Here's my bottom line subjective (using no data, just gut feelings) thoughts regarding this team as of today:

1.  I really don't feel too much different about this team today than I did 1 year ago today.   I believe we can play with any of the top teams I've seen this year in the MAC.  On the other hand, we can lose to any of the top teams.  If we gel and get hot late in the season, we can win the MAC Championship again this year (remember, this time last year you'd laugh at this last sentence as hard as you could laugh now).  At the same time, I think we could also lose the first round.  You couldn't predict last year and I wouldn't try this year.  I'll still go to Cleveland knowing we have a punchers chance.

2.  The one thing we really didn't know we had last year at this time, that I really am pretty sure we don't have this year, is a huge ceiling.  I don't think we have a Bassett type guy who's going to emerge on this roster to carry us to last years level.  The only thing we can hope for is that down the stretch everyone plays their best and we win some games.  I don't think we have that one guy, who's not doing much now, that's going to emerge in the next few weeks and carry us to some amazing run.  I think it's a team thing and I don't see one guy popping up to save the day.

3.   As expected, the losing is bringing out a few early anti-JG posts.  Still very small sampling, but I'm sure it will grow if this continues.  As I posted earlier this season, I don't think we have a problem in getting talent to Athens. It's been well documented what this roster could've/should've had this year and we all understand what kind of team we could've/should've had this season.  The one key thing I'm looking for is if this trend has ended and we've seen improvement.  And I think we're going to find out in the next few weeks.  Will this team stick together and grow through this season, or will we begin to see sulking; rumors of locker room problems; unexpected departures from the team; etc....  If in the past two years we've learned from our mistakes and established the culture and expectations of what we're looking for in player conduct, then the past 12 months will have helped us develop the foundation of the program from which to build-on.  If not, we'll figure out that this gloom & doom cycle of internal problems is a real issue that will haunt us during the rest of the JG years. 

4.  Similar to point #3, our "time" could be the next 1-2 years.  Due to the defections, this year is going to be an unhill battle.  As hard as this team plays and as well as it executes, it's obvious the roster is flawed.  We're simply missing too many peices that once again, we're supposed to be in Athens and on the team this year, that aren't.  The one's paying for that are this years team members as they aren't playing with a full deck.  However if we use this current roster as the foundational building block and add a couple more solid recruiting classes of guys that stay/perform for their full 4/5 years, then I think we'll reach our the levels we're dreaming of in the next couple seasons. 

And to summarize, I think this year we are paying the price for either:
1.  Recruiting the wrong guys  who had the wrong character traits for our program. Or,
2.  We have been unsuccessful in building/developing these young men personally once they've hit campus. 

All successful organizations have good Human Resource Departments.  And they also have good mentoring programs.  You've got be be sure you're bringing in the right people with the right talent.  At the same time, realizing few people you hire are perfect, you have to be able to grow and develop your talent.  You've got to be able to get your employees to buy into the mission and vision of the organization and be willing to adjust to the expectations of the company.  In basketball terms, we've got to recruit better and be able to mold these young men who aren't exactly where we want them to be into better men when they leave Athens.  That's called coaching, mentoring, personal development, building men out of boys, being an educator or whatever term you prefer.  And trust me, I realize this isn't easy.  Once again, this year we're paying the price of not executing in either proper recruiting or development once they were here.

My summary is this reminds me of Billy Hahn!  Was a nice young coach, very good assistant/recruiter, but not a good game coach or manager of players (anywhere).  Anybody have a comparison of the Hahn years and Groce so far?

Flomo and Casper, interesting comparison of JG and Hahn.  When JG was hired, I told myself that he would either be another Jim Snyder or another Billy Hahn.  I had a strangely ambivalent feeling about him.  Usually when Ohio hires a new coach I convince myself right away that he or she is the next Johnny Wooden or Amos Alonzo Stagg.  For some reason, I was uncharacteristically neutral on this hire and was taking a wait and see attitude.  This had nothing to do with Xs and Os, or an analysis of coaching philosophy, but was just sort of a gut feeling -- or lack thereof.  I suppose it was my analysis of him on a personal level -- an analysis of personality.  At this point, I guess, I'm kind of leaning toward the Billy Hahm comparison.  However, in the back of my mind I tell himself that Jim Snyder had a slow start -- didn't win a MAC Championship until his eight season.  His first season he was 6-14.  The second 13-11.  The third 12-12.  The fourth 9-13.  He obviously learned from these early years.  In his last 15 seasons he won seven MAC Championships.  Obviously in this day and age, a new head coach doesn't get as long a time to learn his profession.  But, the question remains is JG learning from his experiences on a year-to-year basis or is he a Billy Hahn type who remains kind of static and turned out not to be head coaching material.  I think we only have a year or two more to learn the answer to that question.