Jim French Stepstool

Frustrating thing is, they went from 18 down at half to 27 down at the 15:00 mark or so. If that doesn't happen you might be looking at a one-possession game with several minutes left.

It'll have to be Crowl. And it's possible given his stroke his sophomore year. Big off-season for him. Yalden can shoot it, & I believe Winter can as well. At the beginning of next season I wouldn't be surprised if Gilmore is playing ahead at least one of the freshmen & there will be a few coronaries because of it. But Carter'll get passed at some point. I think the staff was gut punched recruiting-wise when Lamont Parris left for Chattanooga. I talked to him briefly once & he just has "it". Very energetic, personable guy. Krabbenhoft seems to have pretty good connections in the TC area, and I believe Dean Oliver does too. Sharif Chambliss can earn some chops if he's able to secure Davion Hannah.

Davis (the one who I'SNT here anymore) would've made a big difference. Not for just the obvious talent, but the way people played off him last season. You're right, Hepburn, Wahl & Essegian never "took" to the increased role, even to the point of sharing it. What really disappointed me tonight was how crappy they came out in the second half. The deficit went from 18 to I think 27. If we just hold serve or cut into it by a bucket or two the 2nd half run--you knew OSU would give you an opening--probably makes it a 4 or 5 point game with several minutes left. Just too little too late. The failure on 50-50 balls--both rebounds & scrambles--has been frustrating most of the season.

Wahl needs to get back to where he was his first 3 years. I really enjoy your comments on here, but I'm sorry that's about all I agree with from your list. Take Crowl. He was pretty soft his second year. This season he improved in that area. Hopefully next year he continues to develop & add strength. He's not a straight-on power center nor will he ever be. He's a skill big, who passes well, usually doesn't turn the ball over & can shoot. His added strength---yes, he's much stronger this season---has made him much better in the low post but has messed with his outside touch. That's only happened to guys who add strength about 5 million times over the years. Hopefully he gets that back. If there's normal development & added consistency next years' roster can have a lot of success. Would I take a shooting wing & shot-blocking rebounder? Who wouldn't? But you can act like George Steinbrenner & kick all on your list off the team & I still doubt the two types of player you want would see sufficient opportunity to come here save for Wahl leaving (And I'm pretty sure he isn't).

I've never seen all 3 of Hepburn, Klesmit & Essegian get outplayed on both ends as badly as they did in the first half. OSU will probably cool off--that almost always happens--but you seldom see all three on the perimeter look so lost. Essegian hasn't looked this bad defensively in a long time. And yeah, OSU has "athletic" guards, but that has little to do with it. They've given athletic guards fits at times this season. I thought a big turn came when they cut the deficit to 8, then Wahl cut it to six with a layup.......except he didn't because he somehow found a way to miss it. Soon they were down 17. Big deficit, but with their youth OSU will probably leave the door open at some point. Don't know if they have what it takes today to walk through it or not.

I'd put him a little higher than mediocre as a recruiter, but I agree his future with the program is more about what's ahead then the job he's done so far, which IMO has been great. I alluded to it once before, that I think the next 2-3 recruiting cycles are really going to be telling, at least to McIntosh.........not only Freitag but Knueppel, Davion Hannah, Kai Rogers, maybe Will Garlock. You don't have to get all those guys but you need to make a dent on the list.

Back in the day, Ray Sydnor was a TE who played hoops at UW. Tim Stracka played both briefly, and the aforementioned Chambers. Let's remember, it wasn't long ago that as long as your team wasn't in a bowl game (back when there weren't 927 of them) football ended around mid-November. Basketball season would then start maybe a week later. Now, if you finish .500 or better you're probably playing in late December/early January & basketball games have been going on for around 7 weeks. Plus there's practice time & whatever reconditioning & recovery you may need to do. Then, before hoops is over you're probably missing at least part of spring ball. If agreeing to allow him to play both gets his name on a letter I'm all for it. I just don't see how he can realistically do it once it's actually attempted.

So apparently, Daniel Freitag has been offered by UW---for football. He still doesn't know what sport he wants to play. I see this less as a Gard vs Fickell thing & more as if you want to play FB, you can still come to UW if you choose to. In fact I assume the two coaches have had their heads together on this. And no, I don't think there's any chance he plays both sports, not at a P5 level. In fact he had some communication with St. Thomas back at the beginning of the process, and I'm thinking that may have been a glimpse on his part as to playing both, that it would have to be at a lower level during FB season. Even then I think it would be a longshot.

