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Post by aceloverlarry on Feb 26, 2024 7:36:43 GMT -6
Looks like we’re looking at another local kid
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Post by wildbill on Feb 26, 2024 18:44:53 GMT -6
Hats off to Coach Snow. My fear is, we'll lose him. I think he'd be an excellent coach at UE.
I thought Ragland would straighen the program out and move on.
Now, after what will be 2 losing seasons, I am not so fond of him.
UE desperately needs to improve. Sub .500 seasons isn't where we need to be.
Give David another season, but if we don't improve, he needs gone.
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Post by ad1770 on Feb 26, 2024 19:05:16 GMT -6
Hats off to Coach Snow. My fear is, we'll lose him. I think he'd be an excellent coach at UE. I thought Ragland would straighen the program out and move on. Now, after what will be 2 losing seasons, I am not so fond of him. UE desperately needs to improve. Sub .500 seasons isn't where we need to be. Give David another season, but if we don't improve, he needs gone. Wow. We go from 5 wins with not his team to at least 15 with players he brought in and 1 conference win to 6, and he needs to be canned? You have been chirping it all season man. You do realize that he walked into a total train wreck that not even coach K could have fixed in one season? This was not a Drake or even an Indiana State that already had most of the pieces in place for a new coach. We had poor recruiting for several years, and lots of apathy from not only the athletic department, but the school itself. Now, I’m not exactly sure if you are a Marty shouldn’t have been fired guy, or if you just were not happy with the hire. Either way, the improvement has been very noticeable, and if you haven’t noticed it, you’re not paying attention.
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Post by aceloverlarry on Feb 26, 2024 20:06:03 GMT -6
Hats off to Coach Snow. My fear is, we'll lose him. I think he'd be an excellent coach at UE. I thought Ragland would straighen the program out and move on. Now, after what will be 2 losing seasons, I am not so fond of him. UE desperately needs to improve. Sub .500 seasons isn't where we need to be. Give David another season, but if we don't improve, he needs gone. Wow. We go from 5 wins with not his team to at least 15 with players he brought in and 1 conference win to 6, and he needs to be canned? You have been chirping it all season man. You do realize that he walked into a total train wreck that not even coach K could have fixed in one season? This was not a Drake or even an Indiana State that already had most of the pieces in place for a new coach. We had poor recruiting for several years, and lots of apathy from not only the athletic department, but the school itself. Now, I’m not exactly sure if you are a Marty shouldn’t have been fired guy, or if you just were not happy with the hire. Either way, the improvement has been very noticeable, and if you haven’t noticed it, you’re not paying attention. I really can’t believe what I just read. We’re praising coach snow for getting a local kid with no D1 offers to come on an unofficial visit, and then following it up by saying that his boss deserves to be fired if he doesn’t win big next year? I’ve read quite a bit of crazy things on here in the last 4 years and this is up there with the craziest. This wild bill statement reads like we just wrapped up another 5 win season. If that was the case, I’d understand, but Rags just orchestrated one of the biggest turnarounds in the country. Even if you’re not happy with the final results, he took us from the worst season in program history to our best season since Marty got fired. Like AD said, he was rebuilding from absolute rock bottom, and like everyone on here has mentioned hundreds of times, you can’t hold year 1 against him because of the late hiring timeline and no time to recruit. Year 1 was basically year 0 trying to make the best with Lickliters leftovers. Now in year two, he’s got us making one of the biggest turnarounds in the country. Even if that ends with two games under .500 and a Thursday exit from St Louis, it’s still a HUGE achievement. We are primed for a good season next year and might be one to two pieces away from legitimately competing for an MVC title, but even if that doesn’t happen and he wins 17 games and finishes in 7th place in the MVC, that’s nowhere close to getting his seat hot.
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Post by ATP on Feb 26, 2024 20:50:20 GMT -6
I think we are all a little disappointed on how it's turning out and there may be reasons for it that Ragland can address in another season. It also points to how difficult it can be to recruit a competitive team in a conference where guys like Wardle and Jacobson and Wutzhisface at Drake have been anchored to their systems for several years. Comparing that to programs that have had coaching changes in the last couple of years, UE is right up there among them. Do you give Ragland a 10-year deal and assume he's going to be as good as Drake at the end of 2035? Dunno ... Drake ain't won squat yet and they've been banking on 25-year-old Covid veterans for the last three winters. And a lot of what Ragland does is communicate with the community. If he's doing that, he's sustaining interest. You can't always find a tournament caliber roster, and in the future, it's going to be a lot tougher. Not saying he should get a free pass, but there are way too many moving parts here.
