I think the future is pretty uncertain for most programs given the portal and NIL, and the skills and resources required for future success may have little to do with what has worked in the past.
I give Pike a pass for this season, some of our troubles clearly fall on the coaching staff, and past recruiting caught up with us, but when you have a team that can’t shoot, there is only so much you can do, and even the best coaches have down years.
Everyone should be excited for next year. The top level talent in this years class is better than it has been in at least a couple of years, and we have two top guys who are almost guaranteed top 5 draft picks to coming in to run the team. The coaching will definitely matter, but so will the talent, desire, hunger and will to win of Ace and Dylan.
For Pike to maximize next year, I will be watching for three things:
-Have next year’s team better prepared to start the season. Pike has been a notoriously slow starter, and the team has frequently looked unprepared early in the season, with unclear roles and rotations. There will always be growing pains with young players, but we need to start the season ready to play, with everyone knowing what their role is and what is expected of them.
-Adjust the offense and defense to play to the strength of the players coming in. The best coaches coach to the players, not a system, and Pike needs to put the players the best position to succeed. I forgot who said it but one of my favorite quotes is “the only person who can hold Michael Jordan under 30 points a game is Dean Smith”.
-Use more motion and better spacing on offense, and make sure we have several shooters on the floor. We are never going to be UConn, but we don’t need to be, we just need to be able to give our players room to operate, find open shots, and have some players who can hit them.
If he does those things we should be fine next year, and lay the groundwork for more success in the future.