That's all I heard from a lot of fans I associated with from 1997 on until Nolan was fired. Frank heard it enough and pushed to fire Nolan in 2000, only he won the SEC Tournament and Frank couldn't do it, and couldn't do it that next year when Joe and company won 20-plus games. As soon as he could, though, in 2002 with a .500 season, Frank got rid of Nolan, and Frank, Tyson, John White and everybody in power was preaching that line that Nolan became lazy, was just mailing it in for the money, etc. I thought those ideas were ludicrous. Were we as good as the first half of the 1990s? No, but we were still somebody who figured in the conversation nationally.
Well, I'm glad Mike was able to go 27-9 and in four years built a pretty good program that finally made the tournament. I'm glad the staff's relationship for years with Jimmy Whitt brought a top high school guard here. But I don't see a lot of talent outside of him. I think Arkansas was about the only team left recruiting Ted Kapita when he committed; not sure if he'll even be healthy to play. Arkansas beat out no one for Willy Kouassi, and while I'm glad we've added him, he averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds a game at terrible Kennesaw State. Dusty Hannahs was a 7 point scorer per game at Tech; he can get hot every now and then. Miles transferred here averaging 2 points a game at WVa and fans are expecting him to do more than he did this past year. Moses is basically a Kouassi guy as well, 4 pts/5 reb. Beard likely won't be more than an 8-9 pts per game guy. Jacorey? If he scores double figures regularly next season I'll dance naked down Dickson. Hot-and-cold Bell can score 0 one night and 17 on another. Watkins is a 4 pts a game guy at best. The other transfer, who has to sit out, scored in the neighborhood of 2 pts a game at Colorado.
If you were on Nolan's case for being "lazy" in 1999-2002, what kind of recruiting and program building is this? What are we really expecting from a majority of guys who have scored 2-4 points here or at their previous schools?
Well, I'm glad Mike was able to go 27-9 and in four years built a pretty good program that finally made the tournament. I'm glad the staff's relationship for years with Jimmy Whitt brought a top high school guard here. But I don't see a lot of talent outside of him. I think Arkansas was about the only team left recruiting Ted Kapita when he committed; not sure if he'll even be healthy to play. Arkansas beat out no one for Willy Kouassi, and while I'm glad we've added him, he averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds a game at terrible Kennesaw State. Dusty Hannahs was a 7 point scorer per game at Tech; he can get hot every now and then. Miles transferred here averaging 2 points a game at WVa and fans are expecting him to do more than he did this past year. Moses is basically a Kouassi guy as well, 4 pts/5 reb. Beard likely won't be more than an 8-9 pts per game guy. Jacorey? If he scores double figures regularly next season I'll dance naked down Dickson. Hot-and-cold Bell can score 0 one night and 17 on another. Watkins is a 4 pts a game guy at best. The other transfer, who has to sit out, scored in the neighborhood of 2 pts a game at Colorado.
If you were on Nolan's case for being "lazy" in 1999-2002, what kind of recruiting and program building is this? What are we really expecting from a majority of guys who have scored 2-4 points here or at their previous schools?
