WNIT

[OrediggerPoke]

What Joe has done with the sustained success of the women's program is something to be proud of. The women's program is competitive year in and year out. The women's team has a cumulative 3.7 GPA and virtually graduates all of its players. That is unreal for any D1 program! Hell, most D1 programs have no scholarship athletes with a 3.7 GPA let alone a team average.

...then we have the men's team that wins a total of 8 games, looks to be in total disarray during games, has turned into a revolving door of players transferring out and has a player that (allegedly) punched two girls knocking one out and sending her to the hospital.

Hmm let's find reasons to complain about the women's program. Come on man.

 

[McPeachy]

What Joe has done with the sustained success of the women's program is something to be proud of. The women's program is competitive year in and year out. The women's team has a cumulative 3.7 GPA and virtually graduates all of its players. That is unreal for any D1 program! Hell, most D1 programs have no scholarship athletes with a 3.7 GPA let alone a team average.

...then we have the men's team that wins a total of 8 games, looks to be in total disarray during games, has turned into a revolving door of players transferring out and has a player that (allegedly) punched two girls knocking one out and sending her to the hospital.

Hmm let's find reasons to complain about the women's program. Come on man.

:rofl:

**Per OrediggerPoke** you are only allowed to "complain" about the MBB program!!!! You are all on notice here at Wyonation!!

I sure hope nobody (fans, Burman, boosters, etc.) are satisfied with the MBB results on the court (although they also have a solid GPA), since we are comparing, again.

Nobody is indispensable at UW in my opinion...but sure glad to know you are good with accepting being middle of the road / mediocre. Making the quarterfinals of the NIT every 12 years (with an NIT Championship we are still milking), along with the NCAA tourney once in 16 years. And those 20 win seasons in a massively watered down MWC, with the weakest of OOC schedules. How warm and fuzzy. Yeah for us!

Then again, maybe you know or understand something I don't...as in UW WBB can be no better than it is, right now, with a senior laden team, and Joe Legerski at the helm. I guess it could be worse - sure. I guess we should all feel blessed & fortunate. Thanks for making me rethink things.

 

[WestWYOPoke]

Let's be real here. Given the landscape of Women's College Basketball, the ceiling for ANY Mountain West team (not just UW) is winning the MWC Title and MAYBE winning a first-round NCAA game. Anything more than that is completely unrealistic on the Women's side. Some of you may think that is accepting mediocrity, but the chasm between the power conferences and the smaller conferences in WBB is enormous.

 

[McPeachy]

Let's be real here. Given the landscape of Women's College Basketball, the ceiling for ANY Mountain West team (not just UW) is winning the MWC Title and MAYBE winning a first-round NCAA game. Anything more than that is completely unrealistic on the Women's side. Some of you may think that is accepting mediocrity, but the chasm between the power conferences and the smaller conferences in WBB is enormous.

Although the gap is wider than the MBB side, without doubt, I disagree with your sentiments. Mentality like what you are sharing implies nothing but being satisfied with the status quo.

I bet Beth Burns would disagree with you emphatically. As (probably) would Joe himself.

 

[WestWYOPoke]

Let's be real here. Given the landscape of Women's College Basketball, the ceiling for ANY Mountain West team (not just UW) is winning the MWC Title and MAYBE winning a first-round NCAA game. Anything more than that is completely unrealistic on the Women's side. Some of you may think that is accepting mediocrity, but the chasm between the power conferences and the smaller conferences in WBB is enormous.

Although the gap is wider than the MBB side, without doubt, I disagree with your sentiments. Mentality like what you are sharing implies nothing but being satisfied with the status quo.

I bet Beth Burns would disagree with you emphatically. As (probably) would Joe himself.

