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Malcolm Bernard *sad trombone*

And it's late April, we have 3 open ships and guys like Hazen, the Harvard kid, Wesson aren't coming here, so Mooney needs to fill these spots. Again, not my top choice but in comparison to our recent late spring pick-ups, this is an improvement. It gives us a lot of roster flexibility. Still desperately need a 4 though.
 
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kneepadmckinney said:
If you are a fan of Sherod's minutes getting cut to about 5-7 per game, this should be great.

I don't really get it. The only way I get it is if he is really, really good on defense and Mooney viewed this as a way to improve a bad defense. Otherwise, it significantly cuts into the limited minutes available for DMB and Sherod, and does not address our height problems. I sincerely hope to be proven wrong.
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best men play. he doesn't cut into their time if they earn the time. DMB, Sherod and Bernard can all play the 2 and the 3. and like Eight said, we definitely could be considering playing Bernard at the bigger forward spot. I hesitate to call it the 4. but he can board and play D, so it's very possible he plays there. if he's strictly a 2/3, he could cut into some guys time but maybe not the freshmen. it might be tougher for Julius and Jesse.

I'd like one more "now" player but it's not mandatory. guys like Golden and Friendshuh are hopefully ready for real time. but one more guy at the 4 would really fill out this roster, though that just means someone we think will be playing won't. then maybe a regular big man transfer like Pierce from Va Tech and I'd be very happy.
 
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97spiderfan said:
And it's late April, we have 3 open ships and guys like Hazen, the Harvard kid, Wesson aren't coming here, so Mooney needs to fill these spots.
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why do you feel we can't get Steeves? update just 2 days ago listed UR. I don't think landing Bernard rules him out as he as 2 years left.
 
Eight Legger said:
It's also possible that we are just planning to play smaller and more aggressively. Mooney vowed to look at the possibility of switching up everything, so maybe he actually will. In that case, we could play a lineup of SDJ, Fore, Sherod, Bernard and TJ and just to push tempo a little more. Seems to me we could afford to do that because we will also have Buck, Friendshuh, Golden, Wood, Jesse and Julius on the bench, plus potentially one more guy who might contribute right away. So we could afford to have guys pick up some fouls if we're going 10-deep.
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You think Mooney can expand his coaching ability to handle 10 or 11 players? Lol
 
Who do we have that could defend against a Shevon Thompson type? Really worrisome, that we can't recruit bigger players, unless PF or GG can fill that role next year.
 
over 4 assists and 7 rebounds per game, I'll take it. I'll assume he's our starter at the 3 going into the season.

Not enough time for our staff to teach him to be a horrible rebounder.
 
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ur2K said:
over 4 assists and 7 rebounds per game, I'll take it. I'll assume he's our starter at the 3 going into the season.

Not enough time for our staff to teach him to be a horrible rebounder.
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Considering the glut of players we have at the 2/3 and the lack of bigs I hope Mooney sees him more as a 4. He should be taking time away from Wood, not Sherod and Buckingham.
 
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I'm definitely not sad to bring him in, we need more scorers at 2/3 where we struggled last year. Efficiency could very well be a problem but coaching has to address that.

This does not solve our problem at 4 as he is not a good 3pt shooter (statistically) and I suspect does not have much experience playing back to the basket.
 
I like this pickup for several reasons:

If he isn't very good he won't play much and will be gone in a year.

If he contributes ANYTHING at all it will be better than picking up a D2 level player like we have been doing.

We still have 2 open slots to offer Ford, etc. - this doesn't really affect remaining recruiting in my opinion.

This will be TJ and SDJ's senior seasons. I know we aren't expected to do a ton next year but that is 2 excellent players to build around. If things fall in place we could have a surprising season - we are getting a guy that could potentially help us compete right away.


Biggest negative is taking court time from the freshmen, but I still think they will get plenty of minutes especially if they are as good as advertised.
 
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I was hoping to hear that we are going the grad transfer route to get someone who plays the 4/5. I know we have 2 open spots, and if this does not in fact preclude that, then I am much happier about it. I just think it might be a lot to assume that Mooney is going to go from never having a grad transfer to accepting 2 in one year. I hope he keeps one scholly open for a freshman, and uses the other one for a big man that can play next year.

I would be less worried about going with so many 6-2 to 6-6 guys if we were better at rebounding fundamentals, but until I see 5 guys boxing out on the same play (which hasn't happened in 12 years), I am very, very, very skeptical that we will have success next year with just TJ, MW, PF, and GG as people taller than 6-6.

I would love to play small and fast, because I think that fits our roster the best, but it has to be coupled with fundamental rebounding box-outs and not, as Mo Allie-Cox put it, a "jumping contest". Unless we learn to do that, we will lose games because of defensive rebounding.

All of this to say, nothing against MB specifically, just that I wanted a different use out of the scholarship.
 
MrTbone said:
I'm definitely not sad to bring him in, we need more scorers at 2/3 where we struggled last year. Efficiency could very well be a problem but coaching has to address that.

