Hey guys! Now that the season is over I wanted to log back on and briefly comment on some of the recent posts.
1. Huff needs an upgrade...badly. But it can't take the entirety of the blame. At the end of the day, when Huff is rockin', it is one of the best home environments in the Big Ten. Our facilities are outdated, yes, but they are better than many of non-power 5 conferences. Maybe we can't get transfers from within the conference, but we should (theoretically) have better odds at transfers from smaller conferences. We just haven't seen it.
2. I want to very quickly bring up a point to consider. The injury bug that has hit us hasn't necessarily been a coincidence. There has been a tendency for our coaching staff to recruit players that have a history of injury. If you go look back at our recent players that have come and gone, you will see injuries aren't rare. Of course, not every injury has had that connection (TdB for example is extremely unfortunate), but there are quite a few that do. I don't want to get into it any further because injuries prior to college is out of our realm to speculate, but just take my word for it.
3. As put best by ilalum92, Burbage is so hot and cold. I'm very interested to see if she can step up next year and play consistently. When she's on, she can take over a match. When she's off, it can be a tough watch. Does Tamas believe she is the answer at OPP? Time will tell.
4. I was not a fan of Tamas' rant on Twitter last night. I felt it wasn't the time and it wasn't the place to express those feelings. That being said, everything he was saying was true and I firmly believe that. We did not deserve a spot in the tournament, but RPI as a metric is flawed. We all knew we were out of contention (meaning we were a long shot) weeks ago, and that just shouldn't be the case. All of the noise being created by Kansas State and their discontent about not making the tournament is completely warranted in my opinion. They should've made it, they didn't, and the committee failed to put the best-looking teams in the tournament. That is my opinion, you do not have to agree, but please respect it
5. Tamas and staff have at least another year here. I am confident this next year will be much improved. Tamas recognizes the committee using RPI and KPI to make decisions isn't going anywhere. Take my word for it, he is going to schedule appropriately next year. Whether or not he has the girls ready for game 1 is something we will have to wait for, but I'm feeling pretty good about our chances.
6. Finally (and what's most anticipated by all of us fans in the offseason): the transfer portal. The information I shared regarding a defensive player in-conference fell through, as I suggested might happen. However, I can share that we are already active in the portal. Tamas knows what needs to happen, and I'm confident he will fill the needs of the team. He's being aggressive by getting involved MUCH earlier than he did last year. Of course the offseason is long and there are a lot of moving parts, but trust the staff is working to secure the transfers we need to succeed next year. I'm going to choose not to share names, at least for now, but wanted to let you all know that the work is being put in.
Hope all of this is useful insight. Appreciate you all on this board!
