I'm not thinking we'll be world beaters next year, but I would disagree with them having the bonnies, Duquesne, and Dayton all ahead of us. And I think we will be about as good as VCU and URI
Noah
- Thread starter Ulla1
- Start date
97 was specifically referring to the Kwesi and JMA threads recently brought back to life. did you read though them? I did.
Unless one is a die hard UR fan that IS sufficient analyst to rank the Spiders in the bottom tier. To think that a group of redshirts and freshman (none of whom are sure fire immediate impact players) will adequately replace Buck & Fore is QUITE the stretch.
Could it happen, yes, anything is possible but it is far from PROBABLE. Hopefully the big 3 will be improved, but anything more than that is a major question mark. This when building off of a 12-win season reasonably equates to less than rosy prognostication.
The A-10 is so weak that the Spiders COULD in fact win more than half in conference. Or they could just as easily be 8-10. I highly doubt that they will be above .500 in pre-conference play. If this year's team ends up .500 overall, then they will have made the jump that many hope for. Honestly, I don't see it happening.
Here are the A10 teams I think have a shot at an at-large and in order from highest to lowest:
1. St. Louis
2. George Mason
3. URI
4. Davidson/UMASS
Realistically, I think only SLU, Mason, and URI are the only teams with a shot at an at-large
1. St. Louis
2. George Mason
3. URI
4. Davidson/UMASS
Realistically, I think only SLU, Mason, and URI are the only teams with a shot at an at-large
Homer, I'm not looking for anyone to replace Buck and Kwhan's production. I certainly don't look for us to have 5 guys averaging 10+ ppg like last season (which resulted in 12 wins).
I think we'll look a lot more like the 2010-11 team statistically. we want 3 guys to be the focal point offensively. the other 2 will hopefully defend, hustle, and maybe knock down an occasional 3 pointer.
our 4th scorer will probably average like 6 ppg! but that's ok if our top 3 are averaging 15.
I think we'll look a lot more like the 2010-11 team statistically. we want 3 guys to be the focal point offensively. the other 2 will hopefully defend, hustle, and maybe knock down an occasional 3 pointer.
our 4th scorer will probably average like 6 ppg! but that's ok if our top 3 are averaging 15.
I think you've got this a bit sideways. There are a small number of people who hype every recruit. There are small number who dislike every recruit.
There are a large number who usually say "maybe, I like his tape, but we all know tapes show a guy's best side and not his weaknesses."
OK it was just his mother and father and some close friends. LOL
I'm just going with what I read. It doesn't matter.
No, if you read the comment you would see that he mentions that Moliva’s mention of them is an example of how we overrate our recruits.
I don’t know how many people actually visit this board aside from the posters, but I guarantee there have been more posts about Sal being productive as a PF this year, despite his 190 lb (being generous) frame, than there are people saying “we all know tapes show a guy’s best side and not his weaknesses.” When I was critical of Jesse during the early parts of his freshman year, I had multiple people telling me he was a good kid and that I was overreacting. I even had one person tell me this year that I made his poor practice performance up. Finally, I said that I wasn’t impressed with Bryce physically when he showed up with his family to watch practice (one where Jesse was getting killed by Mooney). I said he didn’t look the part. Again, multiple people criticizing my opinion, but then he redshirts just like Jesse did.
I do believe that, as a whole, we overvalue our recruits. Sure, there have been a couple that people were not as excited for, the ones who didn’t have a single offer from another D1 school that we’ve heard of, but every other one seems to get much more than the benefit of the doubt. In fact, people start posting their depth charts with these guys playing significant roles, or predicting significant minutes of play. Therefore, I don’t think 97 has it wrong at all.
I think we're pretty reasonable in our expectations of the freshman class. our hopes are high, sure. but we have 6 in the freshman class. who are we over hyping? Sal comes in as one of our more heralded recruits. I think he'll be in the rotation. he should be with his ranking. and there's time available at the 4, either in front of or behind Cayo.
Wojcik is probably the only other getting much attention, and mainly because we don't have a proven answer at the 2. I think Julius starts unless Wojcik or another freshman clearly beats him. so who's getting over hyped?
Wojcik is probably the only other getting much attention, and mainly because we don't have a proven answer at the 2. I think Julius starts unless Wojcik or another freshman clearly beats him. so who's getting over hyped?
I am high on Sal as a freshmen. I think he will contribute a lot more than most freshmen. His performance, ranking, and offers coming out of high school are much better than the normal Mooney recruit. He still needs to put on weight, but there are many good 4s in the A10 at 200lb or under.
I will donate 20 lbs to Sal. Unfortunately it will be gut fat.
He is a very interesting case. It looks like offers from Minnesota and Seton Hall. Would love to see an eval from Stork - I think he has provided some pretty objective practice reports in the past. I liked this signing at the time, basically we went out and got him as soon as Bryce fell through. Looks to have a good skill set. Questions are his frame and athleticism. Certainly a good choice by him with the seeming playing time available.
I saw Sal's practice highlights the other day. My main take-away is he is really skinny.
To me, Sal is the ideal redshirt candidate in a normal healthy basketball program. Give him a year to put on some weight and muscle and then you have a really impactful player coming off the redshirt year. We are all used to the Mooney use of the redshirt which is to hide players who really aren't A-10 players for a year, but I think most programs are actually competitive NCAA programs would give Sal hard consideration for a redshirt.
This is obviously not going to happen with Sal because he is our highest rated recruit and we literally have very few options at the 4 due to previous attrition and recruiting misses.
There again I disagree. People have been hyping this guy from day 1, and not just because we are thin at the 2. Numerous mentions of him being a coach’s kid, good leader, and playing at high levels in high school. I don’t see many if any talking about how he will only play because we don’t have other options.
Plus there have been a few posters on here hat claim we will be even better without Khwan and Buck because of the new guys we recruited.
The freshman at least we can say we don't know what they will bring to the table. Julius is a senior and he has pretty conclusively proven that he is at best a 7th -8th man off the bench type of player. Julius went almost a month last year during the season without scoring and he is now an option for our starting 2 guard.
JJ brings a lot of hustle and energy the team and is well suited for a bench role, he simply does not possess the skill set to be an A-10 level skill set.
You want to know why A-10 prognasticators are picking us towards the bottom of the league, I present to you Exhibit A.
That's probably the case with Sal, I don't think that's the case with Andre Gustavson though. Or any of the other recruits except maybe Blake Francis. There's a tendency to hear the loudest voices at either end of the spectrum.
My only point is, there is a small group of folks who tend to be irrationally high on guys. There's another small group who tend to be pretty critical about guys. And then most people are in the middle somewhere probably appropriately saying something along the lines of "I do/don't like what I see, but I'll wait and make a determination after I see them play here." My comment about seeing their tape was a metaphor.
And yes, I agree that there is a group of people who are somewhat defensive of new recruits if someone is openly critical of them before they even matriculate. I don't have much of an opinion there, except to say that if you're going to be critical without much basis for the criticism, be prepared that certain folks will likely be defensive. Similarly, the defensive folks need to be a bit more pragmatic that these guys aren't going to fall apart if a criticism surfaces on the chat board. At least I hope not.
Noah is now up to 26 points in his Richmond career, double the combined totals (13) of our last two grad transfers Kwesi Abakah (9) and Jordan Madrid-Andrews (4)
