Will reassess this when and if there are any roster changes. But if there are not any, the squad only loses Kitoko after the 2019-20 season. That means that Sanchez and his staff will have 2 years with the same core of players (and 3 with many of them).
IMO, that needs to result in an NCAA bid. No screwing around. Hill hired Sanchez (at a very solid salary) to win, and that is plenty of time to install your culture, players and system, and then he gets basically everybody back for 2020-21.
I cant believe I have to wait freaking 16 years for an NCAA bid, but that is it for me. If we donāt make it back by then, whatever interest I have left in hoops is over.
Where is itsbraille with his 275 out of 351 teams have made the NCAA tournament since we last did stat? This is getting ridiculous.
If Sanchez is the dude, and this class is what everyone says it is, we need to win 15+ next year.
The following year, once again, with all the kids that will have been in the system, thatās the year. At a bare minimum we need to be in the top CUSA āpod.ā If we arenāt really freaking good in 2020-2021 I think many of whatās left of the fan base will throw in the towel on basketball.
Next year should be a a very solid year. I donāt think NIT is out of the question. I know we lose JD and will rely on some freshmen to step up, but given the league and what I believe we have coming in I donāt think that is a stretch. Year 3 of Sanchez needs to be NCAA goal, even if we fall short. I havenāt complained much about the league because we have been largely responsible for our own demise and we share a burden on why this league is so bad. Before I can complain about it we need to at least finish in the top. Once that happens, if we get a NCAA snub due to league, I wonāt hold that against Sanchez. At that point it is on Hill to start working some magic conference wise.
I would like to see minumum .500 next year and competing for the top of CUSA the following year. An NIT would be my realistic goal for year three. Only time will tell. The new guys will have to really step up to make this happen.
Looking at Tony Bennett, it took him two years before UVA kicked into high gear.
Iād expect a similar pattern from Sanchez, I think weāll be a .500 basketball team which isnāt great, but obviously an upgrade over this year.
Year three though, I expect us to start competing.
Year 1 - Just about resetting culture
Year 2 - Competing in NIT contention until late
Year 3 - Competing, NIT as a consolation, in NCAA talk
Year 4 - NIT the min and NCAA is expected (if conference holds us back then so be it, but record should warrant dance)
Our chances of dancing are not what they were 15 years ago either. It comes down to 4 games in March unless there is a drastic change in CUSA by then. Sucks, but that is what it is. Look at UNCGās season, they arenāt a lock with that record and lost to a damn good team in the Conf Championship gameā¦
Iāve been doing this since Lew Masseyās freshman year !
I drank the Major Kool Aid, I drank the Price Kool Aid, and
drank the Sanchez Kool Aid !
Year 3 needs to be big time excitement !
We should be able to own CUSA with the talent heās bring in. IMO
I think Sanchez needs 12+ wins to continue the upward trajectory. Itāll be hard losing JD. I say we have more of a chance finishing with 8 wins than we do getting to 15 wins.
NIT expectations is unrealistic. If Vegas has an over/under on us next year, some of you should make easy money if you really believe we have a better than not chance at some of these win totals.
We are not going to dance in year three because at the end of the day we donāt have enough talent.
The ā19ās are nice, mixed with Bertram and the ā18ās but the facts are thwt without JD we had a great look at 0-29 and I wish I were kidding. We got two wins late because we got four looks at crap teams.
This program is at sub zero levels and itās going to take years for Sanchez (and I absolutely believe Sanchez is the guy) to dig us out if this.
It will take time and but I think the last two season have been absolute rock bottom. We will be better but we arenāt out of the horrible days yet. We have so much upside and you can talk all you want about how itās been 16 years, etc, but at the end of the day, the last year is the first time in a long time that we are competing without one arm tied behind our back. Judy did so much damage to all we hold dear and thatās not going to change with a few three star recruits, who at the end of the day will be true freshman next year.
Also, Iāve seen NA throw in the towel 20 times on message boards over the last 25 years, but we are both still here. Me as the optimistic realist, and the advocate as the hair triggered pessimist.
I imagine we will both still be here having the same conversation in 2044.
clt says the players who will represent Charlotte in the ncaaās in 2021 may have not been born when we lost to nc state in the first round of the tourney.