Never met McIntosh so I don't know. I do know that so far the BB team has had a moderately-to-clearly better season than FB, and much better than Hockeyball. If he waits to see how the recruiting battles in the '24 & '25 classes turn out, that would make the most sense.

I think you're right but I also suspect there are ways around it. Ways that you probably won't see at UW. And UW isn't on some island regarding that, either. If someone being added caused Gilmore to go back to walk-on status, I can't speak for the kid but from everything I heard I would guess he'd stay and play w/o the scholly. And despite his shortcomings we'd be the better for it.

We'll have to agree to dis regarding the "adaptation". They've added a number of players thru the portal. If you're looking for people to be asked/encouraged/pressured to leave I think you'll be in for disappointment. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if some left on their own, however. The philosophy Gard has with regards to this, however that takes shape, is as I said one that I'm sure many other successful coaches share-probably more than you think. Like you said, he's "willing to adapt". He's already shown that. I just wouldn't get too hung up on the "purging the roster" theory. The last couple seasons have seen additions. It'll continue to happen. Probably more organically though.

I literally typed that I thought Illinois would take that matchup, then retracted it. I have no idea. I've never seen a season in the Big Ten like this one. Taking recent results, UW is a couple points worse than the league champs, & four points better than the doormat. Every coach in this league will need a long vacation after this grind.

As far as getting some kind of athletic big to transfer, my best guess is that if Wahl stays an extra year the chances of that are pretty slim. If he's done then the chances increase somewhat. Either way I doubt it would have anything to do with Gilmore. Plus, Gilmore originally walked on. There's nothing that says he can't stay on while returning to that status if it came to that (which I would doubt). Here's the thing: There are programs that are going to take these rules & act like a revolving door, we can even make a good guess as to which ones they are. And if Gard doesn't embrace that, he'll be easy prey for those who want to criticize him for it & make him sound like he's out of touch, because they play games in the 60s & he looks like Mr Peebles. Throw in the excitement caused by Fickell & it becomes easier yet. But make no mistake; there are plenty of programs out there who are more or less going to go about things a lot more conservatively than others. Some will win; some won't. The same holds true for programs who push kids out the door. Gard has taken in transfers, and I'm sure will continue to be open to it. But let's not fix something that isn't broke. For all the frustrations this season, we all know how close this team came to winning 20 or more games & beating not one, not two, but three conference champs. What kept them from this was lack of consistency & execution (and rotten luck in a couple games) moreso than personnell IMO.

So, if I heard right a full two-thirds of their games were decided by five points or less. That's some insane stuff. Save for the Hepburn three I thought their late-game play was actually similar to what we've seen a number of times before. There WERE a couple of late turnovers that could've been critical. The difference was we played a team that hasn't exactly had late-game success themselves. And the defense really stood up late (If Rohde can start over Klesmit then I want him here because, on both ends, he'd be much better than I think he is. Maxs' defense against Battle was great). I liked the assertiveness by Wahl & Crowl offensively. Of course it makes a difference when you aren't facing Edey, Dickinson, Omoruyi & the like. Hepburn (& everyone else for that matter) CAN'T pick up the two early fouls like he did tonite. You can get around not having consistent punch off the bench but not if you hamstring yourself early in the game like that. I don't criticize Gard much because frankly he doesn't deserve it. But I had a bone to pick tonite. Protecting the late lead & anticipating fouls you HAVE to run something to get the ball in Essegians' hands.

The only way Gilmore won't be on the team next year if he chooses to leave, which I doubt. I have no idea what the priorities of the other two are so I won't comment on them. I will say it wouldn't shock me, if he went to a mid-major, to see Ilver turn into a scorer sort of like Andy Van Vliet did at Wm & Mary.

They used to have that "last ten games" thing when looking at seeding, or whether a bubble team makes it in. Now they're more into the entire body of work. PSU winning that game might wind up hurting UW's chances, but you're still talking about a team they swept, and UW DID also beat Maryland (although it seems like that was a LONNNNNNG time ago). But as you said they need to string together at least a couple more wins.