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Post by wildbill on Feb 26, 2024 21:21:26 GMT -6
Others turn their programs around quickly. I said, give him another season.
Quite frankly, if we have another losing season (3 in a row) he needs replaced.
NCAA basketball is a tough business. I give him a pass on last year....fair enough.
I see improvement, but nothing substantial this year.
If we should continue to be a Thursday team next season, we need a change.
3 years is enough to show us major improvement. Look at other mid-majors.....3 years should be a adequate time period to drastically improve.
I hope Coach Ragland continues to improve. But, if we're in the same situation after next season, he seems to be a failure to me.
Go ahead, stone me, but I feel year three should show a drastic improvement.
Many other programs have improved in that time frame.
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Post by aceloverlarry on Feb 26, 2024 21:29:46 GMT -6
Others turn their programs around quickly. I said, give him another season. Quite frankly, if we have another losing season (3 in a row) he needs replaced. NCAA basketball is a tough business. I give him a pass on last year....fair enough. I see improvement, but nothing substantial this year. If we should continue to be a Thursday team next season, we need a change. 3 years is enough to show us major improvement. Look at other mid-majors.....3 years should be an adequate time period to drastically improve. I hope Coach Ragland continues to improve. But, if we're in the same situation after next season, he seems to be a failure to me. Go ahead, stone me, but I feel year three should show a drastic improvement. Many other programs have improved in that time frame. Many other programs didn’t start from anywhere close to we did. No one is going from a bottom 20 team in the country to an MVC championship contending team in 3 years. If just doesn’t happen. Josh Schertz took over a roster that was as good in year one as we are this year, and it’s taken him 3 years to become a legit title contender. Ragland deserves at a minimum 4 years, and if he’s showing improvement in year 4 and the community is still engaged and buying tickets, he’ll be getting an extension whether he’s made it to Sunday in STL or not. If we had a healthy Ben all year, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’d be at 17 wins on the season already. Ragland is clearly building something and writing him off this quick into his tenure is crazy talk.
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Post by ATP on Feb 26, 2024 22:23:47 GMT -6
Others turn their programs around quickly. I said, give him another season. 3 years is enough to show us major improvement. Look at other mid-majors.....3 years should be a adequate time period to drastically improve. Go ahead, stone me, but I feel year three should show a drastic improvement. Many other programs have improved in that time frame. By "many," can you cite a couple of examples? I mean, if this is actually something that happens, you will be eager to share that with us. And Indiana State was nowhere near a team that was lucky to win 1 conference game.
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Post by purpleorange on Feb 27, 2024 10:47:28 GMT -6
To piggy back on others, let me grab an entire bag of stones......
All Coach Ragland and staff have done is win 10 more games overall and 5 more MVC games with a week left in the regular season. By nearly every metric if not all of them, Evansville was a bottom 25 team in the country last season, ranking 350 out of 363 in the NET as one example. Right now we sit at 199, a 151 spot jump. It would be a huge ask but if the 24-25 Aces match this "nothing substantial" increase seen this season they will be a threat to make the Tournament. The last 2-3 weeks have been rough, starting with the losses at Murray and Drake at the buzzer along with losses at UIC and SIU, all winnable games which would increase those numbers to a 14 game jump, 9 in league play.
Also, good luck getting someone to replace Ragland if he continues an upward climb into next season nearing 20 wins. It takes a lot of patience to go from 350 to the top tier of the MVC, it's a long climb. There is no guarantee of anything but even if you want to put a ton of emphasis on Year 1, if you watch the games you'll see a much better product on the floor this season. I can only speak from personal experience but last year it was get to the game about tip time where I want to get there 15-20 minutes early because it's become a lot more fun to go to games and I want to be there....I feel like I'm missing something if I'm not there.
Wildbill, I'd suggest you go become a Purdue fan. Painter has that program absolutely rolling and they play a style that fans of the game have to appreciate. But.....he started year 1 9-19 and then after a few seasons he missed the NCAAs twice in a row. Come to think of it, just like under Naismith Hall of Famer Gene Keady they can't get to the Final Four and hell, they can't even beat St. Peter's and FDU in March these days. Scratch that, Painter sucks too and should be unemployed unless they win it all this year and even then the jury is still out.
