|
Post by aceslfer on Mar 3, 2023 8:56:58 GMT -6
leave
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2023 8:59:29 GMT -6
I don't consider this to be year one for Ragland. His hands were tied from the beginning due to his late hiring. He has at least two years to show results, in my mind. We can't forget the absolute dumpster fire the last two coaches left for him. Ragland considers it Year one, so we can go with that acceptance. His interview with Anthony was probably done with some unspoken thoughts, but he has not said anything about the previous staff or the quality of his team. To his credit, he has mostly said they need to work harder and play better. I think that goes without saying, but it has been his theme.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2023 9:02:30 GMT -6
Unlike the butthead at Bellarmine who threw his team under the garbage truck when the Aces beat them, Ragland will go pretty far if he is this sensible about how he treats a group of players that was really not recruited, but simply added to the roster. Watching other teams, it is fairly obvious what is lacking -- size and quickness. The bad part about that is, neither size nor quickness can be really coached at this level. Lack of depth -- you can recruit your way out of that. There is the first challenge. Are the three or four guys on the redshirt squad really upgrades, or are they just practice players with their name on the roster? Inevitably it comes back to Spencer who was comfortably numb, probably. All we see from the outside is results. Spencer may have seen a different picture when he looked at the wall. He looked at Granny Gobbleneck and thought he saw Miss September. Bluggggggggggggggggggggg................ What Ragland needs to do is check the wind direction. How do you recruit at a mid-major program when everything the NCAA is doing is levered to make it easier for the P5 to walk all over the game and turn it into a Nike-Fest with a lizard telling jokes to admiring consumers. There are other conferences and programs that are in worse shape. OMG, the nightmare at N. Mexico State. The need to cheat has grown severe. Let's hope the Aces are past the drama. Losing is preferable to the stain that happened in Las Cruces.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2023 9:03:43 GMT -6
Why should Phillips leave? He's going to school at UE, getting a degree in business management. Maybe you should start posting on another forum.
|
|
|
Post by E-Villan on Mar 3, 2023 9:30:13 GMT -6
Why should Phillips leave? He's going to school at UE, getting a degree in business management. Maybe you should start posting on another forum. I agree. I am still waiting on his apology to Tom Servo for his ridiculous attack on him regarding the contest Tom was handling.
|
|
|
Post by municup14 on Mar 3, 2023 10:00:28 GMT -6
I'm guessing the coaching staff will start meeting with the players in a week or so,let them focus on school work,think if they want to leave or stay, or have Rags tell them what he thinks is best for them in being a player at UE or elsewhere.
|
|
|
Post by aceloverlarry on Mar 3, 2023 10:15:22 GMT -6
I'm guessing the coaching staff will start meeting with the players in a week or so,let them focus on school work,think if they want to leave or stay, or have Rags tell them what he thinks is best for them in being a player at UE or elsewhere. They’re on spring break now, so we probably won’t see too much movement until they get back, unless they’re already set on whatever they plan to do this off season.
|
|
|
Post by aceloverlarry on Mar 3, 2023 10:21:06 GMT -6
Why should Phillips leave? He's going to school at UE, getting a degree in business management. Maybe you should start posting on another forum. Everyone’s going to school at UE and working towards a degree. We’ve all agreed we need an influx of talent to turn this around. Scholarships are going to have to come from somewhere unless we want to wait 3 years just to not be the laughing stock of the MVC and 6+ years to be somewhat competitive again. I’m not saying Preston needs to leave, but that argument could be applied to the entire roster, and we can all agree that someone’s going to have to leave to bring in players to turn this thing around. I’ll leave who that needs to be up to Rags & staff.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2023 11:33:36 GMT -6
Why should Phillips leave? He's going to school at UE, getting a degree in business management. Maybe you should start posting on another forum. Everyone’s going to school at UE and working towards a degree. We’ve all agreed we need an influx of talent to turn this around. Scholarships are going to have to come from somewhere unless we want to wait 3 years just to not be the laughing stock of the MVC and 6+ years to be somewhat competitive again. I’m not saying Preston needs to leave, but that argument could be applied to the entire roster, and we can all agree that someone’s going to have to leave to bring in players to turn this thing around. I’ll leave who that needs to be up to Rags & staff. There are elements of decency and common sense here. First off, Phillips earned his scholarship in the traditional way, as did most or all of the other players, none of whom said they intended to make the Aces a winner. They agreed to do what their scholarship required -- and all of them have done that. As to their relative ability to win at basketball, that stands on its own sad merit. But continuing to shove this -- flush the system and start over -- seriously, what message are you sending? That is the same crap that every well-oiled alum has been spewing at Indiana or Michigan or any of the win-or-else school. Win or leave. F*** everything else about you. Booting guys off the team who have come to UE, established a working relationship with teachers and coaches, fellow classmates, and all the while doing what was required of them in the gym -- man, get a sense of propriety. Phillips wants his degree from Evansville, and I know this, how? Well, I just do. I want to see a winning Aces team as much as anybody, but I want to at least have a soul. Telling them to "hit the Portal" is just wrong. And any amount of deflection or alternate definitions won't change that. It's too bad we're ashamed of these young men. It really is.
