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Message: [QUOTE="YKCornelius, post: 5264979, member: 9864"] MooseJaw, I appreciate your post and your opinion. Don't take this response as me disagreeing with you disagreeing with me, but rather as me elaborating on my contentions. FWIW, I agree with you (and history) that there will be a change after Geno and CD eventually move on. Nor am I suggesting that Geno/CD are not the best of all-time, or that their level of achievements will ever be approached. They are the GOATs for sure. I am posturing, however, that [B]the change will likely not be as drastic or as cataclysmic as some might think (or as some UConn opponents might hope).[/B] I believe Geno/CD have set the program up for continued very high-level success - i.e., competing annually for Final Fours and NCs. My contention is based on the culture that they have established - one that recent recruits and their families have bought into, and one that has been validated by this year's championship. Player development and team chemistry are both required to sustain greatness. Top talent is not enough. Thanks to Geno/CD, the ingredients are in place to sustain greatness. The only question is whether the next head coach continues with the same modis operandi, or tries to institute a new way of doing things. My second posture (which is in-line with the topic of this thread) is that the current NIL/transfer portal environment will underscore the legitimacy of Geno/CD's approach, as contrasted against many top-25 programs who will opt for the path of throwing bags of $$ at 1-2 year mercenaries. No doubt player agents will disagree with my second posture (as will some parents), as they try to sell the notion that a WCBB program can buy All-American talent every year and quickly mold it into a NC team. However, there is no evidence of that being reality. The only recent program that quickly assembled a team that won a national championship - LSU three years ago (in Mulkey's second year) - hasn't been able to get back to the FF since, despite heavy recruitment via the portal. On the contrary, UConn, South Carolina, and Iowa have made it to multiple Final Fours over the same period with minimal portal recruitment. Once schools and athletic directors see for themselves the evidence that money can't buy instant championships, the selling point from player agents and chase-the-money parents will shift to "money can buy your WCBB program legitimacy in conference". Basically the same salesmanship/rationale ADs grasp at for hiring new head coaches, but with a much shorter time frame to deliver. Recent evidence suggests the transfer portal success [B]can[/B] elevate a school's position in their conference (re: USC, UCLA, TCU, Kentucky), which is probably the objective of most ADs and a concern for most head coaches. However, that mindset is not a concern for UConn who can focus on pinpointing the right player to fit inside a team culture and chemistry aimed at Final Fours and National Championships. [/QUOTE]

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