He's not getting drafted this year. He's in a similar situation to Crawford last year - definitely a pro prospect, most definitely not a 1st round pick. Will be interesting to see if he gambles and stays in for the potential 2nd round pick or go to France. Generally speaking - it is actually a good business decision for someone like Hoard to enter into the process - they get honest feedback from experts and can take that back to campus to use to improve the parts of their game that need work (assuming they have a staff that can help them).
I'm still not convinced that Manning will be coach come August. I'm just not. The most logical narrative is that Wellman made this mess and has decided to fall on the sword. Currie could have an NBA coach potentially in his hip pocket and will make that bold move after the NBA season or the team's playoff run is complete. This would be somewhat in line with one of the rumors we heard when Currie was first leaked as the next AD and would explain why you wouldn't want to leave an open coaching chair for 60 days under a new AD with the pressure mounting.
All that said, it is absolutely wishful thinking on my part - when Currie was hired at KState, he waited a year to fire a [successful] Frank Martin because he thought he was dirty and the two did not get along.
My biggest fear today is that we overachieve next year and wind up winning 18 games and make the NIT. Manning is really a dead man walking, however, so recruiting is likely to be a joke.
BTW, Richard Washington signed w San Jose State this week. He had a great year at Tallahassee JUCO putting up amazing numbers, averaging 16.6pts (1st on team), 8 rebs (1st on team, 3 ass (2nd on team), 1.5 steals (2nd on team), 0.5 blocks. He had a 45 point game. He is essentially Torry Johnson on steriods. This is what happens when you don't know how to manage a roster, don't have a recruiting philosphy that let players know that year 2 this happens, year 3 this happens, etc..., don't communicate well with guys not in the top 7 or 8 of the rotation, etc... - you lose a Donovan Mitchell and a Richard Washington who spend their productive years killing it somewhere else.
You all know my other fear as the next disgruntled year rolls on. And to be clear, I am not calling racism on labeling Manning "dumb." I find it cheap and unnecessary and practically irrelevant. Coach Jerry Tarkanian was dumb as a brick and could barely drive himself to campus. He was still an amazing coach, but whatever - it is the lazy tag that is a racist dog whistle. We have a poster on here stating he sees Manning leaving his office late in the evening and arriving early in the morning. It simply isn't true. Manning is many things, but it seems inefficient is the better tag than lazy. And it's also not a racist dog whistle. Again, there are a number of ways to let Currie and Hatch and everyone know how frustrating this is as alumni and fans. We don't have to make this miserable for the players - and we don't have to tar and feather ourselves by choice - thus putting us in the same position we were 5 years ago, getting turned down by coach after coach who feel the fanbase is not worth the trouble.
Honestly, we did our part fairly well the last year. This is all on Wellman. He heard us and decided his best play was to tarnish his own legacy. It did take cahunas to do that, but seems to be most likely due to stupid contract.
I do have one mea culpa. I argued on here last year NOT to fire him because I thought we'd get our 5th choice hire then with Wellman nearing retirement, Manning run out one year removed from our John Collins year, etc... I was totally wrong. Absolutely wrong. This has played out in a lot of ways exactly the way I hoped it would - a shitty season. No way to make 20 loses look good. Better than going 16-16 if you want to change coaches and not scare off the next hire. Super. Second, get rid of Wellman so he's not the one making the dead man walking hire. Awesome. This was the one least likely to happen and it has happened. Glory to Allah. Our prayers answered. And then this. Really disappointing.
I'm gonna sit on my thumbs for a while and wait for a handful of NBA coaches have their seasons ends after May 1st. I'm not going to assume anything. Wellman has made his play. Currie has not.