If you want to turn threads into a comedic "why mhayden", "why TXAggie2011", "why insert poster name here" sucks, you'll have to do better than this. Or perhaps you've succeeded. Hard to know.

BQ_90 said:

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parking for football, they're not going to remove the biggest parking lot they have for football or push it out farther than it already is. Also Reed parking is the primary parking lot for soccer, baseball, softball, and will be for T&F

I don't care about the dorms, most students live off campus and they can drive or ride the bus.

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The arena should not be in the middle of all that. It was a stupid thing, but typical of the 80's and 90's land use mindset. I agree with you, they built a glorified 140 acre parking lot more than they built a basketball arena and they aren't going to spend money on garages to replace it until they absolutely need the space.

Imagine if Reed were on a small urban plot of land adjacent to Northgate, like on the University land where international apartments used to be. Maybe even with an entrance directly off the sidewalk on University Dr, and how much better it would be for doing things before and after the game. It would have been better also to build it on the site of lot 61/Fish Lot where it would have been closer to everything on campus (especially valuable being closer to the MSC like Kyle is) and then they could have paved over the entire 140 acres where Reed is now and had their parking lot for everything. But they ddid the stupid thing and put the arena in the middle like they were building the Astrodome or something. It's a wasteland unsuited for anything but driving up, seeing basketball, and leaving in your car.

Reed is not hard to get to from the dorms or along the Wellborn corridor where many students live, or from the MSC, or far from things to do such as Northgate.

TXAggie2011 said:

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Reed is not hard to get to from the dorms or along the Wellborn corridor where many students live, or from the MSC, or far from things to do such as Northgate.

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How hard it is to get to, is not the point, no where on campus is truly hard to get to, by distance and with the transportation options available. The point is that the arena is divorced from campus life. The only people who participate in game day are those who know ahead of time and seek it out. In other words, there is no chance for people on campus to be swept up in game day and participate except by deciding to go beforehand.

The games do have some affect on college station and campus, by virtue of bringing people in, but otherwise campus life has zero interaction with the basketball arena on game day, IMO, if a student or visitor is doing their thing in pretty much any local hangout on campus (libraries, MSC, dining halls, dorms, plazas, lawns, anywhere like that) the fact that a basketball game is going on would have pretty much zero impact on them. You might not even know it ever happened. I had season tickets for years and never once went to like the MSC or even anywhere on northgate (Im sure some did) or nearby campus after a game, always ate at a restaurant farther away in town, etc. It's not like there was anywhere to even go, I left the building and then walked through a giant parking lot, crossed a couple streets, walked through another giant parking lot and then got in our car, where I could then go anywhere, all without ever passing an entrance to any other building much less somewhere to do anything or where anybody else was doing something other than walking to their car.

Student don't know about the games because of the location of Reed, they don't care that's why they don't come. Students don't seem to have any issues knowing when a baseball game starts

So if students saw more traffic or more cars or more people walking to and from the game, attendance would be helped? I'm not sure what kind of attention a game played inside is going to capture.

You can walk down the sidewalk to the rec center, one of the focal points of the campus, you can walk down the sidewalk to the baseball stadium which receives great support, or the soccer stadium which also receives pretty good support. Or whatever. It's hardly a wasteland once you cross the railroad tracks.

I guess I'm just not sure it matters at all, yet alone is significant.

I do think being on-campus helps. It can be walked to from campus and I do think that's important.

Agree to disagree, perhaps.

I'm not talking about attendance, I'm talking about overall quality of experience. The fun factor of basketball for both the person that cares and wants to go and even just random person on campus

Reed is in a poor location. In fact I would bet that if you could go super villain and demolish the building, clear the land, and give the school $100 million or whatever...that they wouldn't build Reed in the same spot today even with that cleared spot there and the lazy inertia of decision making that they could just plop one in the same spot. At absolute minimum they would at least put it so that it wasn't set back at all from the edge of the site and make it right on Olsen blvd and Kimbrough or something

I guess we could easily ask those that attended games in G Rollie....Was the old site better considering only location and not the building.

It was on campus and it was exciting. But a filled up Reed CAN be just as intimidating. It just isn't because of the difference in students.

Ryno01 said:

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We have everyone back and we need to go .500 in the elite category and win the rest
But I dont know how we just automatically turn the 0fer around with our coaching staff.....Id LOVE to see us hire an experienced bench coach to fill the Stansbury void

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Isn't that what Don Maestri is?

