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Future direction of the program?

D

Da Bears

Active member
So forget last nights Weber State loss and the abysmal performance across the BSC against D1 opponents. What is the future of the Weber State Basketball Program?

As fans, should we be happy winning the BSC and being invited to the Big Dance ? Or should the goal be to build a program on the level of excellence of a Wichita State or Gonzaga? Although their conferences aren't the best, they've built a program that competes at a high level nationally every year.

What do those programs have available that can't be replicated at Weber State? Our talent level is improving, we have an alumnus that's excelling at a very high level in the NBA. His fame is attracting better recruits to Weber and he's pushing Adidas to fund his school at a higher level. We have one of the best venues in the West and our name recognition is improving nationally. What are the aspirations of our university to take Weber State to the next level? Or are they satisfied with where we are now?

How does the university build a program where Instead of hoping to beat a BYU or a Utah State every year, we go into each game expected to win?

Does our athletic department have a plan or is winning the BSC our ultimate goal?
 
Because Weber is at or near the top of the Big Sky every year, I think most fans have a false impression that Weber is a strong program. But as we on this board know, the Big Sky is not a strong conference. Being the best program in a very weak conference doesn't necessarily make you a strong program. The OOC and in-state record during Rahe's tenure is actually pretty bad. To me, this says much more about the current level of the program than the conference record. As for me, I'm not satisfied with just winning the conference most years and then getting whacked in the tourney as a 16 seed. But to get to that next level, I'm beginning to wonder if Rahe has what it takes to get us there.
 
Implied answer is winning the BSC...with an occasional win now & then against a quality non-conference opponent, be it in-state or outside!! And making it to the big dance is important! Sure it's been a weak conference for a long while! Think of last night's embarrassment as a reality check, a glaring example of Coach Rahe's weaknesses & players performance that testifies Wildcats have a long way to go before justifying frenzied fans claims that Weber State is too good for the BSC, or is nationally respected as a powerhouse! Bottom line: hope for improvement but don't be so dissatisfied that you're going to be angry & insulting opponents over the long haul! :twocents:
 
AlumniWSU said:
Implied answer is winning the BSC...with an occasional win now & then against a quality non-conference opponent, be it in-state or outside!! And making it to the big dance is important! Sure it's been a weak conference for a long while! Think of last night's embarrassment as a reality check, a glaring example of Coach Rahe's weaknesses & players performance that testifies Wildcats have a long way to go before justifying frenzied fans claims that Weber State is too good for the BSC, or is nationally respected as a powerhouse! Bottom line: hope for improvement but don't be so dissatisfied that you're going to be angry & insulting opponents over the long haul! :twocents:
Click to expand...

Hope? I'm not sure we can get there with just hoping we'll improve! I agree that the program might be overrated because of our moderate success in the conference, but we are missing out on an awesome opportunity to improve our program with all the buzz going around Damian. It's also not lost on me that championships were hard to come by while he was at Weber.

I though coach Rahe had a look in his eyes.... It wasn't a look of confidence in the 2nd half. We will win the conference again, but I'd like to believe that there's a blueprint in the AD's office on how to improve the program. I do think Randy has to be evaluated on his performance in OOC play and against in state competition. Just winning the BSC is almost aspiring to suck less! He's the best paid coach in the BSC....... We should expect more.
 
webergrad02 said:
What did coach say on the radio last night? Did he take ownership at all?
Click to expand...

Of course he did! We might be upset at how last night played out, but Coach is a stand up guy! He's capable of taking us further, but lets face it, right now his goal is to win the BSC and get a bid. He wants to beat in state rivals, but his performance evaluation is based on how he performs in the BSC!

I'm not sure Joel is a 5...... I know olds feels he's the greatest, but putting Hajek in the middle and having Joel @ 4 and slide Hill to 3 would've helped our interior defense. We got beat inside last night. Joel is a beast, but I think they used his desire to block everything against him last night. It also was clear that USU was going to double team him. He couldn't pass out of the double team and had way to many turnovers...... He's still not a great player with his back to the hoop on offense. I'm not trying to be critical of our best player, but I'm not sure he was in a position that allowed him to excel. The drive and dish to Collette last night accounted for almost 16 points last night. Rahe never made an adjustment. :twocents:
 
Two things crossed my mind as I drove out of Logan last night. First, how I would word my email to Jerry Bovee demanding my money back for last nights game and also that Randy should give back 20k because of the embarrassment he put on the floor and second what other Wildcat coaches would have done. McCarthy would have broken a chair in half over his teams performance. He would have run them on the spectrum floor with all the fans watching. Motta would have challenged Stew to a fight and Abegglen would never have been in that position. Point is Rahe got used last night and he didn't even try to make any adjustments. It was horrifying.
 
talhadfoursteals said:
Two things crossed my mind as I drove out of Logan last night. First, how I would word my email to Jerry Bovee demanding my money back for last nights game and also that Randy should give back 20k because of the embarrassment he put on the floor and second what other Wildcat coaches would have done. McCarthy would have broken a chair in half over his teams performance. He would have run them on the spectrum floor with all the fans watching. Motta would have challenged Stew to a fight and Abegglen would never have been in that position. Point is Rahe got used last night and he didn't even try to make any adjustments. It was horrifying.
Click to expand...

:clap: Thanks for that, Tal, for some reason that helps with my grieving process. I didn't get to see Motta but you're spot on with the other comparisons. Cravens would have done a Sport's Center dance along the sideline, the result might have been the same but it would have been entertaining.

@Midmajor, you're right, Rahe had no look of confidence in the 2nd but he rarely does in-state, especially vs Stew. I've always said Rahe's a great recruiter, good player developer, but not the best game coach. I'm not saying he's not a quality coach but he won't be the difference maker in a game. I personally hate the moniker "Wizard". If nothing else, I want to see and hear the passion from Rahe for winning ALL games. I want to hear from a pissed off coach after loosing an "important" in-state game. I want to hear ownership of being clueless what to try different in the 2nd half. I want a damn coach who can figure out a zone/press and even use one on occasion!
 
I'll say it again. WSU by doing nothing has moved two steps back while every other program in Utah has moved forward.
Utah moves into the the Pac 12
BYU moves to the WWC with the goal of Power 5 conference jump in the future
USU moves from WAC to MWC
SUU moves into the BSC
UVU moves into the WAC

Every other program has elevated their program while Weber stayed pat, content with the BSC. WSU should have championed the top BSC members into saving the WAC before it invited everyone/anyone to join. The WAC still has a higher name value.

It is going to be tougher and tougher to win in-state games as USU/BYU/Utah/UVU will all be able to recruit better players than they could in their previous conferences.
 
It might be true that Ron A would have never lost that game in the second half like that. It's also true that Ron never had the amount of talent that we have now, and may not have been able to build the big lead in the first half. One thing I do know, Ron would have tried 20 different defenses in the second half, until he found one that worked. Likewise on the offensive sets. The only other coach able to recruit the kind of talent we have now was Motta, and the rules were much different back then.

The future is bright. This team is going to be very good and we will only get better in the years to come. Yes, we need to start winning those instate games and we all want it to be right now. We will get more opportunities, lets hope we show better. :twocents:
 
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