The guy put together a recruiting class that was actually able to contribute in the summer before the season started. He should not have been able to pull that off. He has a team that has had an absolutely abysmal road record for years in position to win in some pretty hostile environments.
Show some patience, this won't get fixed overnight. Speaking as someone who advocated hiring Ben Howland, Danny is proving to be a much better selection for the future of the program.
Danny has definitely overachieved on the recruiting front thus far. The 2014 class showed that he has an eye for talent and the 2015 class has shown that he can get shit done. When it comes to recruiting, I'm 100% on board with Manning and his staff.
I also think he's done a great job with what he has to work with in terms of talent development. Our guys are playing as well, if not better, than they were playing at this time last year. When you realize that there is no Travis, Coron, Cav, or Moto (#billmotogang4life) on this team, our progress makes me hopeful. Dinos and Mitchell are inconsistent, for sure, but they're freshmen and really exceeding all expectations. Greg is a freshman, too, and I've been impressed with the greater confidence he seems to be exhibiting now than he was earlier in the year. I've been really impressed with how Devin has cooled down since our OOC schedule and at how Madison has actually played productive minutes for us. We will see if Tree can exhibit the same tyoes of changes as the season continues and now that he's back.
I still have reservations about Danny Manning the coach.
The bad - There are definitely confounding variables at play (such as a general lack of talent), but Manning's game management is really sketchy in my opinion. Whether it's putting us in the position to lose the ball on consecutive possessions at the end of the first half of the Clemson game, odd rotations that put us at a disadvantage on both ends of the floor for curious amounts of time, or letting CMM screw up end game possessions in consecutive games, I guess that I'm just not convinced right now. Time Out-gate, too, really annoys me. Even if you think that's a foul, you call that time out. And that wasn't the first time something like that has happened this year.
The good - I like our defensive intensity. I like how our offensive-oriented lineups play, particularly in terms of ball movement and keeping everybody involved. We have a really easy scouting report right now on the offensive end of the floor, so I really can't fault our staff at how quickly our game plan is exposed, but I have been impressed with the resilience that our guys have shown when our plays break down. Light years different from what happened last year with much of the same personnel.