Could definitely use Ezra. The thing that drove me nuts about him was that once he got the ball down low, it wasn’t going out of his hands no matter what. But yeah, Keita looks like he spends 25 hours a day in the gym and zero on the court.
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Maybe I’ve got a defective memory, but wasn’t the sequence of guys leaving after last year well underway before Alex was named coach, and to compound that it was two more months before he actually was doing the U job because he finished off his G-League job first? Who that has options is going to stick around under those circumstances? It seems to me that’s no small factor in the team structure for this year, so playing woulda, shoulda, coulda is even more pointless than normal.
If my timeline is wrong I don’t mind being corrected. It’s just how it’s etched in my mind.
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That’s what I recall as well, that several players announced they were leaving before AJ was named coach.
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Like I was with the football GM, this guy really sets out what they are working towards. If it doesn’t workout, it won’t be due to a lack of planning and work.
Good and interesting interview with Utah MBB General Manager Wes Wilcox. Starts at about minute 22.
Goal is to acquire, retain and develop.
Don’t know if Jacob Patrick will return. Sounds like they are expecting that he won’t. Based on when Patrick stopped playing my guess was that he wanted to redshirt and check his options.
Believes spaniard will return.
Recruit Utah.
International market is super important. They can be there now talking to guys who aren’t in college before the portal opens. Recently spent 11 days overseas.
Portal prep is very organized with 9 guys who are responsible for different conferences who are now watching guys - just like they do in the NBA for the draft. They will have identified 25 or so guys who they will go after if they enter the Portal. Working on portal prep every day, including the coaches.
What they think they will need to compete in Big12. Big physical bodies are needed to compete. Competitive drive of players. Don’t need to chase 5* or 4*.
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How well would Dawes and Ezra do in the frontcourt together? A little crowded inside?
You don’t have a defective memory; that is what happened. Honestly, this is one of the reasons I remain very unhappy with Harlan. The mid-season firing of Smith was unnecessary, as was the length of time it took to hire Alex Jensen. It injected a ton of uncertainty into the program.
I don’t like that Alex finished his G-League job, but a big part of that ship had already sailed because of the previous actions by Harlan. Harlan even had to be managed by the boosters to make the Alex hire.
He’s goofed a LOT of stuff up and, at best, should be on a short leash - I think he should go.
I’ll reserve my judgment of Alex Jensen this season. Nearly every coaching change we’ve had has been with most of the players leaving. We even had Boylen and Krsystko encouraging players to bail after they got fired, so…
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Alex wasn’t coaching G-League - he was asst coach for the Mavs and finished out the season (G-League would have ended a little earlier). They were close to a playoff team, but choosing to stay delayed the recruiting trail (including recruiting current players to stay).
I think the players were already shopping who would give them money. I think by dispersing, each got more than they probably would have received at Utah even if timing worked out better. But we’ll never know.
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My thought for this season, at least, is that it would be a wash at best and very rough at worst. Most of that had to do with when Alex got into the office full time. So far, the season has been very rough. IMO Alex gets a pass this season. With time to recruit hopefully next season will be much better.
I didn’t expect miracles for season 1. The foundation had been damaged from earlier times. Now it is getting cleaned up for repair or replacement. This recruiting season is the repair or replacement foundation. With a good foundation the year 2 building should have a strong footing.
Sorry about the building metaphor, we’ve been working on our home, and found a few minor issues. So, building is on my mind right now.
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Alex was hired March 6. The transfer portal opened March 24.
Dawes had the highest or second highest market value, and they managed to retain him.
The team they recruited can’t have been cheap. Jahki Howard was a former prep phenom and role player on a Final Four team. I bet he cost more than any who left. The guard from Syracuse was in demand. Both starting guards were high scorers on non-P4 teams.
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And the Mavs last game was Apr 13. He was juggling 2 jobs.
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Nice start today Utah was up 14-5. The lead quickly vanished and ASU ended up winning 70-63.
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I was about to post the same thing. Can’t wait for the season to end, really.
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One last home game against the Buffs. Hopefully can have our best effort.
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My wife is glad it’s the last home game and my wallet is happy as I don’t have to bribe her with dinner to get her to go with me.
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What an embarrassing performance.
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I thought maybe we could squeeze out one more win this season tonight. I thought wrong 
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Sitting here in the JMHC is torture. If we make it half way through the 2nd half I’ll be amazed. No D, stagnant on O, a feeling of disinterest. It’s rough.
Looking ahead I think I’ve got one more season before I just give up.
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I love Jensen, but this display is puzzling. Down 26 at home at halftime to a mediocre team. Wow.
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I’ve been around here a long time, since ‘78-‘79, and I’m having hard time remembering a worse performance in this building. Every time there’s something that goes bad, a missed rebound or bad pass, the way just waste a second looking deflated and allow a wide open shot at the other end. Hard to swallow.
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