I was going to create a new thread for this, but this seems like a good place to put it. I could be entirely wrong about this in the long run, but I feel strongly that the way we finished this season could be a turning point for our program.
I posted this on a different forum and thought I’d post here as well. There’s a really good article on the Athletic about Pastner and the season. With all things considered, I feel like he did a really good job with this team. We were all expecting more, but he battled through a lot (injuries, doubt, etc) to finish strong. This quote from James Banks sums it up well:
“He’s an amazing coach and an amazing person,” said Banks, the senior center. “He never hung his head once. He’s always kept it positive. He didn’t curse us. He works with you. He talks to us. Everybody in this locker room loves him.”
It’s fools gold to think that we are going to ever spend freely on our basketball program. With that being case, we need to support this coach. I’m not prepared to call him the second coming of Bobby Cremona, but whether we want to admit it or not, we’ve got a good man at the helm, that cares about our program, and he’s not that far away from getting us where we want to be.
For once, I’d love to see this fan base put as much effort and energy into supporting a coach as some do in tearing him down. He’s proven capable of being a team in the top half of the league, and with a few breaks and a good class in 2021, we could be well positioned for sustained success over the next 5-6 seasons.
Perhaps these last 10-12 games were the turning point!