probably both thought we were. You sound reasonable in this post. I think rhetoric is important. My reference to the overreaction and entitlement here is more based on people questioning AK's talent and ability and the abilities of our young players. Loads of posts about how AK is overrated and looking like the wrong fit. Loads of posts about there is no way that Egor and Kannon are draft picks let alone lottery. IMO that type of thinking is entitled, uneducated and pathetic.

Personally I also have a problem with this weird expectation that we were some how going to look equal or somewhat similar to last year. That is coming 100% from some fans who have built hype into this years success. Its not coming from the program, players or coaches. We had a core of guys last year that had learned Pope's system for a couple of years so Pope was not implementing anything new. On top of that we were not relying on Freshmen talent for nearly any valuable minutes. I'm not convinced we will make the tournament this year but I do think we will start to look better later in the season. Judging the future of this team, recruiting methods, players and staff on this years performance (especially so far) is completely short sighted.

Coach K didn't make the Tournament for 3 years at Duke and then he had built a powerhouse that lasted decades. I reiterate the notion that it will be similar to last year because we return lots of guys is not logical. These guys were running a different game last year. Basically they have joined a different team as well. I think one of the best CB observations this year is that we could have used summer play in Europe. Likely true. We needed more times playing competition together. Still, I doubt KY felt that was more important than just getting them learning his systems together, especially when he was just trying to learn his job, recruiting etc.

Something I can agree is a concern of mine is whether we can win games recruiting top one and done talent. There is a real possibility that we don't have the credibility and lead time to wait for that to emerge. Still, I think it is a no brainer to start there if we can because most teams don't even have the option and KY is leveraging the deepest credibility he has- developing NBA talent. In the short-term I'm not particularly concerned if we are not making the tournament but getting better and showing off how we have 4-6 players in the league (I'm thinking 3 years out.) At that point, if we are falling short with top one and done talent then we can tell top transfer players that we can put them in the league and to look at what we are building plus who has played for us- lotto picks and others.

In essence the angst is unwarranted and an overreaction at this point. Posts about players being overrated and oversold talent, when every NBA scout out there knows they are not is an overreaction. Posts about this coaching staffing not knowing how to teach basketball is an overreaction. The overreaction here drips with unmet expectations, but those ridiculous and lofty expectations for this coach's first year, with all these players in a new system and trying to integrate super young talent on a short time frame, in a very competitive conference are misplaced and no one in the program set them. I expect to get better and I think we will see it. I don't think we will suddenly be beating everyone in the Big 12 so that's probably not good enough for most here, but the trajectory of the program, I think, will be showing up.