I know there have been other years where the team seemed to be blown up to recreate a new model but this is just ridiculous.
Welcome to “One and Done” and the “Transfer Portal.”
It’s a different world, and we are an outlier in it. Personally I welcome the NBA transition to establishing a minor league system. That move alone will slow the roll on team turnover simply because kids who really want to play professionally will simply do it. Those who want to go to college will be more likely to stick around for four years. The transfer portal will likely slow down too since the pressure there has a lot to do with getting to the NBA.
Yes, the Larry Bird’s and Magic Johnson’s of today will likely never see the inside of a Huntsman Center; but as college sees these kids go another path, they should embrace those who stay.
Yes, Utah got blowed up again in the off-season. Yes, this season will again be about overachievement in the face of superior talent. Yes we will be only a good team - not a great or elite team. Larry is not the problem - the current system is. Cheer for the kids and enjoy them. They are busting their asses to step their game up to contest superior talent - and they will steal some wins from those teams, too.
Hopefully after the new NBA rules and system kicks in, we will see things settle down a bit and maybe improve.
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Nice post.
The problem is that Larry recruits by the rules–& is clearly in the minority.
Since players will be able to go straight to the minor leagues & get paid what Miller & Enfield etc. were paying them–they will now have to recruit like everyone else. Which already is starting to even out looking at the Utes recent recruiting success.
This team will get beat up & pushed around by older/more mature players–but they will play hard.
I am hoping for a 500 season.
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I don’t know what the problems have been so I wont guess. We have a lot of new faces on a young team and I wish them and Larry well. Larry looks to be driving hard and that approach may not be for everybody, however, I am hoping Daniels can work his magic like he did with Rick and hopefully get some similar results. Put me in the glass half full for now and see if we can improve on that.
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This team will not be good, but could be great in a year or two, if they stay together. That said, for you to say that Larry is not the problem, it’s the system, seems to me to be unlikely. I will give Larry credit that I think this crop of players is actually better on average than most of the past 5 years recruiting classes. Delon and Yak were outliers, but most of the rest have been a real mixed bag. But there were other good players there, but none of them stuck around for reasons we’ll never understand. If I had the time, I’d love to break it down by year and position, because I look at guys like Vante, Seely, Papoola, etc. but also Jokel Morley etc. and my gut says that this crop of big men are much improved, but I’m not sure this crop of guards/forwards are an improvement over some of the past players had they stuck around. I’m curious whether the players that have moved on in the past several years are making significant impacts where they went. Overall it just feels like we are spinning our wheels, and other schools that would have similar or less recruiting potential than us seem to be doing better. So in general, to me it feels like it’s Larry running off players with potential for the most part with smattering of upgrades mixed in.
Maybe the bottom line is to answer the question of why players are entering the transfer portal, is it because they had no future here or is it because they didn’t want to play for Larry.
[quote=“MinnesotaUte, post:5, topic:1700, full:true”]
I think the Occam’s Razor answer is, “both.” Kids who have no future at one program and want to play can move on more easily now. That’s just a reality. As for why they don’t want to play for Larry, I assign the blame to (1) Larry’s coaching style, which seems to be inflexible, and (2) to the entitled mentality of many of today’s players. It’s a bad combination. Maybe he’s got a group now who have bought in to his system. I hope so, because I doubt he is going to change.
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I liked Peterson’s response to reporters asking him about players leaving his team. He simply said, “The program’s not for everyone.” Went on to say that if that’s the case it’s better for both parties if they move on. With the players Larry has put in the pros I would hope players would see the advantages to listening, but it’s not for everyone.