Official practice getting started

[ctchamps]

You have to look beyond the record. We were 16-17. We lost our backup center for the season early on. We lost our power forward for the year. Those were our two most physical players. We lost Gilbert for a significant stretch and he wasn't 100% early on. We lost Jalen for a long stretch and while he returned, he was not close to 100% when he did. We played several games with no PG at all.

Despite all that we had close losses to Arizona and #11 Florida State. The OT loss @ Cinci came on a bad call and brain fart. Lost to WSU by 2 on the road.

From a talent perspective, minus the injuries, that was a 20 win team last year. This team is quite a bit better than last year's team, if healthy. I can see 23-24 wins potentially. Much does depend on the freshmen playing meaningful minutes and AG staying on the court. But we have depth for the first time in four years.

People underestimate the loss of Yakwe. It has to be that people undervalue good defense compared to good offense.

Steve Enoch was a liability on defense but an all pro compared to Cobb. There were moments Eric helped more than hurt but they were too few.

If there are no injuries the front court is a significant upgrade over last season. My reservation is the backcourt.

I’m cautiously optimistic with the upgrade in talent with Gaffney and Bouknight. But they are freshmen. Jalen may not have carried the short handed teams to victories like Kemba but he was still the best player on the team by a lot. Tarin was not the talent we hope Gaffney to be but he had experience.

The keys for the backcourt:

Al not only has to stay healthy but needs to be significantly better than he was last season. It’s a reasonable expectation but far from a given.

CV needs to repeat his performance from last season.

Gaffney, Bouknight and Brendan have to make up for the production loss of Jalen that Al can’t accomplish.

And most important someone needs to provide Smith type minutes to run point when Al is sitting. I’m most nervous about this.

 

[superjohn]

People underestimate the loss of Yakwe. It has to be that people undervalue good defense compared to good offense.

Steve Enoch was a liability on defense but an all pro compared to Cobb. There were moments Eric helped more than hurt but they were too few.

If there are no injuries the front court is a significant upgrade over last season. My reservation is the backcourt.

I’m cautiously optimistic with the upgrade in talent with Gaffney and Bouknight. But they are freshmen. Jalen may not have carried the short handed teams to victories like Kemba but he was still the best player on the team by a lot. Tarin was not the talent we hope Gaffney to be but he had experience.

The keys for the backcourt:

Al not only has to stay healthy but needs to be significantly better than he was last season. It’s a reasonable expectation but far from a given.

CV needs to repeat his performance from last season.

Gaffney, Bouknight and Brendan have to make up for the production loss of Jalen that Al can’t accomplish.

And most important someone needs to provide Smith type minutes to run point when Al is sitting. I’m most nervous about this.

Yakwe played in a dozen games and averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds. Nice kid and played hard but if we're relying on a player like him we're in big trouble, I hope and think those days are past us.

 

[intlzncster]

Lets see how they do vs the Wagners, Maine, Stony Brooks, etc early in the season - That's been a really good bellwether in recent seasons

Need to start blowing these teams out. Though with so many young pieces, there will be still some scuffling.

 

[Edward Sargent]

People underestimate the loss of Yakwe. It has to be that people undervalue good defense compared to good offense.

Steve Enoch was a liability on defense but an all pro compared to Cobb. There were moments Eric helped more than hurt but they were too few.

If there are no injuries the front court is a significant upgrade over last season. My reservation is the backcourt.

I’m cautiously optimistic with the upgrade in talent with Gaffney and Bouknight. But they are freshmen. Jalen may not have carried the short handed teams to victories like Kemba but he was still the best player on the team by a lot. Tarin was not the talent we hope Gaffney to be but he had experience.

The keys for the backcourt:

Al not only has to stay healthy but needs to be significantly better than he was last season. It’s a reasonable expectation but far from a given.

CV needs to repeat his performance from last season.

Gaffney, Bouknight and Brendan have to make up for the production loss of Jalen that Al can’t accomplish.

And most important someone needs to provide Smith type minutes to run point when Al is sitting. I’m most nervous about this.

Yakwe hardly played

 

[ctchamps]

Yakwe played in a dozen games and averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds. Nice kid and played hard but if we're relying on a player like him we're in big trouble, I hope and think those days are past us.

