re: Tide Hoops | Please Anchor

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If it was a Sweet 16 run would the feeling of a success still be there?

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100%. Back-to-back Sweet 16’s after basically a decade of not even being in the NCAAT. I’ll take it.

Here’s how I view this season:

Sweet 16 and up: Successful season
Round of 32: I’m fine with it. Basically where I expect this team to end up.
Round of 64: Disappointment

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Absolutely. If this team is still alive after the first weekend, especially after how infuriating the regular season has been, I'd consider it a huge success and a ton of positive momentum going forward.

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Yep, Sweet 16 would be just fine.

Take that, get a bit better at working the portal, and move on to next year.

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Hypothetical question:

Lose to LSU
Lose in first round of SEC tourney
Make a run in the NCAA tournament to the Elite 8

Do you deem the year a success or no? Curious what y’all think

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There are different levels of success imo. From an overall program standpoint this season is already a success regardless of what happens the rest of the way. All losses are disappointing to some degree and i'll be mad when we take our final L, but this program is as healthy right now as it has been this century. Firmly in the NCAAT in back to back years with a top three class already signed is an amazing position to be in.

This thread, me included, can be just as much of a roller coaster as this year's team has been. We all should probably smell the roses just a little bit more and appreciate where the program is. We went two decades just wishing we could be in the exact position that we find ourselves in today.

I don't mean to sound preachy or tell anyone they should just be satisfied with where we are, because I want to win a national championship too. I just think we should also recognize that the program has absolutely taken a major step since Oats was hired. He and the staff have elevated us rather quickly and now we know a new arena is on the horizon as well.

But yeah, making the E8 would definitely be another huge feather in our cap.

I agree with your whole post.

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If we could just get rid of the losing to shite teams at home late in the season bugaboo

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Listen man, we beat South Carolina and State at home. You knew, I knew, and everyone else knew we were going to shite the bed against a pretty bad Aggy team at that point. Especially after we won in fricking Memorial. Some things are just so engrained in the fabric of our program that there's no way to separate ourselves from them. Most notably major injuries to key players and losing to bad teams at home in late February/early March.

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Some things are just so engrained in the fabric of our program that there's no way to separate ourselves from them

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Fortunately, my wife had a big birthday Wednesday night along with Ash Wednesday service, so I wasn’t able to watch the game. It wasn’t fully unexpected to see this team lay an egg, but I was really hoping we were past that.

However, I was surprised to see the amount of shade thrown Oats way, particularly questioning his coaching abilities. I mean, really? He sucks at using timeouts and completely underestimated the lack of leadership /competitive spirit of individuals on the team (which if I remember, a few of us mentioned in January but got ridiculed for indicating he should have recognized that pre-season and been working on it; he doesn’t have the internally driven hard workers he had on the team last year), but the man knows how to coach basketball. Here’s a link that TideCPA posted in December as exhibit A LINK.

I will agree that Oats seems to be better at between game adjustments than he is at in-game adjustments, but in-game adjustments require good leaders and high IQ guys to implement. He doesn’t have that this year. JP, Herb, or even Primo would have run through a brick wall to implement an in-game adjustment last year to win a game. This team just doesn’t hate to lose, and it shows.

ETA: It’s good to hear him indicate he recognized his failure to see the lack of leadership. If he learns that lesson early in his tenure, that will help us the next 10 years! However, we need that alpha dog, outspoken leader next year to change the culture. Either portal or hope one of the freshman are ready to step up (that’s a lot to ask of a freshman).

Pelicans all over the Jazz…up 28 with 5 min left in the first half. Herb already with 2 steals

Curry just got ejected. Nothing egregious, just hurt some refs' feelings