Watching the Big East

[JB75]

Only one who I really like is a AG And vital a little bit

 

[JB75]

*** sorry for blowing up the board. CANT box out

 

[Towney007]

Me too. When I said I would be happy with 18 wins preseason, I meant it. The 3-4 year rebuild is has always been my imagined road map.

The diff between us and others is we are starting from a much, much lower place than most anyone else.

I mean even rose colored glasses, my take was:

Guard depth is pretty good. We should get by so long as Adams is Adams. Gilbert is a first year player for all intents and purposes who is also coming off an injury so anyone thinking of him being anything than a question mark seemed like a massive leap to me. I was optimistic about Smith and thought BAdams was going to be used more than he has.

Outside of that - literally everyone on the roster was a question mark. Cobb was a JUCO transfer who was just coming off a nice summer of tweeting and being intermitedly thrown off the team last year. Carlton was the least freshman-y guy of the group so everyone was excited about him for whatever reason. Polley and Vital come with strokes of being great, but they never have and still can't string good performances together game after game. Diarra is injured.

And then Wilson was a transfer. And you know me and my take on transfers. Transfers are transfers for a reason. Sometimes that reason is fine and makes sense. But the overwhelming majority of them have something up where they didn't click with coaches, had attitude problems, academic problems, work ethic issues, whined about their playing time.... my thing is it's ALWAYS something and something for a reason. And while we've seen mostly good stuff from him, we did see some transferitis in him, too.

Like if EVERYTHING clicked, sure - you're looking at a bubble team. And I mean EVERYTHING.

But I don't know how on earth, unless you're just hammered on the homer sauce, that you can look at a roster like that and say YEP TOURNAMENT CONTENDER.

20 wins is a big accomplishment for this group. Ollie destroyed this place. And it's going to take 2-3 years worth of solid recruiting to get back on a path of success.

 

[HooperScooper]

This team has the worst possible combo u wud want in players: soft, no hustle, no explosiveness, can’t play d, can’t shoot, no desire, can’t make free throws , can box out, numerous turnovers , minimal b-ball iq, no physical prowess, no desire to hit weight room. It’s actually shocking how bad it is.

I think you're being overly dramatic.

I do think they hustle and are trying. No desire to hit the weight room? I doubt Hurley and Sal let them slide on this.

They're just not that talented. Multiple reasons for that but I do think they're trying.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think you're being overly dramatic.

I do think they hustle and are trying. No desire to hit the weight room? I doubt Hurley and Sal let them slide on this.

They're just not that talented. Multiple reasons for that but I do think they're trying.

Yeah, I don't get the no effort tag. I saw guys drenched in sweat the last two games. I am not sure anybody even perspired a little last year. They are playing hard.

On the offensive end, I see much better ball movement and much better off the ball movement. Guys cutting through the lane, etc. What I don't see is a who lot of made baskets based on that movement. I feel like this team is part-way there. They have learned to pass and to move. But are they doing it with a purpose or are they just doing it? Some of the passes on the perimeter where a guy gives it back without even seeing if he can do something different are head scratchers. They aren't on the same page. The result is a huge number of turnovers as guys throw the ball away. There is no anticipation or understanding of where they all need to be.

I need to go back and watch film, but I suspect that several of Jalen's giveaways were situations where somebody should have seen an opening and moved there and didn't. Sometimes when Al penetrates and gets stuck in a double team, you know that some big should have slid into that vacated spot to receive a pass and dunk over the back of the defender that just doubled Gilbert. They don't and he has nowhere to go.

I confess I thought they would learn to play team basketball more quickly. I've seen 8th graders do it, so, it can be learned. That and the injuries up front and lack of improvement from Carlton and Whaley, plus regression in Polley's shooting have killed us.

 

[JB75]

Ok maybe I was a little over dramatic on the effort part. Vital is deff trying, I kno AG is, Maybe Sid. But do u really think Carlton Cobb and Jalen are going as hard as they possibly could? Compared to last year it seems: free throw shooting is worse, propensity for turnovers are worse, and boxing out/rebounding Seems worse. Out shooting was much better this year until second half of nova game - then something happened to make that worse too. I was OK with them getting blown out by Iowa , I let the Arizona game go even though it was frustrating and it was not your typical top 15 Arizona team that we lost to, Florida State flexed their muscles on us and was easily handling us Until alterique made that last five minutes surge- but they were better than us so I was still positive, Then , the first half was good but then that second half of the nova game just completely turned me off with this team- and even then , I still gave them another shot with South Florida and again they got out toughed in second half, Even still, I said “OK at least if we split the first two games of the conference -UCF will be a good win” and let’s not kid ourselves they’re not even that good - all they really have is Dawkins and BJ Taylor never really blew up like he was supposed to- tacko is not that good- And we lose by 12 to 15 at home - it’s kind a hard to keep hanging on - I just want to see some improvement-? can’t blame me can you? Gotta admit things have gone downhill incredibly fast since second half of nova game.

 

[Robertelamin]

This team has the worst possible combo u wud want in players: soft, no hustle, no explosiveness, can’t play d, can’t shoot, no desire, can’t make free throws , can box out, numerous turnovers , minimal b-ball iq, no physical prowess, no desire to hit weight room. It’s actually shocking how bad it is.

Yeah but what do you like about them?

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

we need a scottie harrelson

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery are doing the St Johns, Nova game and its been very fun to watch. No matter how much i try, i cant get into AAC league play at all.

 

[crazyUCfan23]

Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery are doing the St Johns, Nova game and its been very fun to watch. No matter how much i try, i cant get into AAC league play at all.

hate to say it, but St. Johns is fun to watch.

.

 

[HooperScooper]

we need a scottie harrelson

I'd like to get someone who can shoot a lot better than that.

Scottie Haralson College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

 

[alexd]

Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery are doing the St Johns, Nova game and its been very fun to watch. No matter how much i try, i cant get into AAC league play at all.

And there's old friend Donny Marshall.

 

[buddy]

We will never know the truth about Sid's transfer, but I believe St. John's is fine without him.

 

[JB75]

I like the way Vital has improved and listened to hurley , I like AG and ...... I cant think of anything else - maybe sids athletic flashes of play. What else?

 

[superjohn]

I like the way Vital has improved and listened to hurley , I like AG and . I cant think of anything else - maybe sids athletic flashes of play. What else?

Unfortunately that's it.

 

[intlzncster]

Still amazes me that we can’t land one pure shooter. Like a killer 3 point guy who can’t play a lick of d. Seems like most teams have one. Also, why can’t we get one super athletic raw down low player that is just a beast down low? I don’t care if he’s talented- just be a serial killer down low. It’s actually mind-boggling how we can’t land anybody - was Ollie that bad of a recruiter? , he set the program back years. Everything Calhoun built. So depressing.

Next year, we've got a bunch of shooters. Finally.

We just need multiple guys inside to clean up. Cross fingers.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I can't figure out if Mullin is a genius or terrible coach. Watching the team play, it looks like a glorified pickup game, but it is hard to argue with results. He took over a program that was in decent shape and went 8-24 his first year, but they have gotten steadily better every season.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

I'd like to get someone who can shoot a lot better than that.

Scottie Haralson College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

was being totally sarcastic

 

[HooperScooper]

was being totally sarcastic

As was I.