- Texas hasn't been relevant in football since 2009 so not a good comparison in discussing a win in 2016 by Kansas. Penn State and Ohio State are extremely relevant now.
- The context of my post above is not about next year..it's about several years down the road and having a BIG 10 BB Conference that is strong whereby strong conferences like the ACC and Big East this year got 60% of their schools into the Dance and the Big 12 got 70 or 80% of their schools in. I have confidence Pike will get it done and thus could care less how strong other squads in our conference recruit. The stronger the conference, the better chance you have to win these quad 1 games and have a meaningful resume for the Dance. Nebraska and PSU did not have a NCAA Dance resume because of too many weak squads in the Big 10 this year. Only 4 of 14 schools (29%) made the Dance with 2 others making the NIT. The league was not good this year and if you analyze recruiting over the past few years you'll see the Big 10 is lagging behind the other major conferences in attracting Top 100 Talent.
Yea, try telling that to every kid in and around the Big 12 area that Kansas beating Texas wasn't a big deal. You know the area they mainly recruit. It's a perfect comparison. I'll refrain from the football talk because it's obviously not your strong game.
On basketball, sure it'll be good to have a strong conference once the build is well underway and you're getting close to consideration for post season tournaments. But right now, playing the best when you're talent is the worst week in, week out does have adverse affects.
You're starters are constantly going harder for longer periods of time, which in turn leads to injuries. There's simply no time to recover as your constantly in a fight night in night out. No one can sustain that level of effort for that long without some lapses.
Mentally, you're simply not seeing the fruits of your labor come to fruition. Although you're playing better and giving it your all, the wins simply aren't manifesting. Sure it's nice to be in a 2 to 4 point game but only so many of those can be viewed as moral victories. Confidence will begin to wane causing your team to doubt their capabilities.
Last perception. Again in a build you only get so many years where people are saying you're playing better without the wins. The perception right now is, yes they're not a laughing stock any longer, yet they still can't reach the .500 threshold. Without the B1G tourney results the season would have been considered same old Rutgers. Yet even with those results, the windfall of recruits hasn't manifested.
You're asking for an increase in competition when the current competition level is still too much for the squad. This will make a build nearly impossible as all the reason I laid out for you will rear their ugly head. It's baby steps not the lunar leap. The next threshold is getting over .500, doesn't matter who you play or how tough they are. All people remember is your record at the end of the year.
