I don’t feel like this team improved much throughout the year.

[gamecock stock]

OK, well, that's an example of the type of straw-man binary arguments I was talking about in the earlier post. I think we all agree that Paris did an incredible job this year and earned his SEC COTY award and any other nation COTY he gets. I think it's fair to say that the relative levels of disappointment we all have about the way the season ended varies. For posters like @18IsTheMan (and myself, to some extent) that hard landing at the end probably tarnishes their overall assessment of the season a bit more than it does for you - and that's OK - but it doesnt mean we're in doubt that Paris did an incredible job with what he had.

To be clear, as I've posted multiple times on this thread, I was not and am not happy in losing to Oregon. even though I said the game was a "coin toss" prior to the game. And I did not know until reading on here that we were underdogs going into the game. I was disappointed in losing to Clemson, too. The season did not end for me at the end of the regular season nor SEC Tournament. I'm one of those who look at the whole picture. I'm a "big picture guy". It's like when I did job performance appraisals on subordinates. I did not evaluate on work done in one day, week or month. I did those evaluations based on performance or non-performance over the entire year.

 

[Prestonyte]

Bottom line - Gamecock MENS Basketball was enjoyable to watch for the 1st time in quite a while.
That's a positive!

 

[KingWard]

If that's the thought process, then so did Texas Tech and BYU, I guess. Kentucky proved they weren't a 3 seed. Kansas proved they weren't a 4 seed by barely beating Samford.

Upsets are a part of the tournament. One game's result doesn't undo the season's accomplishments.

It did for the women last year - absolutely.

 

[KingWard]

I think the coach validated himself. We need more quality players. What happened on Thursday was disappointing but not at all surprising given some of the shellings we took along the way.

 

[Slim Chickens Gamecock]

I think you are very right. I believe it is due to the DNA of the team. The first game I watched was Clemson and we just appear to be made up of 3/4 players. Not one completely well rounded. Mech for example shows flashes of brilliance and then complete mediocrity. Shows quickness and can jump but cannot finish at the rim when contested. He can make 3's but only 4 ft behind the 3-point line. refuses to out his toes on the line to shot them which would improve his odds double digits. In my opinion, the whole team is frequently lazy with throwing and receiving passes. Often straight up giving the other team the ball. we have no true shooters of the ball, although monumentally better than last year. And if you want to see what effort looks like- look at James Madison. Defense themselves into that win. think back to our Final four run. WE had the point guard who would pick up opposing guards as soon as they crossed half court. That ball pressure delayed offensive set up until less than 12 second on the play clock. that wasn't coached- that was just plain effort by that kid. Who wanted to win.