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More than one reason we will be dancing

MountainSpider said:
My recollection is this board had similar concerns when KA left and Shawndre had to take over primary PG duties his junior year. My expectation (demand ?) is that our million dollar man adjust to his new personnel this year. Our roster does look a little weird if you are trying to run a Princeton-esque offense.
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Why do you say that? As has been noted elsewhere, we run a modified PO that doesn't look that much like the original. I think the PO elements we use are things we're reasonably well-suited for: good passing, decent three point shooting, and backdoor cutting.
 
MountainSpider said:
My recollection is this board had similar concerns when KA left and Shawndre had to take over primary PG duties his junior year. My expectation (demand ?) is that our million dollar man adjust to his new personnel this year. Our roster does look a little weird if you are trying to run a Princeton-esque offense.
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Mountain, IMHO our roster does not look weird at all with regard to a Princeton offense or derivation thereof. Most, nay all, of our guys can pass, shoot and handle. Everyone at a certain moment plays the "point". Just my opinion but I think that our current players fit Mooney's style of play better than ever before.
 
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I don't claim to be an export on basketball Xs and Os, so I might be totally off-base, but when I look at guys like KF and DMB, I see exceptional athlete as the primary talent. They may have the passing, shooting, and cutting skills as well but I don't see it as their primary strength. Without Cline in the post, I expect our modified PO to be even more modified this year.
 
our modified PO is so modified by now that it's time to totally lose the PO moniker. what we run is NOTHING like the old PO. what do we have, like 10 backdoor cuts all year? wish the term would go away.

I agree with the posts above. none of our PGs have played traditional PG in a long time, including SDJ. a traditional PG has the ball in his hands. ours pass and move. we need guards who can break a press, who can shoot, and who can get in the lane sometimes and finish. yes, they also have to pass, but not in a way that translates into a high assist number. we've never had that under CM. our PGs never average even 4 APG. TJ averaged 5.7! he had the 2nd greatest assist total in a season in UR history last year. from the 5 spot. we'll have plenty of assists next season from all over the floor. don't expect a PG to dominate that stat, though.
 
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FWIW, I wanted to point out that Buck actually considers himself a point guard, at least coming out of high school. Buck made several passes last year that were remarkable. I recall him getting a pass outside and with one hand threw a bullet to an open Julius Johnson. Buck is much, much more than just an athlete; he is a heck of a basketball player.
 
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The Princeton offense thing is something that has just stuck because people in the media are too lazy to actually look at what we're doing beyond what we did the first three or four years Mooney was here.
 
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97spiderfan said:
SDJ was more of a 2 guard for us then a PG. I never saw him as some kind of passing guru in our offense. Now, TJ is a different story. His passing abilities are legendary and not having him in our offense anymore is going to put more pressure on everyone to make crisp fluid passes.

I think Mooney sees Sherod as the guy that we can run our offense around. Sherod is a smooth passer, a guy who can operate out of the high post and is always in the right position. That doesn't mean Sherod is the focal point of our offense but I think he plays an outsized role in making sure our offense has the right flow and rhythm to it.
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I don't see Sherod as being the guy who runs the offense, a good contributor; ok rebounder, number 2 scorer, his defense needs to pick up, etc yes but doesn't seem to have the personality to get his team mates to do what they need to do when they need to do it.
 
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I-M-UR said:
I don't see Sherod as being the guy who runs the offense, a good contributor; ok rebounder, number 2 scorer, his defense needs to pick up, etc yes but doesn't seem to have the personality to get his team mates to do what they need to do when they need to do it.
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I'm sure this is an oversimplification but I want Sherod parking himself at the 3 point line and shooting as often as he can. The defense is going to have to shift to wherever he is.
 
URPike said:
I'm sure this is an oversimplification but I want Sherod parking himself at the 3 point line and shooting as often as he can. The defense is going to have to shift to wherever he is.
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You have a point, Pike.
 
I'm high on Nick too, but man it must be nice to come in with a shooters reputation. Nick shot the same percentage as Khwan from 3, yet we want Nick shooting all day and Khwan can't throw it in the ocean.

we didn't shoot it well last year. I think we have a good shooting team, but it's got to show up this season.
 
The question is not so much about the abilities of Buck and Nick as it is about whether they will, through coaching or otherwise, be able to assume the roles we expect of them.
 
It is near impossible to replace Cline's passing ability until or unless another Cline comes along. I do think it accurate to say that this year's offense will be less fluid. Individual (young and mostly inexperienced ) talent is on hand. The question is how will they blend, and which (if any) of these players have the ability to consistently make teammates more effective.