Like most people, I watch some of the conference tourneys & enjoy the intensity & competitiveness they create. It's just that it does nothing to assure the most deserving team gets a bid. We all know why they exist. Of course, just about all of the low majors get rocked right away. I wouldn't include mid-majors in that statement though. Many of those schools as 9-to-12 seeds have provided some of the greatest thrills in the tourney over the years. Now we just have to hope NIL & the transfer portal don't harm that. It certainly won't help. I assume people bringing up the subject are referring more to some of the schools from the A-10, Valley, Mid American, Southern or Mountain West. The Horizon is terrible. Yet, every league needs to have a rep, I don't think it's a waste at all. Especially when it's someone who seldom if ever makes it in, I think that's one of the things that makes March Madness the special time it is, for some of the alumni & fan bases who wonder if they'd ever experience it first-hand. But if I'm the Horizon, or the SWAC or Big West or MEAC I'd want my best representative that was proven over three months, not three days. That obviously won't change though.

The idea of needing a .500 conference record is cosmetic, but has a certain amount of merit. It would put some teams in that clearly aren't among the top 68 but we have that now. The problem IMO is the conference tourneys at the low-to-mid major level. What you do in your league over 3 months is a bigger indication of who's best in a conference than a 3 day tourney. Always has been, always will be. But as in so many things in sports common sense takes a back seat to $$$$$. UW is in a very strange position right now. The results W-L wise haven't bore it out but I think they played their most consistent basketball in a long time over the last few games. It became obvious early in the Purdue game they needed to knock down jump shots to win. Needed one or two more, and the turnover problem in the first half didn't help. Would love to know what Purdue does to develop their bigs. A 7-4 guy built like he stepped out of a laboratory, and his footwork, court vision & overall feel for the game are better than some wings I've seen. Their lack of offense hurt, but Crowl & Wahl IMO did an incredible job on him in the second half just making things tough on him.

Apparently Hepburn was walking w/o crutches after the game Sunday, with a slight limp. I guess that would go under the heading of cautiously optimistic. Maybe we'll learn more over the next couple days (but I wouldn't hold my breath).

I'm sure there is a level of success/failure both ways, which is why coaches have differing philosophies about it. Some talk about "if you don't practice it, don't do it", which makes some sense looking at yesterday. I have no idea if they practice it or not, but Gard wanted the foul, & McGee needed to go through the ballhandler to the ball & didn't. I suspect he did "foul" him, but it's like crashing for an offensive rebound in the final seconds when down by one.....the whistle just won't blow unless it's super obvious.

If they play Wednesday they're locked in to either 11 or 12, so if they win that day they'd get either 5 or 6. That could be one of a host of teams, the only one of that group not appreciably helping the resume being Michigan. Of course, even that could be a psuedo play-in game, depending on some of the other conference tourneys. I guess the biggest key is, if they lose to Purdue you most likely need to go on at least a 3-game winning streak, which as you said has been elusive to say the least.

Switching everything is the way to go there, & that's what they did. Wahl was on Dickinson on the inbound & was picked off. I guess if you're McGee in that scenario you just aggressively go for the steal like a 5th-grader. Riding him hard like he did didn't get the call. What sucks is he probably would've been whistled if there was 14:00 left. Rutgers was up 3 in the final seconds tonite. Didn't foul. Penn State had 2 looks about as good as Dickinsons', maybe a little better. Missed both. Got a third one that was stripped as the shooter was going into his motion. C'est la vie. 95%? Wow. I would've guessed 80% or so. Interesting.

OK............Gard is saying they were looking to foul, he thought McGee DID foul around 4-5 seconds, but it wasn't called.

He said in his presser he "thinks he knows what went wrong, but wants to look at the tapes". I'm pretty sure he was referring only to the last 2 secs though. As to the seconds before that, I remember a similar sequence a week or 2 ago where they didn't foul & he said afterward he wanted them to. So I dunno, I'm waiting to hear what he has to say, too.

In & of itself no, but the upside in a Wednesday win (if they play that day) is It provides you with an opportunity to play the next day vs someone who could conceivably help your resume. I realize this is fluid, but about a week ago there were 8 Big Ten teams projected as an 8 seed or higher. Semantics I guess, but I don't consider those to be fringe teams. The lack of ability up to this point to get on a run certainly has been crippling.