I am going to go on record and say that if Manning wins at Chapel Hill and in Raleigh, and manages to win our 1st round ACC tourney game, he is likely to be here another goddamn year. And regardless of what I think about that, he will have arguably earned it.
I want Manning gone - for the simple reason he just isn't the dynamic program leader Wake needs. Most likely a wonderful human being and probably a nice mentor to young men, especially young black men, Danny is a very bad motivator, which makes him a lukewarm program head.
That being said, we've enjoyed the best 30 day run of ACC play since John Collins was here. We're 4-4 in February. I know that should be laughable, but if/when Manning is fired at the end of the season - we can point to the GTech and Miami home losses as the reason (and be thankful for those loses in context to our future). We are pretty fucking close to have a winning February record if we had played either one of those two games the way we have the rest of the month.
The emergence of Sarr as a lethal post player who can get position on either block and go left or right has allowed Danny to successfully and efficiently run the only offense he does pretty well. Without a reliable post presence, he really has no gameplan. With a post presence, we are okay to pretty good. We have done a better job of feeding the post than at any point in Manning's tenure. It used to kill me how hard Collins worked to insist on a post past from guys who just couldn't do this basic pass very well.
There is no denying that we actually have momentum going into a critical game on the road in Chapel Hill. I say critical because the team and players have to think they have a legit shot at the NIT as it stands today. I say that as a conflicted supporter. We are also a much better defensive team than last year than any year under Manning. I have to assume that Rex Walters plays a large role in that, but it is true.
I gave up on this team months ago. And yet here we sit. Like 98% of posters on here, I am anxious for a change, but I feel it is necessary to be open to facts, and facts are that Manning has a done a pretty good job with this team over the last month. He just has. I'm sort of happy for Manning. He is about as warm as a bowl of oatmeal left out for an hour, but that is as cold as he gets as well. He's handled the negative pressure a LOT better than Bzd. I really hope he enjoyed the Duke win. And the ND win. And if he wins at UNC, I'll be happy for him then too. I'd like to see him land on his feet somewhere, if that is what he wants.