...injuries, and not one of the most "snake bit" programs in the country. (We were top 10 in players lost to injury)

combined with Neo's nagging injury / slump, we were basically without 2 of our bigger backcourt players

in the league. We’re currently… in 12th place in the ACC. Well, technically we’re tied for 11th with Stanford with a 7-9 ACC record. But the Cardinal beat us head to head so, yeah, 12th place. Uncanny how accurate the media poll ranked us this time around.

IMO, they've underperformed a bit. The parts seem better than the whole. And that usually means the coach(es) didn't get this team to gel in an era when you have to get them ready right away despite new faces. These days that's probably the most important job of a head basketball coach. Making the NCAA tourney is not that big of deal. This year around 33 or 34 P4 schools will probably make the tourney. It's not that difficult. It's only slightly more difficult than making a bowl game in football. Yet many folks here act as if it's some grand achievement. It shouldn't be the goal; it should be the expectation. Yet Mike Young has only likely going to make it twice in 7 seasons - and one of those was only because they team got hot late. I like Mike Young and think he can coach the "game", but I think the "sport" has passed him by to some extent - and it's getting further in the rear view mirror each year. I don't really see that changing appreciably - more $$ or not. In fact, I think it only gets more frustrating for him and fans. ** Edited by marcbvtgm at 3/1/2026, 6:30:12 PM ** Edited by marcbvtgm at 3/2/2026, 8:53:55 AM

...that wouldn't explain it by admitting they didn't understand the market. If MY misses the tournament again, that's 3 rosters in the last 4 that had NCAA level talent and they didn't make it, not even finishing on the bubble. Trying to understand when we get to see MY doing more with less talent?

a good Big South coach; mid-level p5 coach

We do have a lot of really talented basketball players. I think where most of us, self included, fall short is acknowledging that most of the other P5 schools also have outstanding talent. It isnt just the Dukes Unc Kentuckys etc. There is such a deep pool , especially now that there is global recruiting, that most P5 teams can claim to have remarkable talent.

as you do. With the Lawal and Johnson injuries, we've missed essentially one starter worth of minutes over the season. That's a lot, especially when you look at what we've been short in recent games: an additional outside shooter and someone to stop dribble penetration. Johnson is not elite at either of those, but he's very good at both and is versatile enough on the defensive end that we could get away with playing a Hammond, Schutt, Johnson lineup against the right matchups. That's an excellent perimeter shooting combination. At other times, we could play Johnson rather than Schutt and have roughly the same perimeter success with better defense. (Johnson has roughly the same 3-point percentage as Schutt in lower volume, but challenges defenses more inside the 3-point line.) Lawal's injury hurt, but an injury to a player with Johnson's versatility forcing him to miss nearly all of conference play was one that few teams in the country could absorb. We would not have been a championship contender with him, but I think we'd be safely in the tournament field right now.