Pitching is not the biggest problem. We had the best ERA in the Sunbelt again. Our problem is defense and long stretches of terrible hitting. We finished 10th in the Sunbelt in hitting and 7th in fielding. How many games did we have less the 5 hits? Way too many.
GEAUX UL!
So what is potential??
That seems to be the question being tossed around so let's define it?
Since we went to one CWS does that mean that we have "potential" to keep that up?
What about our budget. We have a budget for Go-Cart racing should we expect to win the Indy 500?
Baseball was recently listed as a revenue generating sport by the NCAA joining the ranks of Football and men's basketball. Lots of teams are spending millions on their programs to improve them.
IF all we had to do was go hire a good cheap headcoach don't you think everyone would have done that by now?
The point is that if you study this game in depth what you will find is that UL is OVER achieving in baseball. We have far exceeded our potential for a long time. It wasn't because of our facilities, or money, it was because of coaching and kids on the field.
It isn't that Robe is beyond being talked about it is because that isn't our problem. It is almost impossible to find any college coach that hasn't hit a bad period with his teams in a fifteen year time period. It is also nearly impossible to find a coach with the credentials as ours.
So back to that potential thing. What is our potential? If you brought an outsider in and said look at our facilities, look at our budget, look at everything we have to offer. Where can we expect to finish on average in Div 1 baseball?
SideNote: Money is becoming a huge issue as noted by the NCAA designation of revenue generating sport. Nothing will keep us from seeing a downward spiral in baseball if we don't infuse some major money into this program in short manner. I'm not talking about getting on top I'm just talking about keeping up.
We will have to agree to disagree on our "potential".
Out of 302 current Div 1 teams only six teams have made a regional every year over the past ten years (through 2008). Ony thirteen teams in history have made more than ten consecutive regionals.
Since the era of the Super Regional (ten years now) only twenty two teams have made three or more Super Regionals. The Cajuns were within one game of joining that elite group two years ago but came up short.
Not a knock on our program but I just don't think we have the potential to be at a level where we reach a regional every year. Were talking Miami, Florida St., Texas, Clemson.
IF we put some money into our program I think we have the potential to possible reach a regional 2 out of every 3 years but would realistically love to see us in a regional every other year.
Keep in mind I'm not talking about what I wish we would do. I'm talking about what I realistically think this school can expect to do on the topside.
SideNote: MT looks to have gotten a pretty good regional draw and I don't think WKU did too bad either. Good luck to both these teams.
I think Robe should make some changes... yes. He needs to take a little time and think about what kind of things got former players to take care of their business. Those kind of "changes" are definitely acceptable. And before anyone slams me... I do not think Robe is a fixture that cannot be changed out. I simply think UL is not above the man or his skills. The admin's apathy toward athletics for decades has also cost Robe. If you do not think so, you are not very intelligent.
When you need to run for a living and your left arm, right foot, and left knee are broken... you don't go scheduling surgery on a sore right arm. It could be that right arm is over-compensating for a body in complete disrepair. If we get the whole body healthy, I think Robe can still take us places in baseball. JMO
I would say that Virginia is none too happy with their draw. This made no sense at all. Virginia had a strong case for a #1 seed (in fact, I thought they should be the #1 seed at East Carolina) with their RPI (which rules the committee thinking more than ever) and their ACC Tournament Championship. So, what does the NCAA do? They send them across the country to Irvine (a national seed that deserved a Top 4 national seed) where they get Stephen Strasburg in the opening round.
Brian
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