Rewind the tape 4 years....

[HONDO2]

Just for kicks, let's suppose that when Wellman met/talked with Brad Stevens at the NCAA Finals his answer was YES instead of the unanticipated 'thanks but no thanks'. Let's further suppose that Wellman's quick second target/contact with Wisconsin's Bo Ryan was YES instead of 'I'm staying in Madison'.

On the former, given our then roster/existing incoming recruits, Stevens 'style', what would have been reasonable expectations until the Celtics called last Spring ?

On the latter, with same initial parameters, where would be now with Ryan ?

Let's try and keep the sarcasm/dark humor out of this one and just make educated guesses as to where the program would have gone and where we'd be right now, o.k. ?

 

[wakedeac98]

Stevens: Would have a higher talent level over the last 3 years. Undoubtably would have recruited better than [Redacted]. Would have followed more of the Crean model without the extremes. Doubt Stetson, Presbyterian, Winthrop would have happened and probably would have found a way to win 3 or 4 more ACC games his first year (the ACC was terrible then). Somewhere around .500 for 10/11 give or take a game or two. Slow progressive real improvement over the next two years. Perhaps NIT year 2 with probably NCAA bubble last year. Our scholarships would be more balanced and we would be much more set up for long term success and sustainability than we are now.

Ryan: Much of the same. Don't think he would have recruited as well as Stevens just because he is not as hot of a name, but he (unlike Bz) is truely a great Xs and Os coach with the ability to communicate that knowdedge to his players. Think we would be pleased with the effort, organization and sets. At this point we would be competitive in almost every game. Would have eventually made us a really good (not great) team for as long as he remained. Don't think he could have attracted the top tier talent needed to be a perrenial sweet 16 type team. Also, no way would he have taken a 7 man class if he intended to be here long term.

 

[TBR]

Let's use this opportunity to remind ourselves how ridiculous it was that Wellman's 2nd choice was a 62 year old who had spent all but the first 3 years of his professional career in the state of Wisconsin. As if there was a shot in hell we were going to pull a coach with a 0.71 Big Ten record over 9 years. I can't even fathom a world where Bo even listens to us, much less one where Wisconsin doesn't put up a hell of a fight to keep him. Even if we had gone after him in '01 (don't know if there was any discussion about it..he had been hugely successful in D3, but not so much in his 2 years in the Horizon League), it seems likely we would have lost just because of his existing relationship with the program and the state of Wisconsin.

As for Stevens, depending on the assistant staff, I don't know that we would actually be much more talented than we are now (he didn't leverage his F4 success in the same way Shaka has), but we sure as hell would play tough defense and fundamentally sound offense. We would have gone to the NIT last year and be looking towards the NCAAT this year. (ETA: forgot we were in year 4 of the [Redacted] experiment..in that case we would have gone to the NCAAT last year and would have an veteran team this year with expectations to finish in the top 5 of a loaded ACC).