Quote:
Originally Posted by justinhub2003
Man, Looking back at all that has transpired over the course of the last 3 years, its easy to see that the John Brannen era was a necessary evil to unite the fan base and right the ship.
Replacing a winning coach like Mick Cronin was always going to be a hard sell for a Lot of fans (Myself included), just like Mick Replacing Huggins was for the fanbase as well. But John brannen, he never really sold himself to the fan base and while he had the majority of the support, he lost more and more fans as his tenure progressed. After the info came out about him, and him hiring a sleaze ball lawyer who tried to drag Fick into muck with him, I think it was clear he lost the fans.
Couple that with Mick having success at UCLA, which I think helped heal more wounds as it made it look less like Mick was forced out and more like Mick needed to leave Cincinnati to reach his potential and I think we can all can respect that.
Then usher in Wes Miller who has now united the fan base, while Also bridging the gaps of UC's past with bringing in former players from both the Huggins Era and the Cronin Era. The fact that Mick Cronin has become one of his mentors and that he plans on meeting Huggins in West Virginia sometime soon. Wes Miller has been the perfect solution to the problem that John brannen (and Partially Mike Bohn) created.
Very rarely do you see a coach with so little ego and isn't too big to be coached and mentored by his new teams former coaches.
I have no idea how many games we are going to win next year. But I do know that UC's basketball future maybe as bright as its ever been. A new Arena, a new hungry coach, a top notch staff with former players from both eras, a United fanbase, a once depleted roster that is now restocked, a wide casted recruiting net full of high level players & a coach with an identity in mind from day one.
John Cunningham killed it through out this process.
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I'm definitely starting to feel a sense of "wholeness" within the program/fanbase again.
Seeing KMart shout out Miller and Demarr on Twitter the other day was awesome.
"
This is awesome. S\O to Wes for being a man of his word and giving
@dermarrj an interview. Nothing was promised I guess DJ did his thing on that interview. @gobearcats going to be relevant again."
My only concern is that the honeymoon period may end fast with a chunk of the fanbase if we're not significantly more competitive next season.
As of now, the group we've assembled for next year looks like a "high floor/low ceiling" bunch.
I know a lot can change with our roster and the landscape of the AAC over the next 5 months but at the moment we're looking like a 3rd-5th place team in the league.
What type of momentum will we have for 22/23 if we don't even make the NIT in 21/22?