As with any discussion, objectively evaluating the Pacers’ 2022-2023 season requires a healthy dose of context, but you don’t have to stare hard to see a clear, upward trajectory for the franchise.
In each of the last three offseasons, the Colts have spent their time and draft capital sifting through veteran cast-offs instead of aggressively pursuing long-term solutions at the position.
Every college basketball fan in this state knows that the NCAA Tournament has been especially unkind to Purdue, but then again, it is rarely kind to anyone.
Added late in the summer of 2014 after the abrupt resignation of Curt Miller, Moren took over as head coach in Bloomington with little fanfare.
Critical decisions on additions and subtractions loom, and if those decisions fail, it won’t matter if Steichen is the second coming of Vince Lombardi, Nick Saban or John freaking Wooden.
While highly regarded heading into the 2022-2023 campaign, the Giants didn’t have a blue-chip prospect like defending champion Cathedral’s Xavier Booker (the No. 8 player in the class of 2023, according to 247Sports.com), nor the recent pedigree of Carmel (two 4A championships in three state-finals appearances since 2018), to lean on, but what they did have is experience, depth and a healthy dose of athleticism.
The expansive search, a list that has included 14 names over the course of the past month, has given a whole new meaning to the word expansive.
For a team that canned its head coach in the middle of the season and benched three different quarterbacks four different times, many have been asking what fate awaits General Manager Chris Ballard.
And despite starting every game his first two seasons at Florida, the only major statistical category Nembhard came close to leading on the team was assists—helping others get buckets.
In the time of year that is supposed to bring joy and glad tidings, this season brings Colts fans neither. It’s like this franchise is stuck in the chimney, with a fire roaring under its snow boots.