Agree to disagree then...there's a reason that the Women's Final Four is always 1 and 2 seeds with the occasional 3 seed. The Top 12 teams could field their 2nd string and easily beat any MWC team.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

What Joe has done with the sustained success of the women's program is something to be proud of. The women's program is competitive year in and year out. The women's team has a cumulative 3.7 GPA and virtually graduates all of its players. That is unreal for any D1 program! Hell, most D1 programs have no scholarship athletes with a 3.7 GPA let alone a team average.

...then we have the men's team that wins a total of 8 games, looks to be in total disarray during games, has turned into a revolving door of players transferring out and has a player that (allegedly) punched two girls knocking one out and sending her to the hospital.

Hmm let's find reasons to complain about the women's program. Come on man.

:rofl:

**Per OrediggerPoke** you are only allowed to "complain" about the MBB program!!!! You are all on notice here at Wyonation!!

I sure hope nobody (fans, Burman, boosters, etc.) are satisfied with the MBB results on the court (although they also have a solid GPA), since we are comparing, again.

Nobody is indispensable at UW in my opinion...but sure glad to know you are good with accepting being middle of the road / mediocre. Making the quarterfinals of the NIT every 12 years (with an NIT Championship we are still milking), along with the NCAA tourney once in 16 years. And those 20 win seasons in a massively watered down MWC, with the weakest of OOC schedules. How warm and fuzzy. Yeah for us!

Then again, maybe you know or understand something I don't...as in UW WBB can be no better than it is, right now, with a senior laden team, and Joe Legerski at the helm. I guess it could be worse - sure. I guess we should all feel blessed & fortunate. Thanks for making me rethink things.

Sure, we all dream of National Championships and Final Fours and are disappointed with exits from the WNIT...but our fandom should be based in reality as well. As was pointed out by others, the women's team is consistently near the top of the MWC and there is a big divide between the top women's teams and conferences like the MWC.

The question becomes at the end of every season, overall has the women's team performed up to realistic expectations. The answer has to be a resounding yes from an objective standpoint.

You're disappointed that the team isn't making yearly NCAA tournament appearances, I get it...we would all love that. But what do you want the team to do? You want Joe Legerski to be forced out of the program? The reality is that such a move would likely end up with a dumpster fire of a women's basketball program in the bottom half of the MWC.

I would love to see waves at the National Level. But as a Wyoming fan, I am damn proud of the women's basketball program. I am damn proud of the wrestling team.

 

[DVDA]

Are people actually complaining about women's basketball? No one cares. Joe does a good job of fielding a respectable team and more importantly he has a bunch of outstanding young women on the roster. There are about 10 people total that care if they win or lose. They represent the university well. Don't ruin that.

 

[307bball]

Are people actually complaining about women's basketball? No one cares. Joe does a good job of fielding a respectable team and more importantly he has a bunch of outstanding young women on the roster. There are about 10 people total that care if they win or lose. They represent the university well. Don't ruin that.

I don't think the complaint is directly about women's basketball. The topic centers more around what constitutes success....there are those (myself included) that include the entire context of collegiate athletics. From that viewpoint, programs like the current Wyoming women's basketball program or the Wyoming wrestling program should be viewed as "succeeding". Success at Wyoming (or Wyoming-like schools) must be put into the context of the resources that are being expended to produce that success. If you measure the amount of resources spent on a program (not just money..also fan support, media attention, historical relevancy, and so on) and order that list from top to bottom you would see the powerhouses of that sport near the top and the also-rans near the botttom. That much is pretty easy to see. Where it gets interesting is the middle 3/5 or so of that grouping. I would love to see that list for football and men's basketball. I bet that you would find school's expending resources like mad and getting not much return in competitive results. You'll also find school's performing at a level far beyond what they expend in resources.

