I can appreciate your elevated expectations, however I don't share them. Knowing we hit NIT levels after our NC's, and seeing how badly the team buckled throughout last season. Yeah, some FTs could have made the difference in enough games to get into the tourney, but so could more defensive stops, better shot selection and accuracy, and just about every other trait a winning team exhibits that our team lacked. Fwiw, I am inclined to agree Billy mailed it in a bit last year - seems his frustration with players not buying in or performing as he expected of them may have impacted his desire to try and coach them. That said, with nearly two decades of great seasons on his resume, I'm inclined to believe he was still a great coach.
Why do I add that last line? Because I'm not sold on us having a good roster. I'm also not bought in on the new coach simply because I don't know enough about him and what he can do with the roster and whatever talent he can recruit. Too many unknowns for this coming year for me to maintain expectations of qualifying for the tourney when I'm trading a known great coach for a somewhat unknown/unproven coach, with relatively the same roster. Like JMac, I'm giving White a mulligan year to figure it out, get 'his players', and instill a team philosophy and get buy in. Year one is a bit quick to have that figured out, in place, and providing the results required to qualify for a seed.
Obviously, I'm not an optomist, but I won't call myself a realist either. I'd say I'm cautiously optimistic, or better put I expect less until the coach shows me he can provide more, at which time I'll raise my expectations.
