...as some CB'ers postulated how bad they thought our team was and that we were getting progressively worse for a myriad of reasons and we were going to get killed in the Big12...reasons like we won fewer games than the previous season, we finished 5th in the WCC for the 2nd yr in a row, had a losing record in the WCC etc etc. Not a lot depth to that analysis.

The doom and gloom forecasters typically ignored some significant factors that provided signs to the contrary that we were much closer to being very good, things like our team was one of the youngest in the nation, we were returning more production than anyone else in the new Big12, we were building team continuity/chemistry, we went 1-6 vs ranked teams in 22-23 (SDSU, Gonzaga, SMC and Creighton) but 2 of those games were lost on miracle buzzer-beater shots and in every one of those games we were in the game down the stretch with a chance to win but lost to more experienced teams who executed better down the stretch. Those 5 games we lost to Gonzaga and SMC were by an avg of 4.4 pts a game.

The transfer portal that season was especially intriguing and CB saw an increase in bball chatter as a result and there was a lot of chatter around projected starting lineups, how minutes were going to get distributed, how new guys like Baker, Aly, etc were going to fit in, Ques Glover leaving for a better NIL deal and being replaced by a top 50 national recruit in Marcus Adams Jr. That chatter on CB at least has stayed pretty consistent and has overtaken football imo. KY and staff have only helped extend it nationally.