2015 JUCO SG Mychal Mulder (Kentucky Commit)

[Bluejay Bilas]

...except then we are firing two guys.

That part doesn't seem to bother some people, does it?

No. You're right. It's going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out. Because someone goes, doesn't mean it was a question of choice.

True, and I doubt many on here are actually advocating running anyone off. But, there are only 200 minutes a game to go around, and if the staff chooses to bring in one or two more guys for next year, at least a couple of the current Jays could definitely find more playing time elsewhere. If everyone would prefer to be at Creighton and part of this program, regardless of their respective roles, I'd rather not see anyone asked to leave.

If Mulder and/or Trent commit, competition for time at the spots between Watson and Huff will be fierce.

[mredle]

Before you even get to the question of playing time, which of course is determined in practice and once the season starts in games, you have the question of NCAA scholarship limits - who gets them and who doesn't. If you add more people than we have scholarships available, you either must be creative or ... and we all can do the math.

[gtmoBlue]

Old habits die hard, change is sometimes (oft times) difficult.

Mac likes his job and wants to keep it. Creighton wants to win and wants to ensure last season's 14-19 record is not a habit.
4 scholied Srs. are leaving and a talent upgrade is in progress. Sometimes there is collateral damage.

I cannot fault Coach for wanting to bring in the best players he can get...as it is he has been criticized on our 2 main boards for not doing enough. Coach Mac is a winner and wants to continue winning - in order to remain our coach. Go Coach Mac.

Is winning everything? No.

Winning with dignity and our integrity intact, is everything.

[fritzpointer]

Or 1 or 2 may be willing to walk on to have a better team. Go Jays!

[jfan]

...except then we are firing two guys.

That part doesn't seem to bother some people, does it?

No one is happy with the possibility of firing current players. The fact remains that the coaches know the makeup and the needs of the team better than we do and they are still recruiting! If they think that Mulder and/or Trent are needed additions for the team, then I am going to trust their judgement and root hard for the commitments!!

[Chicagojayfan]

...except then we are firing two guys.

That part doesn't seem to bother some people, does it?

No one is happy with the possibility of firing current players. The fact remains that the coaches know the makeup and the needs of the team better than we do and they are still recruiting! If they think that Mulder and/or Trent are needed additions for the team, then I am going to trust their judgement and root hard for the commitments!!

I think this is true. However, I hope they aren't overreacting due to last year. The number of close games makes me think we aren't as far off as it might have seemed during the January swoon. I've seen message board speculation about the numbers, but some of it seems a bit out of whack to me, especially when you consider we've been pretty much only looking at guards this offseason. If we brought in the number of guards some people want, our scholarship allocation would be a mess going forward (contrary to some people's opinion, we do need some big guys to play). Not to mention that mass turnover is likely to be disruptive, IMO. That said, I have no idea that the coaches are looking for anything more than one or two, or that there isn't other reasons for a guy or two wanting to go elsewhere (it isn't always about basketball or if it is about basketball it may not be about the team either)

Speculating based on the guys they are bringing in, we want to:

- get some experience between the freshman and Watson/Milliken and Zierden. We do play a lot of guards and without a JUCO we would have to rely on Stewart and/or Thomas to be in the mix almost immediately. We had enough trouble last year with our guard play that it seems likely they don't want to take chances this year.
- Brooks leaving leaves us without a clear combo guard type player who can handle the ball down the court or on top of the key get his own shot when people are covered.

To me the big push seems to be to fill those gaps. A guy like Mulder isn't a combo, but he does bring maturity to the guard position and he's also more like the best player available. He fits our style with his shooting AND he's just a helluva player.

[mredle]

I completely understand peoples comments, everybody loves winning - me included. But as long as things have started down this path no sense in turning back now. A lot of people on this board really touted Coach Mac's post game talk after the loss to the Hoyas in the Big East tournament. Part of that talk focused on the growth of the player's that were graduating but part of it had to do with how special the program is. Are any of us asking questions about that right now?

[fritzpointer]

Mredle what is it that you don't understand that it is Mac bring in players not some poster on this board?

[mredle]

That's exactly what I'm saying, Mac is bringing in these players, and people are applauding this. And I think everyone would agree that I have certainly been supportive of Mac as coach. But I'm asking the questions, what does it say about the program and the culture and maybe us as well?

[Chicagojayfan]

I completely understand peoples comments, everybody loves winning - me included. But as long as things have started down this path no sense in turning back now. A lot of people on this board really touted Coach Mac's post game talk after the loss to the Hoyas in the Big East tournament. Part of that talk focused on the growth of the player's that were graduating but part of it had to do with how special the program is. Are any of us asking questions about that right now?

If we went in and did mass turnover, yes, I would be asking questions. There's no indication that is happening right now. It's a rare year when nobody leaves (even for us), and multiple departures aren't all that uncommon in college ball in general.

Nor do all departures have to do with coaches forcing someone out -- guys want to play closer to home, don't like the city, want a different campus, decide they want a different system, don't like the competition, feel they want more minutes and not a backup role, etc., etc.,