Happens everywhere, someone get a bit of success and feels they are way more important than they really ever were....fanbase adopts a new level of what they thing they are rather than the reality. #notabluebloodyet
I don't see many critics around here expecting unrealistic things given the investment the school makes in basketball. Right now we pay the most and we're in last place. We've had terrible luck with injuries to be sure, but what concerns me most is what those injuries have revealed: Too many scholarship players on the roster who are not ready to compete in the MAC. The cold truth is that we've had ONE season-ending injury to a proven MAC player. Yes, others are playing hurt, and yes, I don't think expecting great things this year was ever realistic (I was hoping to be anywhere north of .500 in the MAC at the start of the season).
I just don't understand the Balkanization on this board. Too many people think you can either be cheerleading and full of hope or you're a horrible person who hates Saul, hates the players and hopes for failure.
I like Saul, I admire the effort the players are putting forth most nights, I hope for success, and I never call out individual players in posts (*I'm freer with thoughts in chats).
All that said, I'm utterly mystified at people who find criticizing the highest-paid man on campus unacceptable when he's yet to produce the results that he was hired to produce. As long as we're spending more than any peer, we should be in the top four in the MAC every year barring a coaching upheaval. He has one year to fix it, and I hope he does. Contrary to what the anonymous poster in the chatroom said, I don't hate Saul. I've met him multiple times and like everything about what he and his family bring to Athens and the school. But if you're not getting wins -- and he's not -- it's bad for your long-term career outlook.
RJ
I am not sure if you are implying that I was talking about Ohio in the quote which read...I was applying it to Butler specifically but Illinois thinks they are on the level with Kansas, UCLA, Duke and Indiana and almost any fanbase that makes a tourney thinks they are then automatic qualifiers following a berth or two in the NCAA.
Good entertainment even though Butler has become a bit "entitled" since their ascension from the Horizon. Happens everywhere, someone get a bit of success and feels they are way more important than they really ever were....fanbase adopts a new level of what they thing they are rather than the reality. #notabluebloodyet
I totally agree with you about the tenor of the board. Fear and others seem to be, in my eyes, saying if you are not crucifying the coach and the results then you are one of the apologists but are not leaving a middle ground for folks who aspire to have us the class of the MAC but also realizing how we got here. There are quite a few who are not THIN SKINNED but who have found more productive and entertaining ways to spend time. For me I go on boards where folks are actually talking about talented kids, offensive sets, defensive philosophies and other talking about motorcycles, long distance touring and things that interest me and make me feel good. I have been missing this and actually took time to go back 30 pages and revisit what the board was before I said anything.
I admire honesty in analysis as I am a no bullshit kind of guy....at the same time there is NOTHING positive coming out of those corners. NOt sure how the spouses deal with those types of guys. I know if I was that negative with my wife and followed it by saying "honey I am just being honest, if you don't like it that's your problem" I would have Mike and Jeff Drake in my driveway moving mom back to Ohio. I love my wife and would not attack her to get results. I suspect we all love our Bobcats and could do a better job mixing the things we see that are good with honest but not angry criticism of the team and the coach. There are several folks here who have not said a positive comment in months...not only are the comments negative but those comments are just angry. I am not all PC or warm and fuzzy but man, there has to be a gentlemanly way to intelligently state the case and not assume folks who are not boiling oil or tearing apart feather pillows are not being critical in their own way. .
I am a bit uncompromising as the same thing Coach Rhodes sold us on in the dining room is still what I believe. Ohio should never lose a recruiting battle to another MAC school. There are no comparisons. Ohio should run this league year in and year out. Other schools and fanbases can believe we are snobs and smug but I have to think that is more out of ....well I will not insult them as I have friends at every other school that read this board. Suffice to say I have been on every campus, some as a student, others as a competitor, others as a recruit. In my eyes and from everything I have seen Ohio is superior. We should follow D.A. s suggestion to stay in the MAC and we should be demanding to be nothing less than at the top.
We aren't and there are reasons why. Stepping back and accepting a few of the cards that were dealt while not rationalizing anything should be the order of the day. I think those that are seeking to put folks into one camp or another are not thinking clearly.There is plenty room in the middle. NO ONE seems to be happy where we are. FOlks need to quit beating the snot out of people who are not mean, angry or loud. This idea applies especially to those who have not been on campus, in the Convo or met any of the players, staff and only see Ohio in an abstract vision. I think it is really hard to sit far away and be a loud, mean critic when you have no real connection...we are all Bobcats and want our teams to do well. Just because someone is not berating the result does not mean they do not agree with a position. I do not disagree with being critical of the results but I am mystified that there is not one good thing to say about anything else to go along with the criticism...