I was going to mention this if no one else did. We had what could have been the team's two best players sidelined for the entire season, and went 9-9 in the Big Ten. We lost four Big Ten games by three points or less, including one point home losses to Big Ten co-champs Michigan State and Purdue. With those two we could have certainly competed for a Big Ten title, not to mention we were without Al Nolen for most of Big Ten play. And who knows what we could have accomplished the next year if Al Nolen, Justin Cobbs, Devoe Joseph, Mo Walker, Paul Carter, and Royce White had been at school and able to play. We were doing pretty darn good that year with just two of those guys, then we lost two upperclassmen point guard options in the span of about a week and it all went downhill from there.
The reason I defend Tubby is because he really seemed to have us set up for success in his third and fourth seasons, but it didn't work out largely because of things that were outside of his control. Two or three tournament wins in those years gives you something to build off of and sell to better recruits.
