Paul Friendshuh - A preseason recollection
- Thread starter Ulla1
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I think you mean 1984 not 1988
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/richmond/1988.html
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/richmond/1984.html
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/richmond/1988.html
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/richmond/1984.html
I agree completely that a 12 player rotation is not going to happen. I did not mean to advocate for that. The point that I intended to make was that the best of the group of 6 should get significant minutes. And, I do not mean just 1 of them.
Practice and games are two very different environments that require very different points of execution to be successful. Players have to be able to contribute in game situations. The greatest player every day in practice is worthless to you if he can not produce during the game. I have seen and played with quite a number of players who were all-state or all-conference in practice but could not consistently replicate that performance in game time production. Being the best practice player day after day is not the goal.
A good game rotation manager can easily play 8-9 players a fair number of minutes. I would not advocate for a bigger rotation unless the coach was trying to implement the "squads" that press full court the entire game.
Mooney's rotation patterns of last season completely debunk the idea that he is concerned about getting his players in a flow. He interferes with the concept of "the flow" with his substitutions throughout the game. Last season's substitution patterns were completely about instant gratification. What can you do for me NOW, and what can the next do for me during the NEXT NOW. Had virtually nothing to do with flow.
Practice and games are two very different environments that require very different points of execution to be successful. Players have to be able to contribute in game situations. The greatest player every day in practice is worthless to you if he can not produce during the game. I have seen and played with quite a number of players who were all-state or all-conference in practice but could not consistently replicate that performance in game time production. Being the best practice player day after day is not the goal.
A good game rotation manager can easily play 8-9 players a fair number of minutes. I would not advocate for a bigger rotation unless the coach was trying to implement the "squads" that press full court the entire game.
Mooney's rotation patterns of last season completely debunk the idea that he is concerned about getting his players in a flow. He interferes with the concept of "the flow" with his substitutions throughout the game. Last season's substitution patterns were completely about instant gratification. What can you do for me NOW, and what can the next do for me during the NEXT NOW. Had virtually nothing to do with flow.
Seeing that old 1984 stat sheet reminded me that Dave Phillips, who was a 6'9" walk-on who lived next door to a friend of mine in Moore Hall, scored his only 2 points that season on a baseline dunk over David Robinson when we beat Navy at the RC. The place went absolutely nuts! What a memory!
Can he dunk? I watched the video once. If he dunked it must have been only once or twice. You would expect a big guy like that to be throwing it down regularly. Actually, I take that back 23, he will be a four year starter and probably be all-NBA some day. Now pass the Kool Aid.PA, good defense mechanism. Your opinions are definitely based in opiniion. First, you didn't even know he was a medical redshirt. Then, you say he couldn't dunk. Funny stuff. How about paying attention.
Wow! Paul Friendshush is a big kid. It will be interesting to see how he is coming off a medical redshirt. Based completely on his size (I haven't seen any film besides the one provided in the thread on him) he will cause match up problems throughout the A10; a league that primarily plays small ball.
Coach Jones as associate coach makes i think more wins for us. He is very smart basketball man and helps make Coach better
PA ... yes, he can dunk. the last highlight on that video shows him dunking two handed with ease and getting fouled. no, he's probably not a Jonathan Collins type leaper. he'll just be a better basketball player. and the video, by the way, is a highlight video from his 2012 AAU season. 2012! a video from 3 years ago doesn't tell us what he can't be. give him a chance to show us.
Since Paul's video is getting some negative critique, here are 2 big positives I saw in this now 3 year old video.
First, he keeps the ball up high when he is in the lane. If your 6'10 that is where the ball needs to be. ANO used to frustrate the heck out of me, when he would bring the ball down to his hip, where every little guy can swat it and tie him up.
Second, he uses the glass a lot. Big men who can effectively use glass are usually much better scorers.
First, he keeps the ball up high when he is in the lane. If your 6'10 that is where the ball needs to be. ANO used to frustrate the heck out of me, when he would bring the ball down to his hip, where every little guy can swat it and tie him up.
Second, he uses the glass a lot. Big men who can effectively use glass are usually much better scorers.
