With GWIII now gone, we are going to get someone. A friend who sometimes knows emailed today to say that there were rumors maybe the next player up would be someone special. In line with your thoughts, a rim-running someone to dunk misses and play D might be the kind of player to hope for.
Forgive me, I think I'm missing something--a kid wants to play, and can get more money and on-field time at another school. He goes and we're upset? If someone comes to Michigan under the same conditions, we welcome them.
Feels like; is. Began as an outlet for long-form, adventurous, status quo-challenging sports journalism of the sort that had all but disappeared. Saved financially by the Times, which maintains it as a separate sports section. A little bit the path of ESPN, for those who remember further back. . .
P.S. Agree with the OP; that's pretty dumb. And I do think that JJ found the right NFL home (so does he). My own questions about him will, despite this, remain as they did for watchers here: Can he--will he know when to--run? My money is that he can. Will he be a little fragile? Remains to be seen.
Just visited RCMB for the first time in months, and see that they generated HUNDREDS of pages of comment about the draft, almost all of it deriding Michigan, without placing a single player from their own school in the league? Rich lives those people lead! Rich lives! That's a fascinating corner of hell they assign themselves to. . .
Still, we may end up regretting the rape of the Pac 10. And not just in football. Saw where one talented woman soccer player opted to go pro rather than play in the newly amalgamated ACC/Pac 12 (where the highest-level soccer is now played) because she wasn't interested in the wear and tear. Gotta be some other kids privately making such decisions.
La la la la don't care. With Dusty putting together such a promising-looking crew, I am fully and finally over Hunter. I'll always wish him well, but I never found him super-easy to love.
Speaking of game, sir, you have really upped yours. These evals are really, really good. As a person who, over many years of watching, still has a lot to learn, these really help me to see what these players bring to the table. Thanks much.
If we flip the script--look at it from JJ's POV--we see that this is the fit he perceived as best for him. Success is never assured, but that's probably what we should really care about. He's going to be comfortable there, can see himself fitting with personnel and playbook, will not have to excel instantly; all good.
The CBS guys, for whatever reasons, were talking him down from the start. May he prove their asses wrong.
Yeah, we suck. We're stupid. We're not even trying. I mean, do you even have a clue what you're trying to say, what your specific critique is? Does "actually tried" mean that you think people aren't trying, let alone succeeding, despite a lot of the odds? You want to be respected for a post, think this stuff through.
I swear that it's the people with the most unimaginative screen names who offer the worst posts. It never fails.
I think almost everyone is still missing the point that it's the schools making the huge money, and that allowing the players to make money didn't address that in any way. It's a diversion, took everyone's eyes off the ball and the critical issue. Everyone's mesmerized by the ability of a handful of players getting big money when what's wanted is revenue sharing.
The players are still making the schools money, but not getting paid by the schools for making it. The NCAA and the schools haven't given up anything.
Didn't know that about Dylan. Always thought that he was remarkably far from the program, given all the time that he has been around it. But that may have been to preserve some healthy critical distance.
Well, I'm excited, and I was skeptical. As to the first two items on your list. . . we don't really know? Yours are mostly best-case scenarios--up to your estimate of potential wins--and I hope you're right. I think that what May will want, toward the end of season one, is a sense of gathering momentum. So if his team has stuff to play for down the stretch, that will be fantastic.
When we're disparaging, they're mercenaries. When we like 'em, they're just doing what every red-blooded American is gonna do. Getting that payday while they can. . . etc.
How quickly this team comes together will help decide its ceiling, for sure. Seems like you can discern a team that has a recognizable Dusty May shape, so that's encouraging. Also seems like a number of these guys, even if of modest evals, see the floor and pass well--I'd rather a team of great passers and team players, on a first go, than Calipari diamonds waiting to be cut.
This is going to be an interesting experiment. A lot may depend now, on things building fairly quickly so that money and enthusiasm find their way to May and the program. Hope all these guys can get to A2 and start jumping in the gymnasium, pronto. Will keep fingers crossed.
Chief was an honorific, and 'redskin' was a slur. It's not that hard to see that one connotes something positive, a kind of status, the other is derogatory. (Saying that someone somewhere called themselves that is like saying that Black people call themselves the 'n' word, which you'll hear some. . . people do. That doesn't. . . quite give you the right to call your sports team that, obvs!)
Lots of our history is fraught, and you can't go back and change it, but you can address stuff that's egregious. The fact that the redskins were in Washington, well. . .
