want to.