My expectation:

Sweet 16 or SEC championship

Also, it's hard to get excited at a Billy Kennedy coached team. Kennedy has killed the fan base. Back when BCG was the head coach, everyone flocked to the men's b-ball games because we saw an exciting brand of basketball. Under BCG, we had a commitment to excellence, but under BK, we have "wait until I get my players" and a load of BS excuses.

txag72 said:

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It was on campus and it was exciting. But a filled up Reed CAN be just as intimidating. It just isn't because of the difference in students.

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What about before and after the games? Seems like it would be better. When you walked out of that building you were right at the MSC. Right at Spence park, a few steps from Rudder fountain, and the direct line from fans to the bars and many of the dorms was right through the core of campus down military walk. Better or worse? No different than walking out to the reed asphalt desert?

Alright alright, we can go back to that discussion. I was just responding originally to that guy that wanted to turn the practice gyms into a club.

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txag72 said:
It was on campus and it was exciting. But a filled up Reed CAN be just as intimidating. It just isn't because of the difference in students.

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What about before and after the games? Seems like it would be better. When you walked out of that building you were right at the MSC. Right at Spence park, a few steps from Rudder fountain, and the direct line from fans to the bars and many of the dorms was right through the core of campus down military walk. Better or worse? No different than walking out to the reed asphalt desert?

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I was in the Corps and the student body was essentially all male. For much of my time there, there were Freshman games before the varsity games. We would get there by half of the Freshman games because that was about as soon as we could get there after chow. It wouldn't have mattered THEN where the building was, at least not for me or most of us. It was all about support and being sports nuts.

There was no night life for students at all. That probably started to change in the 80's along with the female population which brought in other "interests" besides sports. For all that though I CANNOT explain how only like 5% of the student population can routinely find their way to support the basketball team. Yea yea, tennis soccer blah blah. How much of the US population attends those sports vs the big 3. I just don't get it.

Then, it was certainly NOT about winning, although we won our share in basketball. Not so much football.

JJxvi said:

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Alright alright, we can go back to that discussion. I was just responding originally to that guy that wanted to turn the practice gyms into a club.

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I think it's interesting to think about, and one day Reed will be rebuilt or replaced, doesn't seem like a building meant to withstand time given the nature of modern colleges and college sports, so it's actually worth discussing.

I think realistic expectations for next year should be around a "last-4 in" type spot. We're returning some real talent in RW, Gilder, and Davis. Hogg should be healthy this season and, while he didn't make the jump I expected this year, I think he will be a solid piece next season.

The biggest asset will likely be the addition of a D1 caliber point guard in Caldwell. He's been practicing with the team for a semester already so I would hope he would require a little less time to acclimate than a true freshman. Being able to play someone capable of running point can free up Gilder to be the scoring threat he showed towards the end of the season, and can hopefully provide more open looks for Hogg.

Our bench will be good, not great, with Trocha providing some size and Flagg/Chandler/Starks providing some raw explosive potential. I'm excited by the announcement of Wilson to the roster, though he won't be an explosive scorer he should bring some leadership and defensive intensity to the squad, and having a guy who has started 50+ games for a solid basketball program (and has been coached by Issac Chew before) and has been to the tournament is valuable for an Aggie squad which is still trying to find a new identity.

Last four in?!?

Expectations managed.

_lefraud_ said:

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Last four in?!?

Expectations managed.

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LOL. Pressure makes diamonds!

e.busche said:

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I think realistic expectations for next year should be around a "last-4 in" type spot. We're returning some real talent in RW, Gilder, and Davis. Hogg should be healthy this season and, while he didn't make the jump I expected this year, I think he will be a solid piece next season.

The biggest asset will likely be the addition of a D1 caliber point guard in Caldwell. He's been practicing with the team for a semester already so I would hope he would require a little less time to acclimate than a true freshman. Being able to play someone capable of running point can free up Gilder to be the scoring threat he showed towards the end of the season, and can hopefully provide more open looks for Hogg.

Our bench will be good, not great, with Trocha providing some size and Flagg/Chandler/Starks providing some raw explosive potential. I'm excited by the announcement of Wilson to the roster, though he won't be an explosive scorer he should bring some leadership and defensive intensity to the squad, and having a guy who has started 50+ games for a solid basketball program (and has been coached by Issac Chew before) and has been to the tournament is valuable for an Aggie squad which is still trying to find a new identity.

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On paper we will have one of the 15 best overall rosters in the country. Last four in would be an extreme disappointment.

bobinator said:

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BQ_90 said:

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chipotle said:

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Make the NCAA tournament or gtfo

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I think actually he needs to win at least one game.

