Jim French Stepstool

IF he returns to CBB & they need to pay more to keep him, I suspect they will.

My wife just called me with the news as I was out & about. Told me he also mentioned that if he returns to college hoops it'll be with UW. For a guy who's moved around as much as he has, even in HS, that's a pretty positive indictment toward the current staff. In the old days of declare & then either make a roster or die on the vine this would be a bad decision. Glad to hear he isn't hiring an agent. So you still can't hire an agent as a collegian. That's refreshing. Seems like they can do anything these days short of betting on their games.

You're right, everyone does have different definitions, which is fine. There are plenty of schools that, while they may not want to settle for a 5 seed being a high-water mark (and I'm sure they don't), at the same time won't be hanging crepe because they were seeded among the top 20 schools in a given year, rather than the top 16. In the Big Ten, sign me up for a title any/every year, shared or not. Yes, what they're experiencing right now is a sharp decline from back-to-back final fours. The ceiling in this era? Good question that's yet to be answered. I believe a lot of schools are feeling that out. Personally I feel the current transfer rules, where 'commitment' seems to be an obsolete term, are just as big a factor.

As non-funny as this whole thing is, this made me laugh. I feel ya.

I hope this is what they do. Bauers has played the OF if in-game depth/moves become an issue on a given day. Keeping Frelick in the OF would be easier if Black plays well enough in AAA to give them a possible platoon option at 3B.

For crying out loud..........

You're right, and I amended one of my responses above. I'd love to add to the frontcourt athleticism but not at the cost of skill level. and Wahl (when healthy) certainly was skilled. I wonder how many schools would salivate over a 7-footer in the portal that averages a little over 11 a game, shoots over 55% from the floor & almost 45% from the arc, makes his FTs & grabs between 7 to 7.5 boards? That's Crowl.

If you told me 10 years ago college hoops would be seeing players getting paid--some really, really well---and they'd be able to leave year to year w/o having to sit out, and then you told me Greg Gard would be piloting us through that, I'd be concerned at a colossal level. IMO he's dealing with all this crap impressively, all things considered.

And supposedly Reynolds was asked directly about his thoughts after his brother went to GB, and gave no indication that it was a factor. Then as you said, does the equivalent of pulling the rug out from someone you gave your word to, w/o having the integrity to face them with the news. And oh yeah, he just announced he's entering the portal, again. I'll say this for the current framework--it sure is building character.

Don't know about Hepburn & what he was or wasn't told. But I think this was his most complete season. He had more weapons to dole the ball out to than he's ever had. I suspect that influenced his decisions. As for Storr, I think one of the big differences between Gard & Ryan was that Gard actually let people play through their mistakes much more. This year, yeah, it seems like he reverted to a quicker hook with Storr. This is probably due to a combination of Blackwell being available, and Storr just not being the best decision maker, defender, or ball handler. He was new to the system & there was probably a lot of 'sit him down, make the correction, then send him back out' going on. IMO it would benefit him SOOO much to return. But flip a coin on that one.

Agree on all counts. Their defensive concepts when executed don't really require extreme athleticism or shot blocking from the bigs, but yeah, it's nice to be able to erase mistakes when someone gets beat. Kai Rogers would fit that bill. They're going after him but so are many others. EDIT: I think 'big problem' should come with a qualifier. The depth didn't excite many (although I think Winter is on track to have an effective career). But I feel that depth only became an issue when Wahl struggled so mightily. When he plays an effective 32-35 minutes, Gilmore & Ilver were good enough. Near the end, he didn't.

Throughout his career Tyler Wahl was more than athletic enough (although his offensive resume, when he was scoring, had very little to do with athleticism). This year, yeah, after getting hurt there wasn't much of anything left in the tank. Sad to see, because he made a ton of great defensive plays over the years. Also agree about the other bigs. But some people have mentioned how Crowl doesn't block a lot of shots. The defense is built on a team concept w/the switching, hedging, not allowing penetration etc. When everyone does their job, Crowl blocking shots doesn't need to happen. Makes you appreciate just how consistent they were defensively over the years when folks were kept out of the lane, unlike this season. Yeah, most unathletic bigs "award" goes to either us or Northwestern.

I don't think they're okay being average in basketball. To their credit they haven't been. If the inconsistencies of the last 16 outings continue going forward, You'll see a change. And if that happens, I agree that there IS similarity to the situation with Chryst. But there are large differences as well, most of which are off-the-field. Disagree re Hepburn. Other than his 3pt shooting, he was an improved player this year on both ends. He scored less, which happens when you bring in a scorer & your PG shoots less.

I think his record has been above average since taking over. There's 361 schools out there playing D-1 ball, you know. There are always risks when you make a change, especially to a relative unknown. Someone mentioned Jr Pitino; there are other examples. If his record was .500-ish the risk-reward would obviously be quite different. I don't think there's much if anything "special" about him other than consistency, which is 'special' in its' own right although most people don't look at it that way. It's taken a recent hit with the 3-8 stretch this year, followed by a 5-6 game stretch of maybe the best they've looked all season, followed by a horrible performance in the tournament. That kind of Dow Jones type line is, for this program, very weird. And that's what has led to some of the speculation. But IMO it's a little premature if anyone thinks something is imminent. My qualifier is that McIntosh has surprised us before. Not exactly the same situation though.

