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Message: [QUOTE="KnightBridgeAZ, post: 2776724, member: 591"] I can contribute a bit, but a lot of the teams you are citing are - unfortunately - the old adage that if the program has little support from above (or the fans) and little success, it is very hard to recruit players to turn it around unless you have a great coach. Most of these programs haven't. I will quibble slightly that, while Sweet 16s are a good marker, some of these programs would (or have been) deemed successful simply at making it past the 1st round. Insights - such as I have - ACC - Clemson has been a disaster since Jim Davis was ditched, they went from moderate to disaster. He was replaced for off court issues. His successors have been a steady stream of not much. Virginia Tech was, at one time, also mid-pack (ish). Expect them to trend upward with their excellent coach. Virginia tread water for years, under Debbie Ryan and Joanne Boyle. I'm not convinced they were dreadful, just mid-pack. Wake Forest - meh BIG 12 TCU took a big hit when Jeff Mittie left for Kansas State. Rutgers beat them in the tourney once when he was still there, Vivian said (without explaining) that he had a unique twist to his offense that made him difficult to defend. In any case he left, taking his staff and I think a few players. His successor, Reagan Pebley - who was a star at Colorado in the day - is probably a good coach, but unproven at a P5 program. We'll just have to wait and see. West Virginia is a solid mid-level P5 team. What they have always been. One of those 2nd rounders I was mentioning. I am surprised you didn't mention the ever so dreadful of late Kansas and Kansas State. And I have no explanations. B1G I'm not going to say much here - but Illinois wasn't exactly a booming success under Grentzie either. As I have said in other discussions, I don't think the typical B1G style of play necessarily translates well against other P5 conferences. PAC12 Washington State made a mistake hiring June Daugherty, who just left / was let go this year. She parlayed some success at Washington into looking a lot better than she was. Couldn't really build a program. Arizona - There was just an article in the paper over the weekend - the death of Shawntinice Polk was traumatic to the program - Joan Bonvicini needed to get away, and didn't until too late. Then, being the stingy school Arizona is (not a negative, they are very proud of operating within what they can afford) they tried Niya Butts, and because she had one half decent season they kept here way too long (wouldn't want to pay even her very modest severance, would we, for a minor sport?). Barnes is a very good hire, she's not getting rich, but she's an alum, I am hoping and expecting good things in the future. USC - word - true or not - has always been that on one really cares about the team. University or fans. SEC Alabama wasn't a top team in the late '90's that I remember. They were solid, that's all. Under Rick Moody. Arkansas - success was under Gary Blair. He left, and no great coaching since. Auburn - all I'll say is RU didn't just beat them, they smacked them around while doing it. It was the only game in all the years I followed RU that the team executed Vivian's vision of what a team should do - constantly forced turnovers and constantly scored on transition - mostly fast breaks. Exploited Bonner. You left off Vanderbilt, by the way. Meh. [/QUOTE]

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