Overall, I just think last night was...weird. St Mary's is not a good enough team, overall, to do what they did to us. And the only way that happens, is our guys had to have quit mentally. Which would make exactly 1 game all year long, that that has happened. So it's just weird, to me, that whatever the conditions, circumstances, something about Mary's, whatever it was, caused us to quit...not in some game in the long, grinding, month of January...not against an obviously more talented team...but in what was probably one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, games in each of our players lives, against a good, but not great mid major level program.
All the flaws and weaknesses were exposed last night, obviously. But we've had them all year long, and we've ground out respectable performances in basically every game. Even the "blowout" losses to Illinois and Michigan, the 2 games all season long where we might have seemed to not show up, or to quit...they were very competitive games well into the 2nd half.
So...weird.
Going forward its going to be fascinating, to me, what players stay and what players go. Most likely we won't be able to make too many conclusions on how good the culture is, how well the guys like each other, where everyone's minds are at, etc... just by who stays and who leaves. But obviously if we have a mass exodus, that isn't good. Its not good for the product on the court, but more importantly, it'd be a terrible indicator that the locker room wasn't as good or as strong as many of us hoped it was. We have a flawed roster right now. We have a flawed coach. But both of those things can improve. The guys that come back can shoot hundreds/thousands of shots a day and get better. We can get transfers and recruits that will make it better. Coach Woodson can watch film, reflect, pick Matta's brain, etc... and get a lot better. I actually assume those things will all happen. But if we see a mass exodus of players, that's a sign that something deeper is broken. That the late game fades are a result of something deeper. That the reason for the seemingly "weird" game last night, could be a culmination of those deeper issues.
So, I'm actually hoping every single one of our players wants to come back. Because for me, that would be an incredibly good sign that Woody and the guys have something strong foundationally to build on for next year. Because if that's true, using this year as a benchmark and starting point, we have a chance to be a lot better, and really good next year.
Obviously everyone can't come back. With 3 incoming freshmen, some are going to have to leave. And who those people are will certainly have an impact on how good we'll be next year. But its MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more important, to me, why they end up leaving, than who actually leaves. We have older guys, a couple that have legit chances at making money playing basketball. Leaving to explore those opportunities, that's healthy and expected for a high level program. We also have a slew of talented younger kids, that didn't get much playing time this year. Those are the kids I'll be paying closer attention to. If kids like Tamar, Jordan, Khristian, Trey, Anthony, Logan...leave...that's not a good sign for our program, in my opinion. As with most things...it'll likely end up being somewhere in the middle.
We shall see. Weird night last night.
