> Not too many years back (about half way through Davis' tenure) the MT men's BkB program was mired in 20 +/- years of mediocrity. No championships, no tournament appearances, no 20 + win seasons and no wins over "power" conference teams. MT basketball consistently had RPIs in the 130 to 170 range and were usually 8th or 9th among all 12 D-1 in-state programs according to various RPI sites. The fan base was almost non-existent, Murphy center was like a morgue, and what few fans we had were calling for a coaching change.
Today: we were obviously the best team in the state this year, attendance is on an upward trajectory (much to slowly for me), were ranked for the first time in school history, just made it to the 2nd round of the NCAA twice as a lower seed beating a "power" school each time and we're worried about losing our coach. After a night to sleep on it I just can't be upset at our poor performance yesterday, I just can't.
> Realizing that recruiting stars are not the end-all, be-all of recruiting a look at the numbers from yesterday's game is revealing. According to VerbalCommits.com the eight players with the most minutes yesterday from Butler had rankings of: 4.0, 3.3, 3.0, 3.0, 3.0, 3.0, 2.3 and one 2.0. For MT we had Williams with a 2.7, Upshaw with a 2.3, and the other six were all 2.0. I must give Davis and staff credit for finding players who fit the system, have upside greater than their recruiting profile, graduate, and are good citizens while here.
> My last point is that among all so-called $#&-major schools we clearly had the best (We're #1) team from a school which tries to compete in D-1 FB. Compare our basketball budget to Gonzaga, Butler, VCU, Wichita St. or even Belmont and I believe you'll find that, over the last half-dozen years, we have done more with less comparatively. Nothing whatsoever to be unhappy about in the total picture of the program.
Today: we were obviously the best team in the state this year, attendance is on an upward trajectory (much to slowly for me), were ranked for the first time in school history, just made it to the 2nd round of the NCAA twice as a lower seed beating a "power" school each time and we're worried about losing our coach. After a night to sleep on it I just can't be upset at our poor performance yesterday, I just can't.
> Realizing that recruiting stars are not the end-all, be-all of recruiting a look at the numbers from yesterday's game is revealing. According to VerbalCommits.com the eight players with the most minutes yesterday from Butler had rankings of: 4.0, 3.3, 3.0, 3.0, 3.0, 3.0, 2.3 and one 2.0. For MT we had Williams with a 2.7, Upshaw with a 2.3, and the other six were all 2.0. I must give Davis and staff credit for finding players who fit the system, have upside greater than their recruiting profile, graduate, and are good citizens while here.
> My last point is that among all so-called $#&-major schools we clearly had the best (We're #1) team from a school which tries to compete in D-1 FB. Compare our basketball budget to Gonzaga, Butler, VCU, Wichita St. or even Belmont and I believe you'll find that, over the last half-dozen years, we have done more with less comparatively. Nothing whatsoever to be unhappy about in the total picture of the program.
