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It's only year 2 for Acker but he had a wing problem last year too. That was my issue with the portal class last spring, that he recruited a bunch of smallish guards and big guys, but virtually nothing in between.
Right now we're caught in a bad cycle. We can't afford to "pay" for better players from the portal so our teams don't win. By not winning, we draw pathetic crowds and therefore generating low revenues from attendance. Lack of winning also discourages loyal fans from buying season tickets and donating funds to the athletic program. I know Jane approved a student fee increase which was supposed to augment the scholarship fund but more income is needed.
Although I hate the idea of "body bag games", that might be the only way for our program to generate a big increase in revenue. Unlike the CDM contract, the extra guarantees wouldn't go to Acker's pockets, but to the athletic program to support scholarships or if it's legal, share the surplus revenue with the players.
It's difficult to watch us lose by 50+ points to blue blood schools, but we're now losing to lesser P4 and higher level mid-majors by 20+ plus (32 point loss to SDSU, 20 point loss to Fresno, 20 point loss to Portland, 31 point loss to ISU). I think I'd rather see them get creamed by 50+ to blue blood schools if we're getting a large payout. If you think we're going to get out of this bad cycle by just having one winning season, I don't think it will solve anything. The key players to that winning season will leave through the portal and we're back to not having funds to buy better players from the portal.
Clearly to me, generating revenue is the biggest issue and it's not coming from game attendance or donations for the foreseeable future. Previous Message
overall the glaring hole this year has been the wings
Farrell & Bender have never emerged as a reliable 3rd scorer
Bender had the game Beach has needed all year vs. Northridge, Still he's shown more
the real head scratcher during this stretch
Farrell - there must be something in practice Acker sees, that never happens in games, and I have no idea what it is. His shooting is downright horrible. He played 21 minutes vs. Irvine in spite of not contributing. & to follow that up he then STARTED vs. Northridge, and on the court mostly that start that got the team in a hole. It's like Acker must keep thinking despite what is crystal clear he struggles to deliver in a game maybe Acker likes athleticsm for athleticsm sake? Hard to bag on the kid, I'm sure he is a good kid, just players have to perform
then 2nd is this 'formula' that Lewis and Diaz only play 20 minutes a game, it's like the coaches are keeping track to make sure either does not play too much or too little. Lewis has grown, and simply do not understand why both haven't taken more of Farrell's minutes with Diaz more at the point. granted DIaz and Lewis are not lights out shooters and Diaz bricked a wide open critical 3 last night. but why not have Lewis play some at that 2 or 3. I do not get it.
in prior years, the only key player we'd lose is Bender.
the team would want to add some athletic wing that can shoot! ha, good luck.
just hard to expect it will be nearly that easy.
I think there might be less turnover than we think but who knows. I do not see a true impact player except Sykes and Sykes needs a huge amount of work on his defense. Petar, just he has a role at Long Beach not sure he could duplicate anywhere else. and he complains way too much, in part he gets beat up a bit being doubled all the time
oh well, only 4 more games and the misery is over, hopefully beat Bake to stay out of the cellar. just crazy this team has been in position to bat almost all the top teams and multiple chances and can't execute in the crunch
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on 2/23/2026, 11:39 am, in reply to "