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Post by lalman on Mar 29, 2024 22:51:22 GMT -6
Big D - you're spot on. I love watching the tournament but that is on my mind this tournament more than ever. Maybe it is because Indiana State got denied a bid. Maybe it is because we are seeing another mass exodus of MVC talent. Whatever it is, it sucks being a fan of midmajor basketball right now. Sadly, it is the current state of college basketball and there is no reason to think that it will ever change again. The money is in a handful of teams and that is all that matters to the leaders. Let's take a program like Florida Atlantic. They had a great run last year, returned everyone, were ranked most of this year and went on a nice run again. Their coach just left, most of their players are graduating, and I'm guessing they return to being just another midmajor program. It is what it is. I just got done watching Gonzaga lose and it made me think for a moment that there is hope. They were once a midmajor and found incredible success. It was helped that their conference boosted them up as well as other teams rose to the challenge. But that cannot happen again. Gonzaga has NIL money now because of their success. No program could build that up because it isn't sustainable without that. Look at the MVC. We were the 10th rated conference last year - not bad! And every team has been hurt by the portal (granted, several due to coaching changes). I love our UIC Flames and want success. But part of me does feel like - "What is the point?" Yea it's a tough landscape, especially for mid major programs without a recent track record of any success, hence why I assume our AD couldn't sell this job to more highly sought after candidates. But if we are lucky enough to have hired a guy who can do a good enough job to move up in the industry in 4 years, then this was a successful hire. Just getting back into legit recruiting conversations is a necessary step here for this program. And remember, this isn't just a mid major problem, lower tier schools in high majors have similar issues, despite deeper NIL pockets because college basketball is basically year to year now, most teams turn over half their rosters every offseason. So turnarounds can happen relatively quick if you can recruit. And when you lose guys like the top MVC schools do every year, you can still reload. We need UIC to get to that tier of mid majors, where we can bank on getting transfers every yr to fill meaningful roles and stay competitive. Even if that success means our coach eventually moves on, sadly that's mid major success now. And truly there's only a handful of programs in the country that are "destination" jobs anyway.
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Post by goveybaseball on Mar 30, 2024 7:45:59 GMT -6
I will say this if Harris is still coming and Brownell, Skobalj and Fens and Ojukwu stay that's a great start to a roster. Obviously we need some talented wings and a stud shooting guard.
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Post by UICJohn on Mar 30, 2024 9:08:30 GMT -6
I just wonder how we even get to that tier of mid majors anymore.
Cason point – we are in the same level as Evansville right now. No disrespect to Evansville or to us – that is just a fact. They, like us, had a good start to the year and caught a lot of people by surprise, and then leveled off in the conference play.
A big part of their success was an NAIA transfer named Ben Humrichous. He averaged over 14 PPG this year and just under 5 RPG this season.
He just entered the transfer portal too.
Even before Coach was fired, we were wondering about CJ transferring. I’m just wondering how do we even get to that upper level of mid majors if every year there is a talent exodus. How do we even get to be a destination for mid majors when that is constantly happening.
I hope I’m wrong, and as you said, it isn’t a UIC thing but a college basketball thing.
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Post by Big D on Mar 30, 2024 15:44:31 GMT -6
ESPN app is showing the press conference streaming at 1:00 on Monday. No idea if that’s eastern time or not. Why is this not on uicflames.com?
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Post by lalman on Mar 30, 2024 19:57:06 GMT -6
I just wonder how we even get to that tier of mid majors anymore. Cason point – we are in the same level as Evansville right now. No disrespect to Evansville or to us – that is just a fact. They, like us, had a good start to the year and caught a lot of people by surprise, and then leveled off in the conference play. A big part of their success was an NAIA transfer named Ben Humrichous. He averaged over 14 PPG this year and just under 5 RPG this season. He just entered the transfer portal too. Even before Coach was fired, we were wondering about CJ transferring. I’m just wondering how do we even get to that upper level of mid majors if every year there is a talent exodus. How do we even get to be a destination for mid majors when that is constantly happening. I hope I’m wrong, and as you said, it isn’t a UIC thing but a college basketball thing. Yup, it's really a year round endeavor now, you basically have to be constantly recruiting your own good players while also attracting new ones. Roster planning seems impossible without recruiting clout.
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Post by flamesfan20 on Mar 31, 2024 8:52:21 GMT -6
The formula at UIC has to be, get an upcoming coach, stay for 4 years make ~2 NCAA tournaments and then he moves up and we grab the next upcomer. It’s a tough task and you need a high level admin to pull this off, but unfortunately I just don’t see anyone staying at UIC long term with success unless they absolutely love Chicago for some reason. Hell even Porter Moser left Loyola. You can turn your program into a destination if you nail 2-3 hires in a row
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Post by UICJohn on Mar 31, 2024 10:21:33 GMT -6
So step 1 should be to get some high level admin in here because the ones in place have proven nothing at all
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Post by UICJohn on Mar 31, 2024 21:53:39 GMT -6
Regardless of some possible negativity with the NCAA overall, I’m excited about the news conference tomorrow.
Still weird that UIC has not promoted at all.
I remember when Coach Yak was brought on years ago, they had a virtual Q&A with him for any fans of interested. I did attend it it was pretty great and I hope they do that again this time.
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Post by flamernation on Apr 1, 2024 6:18:30 GMT -6
Presser is live at 10am in flames athletic center
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Post by sparkywantsportillos on Apr 1, 2024 7:28:14 GMT -6
It kinda sucks that they are broadcasting this on espn. They should have streamed it on Youtube and not behind a paywall. Hopefully they upload it to their channel afterwards.
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Post by sparkywantsportillos on Apr 1, 2024 7:38:57 GMT -6
they actually just announced him on their socials
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Post by goveybaseball on Apr 1, 2024 8:03:39 GMT -6
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Post by goveybaseball on Apr 1, 2024 8:22:36 GMT -6
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Post by Camfan on Apr 1, 2024 8:31:14 GMT -6
Rob Eshan named Head Coach. Assistant at Stanford. He was former head coach at UAB, hqd a winning record but was fired after 4 seaons. Seems to have an issue with transfers. Also an assistant at Maryland and also a year at Virgina tech.
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Post by goveybaseball on Apr 1, 2024 8:37:20 GMT -6
Cam Fan is Fens staying?
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