Evansville fans were spoiled under Coach McCucthan (well before my time) and Coach Crews. They made winning 20 games and winning championships at the conference and at the D-II level something that was a real threat most seasons while winning much more than they lost. I'd have laughed and lost a ton of money if on Masters Sunday in 1999 someone would have told me Evansville wouldn't make an NIT or NCAA Tournament in the next quarter century, barring an Arch Madness run that's exactly where we will be. Coach Ragland has done the easier part of the rebuild, going from the basement of D-I to being respectable, middle of the pack. Now comes the tough part, being a threat to win the MVC which traditionally means being a candidate for an at-large as well, a top 10-15% team in the entire country.
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Post by goacesgo on Feb 27, 2024 11:38:16 GMT -6
To piggy back on others, let me grab an entire bag of stones...... All Coach Ragland and staff have done is win 10 more games overall and 5 more MVC games with a week left in the regular season. By nearly every metric if not all of them, Evansville was a bottom 25 team in the country last season, ranking 350 out of 363 in the NET as one example. Right now we sit at 199, a 151 spot jump. It would be a huge ask but if the 24-25 Aces match this "nothing substantial" increase seen this season they will be a threat to make the Tournament. The last 2-3 weeks have been rough, starting with the losses at Murray and Drake at the buzzer along with losses at UIC and SIU, all winnable games which would increase those numbers to a 14 game jump, 9 in league play. Also, good luck getting someone to replace Ragland if he continues an upward climb into next season nearing 20 wins. It takes a lot of patience to go from 350 to the top tier of the MVC, it's a long climb. There is no guarantee of anything but even if you want to put a ton of emphasis on Year 1, if you watch the games you'll see a much better product on the floor this season. I can only speak from personal experience but last year it was get to the game about tip time where I want to get there 15-20 minutes early because it's become a lot more fun to go to games and I want to be there....I feel like I'm missing something if I'm not there. Wildbill, I'd suggest you go become a Purdue fan. Painter has that program absolutely rolling and they play a style that fans of the game have to appreciate. But.....he started year 1 9-19 and then after a few seasons he missed the NCAAs twice in a row. Come to think of it, just like under Naismith Hall of Famer Gene Keady they can't get to the Final Four and hell, they can't even beat St. Peter's and FDU in March these days. Scratch that, Painter sucks too and should be unemployed unless they win it all this year and even then the jury is still out. Evansville fans were spoiled under Coach McCucthan (well before my time) and Coach Crews. They made winning 20 games and winning championships at the conference and at the D-II level something that was a real threat most seasons while winning much more than they lost. I'd have laughed and lost a ton of money if on Masters Sunday in 1999 someone would have told me Evansville wouldn't make an NIT or NCAA Tournament in the next quarter century, barring an Arch Madness run that's exactly where we will be. Coach Ragland has done the easier part of the rebuild, going from the basement of D-I to being respectable, middle of the pack. Now comes the tough part, being a threat to win the MVC which traditionally means being a candidate for an at-large as well, a top 10-15% team in the entire country. Very well said, I will add this. Don’t be surprised if Ragland gets a call this year from a larger program. Early on I thought it would have been a lock, the last couple of weeks probably gives another year. If this program trends up just a little more next year, no doubt the larger schools will come calling.
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Post by ATP on Feb 27, 2024 13:22:23 GMT -6
Not to take anything away from Jake Prior, but I'd not be shocked if Ragland gets a contract extension.
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Post by aceloverlarry on Feb 27, 2024 14:48:54 GMT -6
Not to take anything away from Jake Prior, but I'd not be shocked if Ragland gets a contract extension. Hard to fathom that Ziggy would be willing to do that and risk losing Wildbill as a fan right after he is finally ending his Gage Bobe Boycott and willing to step into the Ford Center again
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Post by purplestrong on Feb 27, 2024 16:26:03 GMT -6
Anyone who knows basketball can see a vast improvement this year. At the same time it’s good to be disappointed we’ve lost a few close games recently. You always need to be striving for improvement. From the deep trench the prior AD dug for the UE program to the level we are playing at is impressive. Winning means better recruiting, and better recruiting results in more winning. We are seeing the first fruits of that this year the crowds are much, much more into it this year too.
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Post by ATP on Feb 27, 2024 17:01:17 GMT -6
Not to take anything away from Jake Prior, but I'd not be shocked if Ragland gets a contract extension. Hard to fathom that Ziggy would be willing to do that and risk losing Wildbill as a fan right after he is finally ending his Gage Bobe Boycott and willing to step into the Ford Center again A few of us are planning a petition drive to get Bobe another year. We plan to appeal on the grounds that he didn't get enough at-bats during his sophomore season.
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Post by stennisrm72 on Feb 27, 2024 19:58:09 GMT -6
I thought this topic was about Jake Prior's recruitment. Guess not.
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