Wow. I get that the loss was frustrating and all. Now all of a sudden the rest of the regular season is meaningless and MT has inferior talent? I think there might be some overreaction here. I really wanted MT to win these last two games. If MT had won both games, I think we'd be talking about a top 25 ranked team right now. Frustrating and disappointing? Yes, but there is still an incredible season to be achieved in front of this team. Let's face it, we are talking about the basketball team, not the football team. I would understand if all of this reaction was regarding football.
For starters, had MT even won that game an at-large still would have been difficult. Admittedly, the Ga State loss now makes it highly improbable. Not impossible, albeit sort of close. What would happen if MT went on to win 10-15 straight from here? I think it would get some attention in addition to garnering some votes in the polls. Sure it would be extremely tough to make that at-large bid, but a lot could still be gained by impressive play from here. Not the least of which is seeding if MT can pull off the conf tourney championship. I'd say right now, MT has as good of chances as anyone in the conference of winning the conf tourney.
Before this season started, I too had concerns about recruiting and recruits' ratings following the recent success. I then heard an excellent interview Kermit did back in the summer/fall where he really went into his approach. I know that interview went a long way to addressing most of my concerns. It's hard to argue with his success using his approach. I think it is pretty clear that Kermit's system is mostly responsible for all of the success. Being that Kermit's system is sort of old school physical, extreme effort, constant hard work, and toughness, not a ton of today's young recruits could hack it in Kermit's system. I think that it was evidenced in those 5 years or so of average performance and lots of players leaving the program.
About 6 years ago, Kermit started to more effectively land the type of players that are a good match for his system. That system is his approach in recruiting. He's looking for talented athletic players who fit his system instead of just higher rated recruits. Now that Kermit is establishing success, more players are willing to work hard in his system now that it is being proven successful.
My opinion of the Ga State loss is that the VCU loss was unusually mentally taxing on the team. As such, the team had a hard time getting themselves mentally ready to put forth the intense effort required to put away a team like Ga State. At this level, G5, you almost have to be perfect to get into the top 25. Even though the Blue Raiders are a really good team, it's understandable that they are going to have a couple of games where they are off. For P5 programs, an off night or two is a lot more easily overlooked due to bias for the top 25 in my opinion.
