The board used to have a meltdown after every loss. Justin is a little overboard, but some criticism is valid. Infinite positivity is almost as bad as the meltdowns.
Last year, the team looked like they would have won had Jarron played more minutes. They also played better in the second half.
This year, Jarron played the whole game, but wasn't as involved as we are used to. We lost the second half badly and even though it was close, a comeback seemed unlikely.
Brannen needs to be successful this year, because next year is going to be a down year - we will be very young. Cronin was given extra time because he walked into a mess. Brannen walked into a great team, but was unable to keep them all together.
He did have the opportunity to get replacements though and also kept 3 of the core 4. Even without Brooks, I am positive Cronin would have taken this team to the NCAA tournament (with Diarra/Nsoseme at center and a lot of isoball featuring Jarron). If we fail to make the NCAA tournament this year, I think it is very valid to question Brannen.
But for the first game of the season, it's too early. Like it was too early last after the OSU loss and many said we weren't an NCAA team.
We played a tough team and didn't look very good. But it's early in the season and we have plenty of room to improve. I'm waiting to see how we look when conference play starts before I make too many judgements.
Though I do think we need to start playing small ball. Our 7-footers (especially Sorolla) are not high-major level players.