Had to put a face next to Dace Rice's tenure and say, "This is the player who defined that particular era," it would be Ike. These last 2 games from him demonstrated the highs and the lows we've seen over the last 5 years in such stark contrast. Against AFA he was brilliant. He scored 38 points and was practically unstoppable. A force of nature, really. To me that's the equivalent of all the ranked wins Dave had. Beating UNC, U of A, Indiana, Oregon, etc, etc. Then we fast forward to tonight? Ike is turnover centric, bad shot selection, awful defensively and basically a detriment through and through. IMO it's comparable to all the head scratching losses like Dixie, AFA, UNR, etc, etc.
What it all comes down to is consistency. For all the recruiting "victories," guys like Nwamu, BDJ, Katin and Kendall came in with the me first mentality and destroyed any possible chance for night in and night out stability. The talent was there. We saw it in action and we saw it succeed against some of the best teams in the country. We also saw it lose to some of the worst. So IMO that's what the next coach has to establish first and foremost. A rock solid foundation derived of team oriented, team first guys. I want to see our Rebs with a firm and established identity from minute to minute, game to game, season to season.
Who is going to be the man to do it? That's the unanswered question that will be on everyone's lips from now until April.
What it all comes down to is consistency. For all the recruiting "victories," guys like Nwamu, BDJ, Katin and Kendall came in with the me first mentality and destroyed any possible chance for night in and night out stability. The talent was there. We saw it in action and we saw it succeed against some of the best teams in the country. We also saw it lose to some of the worst. So IMO that's what the next coach has to establish first and foremost. A rock solid foundation derived of team oriented, team first guys. I want to see our Rebs with a firm and established identity from minute to minute, game to game, season to season.
Who is going to be the man to do it? That's the unanswered question that will be on everyone's lips from now until April.