I've lived long enough with the idea of the Seminoles, for example, to think that naming your team after a local indigenous group, especially one that struggled to retain their place and customs, is really pretty decent. Chiefs and redskins are not creative or compelling, anyway, crying out loud. People willing to get ornery about retaining them are usually bringing some reactionary political feelings along with them. Misplaced.
A strong year this year, and a team that looks like it will vie for an NC next year, can--I think--place us more permanently in the driver's seat for recruits. Recent great teams have been a strong testament to our recruiting prowess, with so many uncovered diamonds in the rough (see Roman Wilson!). Landscape's going to shift a little with SEC and B1G consolidations. But ideally we'd spot the diamonds AND steadily pull a greater share of stars. More stability at the top should prove a blessing.
Fantastic. A guy like this was, pretty clearly, the missing piece of the puzzle. (One might speculate that some of these guys see the team that Dusty's building, and know that spots are going fast.)
We're going to need to defend at the four, too; I will be interested to see whether there is one more promising forward out there for us.
Peter Frampton. Once found him on the floor of the bathroom in a NYC bar toward midnight on New Year's Eve while carousing with some of my RC U of M mates; he was, shall we say, very conked. We teased him, I'm a little embarrassed to say--while sharing in the riches--singing Ooh, Baby, I Love Your Way and accusing him of stealing it from Smokey. . . muttered that he was a one-hit wonder and departed. And that was ca. 1976!
He seemed a pretty forlorn character then, wanting sympathy in retrospect. But if anyone really was a one-hit wonder it's this guy, no? The R and R Hall of Fame would seem to have few other criteria than name recognition. Kool & The Gang are the only band I'd have voted for there, myself.
And the rest of your list. . . those aren't creators, they're imitators, no? Yes, Harry Nilsson belongs in--he was unique, a gesture back toward British dancehall, though not as creatively fertile as The Kinks. None of the rest of that lot have aged well, except in the farthest outer rings of suburbia.
I see this as a pretty big get. Should be our starting off guard, no? Have been skeptical that May was getting the resources that he needed, but the last three days have been encouraging. Effective forward play, pretty obviously, needs to be the next place of emphasis. I think that an unfettered Tschetter can get us some points, but on a Big Ten-contending team, he should probably be the third forward off of the bench.
Not even a little bit true. Juwan needed to go, and I've said so here for a month and more. And I've repeatedly voiced support for May. You're blabbering. My point is that Donaldson is an iffy prospect. But won't belabor this more. I too want him to prove a great get.
Stringer Bell is sane, even if contrarian. Bronx is a thoughtful contributor to this board. They're both getting it right. I rarely see you say anything of substance, but maybe I've missed your great posts?
This is another, I'm sure, great kid who who will have to show marked improvement or be a far better fit in Dusty's scheme if he is going to overcome what are, to date, pedestrian numbers. Saying that is not a crime.
And yes, and no. I'm no hoops savant. But I have been following the team closely since the 1970s, played, and know a little about the game. Have some institutional memory about the subject. Remember how people maligned Beilein and Howard, and Amaker (for that matter), and want to plump for a little more awareness. Let's hope Donaldson is fantastic for Michigan.
May is getting a team assembled. I like May, and am wishing him well. I felt, at the end, that Juwan had to go. But if Juwan were pulling this guy in now, the comments would not be. . . quite as conciliatory. I'm sure I'll get negged, because right now everyone's drinking the koolaid--I'll have half a glass, myself. But sane people will recognize the truth of what I am saying.
This is thinly veiled racism. But worse--perhaps--it's outright claptrap. You had guys talking about how they'd run through walls for Juwan during the first couple of years. The Fab V turning out in support even during this year's hard times. Everyone grew dispirited toward the end, that's absolutely true. But a far cry from any notion that he was instilling some kind of inimical "culture." The guy loves the hell out of Michigan, and was heartbroken. His son is still on the team. Hunter loved Juwan, but couldn't get any MONEY here.
I know that people who know nothing just say shit to say shit--hey, that's sports. But this is crap. Think before you drivel.
I like Dusty a lot; I hope you're right. (Two seven-footers, now! Wow!) I don't see that he's being given the resources to do it right. And I don't think it's terribly untoward to say that when the players shuffle in an out annually, you start to lose a certain sense of attachment to them.
