I'll chime in on High Point in particular and then our program in general. I was happy with a 4 point win, no questions asked. The reason for this is that there are very few instances of major conference teams going into such situations (AT a low major, in a down year for the BCS team, etc). I don't understand why we schedule that game at all.
But fans of all stripes regularly underestimate the importance of home court. Especially in the case of a team circling a game on the schedule. It's worth more than normal in such a game. It's the same reason I actually picked us to beat UVA last year in spite of us being BY FAR the worst team in the conference. That 4 point win was equivalent to about 12 point win on our home court, which is right in line with what we've seen all year. That has to be separated from the strength of our program on the whole. That is, given the strength of our program, that was a good result.
Now as to our program this year. I realize the circumstances of last year and how difficult they were. I also realize how poorly we handled those circumstances. I think [Redacted] can coach and does an excellent job of adjusting within games. We always seem to do well starting games this year, we do well coming out of timeouts, our best players are taking by far the most shots, etc. That speaks positively to him. However, I'm still skeptical as to whether he is the right person to reach the heights we expect to reach.
From what I've seen among my fellow Wake alums, season ticket holders, etc, there's a lot more apathy than excitement. It's tough to continue improving recruiting without excitement in the fan base. We need better players to win. That's a tough hole he's dug himself that will be difficult to overcome.
As to this season, we're probably slightly exceeding expectations. I had us at 12-19 (3-13). It now looks like 14-17 (4-12). If that holds up, it's enough not to move the meter of fan base sentiment further to the negative side of things, but probably not enough to win over the majority of the fan base either. Which will put a lot of pressure on the team next year. I'll tentatively pencil in 17-13 (7-11) next year assuming a similar schedule, and you can draw your own opinion of whether that's trending far enough upwards.
But fans of all stripes regularly underestimate the importance of home court. Especially in the case of a team circling a game on the schedule. It's worth more than normal in such a game. It's the same reason I actually picked us to beat UVA last year in spite of us being BY FAR the worst team in the conference. That 4 point win was equivalent to about 12 point win on our home court, which is right in line with what we've seen all year. That has to be separated from the strength of our program on the whole. That is, given the strength of our program, that was a good result.
Now as to our program this year. I realize the circumstances of last year and how difficult they were. I also realize how poorly we handled those circumstances. I think [Redacted] can coach and does an excellent job of adjusting within games. We always seem to do well starting games this year, we do well coming out of timeouts, our best players are taking by far the most shots, etc. That speaks positively to him. However, I'm still skeptical as to whether he is the right person to reach the heights we expect to reach.
From what I've seen among my fellow Wake alums, season ticket holders, etc, there's a lot more apathy than excitement. It's tough to continue improving recruiting without excitement in the fan base. We need better players to win. That's a tough hole he's dug himself that will be difficult to overcome.
As to this season, we're probably slightly exceeding expectations. I had us at 12-19 (3-13). It now looks like 14-17 (4-12). If that holds up, it's enough not to move the meter of fan base sentiment further to the negative side of things, but probably not enough to win over the majority of the fan base either. Which will put a lot of pressure on the team next year. I'll tentatively pencil in 17-13 (7-11) next year assuming a similar schedule, and you can draw your own opinion of whether that's trending far enough upwards.