This team doesn't have anyone who has proven to be a great shooter. Nor do they have anyone who has proven to be a great (reliable) individual scorer. The level at which someone, (or multiple players) blossom will determine whether this is a 14-18 type season or a 22-13 type season. There is potential, but as I have said repeatedly, next year is far more likely to be a NCAA season.
 
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I think last year was unique with a flat OOC and then that first A10 game against
Davidson away and we were a totally new team for rest of the season. Hopefully
we find our chemistry earlier this year, but lot of new faces than last. Still feel
we have enough experience to make an early impact.
 
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You heard it here first: THIS WILL BE THE YEAR OUR SPIDERS RETURN TO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT. Bet the ranch!
 
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Ulla1 said:
You heard it here first: THIS WILL BE THE YEAR OUR SPIDERS RETURN TO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT. Bet the ranch!
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I disagree with much of your assessments but I commend you on putting out there that this is your expectation for this years team. It will make for an interesting discussion come March if Mooney does not meet your expectations for the year. I hope you are right and hope you rub it in my face come March if you are.
 
CarolinaSpider said:
I think last year was unique with a flat OOC and then that first A10 game against
Davidson away and we were a totally new team for rest of the season. Hopefully
we find our chemistry earlier this year, but lot of new faces than last. Still feel
we have enough experience to make an early impact.
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Think this year's out-of-conference schedule will be more challenging than last year.
 
97spiderfan said:
I disagree with much of your assessments but I commend you on putting out there that this is your expectation for this years team. It will make for an interesting discussion come March if Mooney does not meet your expectations for the year. I hope you are right and hope you rub it in my face come March if you are.
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97, no way would I rub it in your face if we make the Big Dance because I know that you will be just as excited as me. Go Spiders!
 
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Ulla1 said:
97, no way would I rub it in your face if we make the Big Dance because I know that you will be just as excited as me. Go Spiders!
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Agreed. But I'm giving you permission to do so. I will have well earned it the pie in the face. I'm not as bullish on our NCAA chances this year but I do like our team and think we are going to be a lot better than a lot of preseason predictions are saying right now.
 
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What a nice change to see you guys mentioning 9 or 10 players instead of only 6 or 7. I really hope Paul surprises us. It sure would be a huge plus the next two years. I saw Grant with his mother at the Howard football game. They were really enjoying themselves and talking with several kids and older fans. Good to see.
 
I will go on record predicting that the Ulla is correct in his very early assessment this time around. We will be a big and pleasant surprise to those who have not yet seen the guys in action.

Those in the know say that this team will be dancing in 2019, because our freshmen will then be sophomores and we lose only one player to graduation. Although I agree that we may be stronger in 2019, this is the year when we can surprise a lot of teams and sneak up on a few others. We can dance a year earlier than knowledgeable insiders believe. Barring any season-ending injuries to any of our top 7 players, I agree that we should dance this season. The reasons include:
.1. Grant will be one of the strongest centers in the A-10, and has the potential to be a top-3 center in the A-10 this year or next.
2. Solly has the potential to be all-A-10 also, and will be a very solid starter.
3. Jacob has the skills to be in the running for A-10 ROY,
4. Our defense will be much stronger, given that GG, SS, and JG all have the potential to be substantially stronger defensively than the players they will replace. And, if he does not red-shirt, Nathan could be a defensive stopper. We go from being a below average team defensively to an above average team defensively.
5. We will have a substantially deeper bench this year. We can play 7 guys interchangeably and we can go 8-9 deep, and still play only one true freshman in that mix.
6. Everyone on the team who will play more than 2 minutes per game is a pretty good (or very good) outside shooter, so our offensive philosophy will fit the team's skills very well. We will have no situations (like we had in past seasons) when we have two guys on the floor who we know should not take an outside shot (recall Taylor and Davis). We will not cringe when these guys take a wide-open 3.
7. This is likely to be our best rebounding team in 10+ years. The guys we will be playing this season are substantially stronger rebounders than the guys they replace (Cline, Wood and ShawnDre were not strong rebounders). Grant and Solly can flat-out go get it, as can Khwan and Buck.
8.This team will be fun to watch with our most talented and versatile roster since our "Sweet-16" season..

I will go on record as predicting that barring injury we will finish the season in the top 3 teams in the A-10, and that is likely to lead to a dance. This season should convince many past doubters (myself included) that the Spider program is once again on the right path to garner real post-season action. Now, let's work very hard and realize our full potential.
 
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Ulla1 said:
97, no way would I rub it in your face if we make the Big Dance because I know that you will be just as excited as me. Go Spiders!
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I'm with you Ulla, I believe in our team too and will not rub it in either. As Spideroldie says: "work very hard to reach our full potential"
 
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