There's a reason why John left. He didn't want to play the game under these conditions. I've been watching, closely, since 1974; I was nuts about John, and Juwan. I worry that we get a bump, and then. . . either the school gets behind the team or we crater once again. (The schools, who make the money, placing the onus on fans to pay up, is another feat of prestidigitation, with fans--mostly--too dazzled by the commotion to remember where the ball is.)
I have some sympathy with your nervousness. We'll see soon enough. Without a massive, steady infusion of funds what we may get is a bit of an uptick, and then more of the same.
The guys start to be interchangeable; my ability to care slips. I admire people's enthusiasm here, but wonder how long it lasts? Are the guys better players, in truth--on this team being assembled in haste--than the players that Juwan and co. were choosing, being scrutinized and derided so heavily, last spring?
Yeah, Michael was a supernova. But his career looks different without Scottie Pippen, and the continuity that offered the Bulls. Not that Michael cared to acknowledge.
It frustrates me when we say that a mediocrity like Doyel is wildly talented and should know better! Exclamation mark! No, he's a bum, an old-fashioned fake crusader-style hack journo who just slobbered on a woman who is helping to make women and her sport taken seriously. Publicly. Made her presser about him and made his apology about him; that apology is me, me, me, me, Caitlin Clark, what about me, etcetera. Doesn't even end with a convincing or heartfelt statement.
It was like, "Look at me, the celebrated journalist for men's sports, DEIGNING to descend and see what the little ladies are up to! Let me take them all down a few pegs, establish my little flirty pecking order for future availability with the gal here. She ain't one of those. . . LESBOS, is she?"
I don't see that this is a burning offense, but it's a shunning offense. It's a "Stop it, fuckwad" offense for a boss, and it should help move the guy toward the reject pile when it comes to how he's regarded nationally. Forever.
You know, Denard didn't have to be a superstar in the NFL for me to love him to death. Neither does JJ. The truth is that we don't know how he'll turn out, and he has had fewer chances to prove himself through his throwing than quarterbacks who played for worse teams. Clearly, he's a fantastic student of the game, and capable of extraordinary accuracy, to rival all the other QBs in the draft; he has also put to rest any worries about the strength of his arm in drills and combine testing. He also played hurt toward the end last year, which may muddle perceptions of his value.
The way that things often work in this world, he might or might not ever obtain the chance to play for a championship team or be placed in the position to earn out. He could struggle, who knows? These things are gambles for every team. My money is on him achieving a high level of success, and. . . screw the haters. They will always be out there.
This looms as a really big issue, in year one. And may bring Dusty--and those watching with some optimism--up against the cold hard realities of Michigan's case. Which sometimes looked insurmountable for Juwan. Because whether Dusty's been promised augmented resources or not, he's filling an entire roster, from a pot that just doesn't match up to that of, say, a Kansas. Connecticut taking a player who lots of people were down on here, like Tarris, may speak more to the depth of that team, and its resources, than to Reed's proficiency, or that of his former coaches, who really needed him to excel this year to have a hope, not just be a promising part of a future youth movement.
Hope that Dusty doesn't get discouraged too quickly. But this reminds me a little of NIL, when it first emerged. Lots of enthusiasm from everyone, but not much indication that problems have been solved. We're already seeing that players are not just racing to be here or play for Dusty. The portal makes things interesting--as when a magician waves their hand in your face to confuse you. But none of this, none of it, has made the game more equal. Yes, there will be new winners and losers--we're already seeing that M isn't one of the former, at least not in hoop. But parity? It's dispiriting. There was a reason why Beilein left.
Recent Comments
With GWIII now gone, we are going to get someone. A friend who sometimes knows emailed today to say that there were rumors maybe the next player up would be someone special. In line with your thoughts, a rim-running someone to dunk misses and play D might be the kind of player to hope for.
And if they have some success this year, the core of something to build on.
Stanford player who thought it would make actually doing school impossible.
For Saban to lose to the nemesis he thought he escaped in the move from MSU, may have been a little annoying. He handled it with grace.
The herd thing is very strong here these days, as in the country generally.
Forgive me, I think I'm missing something--a kid wants to play, and can get more money and on-field time at another school. He goes and we're upset? If someone comes to Michigan under the same conditions, we welcome them.
Feels like; is. Began as an outlet for long-form, adventurous, status quo-challenging sports journalism of the sort that had all but disappeared. Saved financially by the Times, which maintains it as a separate sports section. A little bit the path of ESPN, for those who remember further back. . .
