Soooo, this thread title is still very apt for the '20-'21 season. BBall once again has an incredible year, winning the B1G, and making it to the Elite 8, and we can't even be bothered to make a thread. I promise Juwan to make a new thread next year--you absolutely deserve it.
This year was an unmitigated success. This team was picked to finish midtable in the Big 10 and instead they went ahead and won the whole damn thing. With a fully healthy squad, they lost one game to an excellent Illinois team. Juwan showed he has the Xs and Os chops to hang with Painter, Underwood, and the rest of the Big10 coaches. He also gameplanned very well for the LSU and FSU tourney games. This team had some excellent pieces with Livers, Wagner, and Dickinson, and Eli, Smith, Johns, and Chaundee were really good pieces that Juwan put together extremely well. Definitely a case of the sum better than its parts. Juwan got a lot out of Davis, worked in Terrance Williams as best he could, and when the time came, Johns was ready for a starter role. That's a huge development for next year potentially. The team looks like it was super tight and Juwan seems well-liked by his players. Next year's #1 recruiting class is exciting to look ahead to, and it's wild to think about what Juwan might be able to do with a super talented squad.
Now, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WAS THE LAST 2 MINUTES LAST NIGHT? For some reason that only Juwan and the team knows, Mike Smith is the designated closer for this team. Well, he got a couple of good looks and didn't convert. Wagner is a super talented guy, but he's 3PT percentage this year was 34%. Hardly elite. Last night, he was 1/8 before those last 2 attempts, the first one which barely caught the rim. Only down 1 or 2, there's no reason that Dickinson shouldn't have been given a chance (Riley was fouled out), Chaundee should've been the designated shooter, or Eli if you wanted to be sneaky. SMH. The team played terribly last night, and if they shoot layups, 3s, or FTs better, they probably win. Hopefully Juwan learns from this.
Will be interesting to see who comes back for next year. Everyone is technically eligible because of COVID scholarship rules, but the conventional wisdom is that at least Livers and Wagner move on. After the way he was used this year, I have to think that Chaundee will move on as well. Probably the biggest question for next year is at the 1. If Mike Smith comes back, that's probably a good thing even though he was overmatched athletically in the tourney. Zeb didn't look ready this year, but it's pretty rare for a freshman PG to be ready. Nevertheless, he was a top 100 recruit. Incoming PG Frankie Collins is a top 50 recruit, but again, not entirely fair to depend so much on a freshman PG. The PORTAL should offer other options if Juwan should want to go that route.