If I may, for all the talent we have had (or think we have had), we really do not have much to show for it. Dayton had Obie, by all accounts was headed to a final four had covid not stepped in. I do get why some posters are negative. We have had exactly one conference tournament championship and that was 7 years ago. Since we joined the conference, the Bonnies have more conference championships than we do. I get that we have had 3 coaching changes in that time period. Since MR took over we have been bested by the Bonnies, St Louis, Davidson, URI and even Richmond. In the corporate world our ROI (over the last five years) would be considered putrid. We are in the thick of it every year, I guess that's all good, but our end of the year results are not scaring anybody. Its great we are getting players to the NBA, I am all for it, but for some reason it is not translating into mega success on the court. This is not a rant against MR, tough job, I know. But something is missing and I am not smart enough to know what it is.
The issue that I see with a lot of our players in recent years (not all, but a good number of them... not going to name names either) compared to a lot of the players we got during the Grant & Shaka years (and Capel Era players too, albeit I didn't start following til the Grant era, but I've gotten to know a bunch of Capel era guys) is just the passion for the game.
Most of the guys we got during Grant's tenure & early on in Shaka's tenure were very passionate about the game. Had a lot of drive, a lot of energy. Most of them were not 4-5 star recruits, most were not Top 100 recruits. They came in with the mindset of leaving it all out on the court & trying to make the most of their opportunities. Most of them were able to block out the distractions.. (fans on social media, Sports "experts", etc.) or used it as fuel to make them play harder on the court. Most of them weren't just up & ready to leave because they weren't the star of the team at the time.... and you could tell most of them wanted to be here, not just here because we were the best offer they got or because they thought they'd get the most playing time right away with us.
The last handful of years since the Shaka era concluded.... the vibe around a lot of the players has changed in my opinion. Overall, we may be getting "better" or "more talented" players... but overall I don't see the same passion, fire and energy that I saw out of the Capel/Grant/Shaka recruited players overall. Obviously there are exceptions.... and obviously not everyone can be Bones Hyland when it comes to energy, fire, passion (and that's not even mentioning how good of a player he is).... But most of the recent recruits at any position, aren't even close to matching Bones' passion for the game. A lot of them are great players & great people.... but their drive/passion for the game is not the same as Bones or the players from the Capel/Grant/Shaka years.... and if it is they sure don't show it or act like it on the court.
Also as a whole the players we've had recently are not as good at blocking out distractions, and as we've seen, some players when things aren't going well are ready to jump ship at a moments notice. Also more so with the recent groups of players compared to the Capel/Grant/Shaka players.... the players in more recent times overall are way more visibly frustrated.... even at the little things, like being subbed out for another player... despite a good effort/performance during that previous stretch on the court.
And certainly more so in recent years we've had more players whose families have started chiming in on how they feel about certain things like playing time, coaching.. etc.
I never really saw that much, if at all with the Capel/Grant/Shaka players. Maybe it was because Shaka had a "twitter ban" or social media ban or w/e it was.... although I think we all know players were probably still looking at it. And during the Capel/Grant years... Social media wasn't the chaotic range of emotions/opinions/viewpoints/backseat driving that it is now. Not even close.
