In Reply to: Re: Completely agree, with one addition posted by jerseybruin on January 07, 2026 at 08:39:17
The current complaint is the kids are moving around toooo much. Right?
To me, Cronin and Booker are like a bad marriage. Cronin is the young lady who sees a guy with some nice qualities, but isn't really husband material. He's someone's husband material, but not what she's really looking for. She thinks, "well, he has these attributes, the rest, I can change." Well, that often doesn't work out. The guy is who he is.
Under the current system, Cronin can take a flyer on Booker, who was clearly not what we needed, and think "I can change him." There's little to no risk. So he goes after Booker, fails at changing him, and next year Booker's at another school. If bringing in Booker meant either a) a two-year commitment, b) paying Booker a buyout to get him off the books, Cronin probably would not have brought him in and paid him 2.1 million bucks, if that's what it is. And, do you think he would have paid MSU a buyout to obtain him? That would have been stupid. Maybe we still have William Kyle 3, who apparently would be much more useful this season than Booker.
And, deals can be cut. Booker comes in this season, realizes he's not going to play next. A mid-major is interested in the second coming of Brad Sellers. Tell, Booker, you can ride pine here next year, or we'll let you go on a free transfer if you can find somewhere to play. If Booker wanted to get paid 2.1 million to ride pine and get the greatest education in the land, then you lost out. But, again, if there were 2 year contracts, you probably wouldn't have picked him up in the first place.
You'd either have William Kyle III still on the roster, or you'd be recruiting HS big men harder and trying to develop them, rather than playing roster Yahtzee every season.