Having seen Paul practice recently, I can tell you that he runs well and handles the ball like a small forward. He also is a nice outside shooter and has good moves around the basket. He is perhaps more athletic than TJ and just as skilled. If you think otherwise, then you simply have not seen him play.
You make it sound like he is already on par or better than TJ.... surely you don't mean that.
Ulla is often overly optimistic, but would it be ok if Paul was the equal of TJ this season?
Back to the minutes discussion, because I think this is what will ultimatley limit Paul's time and incoming frosh time as well. There are only so many minutes and the normal rotation is about 8-9 guys. In any given game, there are 200 minutes available. Using the following assumptions based off of last year's minutes.
Allen - 32 minutes
ShawnDre - 32 minutes (28 last year off the bench and no Anthony this year)
Davis - 30 minutes
Taylor - 25 minutes (23 last year - see slight uptick with loss of ANO)
Cline - 28 minutes (played 23 last year and at times was our best offensive player, expect him to play more this year)
Josh Jones - 10 minutes (same as last year - 10 minutes)
That is about 157 minutes with returning players playing slightly more or about the same as last year. Leaving 43 minutes. I think everyone expects Wood to come in and play about 15 minutes (maybe more). Then you have Fore - maybe he gets about 10 minutes a night. That leaves about 18 minutes after the 8 guys already mentioned. 18 minutes for Paul and our 3 incoming frosh. I just don't see it. And honestly - I think some of these assumptions are low. I think ShawnDre will be around 35 and Cline around 30 if he can stay out of foul trouble. And I would not be surprised if Josh Jones gets 13-15.
So this stream seems to have headed off base. There has been some questioning of Paul's abilities but I don't think that was the point at all for most of us (and certainly not for me). I was reacting to a thread that seemed to be to be overly optimistic given it was based solely on the highlight reel. My counter point, also based solely on the highlight reel (meaning it was as uninformed as the post I was reacting to) was that for a highlight reel I could still find things that might indicate he might fall short of the originally expressed expectations. It wasn't even a prediction he would fall short, just that maybe we could temper expectations until he actually played a minute or 2. It was more just a comment on our board and posters than on Paul and my perception that too many look at all things Spider through awfully rose colored glasses (see for example (1) all of the hype before last year about this is the year, etc. etc. that ignored it was the same team that finished up mediocre the year before after Ced went down and there was really little to base such a big step up on and (2) most anything written about most any of our recruits, all of whom seem to have the potential to be the next ______________ (fill in the blank with the name of either an all-time spider or all-American from another school etc. ).
Now its all about Paul, so I wanted to at least express my actual opinion and not have my negative opinion of the over optimism on this borad be confused with my opinions about Paul. Unfortunately, I couldn't just go out and see him play, so I did the next best thing. I used some AAU connections (as some know, I coach AAU) to find people (actually one person) that has seen him play a lot. This a coach who has an AAU team every year with exclusively D1 signees (10-12 kids a year) from Power conferences to smaller D1 schools. He says over the years his team played in events with Paul's teams 5-6 times. He stated unequivocally that as an AAU player he was "way . . . and I mean way . . . better" than TJ Cline. He said he'd be surprised if Paul wasn't a very solid contributor at the A-10 level. He won't be a star he said because he just not athletic enough, but he'll do well in our offensive system. He thinks he could struggle defensively if forced to guard bigs due to athleticism and strength problems. Might be decent defensively for a "system" team defense etc.
So there is a more informed opinion - - albeit second hand!
Now its all about Paul, so I wanted to at least express my actual opinion and not have my negative opinion of the over optimism on this borad be confused with my opinions about Paul. Unfortunately, I couldn't just go out and see him play, so I did the next best thing. I used some AAU connections (as some know, I coach AAU) to find people (actually one person) that has seen him play a lot. This a coach who has an AAU team every year with exclusively D1 signees (10-12 kids a year) from Power conferences to smaller D1 schools. He says over the years his team played in events with Paul's teams 5-6 times. He stated unequivocally that as an AAU player he was "way . . . and I mean way . . . better" than TJ Cline. He said he'd be surprised if Paul wasn't a very solid contributor at the A-10 level. He won't be a star he said because he just not athletic enough, but he'll do well in our offensive system. He thinks he could struggle defensively if forced to guard bigs due to athleticism and strength problems. Might be decent defensively for a "system" team defense etc.
