Fred? It would be unusual in today’s college basketball for all starters to be filled that far out. The top teams are generally able to plug a hole in the the previous two offseasons. We added Holden.
Young hurt his hand, but we really should have gone all in on him from the beginning. He went from effectively DNPs to 30+ minutes in two games.
That team was made to go further than the second round. Then again, basically every year has ended prematurely via close losses (2012-13, 2014-15, 2016-17, 2018-19) or bad draws (2011-12) or horrible breaks (2013-14). We’ve had some really ******* horrible luck in the tournament.
I am not saying Fred needed to have such omniscience about the state of the roster four years out when he took commitments from Morris and Thomas. I was saying that it would have been
extremely convenient to work out such that we had an experienced big man in the same class as those two excellent guards, though, and add that hypothetical post to an extra year with Naz and finding Burton equals an excellent team. That gives you something behind Georges and McKay the previous year, allows you to bring Solomon along slowly the next year/not rely on him so quickly, and not have to take a shot on a guy like Holden who did not belong in the Big 12 (or Bowie, a 3-4, not a big man).
I agree with the rest of your point, though. We have had teams good enough to make deep runs every year since 2011-2012 save for 2017-2018, and even that team at its best could take on some good teams (see the wins against very good Texas Tech and West Virginia teams) and might have accomplished more without some rotten luck on injuries. The secret to success with the NCAA tournament is simply more whacks at the piñata. We had some good shots, but we swung and missed. That Purdue game really hurt.
Keep making it, though, and one of these years and you think it works out.