|
|
|
Post by ad1770 on Mar 3, 2023 12:08:37 GMT -6
Everyone’s going to school at UE and working towards a degree. We’ve all agreed we need an influx of talent to turn this around. Scholarships are going to have to come from somewhere unless we want to wait 3 years just to not be the laughing stock of the MVC and 6+ years to be somewhat competitive again. I’m not saying Preston needs to leave, but that argument could be applied to the entire roster, and we can all agree that someone’s going to have to leave to bring in players to turn this thing around. I’ll leave who that needs to be up to Rags & staff. There are elements of decency and common sense here. First off, Phillips earned his scholarship in the traditional way, as did most or all of the other players, none of whom said they intended to make the Aces a winner. They agreed to do what their scholarship required -- and all of them have done that. As to their relative ability to win at basketball, that stands on its own sad merit. But continuing to shove this -- flush the system and start over -- seriously, what message are you sending? That is the same crap that every well-oiled alum has been spewing at Indiana or Michigan or any of the win-or-else school. Win or leave. F*** everything else about you. Booting guys off the team who have come to UE, established a working relationship with teachers and coaches, fellow classmates, and all the while doing what was required of them in the gym -- man, get a sense of propriety. Phillips wants his degree from Evansville, and I know this, how? Well, I just do. I want to see a winning Aces team as much as anybody, but I want to at least have a soul. Telling them to "hit the Portal" is just wrong. And any amount of deflection or alternate definitions won't change that. It's too bad we're ashamed of these young men. It really is. By this account, then UE should just shut down the athletics department like a couple of past presidents wanted to do and save the money. But I would bet that if this happened, those guys “who wanted a degree from UE” would be gone in a heartbeat because it isn’t about that. Also, a scholarship is year to year, not a four year contract. I do agree it is wrong for anyone on here to say for this player or that player to leave, but the final decision is on the coaches, not us.
|
|
|
Post by 83Ace on Mar 3, 2023 12:31:05 GMT -6
I guess I come down somewhere in the middle on all of this. I am not a fan of just sending everybody packing. And there is something to say about loyalty to those who have been here and worked hard, particularly somebody like Phillips who came as a freshman and has been here a couple of years (and has rarely had a chance to play at his natural position).
On the other hand, we can try to read our own experience into it, but the fact is these guys came to UE to play basketball, not for the academics. Academics might be a plus for some, but that is not why they are at UE. And times have changed dramatically. There is not the expectation there once was for players to stick around for four years, and that goes both ways. Rags is not going to say, "I need you to leave," but he can make clear that a player is not really a part of plans for the coming season and that he will help that player find a new school if he would like. That has really always been the case but in this new world that is happening more often. A few spots opening up would certainly help in the process of turning things around, but I suspect that some players will not need any encouragement to move on. I would also mention that the extra COVID year is serving to jam up rosters and while it was necessary at the time, the extra year can be problematic for roster formation now that we are a couple of years down the road.
I would have no big issue with any player leaving (or with any particular player staying for that matter), but the ones I see with the most potential are Toumi (it is rare for us to get a guy with his size and athleticism) and Moncrief. I would like to see Kalle back because big men are so hard to come by and we really missed his defensive presence. And Phillips also has unreached potential. This is going to be a process because there are no guarantees with incoming players. One example: I believe Kalle was more highly rated in high school than Michael Day is, and expecting a freshman to come in on day 1 and be a dominating center in the Valley is probably not realistic, certainly not with the big men we tend to get. Having said all of this, I feel much better about Ragland and our current staff recruiting and making these decisions than I have in many years.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2023 12:49:52 GMT -6
I guess I come down somewhere in the middle on all of this. I am not a fan of just sending everybody packing. And there is something to say about loyalty to those who have been here and worked hard ..............................
And I agree that you make good points. I think of us would agree on that if we put the athletics in perspective. Yes, they did agree to accept an athletic scholarship. All in all, the general consensus of opinion this board agrees with your assessment and I'd wager the others would too in a real-live conversation. I will also defend the people who think the non-producers ought to be replaced by better players. Anybody who ever played a sport ought to acknowledge that's the reality of competition. The goal is to compete at the highest level and the university has said that. They want to play in the NCAA for the value that it offers -- financial as well as prestige, all of which is supposed to generate money to run the school. The players, gifted or not, should be aware of it. I would like to see a team that doesn't go into the season with no hope and at the end of it, prove their pre-season assessment was correct. But I would rather be on the way up than on the way down -- and at least we won't cough up another tournament like Purdue is going to do. I think UE can have it both ways -- build a better team without crashing its people against the rocks. We all agree that the Lickliter regime did very little recruiting for reasons that are partly excusable. Ragland will make some noise. Just being able to fill a roster last summer is proof of that.
|
|
|
Post by aceshigh on Mar 3, 2023 12:57:11 GMT -6
Rienk Mast has 20 points in the first half for Bradley. It seems like most of the Valley teams find one like him and they keep showing up. UE needs to find a Mast type of player at 6-9 240 who is solid and has game.
|
|
|
Post by 65pointgame on Mar 3, 2023 13:22:18 GMT -6
I am not going to bash anyone on here for their opinion. It has been a tough season, some just need to let their emotions out. We all deal with grief in different ways. There is hope!
|
|
|
Post by aceloverlarry on Mar 3, 2023 13:25:53 GMT -6
I don’t think we should be crying for roster movement every season like IU fans, but I don’t think it’s fair to Rags to say that he owes a 4 year commitment to players selected by a coach that got fired for not being able to recruit quality players. In a normal hiring/firing cycle, he would’ve had the “time to move on” conversation after being hired in march, but since he was hired so late, it wasn’t practical or fair to the players to do so. He gets one free pass to free up space to bring in his own players and then I would expect the program to not be a revolving door. I’m sure Todd’s players are great people, but we can’t expect Rags to have any kind of success if he is required to stand by them until they graduate or feel the need to leave. If our primary focus is just athletes getting degrees and being upstanding people in the community, then we need to drop to NAIA. This roster would likely be able to compete at that level while pursuing their higher education goals, but most of them are not cut out for more than 5-10 minutes a night in the MVC.
|
|