Thread: UCF
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Old 01-02-2021, 10:38 AM   #213
skyblade
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLongHaul View Post
lol, they won the freaking conference in his very first season while dealing with injuries from key players, death of his father, a lot of new faces on the roster, etc, etc. It was a incredibly difficult year for them and they still won the conference.

It is going to take a bit of time. Brannen had no choice but to scrape together just about anyone he could get and he did a pretty damn good job of it. The young guys look good, much better than the guys Mick was pulling in which has led us to this situation.

The guy took over NKU and had them to two straight NCAA's after not even being a D1 program. That's a minor miracle. He has a coaching pedigree, is in Marshall's HOF as a player, was a Rhodes scholar finalist....he may not end up being a great coach, but I think he deserves a few seasons to prove us wrong (or JHubb right).

and btw, if it was so damn easy to just give the ball to someone has say go play maybe they would not have lost to a far inferior Iowa team, or even East Caroline during Mick's final season. Maybe if it was so easy you wouldn't give up a 24 point lead in the second half while having a cakewalk to the Final Four. I think having a bit of patience with a new coach is in order here.
How long can you guys keep blaming Mick? He took us to 9 straight NCAA tournaments and we would no doubt be on our way to another one if he was still here. But I guess Mick having a couple bad losses over a couple years somehow makes up for Brannen having numerous bad losses over less than two.

Brannen had to scrape together a roster because he couldn't keep (or forced off) the guys who were on the roster. He has also badly screwed up recruiting bigs and transfers. Cronin doesn't get blamed for the fact that Brannen has no clue what a quality big looks like.

Brannen has made a lot of baffling and bad decisions. His coaching deserves to be questioned at this point, because it has been bad. Doesn't mean he can't turn it around, but no one should be happy with how he has coached to this point.

The game where he kept McNeal in and let him miss a ton of FT's (as the other team was purposefully fouling him) and we lost. Refusing to let Jarron handle the ball early in the year last year. Bringing in Rap to play the 4. Thinking Vogt is a quality center. Refusing to give Diarra a shot, despite him being our best center at the end of last year. It's a long list.

Throw in overall lack of player development and there's a whole lot not to be happy about.

As for the players being better than what Cronin was bringing in, I don't see it. Cronin was averaging sending 1 guy per year to the NBA recently. The only guy in Brannen's crop who looks like he may have a shot at the NBA is Eason.
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