- After struggling out of the gate and a fairly sizable talent discrepancy left after the departure of the Final Four team, Rick's first "star" was Robert Jackson. Jackson averaged 12 and 7 as a soph, saw his production and minutes slip a bit as a junior, and then was removed from the team. Since this was Rick's first instance of program drama and since the rest of the team voted him off, Rick is largely given a pass for this one. In hindsight, Jackson was exhibit A for Rick's inability to handle egotistical basketball players. Jackson went on to average 15 and 8 for a Marquette team that made a final four run two years later.
- Jackson's heralded replacement, Tyrus Boswell, also flamed out. He never played more than 22 games in a season. He was constantly in trouble and had drug issues, but he is another example of a very talented player who was wasted as a bulldog.
- Fortunately for Stansbury, he stumbled on players around the time of this early drama that would stabilize his program for the next several years. In 2000-2001, Derrick Zimmerman was a sophomore and Timmy Bowers and Mario Austin were freshmen. He also had some glue guys like Guy Gardner, Ontario Harper, and Michael Gholar. So he had a nucleus of guys with some playing ability and good attitudes, and they set the stage for our basketball success in the early aughts. The next year saw the arrival of Winsome Frazier, and we enjoyed 4 consecutive tournament experiences.
- Basketball drama was just a memory when Mario Austin's situation took a ridiculous turn. Austin, not understanding the rules, was forced to sit until December 14 of his junior season. Though Mark Gottfried worked tirelessly to get Austin punished, the events are interesting in light of Dee Bost this year.
- It appeared State was in for a bit of a lull when Stansbury got Lawrence Roberts to transfer in, after an impossible chain of events allowed him to transfer directly from Baylor. Stansbury deserves a ton of credit for getting Roberts. He left his family vacation to recruit him. Roberts carried the program from the next two years.
- After Timmy Bowers left in 2004, things were never the same. Ervin tried to quit the team as a sophomore, and finally did transfer as a junior. Stansbury was forced to give him a release to play for one of our biggest basketball rivals when Ervin threatened to go to the compliance department. Ervin was and still is one of the most hated former State players of all time.
- 2005 also saw the arrival of Charles Rhodes, Walter Sharpe, and Jerrell Houston. Sharpe was a huge headcase and finally was kicked off the team. Houston left for some reason, and Rhodes tried to quit the team and played like a baby until the second half of his senior year when he was finally the dominant force that he should've been the entire time. 2005 was also the senior year of Big Feces, who never amounted to anything, despite having great size.
- It is fun to begin examining rosters in 2006. That was the 15-15 team. Notable additions were Reginald and Richard Delk and Vernon Goodridge. 2006-2007 saw the addition of Ben Hansborough, Jarvis Varnado, and Barry Stewart.
- The next year saw the transfer of the Delk twins. Both players were strong defenders and hustled. Rick couldn't keep them happy and they left. After they left, they were treated as pre madonnas and egomaniacs with an insane father when neither played that way while they were here. They had played a lot of minutes and their transfer hurt because of the experience they gained that should've paid future dividends. Meanwhile, Rick was signing Kodi Augustus and Ravern Johnson and bringing them into this environment. Also, highly touted recruit Vernon Goodridge left and never amounted to anything.
- Then, Ben Hansborough left. Rick obviously negotiated a backroom deal with Ben to publicly blame his transfer on a lack of a practice facility, but that was obviously superficial. Like the Delks, Ben had played a ton of minutes and had saved the critical game against South Carolina on the road as a sophomore that Jamont Gordon also blew for us, by hitting 3 free throws as time expired to send it to overtime, where we won. Had we not won that game, making the tournament would've been very difficult. Again, the player was blamed. This time, an overzealous Daddy was responsible. Nevermind that Ben had hustled and played hard the entire time he was here. Nevermind that his brother is known as one of the gutsiest college basketball players in the history of the game.
- Jamont Gordon had run the team for 3 years. This was also the era of Jamont always taking the last shot in a game even though everybody on both sides of the court knew that was coming.
- Romero Osby was a freshman the next year, as was Dee Bost. The team was led by Jarvis and Barry who played their guts out and carried the program, though neither were talented enough to carry it very far.
- And then comes last year. We lose to Rider, Kodi blasts Rick and embarrasses the program. Ravern pouts and misses the UK game which we barely lose, which would've put us in the tournament. Osby leaves. Turner, again a hustle guy, and a strong defender, is not allowed back. And we embark on the season long Renardo Sidney saga. There is no communication between Bost and STansbury at the end of the year, and he costs himself half of a season and probably costs the team at least 2 of the 4 losses at this point. We learn near the conclusion of the season that Sidney will miss the first nine games of the following year. It is understood for almost a year when Sidney's first game will be.
- We are terrible. We have no hustle guy since Turner was not let back on the team. Sidney, inexplicably, is out of shape and can't even help the team, despite having a date circled on his calendar for almost a year. He gets into a fight/cusses the coach and garners a one game suspension. Kodi tweets complaining about practice, calling the coach an "F" and this happens between losing by 31 and 26 to two very average teams
- Nonconference losses. WSU, Va Tech, East TN State, Florida Atlantic, North Carolina, Western Kentucky, Richmond, Rider, Washington (good team), San Diego, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Texas Tech, Washington State, Memphis (good team), South Alabama, Miami, Miami (OH), Southern Illinois, Clemson, West Virginia (good team), Missouri, George Mason, Clemson, Winthrop. Those go back to, but do not include the 15-15 season.
Question. Why in the hell does anybody want to continue this? Is the trend not absolutely obvious?