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I think it would be worth a try.
Satellite photos would also be useful, one would think.
I'm not so quick to dismiss the apartment fire in Dallas, that started just before the shuttle came overhead, anymore either.
You also have to think the smaller pieces over the western states may have burned up before hitting earth.

I have not followed the entire discussion. Is it really true there was no alternative at all to attempting re-entry with the crew on board?

Not enough fuel to reach the ISS?

No means of transferring crew without the docking adapter in the cargo bay?

It seems like a lousy choice, and it almost seems like NASA collectively closed their eyes and decided to hope. They had two weeks to diagnose a problem. They probably had technical means to do it in some way, using either ground-based imaging, satellite imaging, or the ISS.

If they found damage, they would have to improvise like hell to do something with that knowledge, with no guarantee of success.

I would prefer to know how bad my situation is. NASA may have made a different choice re the shuttle. Now they will be judged with hindsight. I wonder if that is the better outcome.

You also have to think the smaller pieces over the western states may have burned up before hitting earth.

Tiles burn up? Someone made the same mistake a day or two ago and I let it slip on by. Early drop off of tiles would certainly survive and fall to earth even as early as California.