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Wanted to start this thread to get the vibes on the board of this season.

Even though last night was disappointing I thought this season was an overwhelming success. The team seemed to get physically and mentally tougher throughout the season. I thought we were prepared, well-coached throughout each game. I thought coach managed his rotations the best we could.

In the macro view, I think this was, understandably for year 1 with the roster turnover, a fundamentally incomplete roster that lacked the shooting balance needed with slashers we had.

Some good strategic additions to this group and we could have a special season next year.

What does everyone else think?

Absolutely a success. Excited to see how they build on it. Simon’s a smart guy, and he has acknowledged that the shooting issues limited the team. I’m sure he has a plan to address that so we can raise our ceiling next year and beyond.

Really impressed with Coach, man. Seems like a good guy who loves the game and wants to win here.

We were out coached and out played in last nights game but over the season I have been impressed. Huger set the bar very low so it’s hard to evaluate without that in mind. This years team was much more disciplined and looked like they actually had a plan. The roster construction was my only glaring negative. I do think he did better than should be expected with a bunch of guys who can’t shoot to save their lives. Excited to see what year two brings. We are going to see how good of a recruiter he is which in today’s game is the most important attribute since hanging on to players is next to impossible.

I was satisfied as I had no clue on what to expect with such a drastic turnover of the roster.

At least they were watchable, competitive, and beat TU at home. We just didn't have enough outside shooters to get us over the hump.

My only real complaint this year was end of half/game clock management and schemes, etc.. On several occasions we didn't foul when we had them to give, other times we seemed to be oblivious that the time was running out and the only option was a three by the opponent but we acted like they had time to drive and/or pass, and then on other occasions when we didn't put on any full court pressure and allowed a wide open shot. But these are rather nit picky and maybe just a difference in philosophy. Who knows.

I'm excited for the future and to see how he can recruit. Looking forward to seeing Pardon next year.

This season's team was certainly more watchable and entertaining. It will be interesting to see who he brings in next season as he starts to build "his" team.
One complaint I have is pregame, the playing of the national anthem. If the team doesn't have to be on the court, why have it?

Simon had to throw together a roster after many departures, and was able to keep Towns, Agee, and Felt. Beyond Spurgin, the transfers were mediocre but do have ceilings a bit on the high side.

There no doubt in my mind the Hill is better than Freeman and us the most talented player in the MAC.

Faults
- the uber talented EJ Greer was not developed into a rotation player. Yes, he was much greener than expected, but the rotation really needed the presence of a player with his profile.
- despite the excellence of Hill, Simon let his game fly out of control, amd this killed the dynamics amd flow of the offense that we saw early in the season. Hill predictably penatrates every time he gets the ball. He would penelatrate into double coverages and awkward positions that he couldn't bail out of, with no help, low post screen, or good passing lanes out. This would destroy half-court continuity amd opportunities for other players to score in flow.

Overall, I'd say this season was definitely a success and that Simon was a great hire. There were a few coaching decisions I thought were curious over the course of the year, but I think the team's health played a role. I think a few of the transfers in were misses in the sense that they didn't really fit with how the team played, but Hill, Spurgin, Thomas were solid additions. Thomas could be frustrating at times, but he seemed to get his rhythm a little more as the season rolled on. I'm curious how DJ Smith and Felt would have contributed if they didn't get hurt.

If we can keep Hill, Agee, Towns and Spurgin, I think we've got a very solid chance at the MAC next season. I assume we'll lose about 3 players to the portal, plus Phillip, so there will be opportunities to add talent, namely a sharpshooter. I could be wrong, but I don't see either current newcomer for next year making a huge impact right away. I think Pardon will be a good player, but his freshman ceiling is probably a rotation player.

One thing I found interesting was the fact that Southern Utah's record this year cratered after his departure. Finished 10-21 and 5-15 in their conference. The only player that came here with Coach Simon was Jason Spurgin so he himself did not raid the team unlike a certain WBB Coach did last year. S. Utah was a senior laden team last year and they did lose Soph starter Drake Allen to state rival Utah Valley but you would think that there would have been quality replacements in the pipeline. I don't really know that any of the BG additions this year were a fit to play in Utah.

I predicted we would have at least 12 conference wins based on my impression of how Simon operates, his prior track record, and my impression the MAC was not that strong top to bottom. So, going by that I guess I'm just very slightly disappointed. I didn't consider how challenging it was to construct a roster with no holes in it that could seriously challenge for the top of the conference. I believe coach Simon got 100% of the ability out of this group of players and got them to play to the best version of themselves as a team. That's subjective but I think Simon can put together some good seasons consistently. But I want more than good.

I dip in and out of following college basketball from year to year, I didn't realize how far we have to go to narrow the gap in talent with other mid-majors, let alone Power 5 teams. What a slap in the face it was for the MAC in the Sun Belt challenge! It remains to be seen if Simon has the pull to consistently get all-MAC type players and guys that can shoot at the D-1 level. If he can do that we will challenge for conference titles pretty quickly. It will be even more amazing if he can recruit conference POTY type talent. We need that to improve our chances of getting into the NCAA tourney and looking like we belong. I would like to see us going into places like Louisiana and win. I don't think it's acceptable to lose by 20 to teams like them or Oakland, etc. We have a little way to go yet but we should expect to get there.

I've held off on this because I'm not yet sure what to make of the first year. In the grand scheme I'd say they exceeded expectations. We finished in the upper half of the league and made it to the final 4 of the MAC tournament. We won 20 games for only like the 10th time in program history. All of these things scream "Success". This is especially true when you consider how truly terrible we were the past couple years, the fact that Simon had to build an entire roster on the fly, etc.

So on the whole, I'll say I'm pretty happy with where we went this year. The change in culture felt real. Simon embraces the "rally the fans & students" stuff that I've always said is job #1 for a BG coach (something Urban & Dakich excelled at when I was in school).

The negatives mentioned here aren't lost on me. There were definitely instances where I questioned what we were trying to accomplish possession to possession. That rebuilt on the fly roster had a LOT of holes; very frustrating to have no capable shooters on the floor when they admitted the whole time (and it was somewhat obvious) that the entire scheme was built around the threat of 3 point shooting. I expected to see us running, it was what Simon did at SUU, but we either weren't getting the stops needed to run or our transition shooting was so bad we didn't feel comfortable pushing tempo as much as I expected.

Overall this was a fine first step. But building on steps is a challenge in this version of college sports. I'm very encouraged he was able to land a 1st team All-MAC performer (and potential POY candidate) in his 1st abbreviated class. I'm very encouraged he was able to get buy-in for the best player off last year's roster to return and build on his previous performances. He also got a key contributor to follow from his previous stop. These are all good signs. He preached about his time at SUU in working to retain talent. That will be his most important job this offseason (and going forward). But we need to see more with regard to bringing in talent. Most of the guys that have eligibility left don't look like they're capable of being key contributors on MAC championship caliber programs. I'm not overly enthusiastic about either of the known incoming recruits either. I'm sure we'll have more spots open up and those spots need to come from the aforementioned back roster players, and the replacements need to be guys with higher ceilings.

I don't think it's debatable to say we upgraded at coach. I definitely love coach Simon's personality and putting himself out there. I still think he can take this program forward, but definitely has work to do. I'm pretty anxious and excited to see what this team looks like when he gets the shooters he wants.