P.S. Agree with the OP; that's pretty dumb. And I do think that JJ found the right NFL home (so does he). My own questions about him will, despite this, remain as they did for watchers here: Can he--will he know when to--run? My money is that he can. Will he be a little fragile? Remains to be seen.
Let's call it a subtle inference.
Just visited RCMB for the first time in months, and see that they generated HUNDREDS of pages of comment about the draft, almost all of it deriding Michigan, without placing a single player from their own school in the league? Rich lives those people lead! Rich lives! That's a fascinating corner of hell they assign themselves to. . .
Still, we may end up regretting the rape of the Pac 10. And not just in football. Saw where one talented woman soccer player opted to go pro rather than play in the newly amalgamated ACC/Pac 12 (where the highest-level soccer is now played) because she wasn't interested in the wear and tear. Gotta be some other kids privately making such decisions.
La la la la don't care. With Dusty putting together such a promising-looking crew, I am fully and finally over Hunter. I'll always wish him well, but I never found him super-easy to love.
Speaking of game, sir, you have really upped yours. These evals are really, really good. As a person who, over many years of watching, still has a lot to learn, these really help me to see what these players bring to the table. Thanks much.
If we flip the script--look at it from JJ's POV--we see that this is the fit he perceived as best for him. Success is never assured, but that's probably what we should really care about. He's going to be comfortable there, can see himself fitting with personnel and playbook, will not have to excel instantly; all good.
The CBS guys, for whatever reasons, were talking him down from the start. May he prove their asses wrong.
How the hell would a guy who can't make sentences know that, before a single game is played? Now you're just courting straight up stupid.
Hopefully, this is the last bad post before you pass out completely?
Yeah, we suck. We're stupid. We're not even trying. I mean, do you even have a clue what you're trying to say, what your specific critique is? Does "actually tried" mean that you think people aren't trying, let alone succeeding, despite a lot of the odds? You want to be respected for a post, think this stuff through.
I swear that it's the people with the most unimaginative screen names who offer the worst posts. It never fails.
I think almost everyone is still missing the point that it's the schools making the huge money, and that allowing the players to make money didn't address that in any way. It's a diversion, took everyone's eyes off the ball and the critical issue. Everyone's mesmerized by the ability of a handful of players getting big money when what's wanted is revenue sharing.
The players are still making the schools money, but not getting paid by the schools for making it. The NCAA and the schools haven't given up anything.
So it's about aesthetics. :)
Didn't know that about Dylan. Always thought that he was remarkably far from the program, given all the time that he has been around it. But that may have been to preserve some healthy critical distance.
Further evidence that we should be seeing some really creative hooping in months and years to come.
Well, I'm excited, and I was skeptical. As to the first two items on your list. . . we don't really know? Yours are mostly best-case scenarios--up to your estimate of potential wins--and I hope you're right. I think that what May will want, toward the end of season one, is a sense of gathering momentum. So if his team has stuff to play for down the stretch, that will be fantastic.
When we're disparaging, they're mercenaries. When we like 'em, they're just doing what every red-blooded American is gonna do. Getting that payday while they can. . . etc.
How quickly this team comes together will help decide its ceiling, for sure. Seems like you can discern a team that has a recognizable Dusty May shape, so that's encouraging. Also seems like a number of these guys, even if of modest evals, see the floor and pass well--I'd rather a team of great passers and team players, on a first go, than Calipari diamonds waiting to be cut.
This is going to be an interesting experiment. A lot may depend now, on things building fairly quickly so that money and enthusiasm find their way to May and the program. Hope all these guys can get to A2 and start jumping in the gymnasium, pronto. Will keep fingers crossed.
Hey, you've gotta trust the new coach. No way these guys bring him in if he isn't a player of promise.
Mgoblog after football and basketball are over: Nothin' shakin' but the rent.
Post of the day. Shut down the internets.
One can pretty well sniff where arguments like this come from.
Chief was an honorific, and 'redskin' was a slur. It's not that hard to see that one connotes something positive, a kind of status, the other is derogatory. (Saying that someone somewhere called themselves that is like saying that Black people call themselves the 'n' word, which you'll hear some. . . people do. That doesn't. . . quite give you the right to call your sports team that, obvs!)
Lots of our history is fraught, and you can't go back and change it, but you can address stuff that's egregious. The fact that the redskins were in Washington, well. . .
