plus the beat writers and people around the program, mods, guest commentators blow the team up as better than they are.
THIS
I watched 6 podcasts and read so many articles from every beat writer that all claimed Noah was a top 25 transfer even though I didn’t see him in the TOP 100 ANYWHERE
I love Richie and mike and Jerry carino etc etc but everyone tried to make this season seem like it could be something it was just never going to be
Looking back this is exactly what we should’ve expected thrusting players into huge roles coming from shaky mid major backgrounds who weren’t even the best players on their former teams
Cliffs regression is the only real red flag I’m actually surprised about.
This roster construction reminds me a lot of year 1-2 where they surprised some teams competed hard but the talent gap wasn’t there.
Another important point… there are about 10 programs across the country who are more or less impervious to a rebuilding year.
Even some top flight programs like UCLA, Villanova, Ohio State, Michigan, Arkansas, Missouri, Notre Dame, Syracuse have faced one year or multiple year dry spells with a much better pedigree long term than we have
We’re not kentucky or Kansas