9th place???? NOT US !!!!!!!!!!
oh, and bryan mullins is not on the hot seat.
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.
We need to start judging on results and not "recruiting stars". I know some here still think Cade is going to be all Valley, but I would be surprised if he is ever anything more than a role player. One of Mullins biggest mistakes, in my opinion, remains not choosing Avila over him. I don't care what system we run, he would have been a huge strength. All that being said, I am going to see how THIS year's portal and HS kids do. I think Miller is going to be very good. Stulic might be the sharpshooter we've been waiting for, Davis (as most of us has said) has all valley potential. And Ebube does as well if he reaches his full potential and makes basketball a major priority (if he hasn't already).
I absolutely do NOT think SIU will finish 9th this year and I believe (at least hope) they surprise a lot of people, including us fans. But if we do finish near the bottom AND don't have any significant signings this fall (or Spring), then I do think his seat will get very warm. To think he hasn't been much better (results wise) as the last coach, who was vilified and hated by so many (not me) and Mullins seems to mostly get a free pass bc he is so well liked (and wore an SIU jersey many years ago). We all LOVE him, but results matter. I honestly cannot take another 4 years of mediocrity.
It also shouldn't be lost on us that this was a totally unique, never to be seen again circumstance. We wanted our senior with random COVID eligibility back and didn't want to force him out by recruiting other kids, and don't forget we almost had him back. Again, just a totally unique circumstance, nothing like that is going to happen again sans another pandemic.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.
Anyway, let's just finish top 5 and win the MVC tournament and then win a game as a 14 seed in the tournament.
It also shouldn't be lost on us that this was a totally unique, never to be seen again circumstance. We wanted our senior with random COVID eligibility back and didn't want to force him out by recruiting other kids, and don't forget we almost had him back. Again, just a totally unique circumstance, nothing like that is going to happen again sans another pandemic.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.
This is such an awful excuse. Domask had 4 years when he committed and they got lucky with the 5th year. They couldn’t even make an NIT with 2 Big Ten transfers from last year on their roster. They barely got by Missouri State in St. Louis last year to win one Arch Madness game in 4 years with them.
We were sold on a slow 4 year rebuild to nowhere. Meanwhile Josh Schertz had Indiana State competing in 2 years and they lost 2 key players from last year and will still be competing this year.
We need to stop treating Mullins with kid gloves. Hinson was trashed on this board and Mullins has not accomplished anything more than him. I like Bryan, I want him to succeed. But I want to win more.
It also shouldn't be lost on us that this was a totally unique, never to be seen again circumstance. We wanted our senior with random COVID eligibility back and didn't want to force him out by recruiting other kids, and don't forget we almost had him back. Again, just a totally unique circumstance, nothing like that is going to happen again sans another pandemic.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.
This is such an awful excuse. Domask had 4 years when he committed and they got lucky with the 5th year. They couldn’t even make an NIT with 2 Big Ten transfers from last year on their roster. They barely got by Missouri State in St. Louis last year to win one Arch Madness game in 4 years with them.
We were sold on a slow 4 year rebuild to nowhere. Meanwhile Josh Schertz had Indiana State competing in 2 years and they lost 2 key players from last year and will still be competing this year.
We need to stop treating Mullins with kid gloves. Hinson was trashed on this board and Mullins has not accomplished anything more than him. I like Bryan, I want him to succeed. But I want to win more.
Mullins teams have beaten Butler, Colorado and Oklahoma State through four years (and had Creighton on the ropes). Hinson had no such non-conference moments in seven years.
Obviously we’d all like to see more success, especially at the offensive end, but I think he has outperformed Hinson. And is far less annoying. 😆
Timeout... Indiana State gets credit for some amazing rebuild after winning a Thursday game in STL?It also shouldn't be lost on us that this was a totally unique, never to be seen again circumstance. We wanted our senior with random COVID eligibility back and didn't want to force him out by recruiting other kids, and don't forget we almost had him back. Again, just a totally unique circumstance, nothing like that is going to happen again sans another pandemic.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.
This is such an awful excuse. Domask had 4 years when he committed and they got lucky with the 5th year. They couldn’t even make an NIT with 2 Big Ten transfers from last year on their roster. They barely got by Missouri State in St. Louis last year to win one Arch Madness game in 4 years with them.
We were sold on a slow 4 year rebuild to nowhere. Meanwhile Josh Schertz had Indiana State competing in 2 years and they lost 2 key players from last year and will still be competing this year.
We need to stop treating Mullins with kid gloves. Hinson was trashed on this board and Mullins has not accomplished anything more than him. I like Bryan, I want him to succeed. But I want to win more.
Through 4 years of Hinson and Mullins:
Top KenPom season: Hinson 139, Mullins 125
Best MVC finish: Hinson 4th, Mullins 3rd
Best Arch Madness performance: Both Saturday
Best record: Hinson 22-10, Mullins 23-10
Postseason: N/A both
I will say, Mullins does get his teams up to play Power 5 teams that very likely blow out Hinson teams
Timeout... Indiana State gets credit for some amazing rebuild after winning a Thursday game in STL?
Let’s not act like being a Thursday team in 2023 is the same as past years. They were a 5th place team, one game behind SIU, and beat Belmont on Friday too. They were a top 100 KenPom team in year 2 of Schertz, I’d say that’s pretty impressive.
I agree, love what he is doing... I just don't think it's been anything different than say Mullins finishing top 3 in his first year. Lets see if they actually do something meaningful, otherwise there is not much of a difference.Timeout... Indiana State gets credit for some amazing rebuild after winning a Thursday game in STL?
Let’s not act like being a Thursday team in 2023 is the same as past years. They were a 5th place team, one game behind SIU, and beat Belmont on Friday too. They were a top 100 KenPom team in year 2 of Schertz, I’d say that’s pretty impressive.
Through 4 years of Hinson and Mullins:
Top KenPom season: Hinson 139, Mullins 125
Best MVC finish: Hinson 4th, Mullins 3rd
Best Arch Madness performance: Both Saturday
Best record: Hinson 22-10, Mullins 23-10
Postseason: N/A both
I will say, Mullins does get his teams up to play Power 5 teams that very likely blow out Hinson teams
Our program shouldn't be measured by Barry Hinson's accomplishments. I was all for SIU making a change after his 7th season. Was super excited when Mullins was hired. Was never a fan of the Hinson hire. Saying all of that facts are facts Barry Hinson actually finished in the top half of the MVC 5 out of 7 years he was at SIU. He made 3 semifinal appearances. Hinson's Best finish in the Valley was 2nd in 2017-2018. His teams finished 3rd, 2nd and 3rd his last three years and he was fired. The bottom line was in his 7 seasons he never led SIU to a postseason appearance and he was fired for it. At some of the Valley schools Hinson would still be coaching but SIU expects better. IF Mullins was anyone but Mullins he would definitely be on the hot seat. I love Mullins he is a class act HOWEVER he has a job to do and at this point he has not met expectations . He didn't get the extension that he was asking for after last season. You don't have to be a genius to figure out that this is a critical season for him. Hoping for the best but he is going to have to finish higher than 9th or I am afraid things aren't going to end well. I am sure that I will be blasted for this post and people will say wait till the end of the year to see how it all plays out. I truly hope like hell I have to eat crow and we are celebrating a truly great season. I have only been waiting 16 years for a tournament berth.
I’m going into this season with an open mind. I’d love nothing more than for this team to surprise me. I was low on football coming into this season and they’re better than I thought. Basketball is a bit more predictable though than FCS Football.
Pre season polls are going to be wrong a lot these days with roster turnover. This could be the best Mullins team yet, we will see and we will all hope.
