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cincyguy13 said:
Maybe brannen is fine. Maybe these guys are actually struggling. I don’t understand why we are the only team in America where half our team is opting out though. Or maybe brannen is a maniac. I really have no idea. I don’t understand why dejulius wouldn’t play a game tomorrow. He’ll prob be on campus right? Why not play? Confusing
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At this point, there are two diametrically opposed explanations.

One is that Brannen is a maniac, that his coaching style is hard for players to deal with and they eventually reach a breaking point and say enough is enough. That would explain the sudden departures with timing that doesn't make a lot of sense.

The other is that Brannen is unusually supportive of opt outs. Let's players know that their mental health is more important than the team, that they will be welcome back no matter what.

We won't know which case it is until this Spring. If the majority of players come back, we can guess that latter. If the majority (especially someone like DD who seems all in and would have to sit a year if he transferred) transfer, then Brannen is probably the problem.
 
skyblade said:
At this point, there are two diametrically opposed explanations.

One is that Brannen is a maniac, that his coaching style is hard for players to deal with and they eventually reach a breaking point and say enough is enough. That would explain the sudden departures with timing that doesn't make a lot of sense.

The other is that Brannen is unusually supportive of opt outs. Let's players know that their mental health is more important than the team, that they will be welcome back no matter what.

We won't know which case it is until this Spring. If the majority of players come back, we can guess that latter. If the majority (especially someone like DD who seems all in and would have to sit a year if he transferred) transfer, then Brannen is probably the problem.
Click to expand...

If he is a maniac, I’m not sure what would have change from last night after a win. I doubt he was yelling at the guys after a last second win but who knows.

Maybe the school or brannen approach the pandemic wrong. Maybe they have let the kid do anything except basketball. I have no idea. Just a theory. Just wondering why we are the only schools having multiple people quit.
 
Just guessing. Madsen goes from BMOC and playing a sport he loves to getting little playing time and not big man anymore.

Zach was likely playing time frustration

Rap playing time and position

Dou was combination of COVID with baby, playing time
 
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If this season is that hard for kids at UC, why even finish the season? Why not just call it quits for the sake of the players?

When brannen said he needs to help players find joy in the day to day grind I think it was a realization that occurred far too late.

I knew the experience was awful for college kids. I always questioned even having the season.it’s even worse with no fans to motivate you.

I just don’t see the point of even putting these kids through the AAC tourney. Opt out after senior day
 
cincyguy13 said:
If he is a maniac, I’m not sure what would have change from last night after a win. I doubt he was yelling at the guys after a last second win but who knows.

Maybe the school or brannen approach the pandemic wrong. Maybe they have let the kid do anything except basketball. I have no idea. Just a theory. Just wondering why we are the only schools having multiple people quit.
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If we are going with the Brannen is a monster hypothesis, there are two things that I can think of that could have tipped DD over the edge. One is Brannen went to the old Cronin "give your best player the ball and get out of the way" offense. He had Keith playing PG late in the game. Perhaps DD did not like that. The second is maybe Brannen finally told DD that he can't be taking jumpers with his shooting percentage.

If we are going with the Brannen is very sensitive towards mental health hypothesis, I suppose there are any number of things that could have made DD decide he's done. Perhaps something personnel, perhaps frustrating with himself over his shooting, there are so many options it's hard to speculate.

If we're looking at a selfish stand-point, DD's opt out could be because he wants to be able to get a waiver for immediate eligibility due to mental health if he transfers.

Spring will hopefully bring clarity.
 
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The scary thing with all these opt outs, is that these players are going to be looking at each other and Brannen's recruiting when determining if they want to return.

Maybe Brannen isn't a monster, but maybe Gabe or DD (who seem likely to return) look at next years roster and decide to transfer because they don't see an NCAA tournament team.

Maybe recruiting becomes more difficult because Brannen doesn't know who will return, so recruits don't know how much playing time they will get. Maybe they look at all the opt outs and fear they might be walking into a disaster.

In other words, maybe Brannen is a good coach who has just gotten unlucky. Even in that case, he may be in trouble because of how having so many opt outs (and mid-season transfers) looks to recruits.

Record for the rest of this season doesn't matter at this point. At this point it's about Brannen keeping the remaining players on the team and making the team into something that recruits and currently opted out players (not to mention guys still on the team) believe in and want to play for next year.
 
justinhub2003 said:
If this season is that hard for kids at UC, why even finish the season? Why not just call it quits for the sake of the players?

When brannen said he needs to help players find joy in the day to day grind I think it was a realization that occurred far too late.

I knew the experience was awful for college kids. I always questioned even having the season.it’s even worse with no fans to motivate you.

I just don’t see the point of even putting these kids through the AAC tourney. Opt out after senior day
Click to expand...

College.. hanging with the fellas playing video games and hooping all day. Sounds rough.
 
skyblade said:
The scary thing with all these opt outs, is that these players are going to be looking at each other and Brannen's recruiting when determining if they want to return.

Maybe Brannen isn't a monster, but maybe Gabe or DD (who seem likely to return) look at next years roster and decide to transfer because they don't see an NCAA tournament team.

Maybe recruiting becomes more difficult because Brannen doesn't know who will return, so recruits don't know how much playing time they will get. Maybe they look at all the opt outs and fear they might be walking into a disaster.

In other words, maybe Brannen is a good coach who has just gotten unlucky. Even in that case, he may be in trouble because of how having so many opt outs (and mid-season transfers) looks to recruits.

Record for the rest of this season doesn't matter at this point. At this point it's about Brannen keeping the remaining players on the team and making the team into something that recruits and currently opted out players (not to mention guys still on the team) believe in and want to play for next year.
Click to expand...

I think we might be overthinking this. Right now not a lot of info. Not sure I am buying in on maniac. Control freak? Sure. Most coaches are. But there are likely scenarios for opt outs that are outside of our hypothesis. Best to just relax and wait for details
 

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