Hurley high on Tyler Polley

[husky429]

POlley was forced to play out of position. The kid is a 3 not a 4. He got a lot better and driving to the basket last season but to all of sudden expecting him to become a rebounder is a stretch. If he becomes a little better rebounder I'd be satisfied.

Forget about position on offense. 3 and 4 are the same in this offense. The 4 will set some more screens when Hurley goes to double screen sets. Ultimately, It's about who you can defend.

Polley needs to be able to defend 3s. He wasn't able to his first two years. He even needs to defend guards if he wants to compete at the 3. Bouknight looks a lot more like a 3 in college basketball than Polley does.

Polley as a stretch 4 is fine if he keeps bulking up and commits to being a tougher rebounder. Because Akok is longer, taller, and has basically the same skill set with added shot blocking and athleticism. He'll catch up quick if Polley doesn't put in the work.

 

[Kenny11]

Considering how much went wrong last year and the team was just below .500 I won't be happy if they go .500 this season. If they don't win 19-20 games I will say they under achieved. Am I asking too much?

Not at all. They better win over 20 games. Time for low expectations to go away. This team has talent and Hurley will be in his second full season with them. Freaking USF had 24 wins last year

 

[Chief00]

Such a delicious offseason nugget of information.

It's literally the worst player who has the most room for improvement.

Quite frankly, the issue for Tyler will be if he can mentally process the game in real time so Tyler’s game appears more “instinctive”. He also needs to find that killer instinct to rebound and score the ball.

 

[Chief00]

Def gonna get more minutes this year. Also look for him (and Sid) to get more time at the 2.

LOL - SId at the two.

 

[Chief00]

Other than CV, I don’t see anyone playing in front of James at the 2 by mid December unless they play James at the 3.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Forget about position on offense. 3 and 4 are the same in this offense. The 4 will set some more screens when Hurley goes to double screen sets. Ultimately, It's about who you can defend.

Polley needs to be able to defend 3s. He wasn't able to his first two years. He even needs to defend guards if he wants to compete at the 3. Bouknight looks a lot more like a 3 in college basketball than Polley does.

Polley as a stretch 4 is fine if he keeps bulking up and commits to being a tougher rebounder. Because Akok is longer, taller, and has basically the same skill set with added shot blocking and athleticism. He'll catch up quick if Polley doesn't put in the work.

He defended McDuffie very well and did a good job on other 3s in the second half of the season. But I think Polley is primarily a 4 and is bulking up to be better at that role. I sure hope Akok catches and passes him by September.

 

[husky429]

He defended McDuffie very well and did a good job on other 3s in the second half of the season. But I think Polley is primarily a 4 and is bulking up to be better at that role. I sure hope Akok catches and passes him by September.

Yeah, if Akok makes it a tough decision who to ride at the 4.. or even forcing Hurley to play him and Akok and the 3 and 4 on the wings at times.. we are in a really good spot for the season. I would expect Akok to need some time like all freshman. He will be inconsistent.

 

[BlueMAB]

My expectations for Akok next year are lower than Polley. Akok has that NBA skill set we need, but I believe the speed of the game and the size and strength of the other teams are going to hurt his minutes due both to mismatches and foul trouble. I don't think he'll be a one and done, but I'd be happy to be wrong as he'd have to make a pretty big impact to put himself in a position to be drafted in the first round.

I expect Polley to make a similar jump in improvement to what we saw from Carlton. I defended Carlton and I'll defend Polley. There are obvious tools to work with. He just needs to put it all together, and we have the right coaching staff to help him do that.

 

[Danzz]

Forget about position on offense. 3 and 4 are the same in this offense. The 4 will set some more screens when Hurley goes to double screen sets. Ultimately, It's about who you can defend.

Polley needs to be able to defend 3s. He wasn't able to his first two years. He even needs to defend guards if he wants to compete at the 3. Bouknight looks a lot more like a 3 in college basketball than Polley does.

Polley as a stretch 4 is fine if he keeps bulking up and commits to being a tougher rebounder. Because Akok is longer, taller, and has basically the same skill set with added shot blocking and athleticism. He'll catch up quick if Polley doesn't put in the work.

Eventually we need somebody to rebound besides Josh.

 

[tzznandrew]

Not at all. They better win over 20 games. Time for low expectations to go away. This team has talent and Hurley will be in his second full season with them. Freaking USF had 24 wins last year

USF had one of the worst schedules in college basketball and only got to 20 wins (despite that!) by playing in the CBI and got their 20th win by beating Stony Brook in OT.

They are a bad comparison. Or, better yet, they are the a poster-child for why touting 20 wins is the equivalent of caring about pitching wins in baseball.