Two of those Sit-outs will be joining the team THIS year. And, not to make an excuse, but key injuries to our starters definitely affected our record. I doubt we make it to the NCAAs last year, but this team was doing quite well (9 wins in a row) with a healthy roster - the NIT was a legitimate possibility until injuries (and DJ's personal tragedy) hit.You do all this and still finished in last place by 4 games last season?
Let's hold off judgment that the ISU way of rebuilding is a failure. There have been plenty of years to assess Mad Fran's recruiting strategy and the results haven't been very pretty for hokfan - especially considering that they were clamoring for the firing of Tom Davis because he couldn't get them to "the next level." AND, here we are, almost 2 decades later, and how has Mad Fran gotten you guys to the next level?