Maybe this is as good as it gets with Pingeton...

Posted on: March 18, 2018 at 03:17:56 CT

And if so, it's not half bad. She deserves a lot of credit for slowly, incrementally, growing the program to the point where it is consistently in the lower part of the top 25, and makes the NCAA tournament every year. That will likely continue I think. And it's a lot better than we are used to having in this program.

But maybe that is her ceiling, and we just need to accept it. Getting to the tournament, being seeded in the 5-7 range, never getting a top 16 seed and home regional, having a really difficult first round game against a much lower seeded team, sometimes barely winning in the first round (2017), and sometimes losing (2018), and never coming remotely close to surviving the first weekend.

She has had a very consistent plan for the program and follows it closely, as she makes the team in her own image and comfort zone. Players who are not very big, quick, or athletic, a guard oriented perimeter type team with generally good fundamentals. Frankly, I don't think she would have even pulled this program past a permanent NIT status if she had not been gifted with a local, once in a generation type star player that fell into her lap, Sophie Cunningham.

Taking this team to the next step, getting a top 16 seed and home regional every year and a fighting chance to make the sweet 16 may just be something RP is not capable of. To do so would require a much quicker team, a true point guard, a stronger bigger front court, and a significant upgrade in athleticism and overall talent. And that just doesn't seem to be in the works.

Next years team (hard to believe Sophie only has one more year in an amazing career) will be even smaller, more guard and perimeter oriented than this team. And my sense is even with a really strong senior class, and several highly touted first year players in Troup and Berg, our lack of size, quickness and athleticism has us trending the wrong way in a loaded and still improving SEC conference. The 4 best and most consistent programs are going to still be SC, Miss State, Tennessee, and TAMU. I think Georgia has passed us up now and will continue to do so with a quicker and more athletic team and a superior coach, and we will likely be fighting with teams like LSU, Auburn and Alabama for the middle of the conference, with improved teams at Kentucky and Florida getting ready to join the mix in the deepest and best conference in the nation.

Congrats to Coach Pingeton and the players for another very successful season. Didn't end the way we wanted or expected, with a home regional and sweet 16 run deeper into the tournament, but I'm thinking this is going to be as good as it gets, and it's a lot better than it used to be.