This one is a blow to our postseason aspirations. We need to start building a resume, and obviously GIA is the easiest place to do that.
A lot of people were ready to anoint Lutz as a great hire. There’s a lot of season left, and I don’t hold last season against him, but there’s a lot left that needs to be seen. We are not going to succeed in the Big XII with bad defense. Just beating the teams we’re “supposed” to beat isn’t going to get us into the tournament, but it is an improvement over the Boynton era.
I’d say Lutz is on a “C” trajectory this season, with an NIT invite in our future. Plenty of time to make changes. I remember Underwood turned the season around with some savvy changes when we were already into conference play, so there’s still chance for an “A” or “B” season, but this one hurts and has got to be a wake up call. We’ve got three more currently ranked teams at home to make a splash.