People can throw the $22 million and roster construction out all they want, but at the end of the day this staff missed on almost EVERY single top option, and in most cases, missed on third and forth options in last years portal.
Lowe - Was behind Dent, Demary Jr, and Agbim and Brayden Smith didn't enter the portal like he was supposedly going to (at least in time that discussion were being held) Also since Lowe was a Jr it ran off Lewis. And with Krissa and Perry transferring we were super thin at PG.
Kam - First portal commit and was thought to be the Kobe Brea replacement. Don't hate this target and pick up, especially at the time of the commitment. We were still alive in the tournament when he committed. Didn't work out that way.
Mo - Was a purposeful toughness and defense upgrade attempt after missing out on Caleb Wilson and Nate Ament earlier in the spring. He "may" have been a first choice for the backup 4 or a panic take once the PF slot was quickly thinned out in the portal.
Jelavich - Definitely behind Yaxel and Foulgares and was a flier take to fill Carr's role. Didn't work out that way.
JQ - Another flier that looks horrible in retrospect, especially with Garrison (who at the time hadn't said if he was staying or not) and (at the time) an unproven Moreno on the roster. After missing on Gwath, Veesar, and Mara (I think it was) and never really being close to any other starter level big men this felt like a panic hope and pray it works out take.
Potter - Fill the roster, have another big for practice reps, end of bench add, no issues with it.
Hawthorne - Not really a portal get, a decommit then commit here knowing he was going to redshirt coming in. So technically a freshmen commit. Don't hate this either as he was going to be a project and 12-15 guy on the bench anyways.
Aberdeen - While he is a good player and I understand taking him, we didn't need a second Oweh here at the time he was signed. We had just lost Lewis, we needed a PG. We had just missed out on Wilkerson and I think this was a panic take.
So outside of Kam, which I honestly believe this staff thought would be a plug and play Kobe Brea with 3 years of eligibility, all the rest were not first choices. The talent dipped with each miss at each position and the price went up to get players that didn't fit but were "athletic". Lots of square pegs trying to get pounded into round holes on this roster out of desperation. Make no mistake, Pope is to blame for the bad roster, bad recruiting, bad player evaluation, and bad player development. But a lot of fans let blue tinted glasses set their expectations for this year over seeing that this roster was bad from the start. We were always going to lose games we shouldn't because we don't have enough good shooters to spread the floor. We have a roster full of athletic but low basketball IQ players. We have a lot of selfish role players. Add injuries and lack of effort and we have a disaster waiting to happen. I didn't expect a Championship out this group. But I did expect to never lose a game due to lack of effort and heart. That's on the players. And the bench players are SOOOO bad, you can't bench the starters not showing effort. Pope's in a horrible position, partly of his own making, with more of the same on the horizon. He needs a recruiting win or a HUGE portal get, or a crazy unexpected deep run in the NCAA tournament to change the tides. He'll get year 3, whether we like it or not, but it'll be his swan song if he doesn't change.