I hate realignment too. I grew up with a plethora of conferences in college hoops. Some 10 teams, others a bit bigger, some 8 or 9. Loved it. And I get how air travel & TV have made geographic sense in conferences unnecessary. But money rules. Especially when you have to openly bid for players, and they can leave year-to-year. The old system was flawed, but I think in time we'll see that "change" and "improvement" aren't synonymous. But as currently constructed UWs' piece of that pie, even for basketball, is going to dwarf what non P-5s realize.

I'll put that tape recording, and those comments made in it, up against any other comments made about a coach in the privacy of any other locker room, on other college teams. Of course the key word is 'privacy'. Those other comments on other teams don't exist, because there were no agenda-driven people with recorders in those locker rooms. Throw in that the person most likely guilty of recording was only there due to the tragic misfortune of a colleague........I'm sorry. I'm done with that. A new younger coach WOULD be risky, and of course it could work out well. But I'll also say this season certainly doesn't have to be the ceiling. If they played this weekend the way they played the weekend prior, they'd probably be in the sweet 16. Able to play at a high level, but not consistently. If anything that's the biggest difference to when Bo was here, moreso than recruiting. From what I understand he's signed through 26-27.

1) If you look around college hoops you'll see many schools that are successful & don't have a lot of in-state kids. There's another school from the state in the tournament this year. I believe they have three in-state kids, and two of them barely play. Don't get me wrong, Wisconsin produces a LOT of talent & I'd love to see them tap in. But in this day & age recruiting takes on a different sort of vibe--bringing in a transfer, thanks to the portal, IS recruiting. But I'd like to do better than they have done (3 scholarship kids & one committed for '25) 2) Every guy on that list improved while in the program w/ the exception of Carlson (back issues; parents had an issue with the rehab & he left after two years), Ilver & Gilmore. And Wahl improved greatly in his first three years, then plateaued.

All the Big East schools are at a disadvantage compared to P-5s because of NIL, due to the school sizes, alumni base------and football. Smart is a good fit there since he has ties to the area & may never leave. They've lost coaches in the past to P-5s. Not saying they can't succeed but there's always a financial challenge due to resources mentioned above. And conference TV contracts, which are largely powered by football but benefit hoops too. If he gets itchy for a change, I can all but guarantee you Mac would be interested in Otzelberger. I think he also would've loved Lamont Parris, but South Carolina just locked him up for a long time.

There's a school of thought out there that whatever they need to keep him (vs other schools' offers) they'll match or top, and the only way he isn't here next year is if he isn't in school anywhere--meaning Europe or the G-string League or whatever they call it. I'm far from an NBA expert but I suspect his defense & handle are miles away from what they'd need to be for that to be an option.

And probably without a mic stuck in your face😜.

Yep. Don't get me started about what I think of reporters lol. But deflect it. Show that you're not the least bit interested in talking about it. That's better than saying something that probably misled a lot of folks.

I get the frustration too. They finished the season with, if not their worst performance, one of the bottom 4 or 5. Still, many programs would kill for the last five years of "direction" they've turned in. The next year (or two) should have a lot more to do with any ultimate decision, than the last five IMO.

As do I. I think his best option is to simply go to a mid-major or lower level. A level where there are people he can guard sufficiently enough to stay on the floor & contribute his best asset--his shot. I agree he wasn't a distraction & handled things extremely well. But for the life of me I don't know why you have to, well, all but lie about your intentions. When asked 2-3 weeks ago all he had to say was "I'm not even thinking about that. I'm concentrating on the season". Still, by all accounts a good kid.

My view on this, FWIW: There are many, many more reasons to keep Gard, than not. I know how easy it is to judge someone on their most recent performance, be it coach, player, investment banker, kid cutting your grass, whatever. I've watched a lot of games since he's been in charge. Many in person. I think there have been times he's been outcoached, but I believe the opposite has been true much more often. Was he outcoached Friday? That argument can be made, I guess. But he used his bigs as a pressure outlet---just about all teams do that---and Crowl turned the ball over four times. His other big has been, throughout his career, exceptional at handling & passing the ball as a 6-9 player. That player had probably the worst stretch of basketball of his career, and his replacements, vs this opponent, would've been worse. You could've gone small. They did during part of the game. But then you're giving up size to Bickerstaff, the only guy on JMU that made over half of his shots, not to mention probably matching him with Storr. Bad idea. In short, it's easy to shout from the rooftops about a coaches' idiocy when you don't have to come up with an alternative. There have been recruits that would've helped that we didn't go after hard enough, if at all (Momcilovic, Halliburton). But there are also kids like Blackwell, who virtually no one else wanted, and Johnny Davis, who was vastly overlooked by most. Here's what I think will happen, knowing McIntosh: Gard is going to be given this current recruiting cycle (certainly an important one) & the next season. After that, whatever level of success in those two areas constitutes Mac keeping him, I have no idea. I just hope, if he does make a change, he does his homework or at least leans heavily on folks who know basketball a little better than he does. Because as Lucroy said, it's really easy to do "splashy" in this sport and fail mightily. Also, a bit of advice for anyone interested: Don't waste your time engaging in conversation with the more obsessive "Fire Gard" crowd. The next objective thought they get will be their first, and I believe many of them are motivated by things that have zero to do with basketball.

And even then.................I mean, Little Ricky Pitino was a young superstar coach, right?