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Message: [QUOTE="champs99and04, post: 2437156, member: 488"] I can understand the OP's point in that we should have had a better team on the floor yesterday. Gilbert, Adams, and Larrier, for the most part, played to script. They might not have been as good as MSU's top guys but they belonged. As fans that's all we can ask for. I can understand the resistance to that point in that the damage is done and that all we can do is look forward. Nobody wanted to be in the situation we were in a few months ago, but in the time since, everybody within the program has made the most of what they've had. In a way, it's a refreshing return to a familiar beginning - things are far from ideal, but maybe being forced to simplify things isn't so bad. It's served them well in the past. If we're telling the tale objectively, I think both perspectives have to be included. And if we're doing that, re-visiting the timeline that brought us here should be painful. Theoretically, our two upperclassmen building blocks - Adams and Larrier - were supposed to reach their apexes right as our top recruiting class - "the top five" - developed into something reliably formidable. Michigan State, last night, showcased their all-world sophomore class on the same court we were supposed to do the same. Only difference is, their class - consisting of the #10, #20, #29, and #41 recruits, per Rivals - progressed as expected, without any hiccups. Now, their class was more talented than ours and better suited to make an immediate impact on the CBB world, but the the presence of our junior class - which would have been the first full class of upperclassmen post sanctions and included somebody like Steve Enoch - would have helped offset that disparity. Provided everything had unfolded in accordance with expectation, last night's tilt would have been an evenly matched bout between heavy-weights, and that's without accounting for the assortment of other things that have gone wrong - the Durham ACL tears, the Diarra knee issues, the MAL de-commitment, the Diallo fiasco - in the process of us arriving to this point. The bottom line is that the two programs follow trajectories that are more fickle than most will admit. Fickle does not mean there is no component of accountability, but from afar I am more inclined to view these developments as among our great modern tragedies rather than an urge to reform our recruiting strategy. [/QUOTE]

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