This does not solve our problem at 4 as he is not a good 3pt shooter (statistically) and I suspect does not have much experience playing back to the basket.
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He did seem to play a lot at 4 last season, but that was with a starting lineup of 6'1", 6'1", 6'3", 6'6", 6'8"...
 
Sounds like a great get for CM of a proven D1 Player from a great program!
Florida A&M this year was 6-21
RPI 349 out of 351!
SOS 350

Looks like we are RELOADING!

Great addition to our BEST Recruiting Class Ever!!!!
 
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kneepadmckinney said:
I was hoping to hear that we are going the grad transfer route to get someone who plays the 4/5. I know we have 2 open spots, and if this does not in fact preclude that, then I am much happier about it. I just think it might be a lot to assume that Mooney is going to go from never having a grad transfer to accepting 2 in one year. I hope he keeps one scholly open for a freshman, and uses the other one for a big man that can play next year.

I would be less worried about going with so many 6-2 to 6-6 guys if we were better at rebounding fundamentals, but until I see 5 guys boxing out on the same play (which hasn't happened in 12 years), I am very, very, very skeptical that we will have success next year with just TJ, MW, PF, and GG as people taller than 6-6.

I would love to play small and fast, because I think that fits our roster the best, but it has to be coupled with fundamental rebounding box-outs and not, as Mo Allie-Cox put it, a "jumping contest". Unless we learn to do that, we will lose games because of defensive rebounding.

All of this to say, nothing against MB specifically, just that I wanted a different use out of the scholarship.
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Statistically this guy is a good rebounder so I don't think it's a miss relative to your preference noted above but I get your sentiment and concur. We have to aggressively seek a true 4 OR be prepared to make do with a smaller or inexperienced (or both) lineup.

Big guys who are grad transfers aren't growing in trees so we may not have any legit options.
 
TD4Prez2004 said:
Would like to see us use more of the 3/4 court press with KF at the trident MB and DMB on the wings three guys who can attack attack attack
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I agree. Let's use the press at the end of the first half, and with five minutes gone in the second half - let's not wait to use it until 3:00 to go - when it is too late. The press can be a real weapon for us, if Coach Mooney removes the granite from his head and actually decides to try it.
 
My point with the comment about being able to go 10 or 11 deep is not that we'd necessarily play them all every game, of course, but that we would have on our roster 10 or 11 legit D-I players. That's big and it would allow us some flexibility to switch styles, should we choose to do so. We don't have to worry about guys fouling out, because we'd have other capable guys who could come in to replace them, if necessary.
 
Eight Legger said:
My point with the comment about being able to go 10 or 11 deep is not that we'd necessarily play them all every game, of course, but that we would have on our roster 10 or 11 legit D-I players. That's big and it would allow us some flexibility to switch styles, should we choose to do so. We don't have to worry about guys fouling out, because we'd have other capable guys who could come in to replace them, if necessary.
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I agree but it's really sad that we're in a place where we are applauding our staff for having 10 D1 basketball players.
 
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MolivaManiac said:
I agree but it's really sad that we're in a place where we are applauding our staff for having 10 D1 basketball players.
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It is but we are all grading on a big curve at this point when it comes to recruiting. 10 is better than 8, 13 is a pipedream.
 
urmite said:
He did seem to play a lot at 4 last season, but that was with a starting lineup of 6'1", 6'1", 6'3", 6'6", 6'8"...
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With the right body and skills 6'6 is tall enough to play the 4 and sometimes even the 5, and Bernard's rebounding and block numbers suggest he can play the 4 on defense. DWill was a 5 for us and only 6'6. Dyshawn was 6'6 and played the 4 for Dayton over the last four years. Last season Dayton's most common lineup didn't have a single player over 6'6 on the court! There are many examples of successful teams playing 6'6 players at the 4.

One problem with Bernard playing the 4 is his weight, he is only 190 while DWill was 270 and Dyshawn was 230. Bernard most likely needs to weigh more in order to not be pushed around by the A10 4s and 5s. I suspect that Bernard will put on some weight with our strength and conditioning program, though he probably won't gain more than 10 or 15 pounds.
 
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fan2011 said:
With the right body and skills 6'6 is tall enough to play the 4 and sometimes even the 5, and Bernard's rebounding and block numbers suggest he can play the 4 on defense. DWill was a 5 for us and only 6'6. Dyshawn was 6'6 and played the 4 for Dayton over the last four years. Last season Dayton's most common lineup didn't have a single player over 6'6 on the court! There are many examples of successful teams playing 6'6 players at the 4.