I've lived long enough with the idea of the Seminoles, for example, to think that naming your team after a local indigenous group, especially one that struggled to retain their place and customs, is really pretty decent. Chiefs and redskins are not creative or compelling, anyway, crying out loud. People willing to get ornery about retaining them are usually bringing some reactionary political feelings along with them. Misplaced.
Agree!
https://www.maizenbrew.com/2024/4/21/24136565/michigan-wolverines-basketball-transfer-portal-sean-stewart-duke-blue-devils-dusty-may
A strong year this year, and a team that looks like it will vie for an NC next year, can--I think--place us more permanently in the driver's seat for recruits. Recent great teams have been a strong testament to our recruiting prowess, with so many uncovered diamonds in the rough (see Roman Wilson!). Landscape's going to shift a little with SEC and B1G consolidations. But ideally we'd spot the diamonds AND steadily pull a greater share of stars. More stability at the top should prove a blessing.
Fantastic. A guy like this was, pretty clearly, the missing piece of the puzzle. (One might speculate that some of these guys see the team that Dusty's building, and know that spots are going fast.)
We're going to need to defend at the four, too; I will be interested to see whether there is one more promising forward out there for us.
Peter Frampton. Once found him on the floor of the bathroom in a NYC bar toward midnight on New Year's Eve while carousing with some of my RC U of M mates; he was, shall we say, very conked. We teased him, I'm a little embarrassed to say--while sharing in the riches--singing Ooh, Baby, I Love Your Way and accusing him of stealing it from Smokey. . . muttered that he was a one-hit wonder and departed. And that was ca. 1976!
He seemed a pretty forlorn character then, wanting sympathy in retrospect. But if anyone really was a one-hit wonder it's this guy, no? The R and R Hall of Fame would seem to have few other criteria than name recognition. Kool & The Gang are the only band I'd have voted for there, myself.
And the rest of your list. . . those aren't creators, they're imitators, no? Yes, Harry Nilsson belongs in--he was unique, a gesture back toward British dancehall, though not as creatively fertile as The Kinks. None of the rest of that lot have aged well, except in the farthest outer rings of suburbia.
I see this as a pretty big get. Should be our starting off guard, no? Have been skeptical that May was getting the resources that he needed, but the last three days have been encouraging. Effective forward play, pretty obviously, needs to be the next place of emphasis. I think that an unfettered Tschetter can get us some points, but on a Big Ten-contending team, he should probably be the third forward off of the bench.
Not even a little bit true. Juwan needed to go, and I've said so here for a month and more. And I've repeatedly voiced support for May. You're blabbering. My point is that Donaldson is an iffy prospect. But won't belabor this more. I too want him to prove a great get.
Stringer Bell is sane, even if contrarian. Bronx is a thoughtful contributor to this board. They're both getting it right. I rarely see you say anything of substance, but maybe I've missed your great posts?
This is another, I'm sure, great kid who who will have to show marked improvement or be a far better fit in Dusty's scheme if he is going to overcome what are, to date, pedestrian numbers. Saying that is not a crime.
And yes, and no. I'm no hoops savant. But I have been following the team closely since the 1970s, played, and know a little about the game. Have some institutional memory about the subject. Remember how people maligned Beilein and Howard, and Amaker (for that matter), and want to plump for a little more awareness. Let's hope Donaldson is fantastic for Michigan.
But not, o bright spark, too busy to contribute your own unhelpful comments. Talk about coming on to shoot yourself in the foot! :)
Old School has been all over this, and is a venerated member of this board. I was eager to hear what he thought after a second look.
May is getting a team assembled. I like May, and am wishing him well. I felt, at the end, that Juwan had to go. But if Juwan were pulling this guy in now, the comments would not be. . . quite as conciliatory. I'm sure I'll get negged, because right now everyone's drinking the koolaid--I'll have half a glass, myself. But sane people will recognize the truth of what I am saying.
This is thinly veiled racism. But worse--perhaps--it's outright claptrap. You had guys talking about how they'd run through walls for Juwan during the first couple of years. The Fab V turning out in support even during this year's hard times. Everyone grew dispirited toward the end, that's absolutely true. But a far cry from any notion that he was instilling some kind of inimical "culture." The guy loves the hell out of Michigan, and was heartbroken. His son is still on the team. Hunter loved Juwan, but couldn't get any MONEY here.
I know that people who know nothing just say shit to say shit--hey, that's sports. But this is crap. Think before you drivel.
