The off-season and the “preseason”. We know that Jerry has teams playing well once they get late in the season, but they’re gonna need to take care of things before that if they want to make the tournament. This year’s team was maybe a piece away from being a sure tournament team(Keonte Kennedy). But they were definitely playing like a tournament team when they had the 3 headed monster of Robbins-Lawrence-Manjon and then late season version of Wright plus Lawrence and Manjon.
We’re getting Lawrence and Manjon back, but they’re either gonna need Jordan to come back and play well all season, or go get an impact transfer who can do that. Either way they need to have a good offseason. If they only have a spot or two, gonna need to prioritize the portal, if they have a few, taking a HS guy isn’t the worst move.
Then they’re gonna need to go have a good non conference run. It’s clear that if you have a good amount of wins with a couple quality ones thrown in there it’s gonna be enough. They need to go at least 9-4 or 10-3 in the pre conference portion
I really think those two things (along with a run to LV right now in the NIT) are key for the fanbase. Jerry won back a lot of the fanbase with the late season run (evident with the good attendance late and the general attitude of the board). But that could dissipate quickly if they have a poor offseason, but especially if they have a poor non-conference run.