This is the critical argument. Carmody et al did indeed bring in some really good players--but never enough of them at one time to have competitive depth. That was always the rub. Seasons were continually crushed with one or two critical injuries. For every John Shurna, Juice Thompson, Kevin Coble, Drew Crawford or Jershon Cobb, there were always guys on the bench (some who we even had to rely on for spot playing time) who really had no place on a B1G team.
Going into 2017-18, we have probably the best group of returning starters in program history with BMac, Lindsey, Law and Pardon... But what is perhaps more impressive is that fact that the roster is rounded out by former top 150 recruits in Ivanauskas, Falzon, Benson, Gaines (and redshirt Turner) plus a couple solid veterans in Skelly (18 mpg) and Brown (15 mpg). Even Jordan Ash, who hasn't been much of a contributor to date, had offers from Iowa and Purdue.
