No Coach Yet? OK, POTY And Prediction Recap

Well, all signs were pointing towards a coach announcement this week, but here we are on Thursday night watching the Kraken beating the Avs (Fear the Deep!) and no announcement yet.  Teams usually don't make announcements like a coaching hire on a Friday, unless they want it to get lost in the weekend so I'm assuming we won't hear anything until next week.  If we don't hear by a week from now eyebrows should be raised.

In the absence of a new coach lets look back at this season, if we must.  Instead of going back and looking at who I gave man of the match to each game I'm going with a gut feel for this one, mainly because there's really only 3 players in the running IMO.  

• William Yarbrough, for being the rock in the back until his injury.
• Conor Ronan, for making what little offense we had go.
• Cole Bassett, for being the Golden Boot and actually speaking some truth and caring about this club.

In the end it was that last piece that made the decision for me.  In a season where it seemed like the team just gave up in multiple games and nobody seemed to care, Bassett did.  You could see it at the final whistle of the season finale.  Losing for a fourth time to FSL, a third time in our house, to end the worst season in club history obviously hurt him.  He stood for a couple of minutes midway between the box and the center circle staring at the ground just trying to come to grips with what happened.  Even when he turned and joined the team to thank the supporters you could read the pain on his face.  Combined with some of the comments he made in post-game interviews, especially late int he season, you could tell that if anyone in the locker room cared it was him.  In a season where nobody played well, at least Cole realized it wasn't acceptable.

I won't disagree with anyone who goes with Ronan or Yarbrough.  They are certainly worthy of the award this season.

And then we get to the annual tradition of reviewing my predictions to see how badly I did.  I'll warn you this year was really bad.  But, here we go!

• Colorado, on the back of great goalkeeping from Ilic, beats a lower league side in their first USOC game but then gets eliminated by a MLS side in the next round

I'm claiming this one as accurate as we did beat a lower-league side and then got eliminated by a MLS side.  Technically it was two lower-league sides and we didn't need great goalkeeping, but close enough.

• The Rapids surprise some people and actually make it out of the group stage of the Leagues Cup, getting a draw in Nashville and beating Toluca at home.  But one knockout match is all they get

LOL, no

• We bring the Rocky Mountain Cup home by beating FSL on the last day of the season

I literally could not have been more wrong on this one

• With that win Colorado leapfrogs FSL into 7th place, avoiding the wild-card play-in game and qualifying for the playoffs

• But its one series and done again, but with the new format at lease we get a home game

I said this was going to go poorly for me...

• The summer transfer window is quiet for the Rapids, other than exercising Ilic's purchase clause.  No other major moves are made (in or out) but some depth is added

I wanted to take half credit but that seems like a stretch.  We did bring in Gutman and loaned in Navarro and Tavares (though the latter does seem like no more than a depth move) .

• By midseason Ilic will be the clear #1 in net

Ilic only became the starter because of Yarbrough's injury, though I expect he'll be the starter when we start next season.

• Diego Rubio wins the team Golden Boot with double-digit goals but less than 15

Bassett was the Golden Boot, and with significantly less than double-digit goals

• Cole Bassett is the team MVP, cementing his status as an everyday starter and getting interest from Europe again by the end of the season

Taking full credit on this one, especially as his game improved once Little took over.  I doubt he has much European interest but the rest is accurate. 

• Jack Price returns to being one of the most underrated players in the league

One of the big "what if's" of this season is Jack's injury.  Without that maybe we see a very different team.

• Maxsø is the clear defensive player of the year and makes a push for the league's best XI

I think he's better than he showed, but based on his play he's not even a definite starter right now

• Ronan and Max both struggle to claim the third starting spot in midfield, creating a rotation all season

Half credit.  Max certainly won't be a starter, and Ronan did have a dip in midseason that had Max been available would had led to a rotation I think.  Still by the end of the season he was clearly a starter.

• Cabral finds himself in Colorado and while he doesn't live up to the DP money the Galaxy paid to sign him does justify the GAM we traded to bring him here.  10 or more goals + assists this year.

Nope, not even close.  3 total goals+assists and nowhere near justifying any of his price 

• Yapi shows he's a year away still, but really looks set for a big 2024

Half credit, as Yapi might have been a year away from being a year away this season

4 out of 14 possible points.  4.5 if I want to be really generous.  I had 4.5 out of 12 last year, 5.5 of 11 the year before that, and 8 of 11 in 2020.  I'm getting worse by the season.