His defense was significantly better than Cobb’s. He was injured all summer and couldn’t practice with the team. Started the season injured. He played injured. And in spite of all this I would have preferred him as the backup over Cobb. That’s the only point I was making. If you read the next paragraph I indicated there is a significant upgrade in talent in the front court. I would never state otherwise even if Yakwe stayed healthy and obtained his maximum potential.

But most fans would disagree with me arguing Cobb was a better player than Yakwe.

I think a chair would play better defense than Cobb. He was at a minimum a two for one guy. For every point he made he gave up double the following set of plays.

 

[ctchamps]

Yakwe hardly played

Pickings were slim when Hurley recruited him . It was known he was injured and there were no guarantees he would fully recover. The few games where he lost his rust and appeared healthy demonstrated to me he was better for the team than Eric.

 

[HuskyHawk]

People underestimate the loss of Yakwe. It has to be that people undervalue good defense compared to good offense.

Steve Enoch was a liability on defense but an all pro compared to Cobb. There were moments Eric helped more than hurt but they were too few.

If there are no injuries the front court is a significant upgrade over last season. My reservation is the backcourt.

I’m cautiously optimistic with the upgrade in talent with Gaffney and Bouknight. But they are freshmen. Jalen may not have carried the short handed teams to victories like Kemba but he was still the best player on the team by a lot. Tarin was not the talent we hope Gaffney to be but he had experience.

The keys for the backcourt:

Al not only has to stay healthy but needs to be significantly better than he was last season. It’s a reasonable expectation but far from a given.

CV needs to repeat his performance from last season.

Gaffney, Bouknight and Brendan have to make up for the production loss of Jalen that Al can’t accomplish.

And most important someone needs to provide Smith type minutes to run point when Al is sitting. I’m most nervous about this.

Yawke was beginning to play well right when he went out.

I'm less worried about the backcourt. I don't think Jalen and Gilbert ever paired well together. Jalen was never good off the ball. He creates off the dribble. He's not a strong catch and shoot 3 point shooter. Gilbert was a little better playing off the ball, but that's not his strength either.

One of my reasons for optimism is that we finally have a basketball team constructed in a way that makes sense. Look at the lineups. Even if you go to backups we had guys playing positions they were not equipped to play or defend effectively. We are now much better equipped to match up with our opponents. Look at a guy like Aubrey Dawkins at 6'6". Who did we have to defend him? Vital? Who was able to guard Yetna at USF? Polley? We faced so many mismatches all over.

2018
1. PG
2. PG
3. Small SG
4. Big wing
5. Center

2019
1. PG
2. SG
3. SF or big wing
4. PF
5. Center

 

[ctchamps]

Yawke was beginning to play well right when he went out.

I'm less worried about the backcourt. I don't think Jalen and Gilbert ever paired well together. Jalen was never good off the ball. He creates off the dribble. He's not a strong catch and shoot 3 point shooter. Gilbert was a little better playing off the ball, but that's not his strength either.

One of my reasons for optimism is that we finally have a basketball team constructed in a way that makes sense. Look at the lineups. Even if you go to backups we had guys playing positions they were not equipped to play or defend effectively. We are now much better equipped to match up with our opponents. Look at a guy like Aubrey Dawkins at 6'6". Who did we have to defend him? Vital? Who was able to guard Yetna at USF? Polley? We faced so many mismatches all over.

2018
1. PG
2. PG
3. Small SG
4. Big wing
5. Center

2019
1. PG
2. SG
3. SF or big wing
4. PF
5. Center

Totally agree that the pairing of AG and JA was not ideal. The biggest issue for me is AG. Can he stay healthy. Will he be more effective than last season? He has to be. Will he find a player he works well with other than CV?

But none of that compares to who do you have coming in for him when he's on the bench? We haven't had a freshman pg that was capable of running the show since Khalid imo. Freshman Kemba maybe came close when he was needed but his sophomore year demonstrated we were lucky we didn't need him as the primary option the year before. We have two big uncertainties in Gaffney and Brendan.

Totally agree we have a lot more options to match up with opposing teams. Everything depends how quickly key components develop.

 

[Horatio]

Yakwe played in a dozen games and averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds. Nice kid and played hard but if we're relying on a player like him we're in big trouble, I hope and think those days are past us.

Yeah, Yakwe would’ve benefited from playing a year behind our other elite big ,David Onuorah