...I'm curious as to what you guys would like to see, what you think should happen, and what you think will happen.

I think a loss like this could be beneficial in certain ways. It's the kind of wake-up call that will force the staff to go back to the drawing board and reevaluate everything, which, IMO, is a good thing. My main hopes:

1. I've been fairly vocal this season about how I thought we should have been grooming Austin Rivers to run the show as a Nolan Smith-style lead guard (my reasoning). Now, after seeing Austin post-game and considering his situation, I think it could be beneficial for all parties if he return, assuming the staff would start drilling him on the point guard position starting this Monday. Austin is projected as the #16 pick by the most reputable site, currently, and that was before his late-season slump. What position would a GM even be drafting him at right now?

So basically, I hope Austin stays, K immediately names him a co-captain with Cook, and we hand him the reigns at the 1.

2. The other thing I've been fairly vocal about is how I thought it was a mistake to just put our most skilled offensive players on the floor, rather than building from defense-out (my alternate proposal, my reasoning).

Hopefully the staff will prioritize defense, rebounding, and getting to the rim higher than they did this year. I'm not sure if Gbinije will be the guy (or if he'll even be here), but I'm really hoping the positive progress reports for Murphy continue through the summer and he takes over the starting SF spot early on.

If we have Murphy at the 3 and Rivers at the pseudo-1, with SRs Mason and Ryan in the frontcourt, I don't really even care who's at the 2. Maybe Seth or Dawkins if they get their heads on straight, maybe Thornton if he can really become a Bruce Bowen-like 3-point shooter over the summer. That gives us a very solid defensive perimeter, solid rebounding, solid shooting, and several players who can get to the rim. Those are the kind of fundamentals that good basketball teams are made of.

3. I hope Mason stays, obviously. Not much reasoning needed here; we'll need him, badly, and I don't think his last few months have scouts salivating. If he returns, our frontcourt goes from a major, major question mark to easily one of the best, most experienced in the country.

4. Lastly, I hope few guys have their come-to-Jesus moment. A big problem this year was chemistry and attitude, whether it's publicly acknowledged or not. All of these X's and O's issues don't mean much if we don't have a group of guys who are all in and absolutely committed to winning and improving as a team; I want next year's team to belong to Thornton and Rivers, and if anyone thinks they're too cool to give as much as those two do every time they're on the court, they're free to go elsewhere. Harsh, but necessary, IMO.

Anyway, I'm actually very hopeful for the future, but I really this slap in the face jolts us into making some changes. What do you guys think?