Well...Is hindsight 20/20? Lol...just kidding. good discussion though.McPeachy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 12:26 pm
That is pure hindsight - who knows. Your opinion is that we would have been better than last, but not first with Graham. Ok, I can see that. I can also see the dynamics changing SO much, that first could have still been in sight. The changes (TO THE TEAM) his presence makes when he is healthy and playing, are too many to mention here, including the 3 assholes not quitting, Reynolds not having to shoulder too much, etc., etc., etc.
In seriousness...I'm trying not to over-interpret as much as possible. As you point out...The addition of a healthy Graham is pretty huge...he's definitely not a minor contributor. This is the epitome of message board 'what-if-ism". Again...you have to squint pretty hard to look at last years squad and add Graham and put them on the level of SDSU. The only "if" i'm considering is the "if" of Ike being healthy. That means you still get all the negatives of Reynolds injuries and the team chemistry being terrible until the transfers left. That "if" doesn't put us into the top half of the MWC. Now, having Graham healthy would change a lot of other stuff positively so that is why I put the over under on where they would have finished at the top half/bottom half line. Sounds like you would take the over....I think I agree....The one caveat being ... we would have had to ride him like a rented mule and as tough as he is...he is seeming to be injury prone. As much as Maldo looked worn down towards the end of last year and the year before that...Graham would have been the same.
Maybe I'm biased by the way this season went down but, to me, this team was just bad. As good as Graham is, if you add him in, he's a stellar player on an otherwise bad team unless his addition is dramatically transformative. It's not like with Ike out we merely took a step back to the middle of the conference pack...we were the worst, period. The MWC is not just loaded with talent but the top teams will definitely take you out of what you want to do if you can only do one thing. Some version of a two man game with Maldo and Ike would have been a lot of fun to watch and would have won more for sure though. Given what the transfers turned out to be, both in talent and in temperament, even with Ike in...this season's high expectations were destined to be unrealistic.