This is where it gets stupid in a hurry ...
Basically everybody that is returning either sucks or is about to be a senior with really limited options. Any decent player on this roster will be a frosh ... and hard to hold frosh accountable when there's no threat of losing playing time. And let's be honest, based on what we saw with Romar in how he handled Wroten, hard to believe that he'll be a drill sergeant regarding the little parts of the game.
Even if Romar manages to pull off an 11-7 conference team that makes the NCAAs and bows out in the First Round, the damage has already been done - has it not? He's lost one of his two main recruiters and let's be honest, it's going to be a massive challenge for him to hire a solid replacement (and this doesn't even account for whether anybody else on his staff looks at the current situation, gets a better offer, and leaves town - I'm looking at Chillious). His best player just said that he wants to keep playing college hoops, but not for the current coach. You'd have to think that the odds of landing a solid class for 2016 just went up in smoke.
Moreover, if the team has any success next year due to the frosh (particularly Murray), he's going to go pro immediately. If they don't and Romar gets fired, there's a good chance that you get guys to either jump to the pro's or seriously consider transferring. Either way, you've positioned your next coach to walk into an ugly situation with a limited roster and probably a lack of recruits. It'd basically be where Utah was when Krystowiak took over.
By taking too long to fire Romar and instead holding on until the bitter end, Woodward has basically mortgaged perhaps 1 slightly above mediocre year of basketball for probably 2-3 really shitty years at minimum to follow. While I know a certain nacho enthusiast was busy criticizing people today for comparing Romar to Tyrone, but the similarity in the situations will be that the coaching job is going to be a toxic dumpster fire for any legit coach and instead the hire will need to be someone comparable to Seven in that they are young, with limited experience, a decent sized name, and who is looking at the job as a stepping stone to a bigger job as soon as possible (think a Josh Pastner type sitting on somebody's bench right now). Perhaps Woody is thinking he got lucky once by going that route and getting a supposed upgrade in Petersen (until he proves that he's unquestionably the man, which most of us think he is, but still ...) after Seven left that he can do it again in hoops. But that's a dangerous shell game. And let's be honest, the allure of coaching the UW football program has a lot more behind it than the UW hoops program.
The good news for those of us that love basketball is that we'll be able to continue to watch hoops by rooting for the teams that play a style that we love, etc. instead of living and dying by UW hoops. The reality is that the power brokers of the program sold their soul to Romar and as a result of their misguided priorities are going to be stuck picking up the pieces of a program that will be in shambles by the time that they are ready to cut bait and enjoy their cocktails while playing golf in Walla Walla or other remote locations.