So there is a more informed opinion - - albeit second hand!
good info, Philly. Hopefully the extra year in the weight room alleviates any concerns about his strength defending the post. "Way better than TJ in AAU" might explain TJ's under-recruitment more than anything else.
as for excessive optimism last year, I know some got a little too excited but the year was ALWAYS going to be 2015/16. we've never been amazing in a year with just 1 senior. this is the year our senior class was supposed to be loaded. it's still solid, but only Terry is a star. ANO should have been a dominant force as a senior. Trey and Deion are tough, but more limited offensively than we expected unless that suddenly changes.
we're good this year and will do well, but I don't see the roster as a sure thing NCAA team at all as I originally saw it. we'll have to really play well. I really like the junior class and think Wood will earn a bigger role than many here think. the freshman class is loaded with athletic shooters, so the future is bright. but the next class is my focus right now. the next 4 kids won't play much as freshmen, but they'll all be in the rotation as sophs in a year when we have no seniors. important class coming in on the heels of the current freshmen, and the 1st signing will hopefully be in August.
as for excessive optimism last year, I know some got a little too excited but the year was ALWAYS going to be 2015/16. we've never been amazing in a year with just 1 senior. this is the year our senior class was supposed to be loaded. it's still solid, but only Terry is a star. ANO should have been a dominant force as a senior. Trey and Deion are tough, but more limited offensively than we expected unless that suddenly changes.
we're good this year and will do well, but I don't see the roster as a sure thing NCAA team at all as I originally saw it. we'll have to really play well. I really like the junior class and think Wood will earn a bigger role than many here think. the freshman class is loaded with athletic shooters, so the future is bright. but the next class is my focus right now. the next 4 kids won't play much as freshmen, but they'll all be in the rotation as sophs in a year when we have no seniors. important class coming in on the heels of the current freshmen, and the 1st signing will hopefully be in August.
Like to hear the educated and qualified opinion about Paul from Philly's AAU friend. I think TJ was a late bloomer, and he had the ideal situation of being an averaged sized guard, with limited athleticism and good skill that grew into a very skilled 6'8" guy. Paul is a good prospect. I like what people are saying about his work ethic on here. If true, that is a huge factor.
I am not down on Paul. I think he will be a very important player for us. The only problem is - he is a big guy, and right we have two potential all-league players ahead of him in Allen and Cline, and an ACC transfer in Wood.
I think the best scenario for Paul is get about 5-8 minutes a game this year. And then really burst onto the scene next season.
I think the best scenario for Paul is get about 5-8 minutes a game this year. And then really burst onto the scene next season.
Actually, the best scenario is that he gets 34 minutes a night because he's so clearly the best of all our bigs that even CM can't keep him tethered to the bench for more than 6 minutes!
Best case scenario is he plays 20 minutes a game because all our opponents forfeit when losing 0 to 100 at halftime.
23 good points and historically UR has a reputation overall for late bloomers.
May be that is why we take some chances on players that don't pan out. You
must have coaches who are great teachers ala Tarrant, Belien and Mooney who
can bring out the talent.
A skilled, athletic freshmen gets more opportunity faster cause you cannot teach
speed and quickness. Which brings to last point that we must have a strong training
staff with a good strength and conditioning program that brings out more athletic abilities,
and recovery from injuries. We just need more Andersons, Anthonys and Newmans that
have the ability to contribute earlier.
May be that is why we take some chances on players that don't pan out. You
must have coaches who are great teachers ala Tarrant, Belien and Mooney who
can bring out the talent.
A skilled, athletic freshmen gets more opportunity faster cause you cannot teach
speed and quickness. Which brings to last point that we must have a strong training
staff with a good strength and conditioning program that brings out more athletic abilities,
and recovery from injuries. We just need more Andersons, Anthonys and Newmans that
have the ability to contribute earlier.
