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In Mick's defense...

I think when Mick got here and the conference we were in + state of the program forced his hand and in response, he went the route he did to try and create toughness etc. because that was the only way he could put teams together to compete with the UCONN's and Cuse's etc. Make the games slow, defensive rock fights and anything can happen. He has it in his head that he can only get certain guys and the reputation of the program now only fuels his opinion (that he can't get top 100 guys but can get guys who will play tough, buy into defense and etc.) and so he continue to recruit that player and the program continues to hold that reputation and round and round we go in an endless loop.

What I think he is missing now is this: We aren't in the Big East any more. We are a name program in the AAC. We went from small fish in big pond to big fish in a small pond. We get the national games that we didn't get in the Big East because we were way back in the line. Now we are at the front of the line. LIke UC with Huggs in the Great Midwest/CUSA days. We have the exposure. Add to this the arena. Add to this the ncaa consecutive appearances. I think if we can keep winning at a high level, enjoy all the nationally televised game exposure and pimp the arena, Mick may need to rethink his recruiting strategy. I think he is holding himself back.

The ONE thing that can really give him a shot in the arm is to start making ncaa tourney runs....that along with everything else would do the trick for UC in terms of up-ticking our recruiting.