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I don't normally post on the board, but I have followed the program for a long time and wanted to give reasons why there is plenty of optimism for the men's basketball program under Jim Les:
1. We have excellent students in the classroom and great ambassadors in public.
2. Two very good recruiting classes of 3 & 4 year type players (Lemon, Prosser, Simms-Edwards, Eastman, D. Stewart, R. Abell, S. Harris). These are the kinds of players everyone was wanting rather than 2 year junior college players.
3. The quality of recruits should only get better now with the new facilities. We know we lost Courtney Lee due to the prior facilities. The facilities are a big change for the program that will pay off for Les.
4. With the injuries this year, this has been a very young team that is just now coming together as a team. They are not settling for losses as some say. They want to win and have held together despite the long losing stretch. This experience will make them much tougher next year if allowed to stay together as a team (players, coaches).
5. Sammy and Taylor would be back next year to strengthen this young group. Of course, Taylor's availability depends on his upcoming heart tests.
6. Our bench will be deeper since we shouldn't have two players (starters) injured again at the very start of the season.
7. We have a coach who is more concerned about his players??™ best interests than winning at all costs. Coach Les decided to sit Taylor out all of this season even if he would be cleared after heart tests.
8. The team has had struggles since the Sweet Sixteen year, but a lot of this was due to POB??™s early departure for the NBA (as well as the major injuries). Many players had to play out of their natural position. With 2 - 3 young centers on the roster next year (Prosser, Davis, Wells), that should finally be corrected. Will Egolf can play his more natural position of a forward.
Therefore, the next year or two should be the deciding year on whether the program is headed in the right direction. Next year could be a great year. If it is very disappointing, then a change probably should be made. I really believe Coach Les would resign if he thought he was not able to get this program to a championship contending level.
I hope we can hear from many more the reasons why we can be optimistic about next year!
1. We have excellent students in the classroom and great ambassadors in public.
2. Two very good recruiting classes of 3 & 4 year type players (Lemon, Prosser, Simms-Edwards, Eastman, D. Stewart, R. Abell, S. Harris). These are the kinds of players everyone was wanting rather than 2 year junior college players.
3. The quality of recruits should only get better now with the new facilities. We know we lost Courtney Lee due to the prior facilities. The facilities are a big change for the program that will pay off for Les.
4. With the injuries this year, this has been a very young team that is just now coming together as a team. They are not settling for losses as some say. They want to win and have held together despite the long losing stretch. This experience will make them much tougher next year if allowed to stay together as a team (players, coaches).
5. Sammy and Taylor would be back next year to strengthen this young group. Of course, Taylor's availability depends on his upcoming heart tests.
6. Our bench will be deeper since we shouldn't have two players (starters) injured again at the very start of the season.
7. We have a coach who is more concerned about his players??™ best interests than winning at all costs. Coach Les decided to sit Taylor out all of this season even if he would be cleared after heart tests.
8. The team has had struggles since the Sweet Sixteen year, but a lot of this was due to POB??™s early departure for the NBA (as well as the major injuries). Many players had to play out of their natural position. With 2 - 3 young centers on the roster next year (Prosser, Davis, Wells), that should finally be corrected. Will Egolf can play his more natural position of a forward.
Therefore, the next year or two should be the deciding year on whether the program is headed in the right direction. Next year could be a great year. If it is very disappointing, then a change probably should be made. I really believe Coach Les would resign if he thought he was not able to get this program to a championship contending level.
I hope we can hear from many more the reasons why we can be optimistic about next year!
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