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I've posted this before, but I hate the idea of putting the metrics of a success of a season on the NCAA Tournament.

Kennedy needs to put in position to be reasonably heavily favored to win our first game in the tournament next year, and be competitive in our second.

We could be a 3 seed and a 14 could go one shining moment on us and the season could be a success overall or we could be an 11 and upset an overseeded 6 and the season could have been mostly crap (based on next year's roster.)

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Depends on what happens in that game. If we were to lose to a 14 seed that shoots 45% from three in the game and hits some crazy shots down the stretch, then sure, you tip your hat and move on.

But if we were to lose because we come out flat, scared, and unprepared, then those problems are fixable by coaching. The good teams in the tournament routinely have players that have a "**** you, I'm scoring on this possession" demeanor. Can't see BK inspiring such hardassery all of a sudden.

Hickory High said:

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bobinator said:

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BQ_90 said:

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chipotle said:

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Make the NCAA tournament or gtfo

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I think actually he needs to win at least one game.

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I've posted this before, but I hate the idea of putting the metrics of a success of a season on the NCAA Tournament.

Kennedy needs to put in position to be reasonably heavily favored to win our first game in the tournament next year, and be competitive in our second.

We could be a 3 seed and a 14 could go one shining moment on us and the season could be a success overall or we could be an 11 and upset an overseeded 6 and the season could have been mostly crap (based on next year's roster.)

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Depends on what happens in that game. If we were to lose to a 14 seed that shoots 45% from three in the game and hits some crazy shots down the stretch, then sure, you tip your hat and move on.

But if we were to lose because we come out flat, scared, and unprepared, then those problems are fixable by coaching. The good teams in the tournament routinely have players that have a "**** you, I'm scoring on this possession" demeanor. Can't see BK inspiring such hardassery all of a sudden.

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Disagree.

"Tip your hat and move on" is something you can stomach if you've got a resume that shows an early ouster is just an anomaly -- that's not the case for BK anymore. He's run out of leash for excuses.

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I guess we could easily ask those that attended games in G Rollie.

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89-93 Games were a lot of fun; easy to get to; and never had a problem with seating. In fact, most games the three of us that went together would have the whole side of the stands to ourselves.

We would sit in different rows just to increase the illusion of attendance.

sweet 16

free_mhayden said:

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Disagree.

"Tip your hat and move on" is something you can stomach if you've got a resume that shows an early ouster is just an anomaly -- that's not the case for BK anymore. He's run out of leash for excuses.

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What exactly are you saying here? Like, if we're a 4 seed and lose to a 13, then the entire season is a failure?

My point was that, to me, you judge the coach mostly on the season, not on the tournament because freakish things can happen in the tournament.

Also, any season in which we land a seed where we're relatively heavily favored to win our first game would be one of the best in school history.

Are you saying if we have a great year and get a good seed, but get upset in our first game in the tournament, you think that's worth firing Kennedy over?

deh40 said:

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Ryno01 said:

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We have everyone back and we need to go .500 in the elite category and win the rest
But I dont know how we just automatically turn the 0fer around with our coaching staff.....Id LOVE to see us hire an experienced bench coach to fill the Stansbury void

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Isn't that what Don Maestri is?

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My understanding is he can't interact with the players or the court officials. He appears to primarily talk with BK. Probably best to think of him as an advisor rather than a coach.

My expectations: make the tournament or "retire."

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Are you saying if we have a great year and get a good seed, but get upset in our first game in the tournament, you think that's worth firing Kennedy over?

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Next year I'm sure he would get a pass although imo it should be a fail. The following year, if we are back to rebuilding and don't make it in at all or do the same thing....get in and lose the first game, he should be gone.

I feel reasonably confident in saying, barring something insane happening, that we aren't ever going to fire a coach coming off of a season where we made the NCAA Tournament.

Can't we just make him recruiting director and call it a day? Heck, I could see us getting positive national headlines if Bk embraced it. Nobody really believes he's a good in-game coach. I'd gladly take an assistant running practices and game day on the sidelines as head man.

Of course BK would never go for that as evidenced by how dealt with Rick, who helped save his job to begin with.

bobinator said:

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I feel reasonably confident in saying, barring something insane happening, that we aren't ever going to fire a coach coming off of a season where we made the NCAA Tournament.

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...which is why most on here would secretly rather have a disappointing season and fire BK than to make the tourney and keep him around.