All this to say...Wyoming is low on any list of athletic programs sorted by resource availability. As a Wyoming fan I want "bang for my buck". Do I want to contend for national championships? Of course! Who doesn't!....it's just very unrealistic at Wyoming and Wyoming-like schools. The absolute worst thing for Wyoming athletics would be to have an attitude of "unless we are nationally relevant it is a failure". That is the path to program instability and a further slide towards complete terrible-ness. There is no such thing as historic greatness being built overnight....I was a very young cowboys fan during the late '80s and early '90s that had some great football and basketball being played. Unfortunately that has turned out to be a high water mark that has not been achieved since. I've seen Wyoming's collegiate athletics decline over the last three decades and, more importantly, the general decline of mid-tier collegiate athletics. Some feel like they know the answer....I doubt they do. If random Wyoming fan has it figured out then every athletic director in the nation better be beating his door down to get them to steer their program. Guess what ... they aren't and you are stupid if you think it has to do with "low expectations" and "loser mentality".

 

[OrediggerPoke]

Are people actually complaining about women's basketball? No one cares. Joe does a good job of fielding a respectable team and more importantly he has a bunch of outstanding young women on the roster. There are about 10 people total that care if they win or lose. They represent the university well. Don't ruin that.

I don't think the complaint is directly about women's basketball. The topic centers more around what constitutes success....there are those (myself included) that include the entire context of collegiate athletics. From that viewpoint, programs like the current Wyoming women's basketball program or the Wyoming wrestling program should be viewed as "succeeding". Success at Wyoming (or Wyoming-like schools) must be put into the context of the resources that are being expended to produce that success. If you measure the amount of resources spent on a program (not just money..also fan support, media attention, historical relevancy, and so on) and order that list from top to bottom you would see the powerhouses of that sport near the top and the also-rans near the botttom. That much is pretty easy to see. Where it gets interesting is the middle 3/5 or so of that grouping. I would love to see that list for football and men's basketball. I bet that you would find school's expending resources like mad and getting not much return in competitive results. You'll also find school's performing at a level far beyond what they expend in resources.

All this to say...Wyoming is low on any list of athletic programs sorted by resource availability. As a Wyoming fan I want "bang for my buck". Do I want to contend for national championships? Of course! Who doesn't!....it's just very unrealistic at Wyoming and Wyoming-like schools. The absolute worst thing for Wyoming athletics would be to have an attitude of "unless we are nationally relevant it is a failure". That is the path to program instability and a further slide towards complete terrible-ness. There is no such thing as historic greatness being built overnight....I was a very young cowboys fan during the late '80s and early '90s that had some great football and basketball being played. Unfortunately that has turned out to be a high water mark that has not been achieved since. I've seen Wyoming's collegiate athletics decline over the last three decades and, more importantly, the general decline of mid-tier collegiate athletics. Some feel like they know the answer....I doubt they do. If random Wyoming fan has it figured out then every athletic director in the nation better be beating his door down to get them to steer their program. Guess what ... they aren't and you are stupid if you think it has to do with "low expectations" and "loser mentality".

Very well put.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

Well some of you got your wish! Legerski retires.

I’d like to be optimistic but the likely reality is that the women’s program likely takes a huge step back.

 

[NowherePoke]

Well some of you got your wish! Legerski retires.

I’d like to be optimistic but the likely reality is that the women’s program likely takes a huge step back.

Almost certainly going to take a step back. We will likely never see a coach at UW again in any sport that combines that type of success on the court, off the court, and tenure in the role. Successful coaches will move on, most will not achieve that level of success.

Edwards and Vigen still at UW. Legerski and Hazelton gone. Not a good offseason coaching wise for the higher profile sports at UW (great to see Callihan sticking around though).

 

[LanderPoke]

Well some of you got your wish! Legerski retires.

I’d like to be optimistic but the likely reality is that the women’s program likely takes a huge step back.

Not good news at all! Joe is a fantastic coach and the program will take a huge step back.

Thanks for everything, Joe!

 

[stymeman]

I soooo remember the 1986 NIT run what a season but NCAAs will ALWAYS be the goal, no matter what sport that's all goals for a D1 program, mediocre or not