Ye olde 'fire David Carter' contingent

Ah, timing is everything. Maybe it's the PTW curse striking once again as we've been working on this piece for about a week and alas, PTW has updated the Wolf Pack W-L record.

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Fire David Carter, he doesn't have what it takes! 13-19, 8-8 is the evidence, case closed.

Such was the sentiment of some Nevada basketball fans after last season.

So either Coach Carter obtained a get-smart-quickly post-season booster shot since he's currently helming a 19-4, 8-1 squad or certain Wolf Pack aficionados were incorrect in their assessment.

The best coaches make the effort to annually add to their skills sets but even Carter would say such isn't the primary reason for the W-L improvement.

The real reason: experience.

Not necessarily his.

Last season was the initial college playing time for Deonte Burton and also Jerry Evans, Jordan Burris, Kevin Panzer, Jordan Finn and Devonte Elliott.

Plus, Olek Czyz became eligible in January, this after playing very little in two seasons with Duke and then sitting out a year

Malik Story was just a sophomore and coming off a year of inactivity due to his transfer.

Yes, Dario Hunt was a veteran and his demonstrated improvement was certainly a plus.

Let's call 2010-11 a year of growing, growing green.

It's a fact of basketball life that you can't teach experience -- it travels at its own pace, it's arrival unique to each individual.

John Wooden, Dean Smith, Coach K -- you fill in the name -- there is no coach who consistently wins with a freshman or even underclassmen dominated roster.

That's reality.

One barometer actually useful for checking coaching acumen is player improvement. Not to take anything away from the hard work of the individuals involved but Burton, Story and Czyz have each demonstrated marked improvement since last season and some degree of acknowledgment has to go to the Nevada coaching staff for these upgrades.

It actually would have been a tragedy of sorts had Nevada changed coaches (which wasn't on the agenda of any of the critical administrative people in Reno) because any new coach would have inherited the harvest of Carter and Company.

A certain segment of fans live in the moment and that oftentimes warps judgment. Such was the case here.

So which new Carter acolytes have been posting mea culpas on the Wolf Pack message boards? (or will Nevada's Saturday home loss to Idaho feed their inner demons?)