Year 4, considering all factors when Mike took over - safely in the NCAAT. That's the definition of meeting expectations, IMO. Obviously, there's more ball to be played, and while tournament play ultimately matters, matchups can end a season quickly. I prefer to judge more on the regular season performance. 31 games, 24 wins, Top 25 ranking, Top 25 RPI, 2nd in the SEC with 13 wins, 7-5 on the road. This is the stuff we expected from Mike by this time in his tenure, and it feels great to get it.
For someone who naturally watches every play and movement, and hangs on it, it's been a odd year. I couldn't fully enjoy what 24-7 (13-5) should feel like. As I've posted, I thought our quality of play was lower than what I expected a good part of the year. Defense was key this year. We don't have the horses to be great defensively, and it showed a lot this year. But, we had a few good stretches of games when we played good, solid defense. Mike and staff made some nice adjustments to how we guarded the ball screen and consequential rotations, and that overall defensive improvement led to a stretch of wins after some really poor performances. Big-time credit to Mike and staff. All said, since the A&M game, we've fallen back into some bad habits, and we'll, staff and players, have to adjust again to be win moving forward.
This team is extremely resilient; it's biggest strength, IMO. While the games haven't been good for the nerves of a fan that hangs on every play, this team has proven to be really good at pulling through at the end of the game. That's obviously a credit to the toughness that Mike drives out of his kids. This team has excellent character, loves each other, and really fights. This resiliency was the single most important factor that led to the most difficult of the 24 wins.
So, great season so far. Time to enjoy the tournaments! (Finally!)
For someone who naturally watches every play and movement, and hangs on it, it's been a odd year. I couldn't fully enjoy what 24-7 (13-5) should feel like. As I've posted, I thought our quality of play was lower than what I expected a good part of the year. Defense was key this year. We don't have the horses to be great defensively, and it showed a lot this year. But, we had a few good stretches of games when we played good, solid defense. Mike and staff made some nice adjustments to how we guarded the ball screen and consequential rotations, and that overall defensive improvement led to a stretch of wins after some really poor performances. Big-time credit to Mike and staff. All said, since the A&M game, we've fallen back into some bad habits, and we'll, staff and players, have to adjust again to be win moving forward.
This team is extremely resilient; it's biggest strength, IMO. While the games haven't been good for the nerves of a fan that hangs on every play, this team has proven to be really good at pulling through at the end of the game. That's obviously a credit to the toughness that Mike drives out of his kids. This team has excellent character, loves each other, and really fights. This resiliency was the single most important factor that led to the most difficult of the 24 wins.
So, great season so far. Time to enjoy the tournaments! (Finally!)
