Figured this would be a good time to start this thread.
So going into this season, what do we know?
Literally nothing. Our coach literally just quit, we have 8-9 players who weren’t even here last season and no one with high usage in a new scheme with a new coach. We know literally nothing. And who will stay and go at the end of the season depending on both on the floor success and attachment to the current coaching staff.
Our sport is dying. Hall of Fame coaches retiring. Regional rivalries being killed in conference realignment. Games being streamed on fucking Peacock streaming. Loud mouths replacing analysis on sports TV programs. Burner accounts. Gambling addicts. Free agency with even less restrictions than the NBA and no real development and continual losing players and poaching.
Our planet is dying. Global Warming. War. Famine. Spiking cancer rates in young adults. Depersonalization through the internet and AI taking jobs. Increasing income disparity. You give birth today and your baby has more plastic in it than the toys you buy for it. You go to your local kabob place that you’ve been going to since you were a kid and now they are a full blown chain and instead of making fresh pita in house you order bread and you see them pull out a plastic bag of pre-made breads from a factory to put in the heater.
So questions we could maybe entertain (assuming the same environment as if Tony were still here in the room with us and not in the great beyond).
Will the losers of the Rohde Bliss DaiDai back up pg battle still be on the roster?
Will the loser of the Cofie Robinson playing time battle still be on the roster?
What will Gertrude look like coming back from injury and is he someone we can depend on right away or will he take time getting back to contributing status?
Tony talked about the 2 year vision to the point where he even apologized to Taine, hinting that he wouldn’t be a part of the bigger 2025-2026 vision. And Tony clearly still believes in that vision with setting up Sanchez to helm that climb with Tony taking a more advisory role. Who is going to be the captain of that ship when Warley leaves?
Who is our lockdown perimeter defender after Warley?
Of course if Sanchez doesn’t work out we are looking at a new rebuild with a new coach. And I hope that Wally Walker and crew are doing a behind the scenes national search during the season regardless of on Court performance.
Will some of the players - looking at you Rohde - shoot better under the Sanchez regime? Clearly we have had several that didn’t respond well to the shot pressure under Tony’s exacting eye. And several just couldn’t make shots in an open gym.
It’s tbd. Sanchez’ Charlotte teams played pretty slow too. I imagine the new system they are trying to implement will be the same.
I am curious if personnel decisions will be different between Sanchez and Tony but of course we will never know cause Tony’s will now be a hypothetical with this team
Sanchez seems fairly tactically flexible to me? When he had Aly Khalifa, he made use of him and ran the whole offense through him, but it looked different than his other seasons.
I expect Ron’s general program philosophies to be the same or roughly so. With the potential wildcard of offensive system, which was apparently getting a refresh of some sort anyway.
But yeah, it’s the smaller tactical stuff that will be interesting to see where he lands. How big is his bench? How does he like to rotate guys in / out?
And this is a tangent – but the dynamic between J-Willy and Ron will be VERY interesting. I’d be very surprised if both of them are here next year…
My first contribution to this thread was going to be Isaiah Abraham but yeah Im assuming Williford is not here next year regardless and he was the one who was really close with Abraham. (maybe instate pull helps)
Thinking of Sanchez’s recruiting ties, it seems like its moreso the west and Midwest/Wisconsin area. With also some North Carolina ties (especially with his Charlotte stint).
Also Sanchez noticeably spent a lot of time recruiting Chance Mallory going to under armour events for him.
AWilly’s off to St Joe’s next Fall and Cam’s a freshman but, in a mild surprise, he didn’t stay at STAB. Albemarle HS, maybe? Anyway, he’s not going to go very far from DC, and we’ll see how the coaching situations at various schools look. But he’s less settled than he’s been in years, so if like American needs a new HC in the spring I think he’ll finally jump.
Man, if we thought last offseason was crazy just wait until next offseason. Either Sanchez succeeds and you still sweat out transfer decisions or he doesn’t and then we get the craziness of a new coach and all that comes with that.
Hooandtrue’s brain may explode if we actually get a new coach and all the transfer possibilities / future lineups that come with that lol
Sodie is an assistant this year. Do you mean he stays an assistant after an (assumed) KG promotion as well?
With the skills development thing, one issue is that the NCAA regulates that kind of instruction time (and which roles get to do it, if I recall correctly), so I imagine it’s hard for it to be a full-time position like it is in the NBA.
Will Sanchez be the “Dean and Markel Families Men’s Interim Head Basketball Coach” or will Tony be the “Dean and Markel Families Men’s Former Head Basketball Coach”?
Really feel like those families need some clarity in this difficult time
Maybe the Dean family goes one way and the Markel family goes the other.
Or even worse:
The Dean mother and younger brother and Markel brother-in-law interim coach Ron Sanchez. The Dean father and sister and Markel aunts and uncles have decided to support a national coaching search. The Markel family’s exchange student would prefer it be international. (Maybe time for me to get some work done…)