Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="champs99and04, post: 2784260, member: 488"] I guess it depends what you mean by "fine." The coaching change should do wonders for everybody, but the front court is still kind of...bad? I don't say that to denigrate any of the players as much as I do to remain realistic about what they're going to give us at this stage in their development. Carlon had a decent freshman year relative to where he was ranked, but most kids in his mold aren't real factors until year three. We don't know if Sid is going to give us anything at the four or if he'll even play at all there given his stature. Even if he does, it'll be his first time playing college ball. Kwintin and Yakwe are complete flyers. Cobb gave us nothing last year, and even if he has transformed his body, he's logged less than 300 total minutes of D-1 action. At this point there is nothing at the four or five that has proven to be better than replacement level. Diarra is a top 150 kid entering his third year with the program who I looked at as the most ready to elevate his game. His profile is strikingly similar to Hassan Martin, who made a big jump in his second season under Hurley and developed into an all-conference caliber player. All hope is not lost since it looks like he should be able to return at some point, but to me there was something distinctly promising about Diarra compared to our other front court prospects. Long, explosive, rangy...pretty much everything you want in a college big man (he does need to bulk up). Losing him for an extended period of time is a huge blow. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach