I have always been a huge Mick Cronin guy. I think everyone knows that. I have always been a benefit of the doubt guy too. I always give the benefit of the doubt until shown it doesn't deserve to be given. All that said, I am glad that people are starting to realize how good of a job Mick has done. In year 1 it was "Does he have enough experience as a HC?" In year 3 it was "His players haven't improved enough." In year 4 it was "His team is collapsing again in Feb/March." This year there were plenty of "Here we go again" moments. I am not saying that these weren't legitimate concerns, but I feel like some fans refused to move on from them.
One of my buddies is like this and it drives me nuts. He would send emails after every UC loss proclaiming the end of the Mick Cronin era and that if Mike Thomas had any stones, Mick would have been fired by now. After every win, he was no where to be found. When I called him out, he would go back to the same excuses about how their OCC schedule was crappy and Mick just did it to save his job. After the Georgetown win his rhetoric was "Will you be happy when we lose in the first or second round of the NCAA Tourney?" As if anyone is expecting a Final Four this year. We are all hoping for the team to play well and win some games in the tournament, but this is a process. I don't know what to expect from the team just like I don't know what to expect from some of the fans. I hope this brings the fan base together but I really think it is just going to push them farther apart. What it will do is start a tradition with a newer and younger fan base that will grow with this program and Mick Cronin. The program will be fine and will succeed under Mick Cronin, just don't expect all of the old fans back and that's ok.
