Let's wait a little while before making that assessment. I think we got some good pieces in the off season and if folks like Ferguson and Ebube develop we could be a very surprising team. We will be one of the best defensive teams in the mvc, let's just hope our offense catches up. We are deeper, longer and more athletic than we have been in the past. Just because we are picked 9th doesn't mean we will finish 9th or anywhere close to that. In the portal era pre-season predictions are pretty much a crap shoot.Thanks for doing this. I see the Salukis picked 8 or 9 in a couple of rankings from national outlets too.
If that happens, I don’t see any way the new AD has much of a choice on the head coach next March.
Firing Mullins after this year would be insane, clearly a retooling year in a valley that returns some strong teams. It is possible to continue building a program while taking a small step back in terms of wins. Lets see how they look and how recruiting plays out.
3rd to 9th is not a small step back. You can reload in one offseason like Indiana State did. SIU put all their eggs in the Domask basket and when he left, they didn’t have a good plan to come close to replacing him.
I think one of the main problems is, Ebube/Hornecker/Ferguson couldn’t get any run last year on a team that was trying to win. Maybe they all develop a bunch this offseason but I can’t really expect them to be great this year.
And if Kennard Davis is gonna be redshirted this year or get the same run that those guys did last year, Mullins should be gone midseason. If you’re going to finish in the bottom half of the Valley this year, I’m going to need to see the arrow pointing up in a big way by the end of the season and not playing your highly-rated Freshman would be a big mistake.
Let's wait a little while before making that assessment. I think we got some good pieces in the off season and if folks like Ferguson and Ebube develop we could be a very surprising team. We will be one of the best defensive teams in the mvc, let's just hope our offense catches up. We are deeper, longer and more athletic than we have been in the past. Just because we are picked 9th doesn't mean we will finish 9th or anywhere close to that. In the portal era pre-season predictions are pretty much a crap shoot.Thanks for doing this. I see the Salukis picked 8 or 9 in a couple of rankings from national outlets too.
If that happens, I don’t see any way the new AD has much of a choice on the head coach next March.
Firing Mullins after this year would be insane, clearly a retooling year in a valley that returns some strong teams. It is possible to continue building a program while taking a small step back in terms of wins. Lets see how they look and how recruiting plays out.
3rd to 9th is not a small step back. You can reload in one offseason like Indiana State did. SIU put all their eggs in the Domask basket and when he left, they didn’t have a good plan to come close to replacing him.
I think one of the main problems is, Ebube/Hornecker/Ferguson couldn’t get any run last year on a team that was trying to win. Maybe they all develop a bunch this offseason but I can’t really expect them to be great this year.
And if Kennard Davis is gonna be redshirted this year or get the same run that those guys did last year, Mullins should be gone midseason. If you’re going to finish in the bottom half of the Valley this year, I’m going to need to see the arrow pointing up in a big way by the end of the season and not playing your highly-rated Freshman would be a big mistake.
My default mode is to give Mullins every opportunity to succeed, and I agree with some of the posters who would be inclined to give him more time if it looks like the arrow is pointing up with the roster at the end of the year, even if they have a middling conference finish in what is clearly somewhat of a retooling year.
That said, I share the frustration in his tendency, at least to this point, to play veterans who are not producing a ton at the expense of developing talented young guys. And I think a lot of us would feel better about this season if some of those underclassmen had more seasoning entering this season.
We'll see where it goes. Keeping an open mind for now ...
I don't see SIU firing a coach mid season.... (unless it's women's soccer of course 🤡).
Unless Mullins pulls a Joe Gottfried this year I don't think there's any way he gets fired. I think the AD invested in the basketball program with a highly paid recruiter, and they're going to wait and see how that works out the next year or two. If it doesn't, I'd say clean house.
I have to say I was disappointed in our recruiting this year. Hopefully they surprise me.
Just watched a couple media day interviews with Harry Schroder and XJ and Troy D'Amico. Take it for what it's worth, but Schroeder asked D'Amico about SIU's newcomers and the first guy D'Amico mentioned was Kennard Davis. He said he thinks he's MVC-ready already.
Let's wait a little while before making that assessment. I think we got some good pieces in the off season and if folks like Ferguson and Ebube develop we could be a very surprising team. We will be one of the best defensive teams in the mvc, let's just hope our offense catches up. We are deeper, longer and more athletic than we have been in the past. Just because we are picked 9th doesn't mean we will finish 9th or anywhere close to that. In the portal era pre-season predictions are pretty much a crap shoot.