I'm with you though I don't think we'd fire a coach for making the tournament regardless of the outcome.

bobinator said:

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free_mhayden said:

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Disagree.

"Tip your hat and move on" is something you can stomach if you've got a resume that shows an early ouster is just an anomaly -- that's not the case for BK anymore. He's run out of leash for excuses.

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What exactly are you saying here? Like, if we're a 4 seed and lose to a 13, then the entire season is a failure?

My point was that, to me, you judge the coach mostly on the season, not on the tournament because freakish things can happen in the tournament.

Also, any season in which we land a seed where we're relatively heavily favored to win our first game would be one of the best in school history.

Are you saying if we have a great year and get a good seed, but get upset in our first game in the tournament, you think that's worth firing Kennedy over?

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Worth firing Kennedy over or would result in Kennedy being fired?

If we have a good year like '15-'16 and get knocked out in the first round then all it really does is add to the proof of what Kennedy's ceiling is.

So yeah, to me if you've got a coach that struggles to make the tournament most years, and then when he does put up a great year makes an early exit then there's no reason to retain him as coaches like that are a dime a dozen.

Again, that's what I feel would be worth, not what would actually happen. Reality is a tournament appearance buys him another year, a Sweet 16 buys him another 3.

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I feel reasonably confident in saying, barring something insane happening, that we aren't ever going to fire a coach coming off of a season where we made the NCAA Tournament.

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Fire, probably not. Two more years of a debilitating disease....take your career and call it good.

greg.w.h said:

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deh40 said:

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Ryno01 said:

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We have everyone back and we need to go .500 in the elite category and win the rest
But I dont know how we just automatically turn the 0fer around with our coaching staff.....Id LOVE to see us hire an experienced bench coach to fill the Stansbury void

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Isn't that what Don Maestri is?

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My understanding is he can't interact with the players or the court officials. He appears to primarily talk with BK. Probably best to think of him as an advisor rather than a coach.

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Maestri hasn't done anything worth paying for.

I expect to win more games sure, who doesn't? That's too easy though.

At the beginning of the season, I said that one of the keys to this past year was Tyler's ability to read the defense and create baskets for his teammates. That didn't really happen and that was probably more so for the fact that it's harder to be the go-to-guy rather than be part of the supporting cast as a freshman.

Next year I would expect him and Robert to have much better chemistry and actually be able to establish a high-low game that will result in a lot of "and 1's" and/or made open 3's. I'd like to see RW expand his game and be a bit more consistent on his jumpshots. On defense, I'd like for announcers to come up with a nickname by the time conference play starts because he's blocking everything in sight.

This year's team gave the ball away a lot and that was really frustrating to watch. The lack of depth really hurt us towards the end of the season where we were looking for at least a win to get to the NIT. Yes, we really missed DJ at the end of the season. And speaking of DJ... I expect him to come better, hungrier and more confident. I don't think his offense was the issue and I expect him to be better simply because he is the one to gain the most from having a true point guard on the team. A confident Hogg can make this team better in so many ways simply because the dude has NBA range.

I expect us to actually be able to close teams out and win those close ball games. We know we can come back against teams, now its time to take that next step and finish opponents and come away with close wins rather than the opposite.

I would like to see our point guard be a game manager and not so much a scorer. We have got a lot of weapons and we don't need him to score. I think I've said that before, but with multiple point guard options we should be able to make teams pay by not getting back on defense fast enough.

From our sudden added depth, I would expect them to be utilized in a way where we can play our Fish more at the beginning of the season in order to gauge their abilities for the rest of the season. During conference play, it would be nice to see a steady diet of Tyler-Williams-Hogg-Admon and whichever point guard emerges by late December. I'd love to see the 2nd unit come in and provide energy especially during those scoring droughts. I'm looking at you Tonny. No more trying to back down players. Play your game and let the game come to you. He can stretch the floor and bring his man to the 3 point line and leave the paint wide open so our 2nd team guards can find any seem they desire. Pick and rolls with RW the opposing team to death and let them try to figure out how to defend it.

I think I've talked about everyone except Admon. Admon has a chip on a shoulder for not being picked all conference and I expect him to play like it next year. I want to see a mean Caruso 2.0 out there and wreak havoc on the defensive end and then come back and posterize someone at the other end.

These incoming players talk about #confettidreams; I'd like to see them back that up with wins, but more importantly a confident team that will not back down to anyone.

Expectations or wishes, I dunno; these are just some quick thoughts.