The results that we've seen over the past few years would turn Rupp Rafters into a meditation gathering at a Tibetan monastery, but we've got people acting like this.
Seriously, what results would be good enough? If we don't run through this tournament and cut down the nets three weeks from today it will mean that Dan Hurley will have failed at something that everyone in this sport at this level other than John Wooden has failed at (winning three titles in four years).
From the time they allowed multiple bids from a conference (50 years ago) only three schools have ever won back to back titles. There have been quite a few hall of fame coaches in that time frame who couldn't do it.
Should we aspire to being the best team out there year after year? Absolutely.
Does Dan Hurley have the same aspirations? I'd bet my house on it.
Will we accomplish this every year? There is no way that this could be possible.
I'll wager heavily that Dan Hurley knows far better than we do what this team's shortcomings are and he knows better than all but a very short list of people how to game plan around these shortcomings.
At this point in the season he can't bring in a Cam Spencer or Adama Sanogo to plug some of the holes on the roster. He can't tell Demary to have Shabazz Napier's persona on the floor and have it somehow happen.
Yes, there were a few things he could have done differently last offseason, but there is no guarantee that a few different moves would have produced a better team than what we currently have.
He doesn't want mercenaries, he wants guys who will fit with the program because he wants the program to run for years. He isn't trying to make one last ditch run at the brass ring the way Pitino is. He isn't trying to buy credibility the way a few schools with little history are operating.
I would love someone to tell me what coach's results at any one school over the past five decades would be enough to make them happy, figure out what Dan Hurley will need to accomplish over the next time however many years to match those results. I'll wager heavily that everyone here would be disappointed with what the required results would be.
To match K he would need three more titles, but have three decades to do it. Anyone else would take at most two more, with more than a decade to get there.
If we were told that from here on out, we would win one title every five years for the next fifteen years, then Dan Hurley would call it a career, who would sign up for that right now? I know everyone here wants far more than that, but in reality, that may be an absurd expectation.
I want more, but I also realize that it is a ridiculous expectation.