One problem with Bernard playing the 4 is his weight, he is only 190 while DWill was 270 and Dyshawn was 230. Bernard most likely needs to weigh more in order to not be pushed around by the A10 4s and 5s. I suspect that Bernard will put on some weight with our strength and conditioning program, though he probably won't gain more than 10 or 15 pounds.
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fan2011, you are right. 6'6" guys can play the "4" provided they have the proper skills and body type. But are not we forgetting that in the Princeton scheme of basketball each position is similar. On offense, players must be skilled ball handlers, effective passers and good shooters. Malcolm fills the bill based on his scoring inside the paint and his numbers of assists. On defense, the ideal size for a switching defender is 6'6" as has been stated by Coach Mooney on numerous occassions. In fact, Chris has said that his ideal lineup would be comprised of skilled 6'6" guys who can pass, shoot and defend any position. Are not we beginning to approach the "ideal"? OSC
 
fan2011, you mention Malcolm as a 190 pounder. I have seen him most often listed as 205 pounds. OSC
 
Not super impressed with this pickup, to me it has the feel of CM filling a slot again. However, he is a battle-tested D1 level player. I think he helps our depth issues, but I was hoping we would be picking up a player at the 4 or 5 position because we are a small team and could use some size. I also see this situation as negatively impacting the development of Sherrod and Buckingham.

I hope I am wrong and he comes in and plays like an all conference player, but my first reaction to hearing about Bernard is that we could have done better.
 
Eight Legger said:
It's also possible that we are just planning to play smaller and more aggressively. Mooney vowed to look at the possibility of switching up everything, so maybe he actually will. In that case, we could play a lineup of SDJ, Fore, Sherod, Bernard and TJ and just to push tempo a little more. Seems to me we could afford to do that because we will also have Buck, Friendshuh, Golden, Wood, Jesse and Julius on the bench, plus potentially one more guy who might contribute right away. So we could afford to have guys pick up some fouls if we're going 10-deep.
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I don't get it either, Kneepad. We always say that we need better rebounding, then we get guys who can rebound but they never really get the chance to rebound, so what difference it make how good a rebounder a recruit is.
 
keefusb said:
Not super impressed with this pickup, to me it has the feel of CM filling a slot again. However, he is a battle-tested D1 level player. I think he helps our depth issues, but I was hoping we would be picking up a player at the 4 or 5 position because we are a small team and could use some size. I also see this situation as negatively impacting the development of Sherrod and Buckingham.

I hope I am wrong and he comes in and plays like an all conference player, but my first reaction to hearing about Bernard is that we could have done better.
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I don't see the situation as comparable to our prior slot-filling exercises. As you mention, he has demonstrated he can play at D1 level. He is clearly not a guy who fits our most pressing need at the 4, but I think he can contribute.

I do worry about him taking time from the freshmen, which would be fine if he's a far better player AND we have a legit post-season showing next year. Absent those two things, I'd prefer to give experience to our younger guys. Impossible to know until we get partway into the season.
 
Too much worry about 4s, 5s, etc. The way I see it is some multiple of 15. 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1= 15. We could put five 3s on the floor or 4, 4, 3, 3, and 1 or maybe 5 guys that are basketball players with the heart, fire and desire to win some basketball games. But here's the rub, coach to the talent that you have. If the coach can't recruit to his system is it the system or the coach? Same crap.
 
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I think for me there's a major reason I'm not too hung up on the "taking time from the freshmen" angle (although I completely understand it).

We need to win now. Not build to when Monte/Nick/Grant are seniors in 2021. That is ages away and we never know where we will be as a program at that time. Especially with the way the college basketball landscape has changed with regards to transfers, the look of a team can and does change rapidly.

Of course we have to keep our sights on 4 years from now too, and I have no doubt that we are doing that.
 
I think this is a good pickup.......DEPENDING on what we do with the next two slots. I was thinking a regular transfer, like the big guy at Tech would be OK to go along with two 2016's or a 2016 and a grad transfer. I would like to see us bring in one more grad transfer that has legit 4/5 size and can defend in the post.
 
Ulla1 said:
fan2011, you are right. 6'6" guys can play the "4" provided they have the proper skills and body type. But are not we forgetting that in the Princeton scheme of basketball each position is similar. On offense, players must be skilled ball handlers, effective passers and good shooters. Malcolm fills the bill based on his scoring inside the paint and his numbers of assists. On defense, the ideal size for a switching defender is 6'6" as has been stated by Coach Mooney on numerous occassions. In fact, Chris has said that his ideal lineup would be comprised of skilled 6'6" guys who can pass, shoot and defend any position. Are not we beginning to approach the "ideal"? OSC
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totally agree. there's so much talk about getting a 4 on this board. we've had the same coach for a really long time now. have you ever heard him talk about a 4? he plays 2 forwards. he'd like both to be able to handle and shoot, but different guys have different skills. you'd like one to be a little bigger if only because one has to play the bottom of our switching zone. but no, the offense and defense he runs don't require old school traditional 4s.

and it makes no sense to complain about this not being a bigger forward when Bernard fills one of three openings. we're not filling all 3 with big men who will play this year.

as to who plays ... some here are looking for big immediate contributors with these last few spots. sure, that would be nice.

but I'm already 100% confident that SDJ, Khwan, TJ, Marshall, and Malcolm will be in our rotation. I'm close to 100% sure Sherod and DMB will be in the early rotation. that's 7. Paul and/or Grant have to play for size. that's 8 or maybe 9 already. and Julius/Jesse are still fighting to time.

someone can get pushed, but that's the depth I expect. unless a stud bigger forward commits or a grad transfer with 2 years left to somehow fill a spot in the junior class.
 
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