This, This, This !!!!
That is YOUR perspective. My opinion is that they didn't get "any run" becaue they didn't earn it in practice. Do you really think that the Coach would not play someone who was the better option? Again, it's the backup QB syndrome. People think bench players are always the better option. I tend to believe that if a player is a stud, they will play.
And if Davis is one of the top 5 players, he will not redshirt. If he isn't ready, he will redshirt. Cade should have redshirted last year. Better yet, we should have taken Avila who I said was the better option and is now on the 2nd team.
Just watched a couple media day interviews with Harry Schroder and XJ and Troy D'Amico. Take it for what it's worth, but Schroeder asked D'Amico about SIU's newcomers and the first guy D'Amico mentioned was Kennard Davis. He said he thinks he's MVC-ready already.
With his length, he really can be all Valley at some point. I'd love to see him play, if not start, this year IF WARRANTED.
https://twitter.com/ejh_2002/status/1714302578119320033?s=46&t=7s0hTttieSER8wqRSA0LoA
Love reading this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is YOUR perspective. My opinion is that they didn't get "any run" becaue they didn't earn it in practice. Do you really think that the Coach would not play someone who was the better option? Again, it's the backup QB syndrome. People think bench players are always the better option. I tend to believe that if a player is a stud, they will play.
And if Davis is one of the top 5 players, he will not redshirt. If he isn't ready, he will redshirt. Cade should have redshirted last year. Better yet, we should have taken Avila who I said was the better option and is now on the 2nd team.
There is some gray area there, though. Maybe young players aren't going to play like "studs" the first several weeks, but would there be upside to giving them some action in games so that they can be better prepared to help in February/March, not to mention the following season, instead of playing seniors who clearly are not moving the needle? I would say yes, especially in a year where you're not fighting for an at-large NCAA bid.
In Mullins' case, I think he is very fixated on guys he can trust at all times to be in the right spots defensively, hence why guys like Newton and Brown played over some of the young guys last year. But, you've got to score points, too.
I get your point, I really do, but these guys are together ALL summer, then true practice starts. As a coach, you usually (not always) can get a good idea if someone is ready of not. And simply on the surface, if a kid comes in and is a stud, he will NOT sit.
I get your point, I really do, but these guys are together ALL summer, then true practice starts. As a coach, you usually (not always) can get a good idea if someone is ready of not. And simply on the surface, if a kid comes in and is a stud, he will NOT sit.
Didn't Domask start game 1 (and every game for the rest of his 4 year career) his freshman year? I agree: if a guy is ready to play, he'll play.
They’re gonna have to make a call on Mullins before next year. Has Mullins done enough to earn an extension after 4 years and a projected 9th place finish this year? We’ll see if they can beat those projections but if things go as predicted, you could argue Mullins has done about the same as Hinson through 5 years.
Also not sure how much I trust Mullins with another rebuild or retool considering the first four years was a slow rebuild to nowhere. The only accomplishment was making it to Saturday in St. Louis and that easily could have gone the other way in that Missouri State game.
They’re gonna have to make a call on Mullins before next year. Has Mullins done enough to earn an extension after 4 years and a projected 9th place finish this year? We’ll see if they can beat those projections but if things go as predicted, you could argue Mullins has done about the same as Hinson through 5 years.
Also not sure how much I trust Mullins with another rebuild or retool considering the first four years was a slow rebuild to nowhere. The only accomplishment was making it to Saturday in St. Louis and that easily could have gone the other way in that Missouri State game.
IMO Hinson's recruiting was about as good as BM's so far. I just couldn't take the BS, the low goals, and the keep-my-job schedules and too many big misses recruiting.
I wouldn't give BM more than a year or two, and that's dependent on this year's results and recruiting for next year. I think he made some serious coaching faux paus last year. Really believe he didn't always play the best players, that he played guys for practice effort or attitude or loyalty maybe.
I think Mullins has done pretty well with high school recruiting, although we haven’t really see the fruits of this since Domask but he’s landing pretty high-profile players like Hornecker and Kennard Davis. His portal recruiting has been atrocious though. Last year should have been a much better team but they whiffed on adding a 3rd scorer with Domask & Jones.