Actually, he didn't say he didn't enjoy last year. He said we have real reads this year. Logic can be yer friend.
I like Dusty a lot; I hope you're right. (Two seven-footers, now! Wow!) I don't see that he's being given the resources to do it right. And I don't think it's terribly untoward to say that when the players shuffle in an out annually, you start to lose a certain sense of attachment to them.
There's a reason why John left. He didn't want to play the game under these conditions. I've been watching, closely, since 1974; I was nuts about John, and Juwan. I worry that we get a bump, and then. . . either the school gets behind the team or we crater once again. (The schools, who make the money, placing the onus on fans to pay up, is another feat of prestidigitation, with fans--mostly--too dazzled by the commotion to remember where the ball is.)
Again, we will see.
I have some sympathy with your nervousness. We'll see soon enough. Without a massive, steady infusion of funds what we may get is a bit of an uptick, and then more of the same.
The guys start to be interchangeable; my ability to care slips. I admire people's enthusiasm here, but wonder how long it lasts? Are the guys better players, in truth--on this team being assembled in haste--than the players that Juwan and co. were choosing, being scrutinized and derided so heavily, last spring?
Yeah, Michael was a supernova. But his career looks different without Scottie Pippen, and the continuity that offered the Bulls. Not that Michael cared to acknowledge.
It frustrates me when we say that a mediocrity like Doyel is wildly talented and should know better! Exclamation mark! No, he's a bum, an old-fashioned fake crusader-style hack journo who just slobbered on a woman who is helping to make women and her sport taken seriously. Publicly. Made her presser about him and made his apology about him; that apology is me, me, me, me, Caitlin Clark, what about me, etcetera. Doesn't even end with a convincing or heartfelt statement.
It was like, "Look at me, the celebrated journalist for men's sports, DEIGNING to descend and see what the little ladies are up to! Let me take them all down a few pegs, establish my little flirty pecking order for future availability with the gal here. She ain't one of those. . . LESBOS, is she?"
I don't see that this is a burning offense, but it's a shunning offense. It's a "Stop it, fuckwad" offense for a boss, and it should help move the guy toward the reject pile when it comes to how he's regarded nationally. Forever.
You know, Denard didn't have to be a superstar in the NFL for me to love him to death. Neither does JJ. The truth is that we don't know how he'll turn out, and he has had fewer chances to prove himself through his throwing than quarterbacks who played for worse teams. Clearly, he's a fantastic student of the game, and capable of extraordinary accuracy, to rival all the other QBs in the draft; he has also put to rest any worries about the strength of his arm in drills and combine testing. He also played hurt toward the end last year, which may muddle perceptions of his value.
The way that things often work in this world, he might or might not ever obtain the chance to play for a championship team or be placed in the position to earn out. He could struggle, who knows? These things are gambles for every team. My money is on him achieving a high level of success, and. . . screw the haters. They will always be out there.
Sounds like Scottie's son is a gentleman AND a scholar. That's neat. And he has his father's smile. Will be fun to have him in A2!
EDIT: And hey! If we can double him up, all the better!
Sounds like Scottie's son is a gentleman AND a scholar. That's neat. And he has his father's smile. Will be fun to have him in A2!
Good analogy. But what if Dusty doesn't even know the cap? Or it's shifting? Or he's waiting on word about this or that donor? Could be maddening.
Yeah, I may steal that.
This looms as a really big issue, in year one. And may bring Dusty--and those watching with some optimism--up against the cold hard realities of Michigan's case. Which sometimes looked insurmountable for Juwan. Because whether Dusty's been promised augmented resources or not, he's filling an entire roster, from a pot that just doesn't match up to that of, say, a Kansas. Connecticut taking a player who lots of people were down on here, like Tarris, may speak more to the depth of that team, and its resources, than to Reed's proficiency, or that of his former coaches, who really needed him to excel this year to have a hope, not just be a promising part of a future youth movement.
Hope that Dusty doesn't get discouraged too quickly. But this reminds me a little of NIL, when it first emerged. Lots of enthusiasm from everyone, but not much indication that problems have been solved. We're already seeing that players are not just racing to be here or play for Dusty. The portal makes things interesting--as when a magician waves their hand in your face to confuse you. But none of this, none of it, has made the game more equal. Yes, there will be new winners and losers--we're already seeing that M isn't one of the former, at least not in hoop. But parity? It's dispiriting. There was a reason why Beilein left.