Generally, we are the "authors" of "content" around here - "here" being a blog and not a message board. Recognize, we do, that you've come here not to contribute, but to consume. Nevertheless, there is the sporadic occasion where, either for our benefit or for to exercise the thinkifiers of the masses, we ask you a question. Today's question is ...
Would a return to the NIT Final Four change - for better or worse - your perceptions of whether or not this season was "successful?"
There is no need to recount the myriad advantages that many expected could propel the Ole Miss Men's basketball team to its first NCAA Tournament since 2002. Needless to say, optimism ran rampant, and at times many Rebel fans, the author included, were shopping for comfy shoes in expectation of casting off our recent Baptist abstentions.
Then February happened.
Now, the sub-post-season has brought one of those things - an aggressive, successful Terrico White - many of us knew the lack of which was hindering our success. In addition, we finally beat a team that had, at least, sniffed the NCAA tournament (not to mention an arguable rival). Not to mention that 24 wins will tie Kennedy's high as an Ole Miss coach, which is also the second-highest single-season win total in Ole Miss history.
Compared in a vacuum to the previous four seasons before his arrival, Kennedy's 2010 campaign is an unquestioned success. It is so even compared to the traditional success of the Ole Miss basketball program. I keep telling myself this, but I still have those same sinking feelings of not success.
But this should not be confused with looking to ditch Andy Kennedy. Let's be clear - I am not asking any of you to tell me how many years Coach Kennedy has or to issue your e-ultimatums. Furthermore, I assume that all of you considered that this season was not a success in the wake of our loss to Tennessee (feel free to speak up, otherwise). I just want to know if anything can change that. Short of getting an elusive win over our in-state rivals to end their season in the sub-post-season tournament (a possibility robbed of us by those darned Tar Heels), my answer is, "no."