I’m hoping we can do what Auburn did...

Posted on: July 13, 2023 at 22:45:46 CT

They were really awful, went 7-22, 1-17 in the SEC in 2019. Then hired the Southern Cal coach, and he has turned the program around in a very short time. Throw out the 2020 Covid season (his first year) where they folded up shop early after starting 0-8, they went 13-15, 5-13 in his first full season in 2021, then last year they were the surprise team in the SEC, went 22-9, 10-8, finished 6th in the SEC, made the NCAA tourney, and went on the road and beat national seed Creighton before falling just short of the Sweet 16 in a 3-2 loss to a good Houston team.

So it can be done in a pretty short period of time. I’m not saying we will be competing for the top 4 in the SEC in Dawn Sullivan’s first year, but there is no reason we can’t be in the mix for the 6-8 range and perhaps compete for an NCAA bid. Maybe that’s overly optimistic, maybe not. There is decent size on this team, a lot depends on finding the right combinations and chemistry, given how many new players are here for the first time. But Sullivan has done as good a job as possible in a short period of time in recruiting and hitting the portal and she has some intriguing pieces to choose from.

Pretty much playing with house money this year, no one expects this team to do much of anything after going 4-32 in the SEC the last two seasons. If Sullivan is as good as I’m hearing, she will put that to good use and have them playing with a chip on their shoulders to prove something.