Pre season A10
- Thread starter Ulla1
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St. Joes and St. Louis are getting way too much love in my opinion. VCU loses their entire recruiting class, goes through a coaching change, loses like 70% of their scoring last year and still is picked ahead of us.
67% of their scoring, 68% of their minutes, 73% of their assists, 78% of their blocks, 82% of their steals. They are only losing 57% of their rebounds though.
It's very easy for people who don't know much about our program to pick us 9th or 10th. We lost the A10 player of the year and a senior guard, and that's all they notice or care about. No one thinks Golden or Stansbury will do anything, and no one expect anything from any of our freshman. As far as most people are concerned, we are the same team from last year, minus SDJ and TJ.
Interesting. I am not seeing URI as a given. Yes, great NCAA run, but that team was struggling immensely before pulling it together at the end of the season - which is when you want your team to peak obviously. Cyril Langevine looked good at times last year, but as with many of the A10 programs, they have struggled to recruit big men and not sure having one serviceable big is all that great.. They do have good guards and wings, but sounds like they will need to play quite small very often.
Wide open league this year, if some things fall in order for us I think the league is there for the taking. Big questions for us, can Buckingham take the next step and be POY candidate? Solly - if he is the player we are hoping - we can make a run at this thing.
Wide open league this year, if some things fall in order for us I think the league is there for the taking. Big questions for us, can Buckingham take the next step and be POY candidate? Solly - if he is the player we are hoping - we can make a run at this thing.
I agree here. We have youth and unknown pieces which equates to uncertainty about where we will be. I'm OK with that because I think we have room to do much better considering all the off-season changes with the other top teams
Exactly my thoughts. Stansbury and Golden will pick up the production lost by TJ graduating. Also, am confident that Gilyard will be able to fit in Shawn'Dre's role easily.
I really like our likely starting 5.
Khwan - former A10 rookie team. Very quick, solid on defense, and became a much better defensive contributed this year
Nick - Picked up his game later in the season. Very tenacious player and lethal scorer (3 star recruit)
DMB - A10 rookie of the year. Our best overall player IMO. Can attack the basket, defend, distribute, and score (3 star recruit)
Solly - I believe will pleasantly surprise everyone. What he has that no one else has was a "semi-professional" experience playing basketball against players who are bigger, taller, faster than most high school players. He is also very athletic and is an all-around player .
Grant - Has height, size, and basketball talent. Won't be TJ offensively this year, but as a Redshirt freshman, he will have learned the system well and develop the chemistry with his teammates (3 star recruit).
So our starting 5 consists of 3, 3-star recruits. One of whom was A10 ROY, a player who was former A10 rookie team, and a player who has experience playing professionally against strong competition.
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We also have a solid bench, IMO.
JJ - this last year really knew his role and contributed within his capabilities. He was one of the few players I saw aggressively going for rebounds, and can shoot the 3 ball decently well.
Gilyard - Yes he is unproven, but the same feeling we had with DMB last year when he was unproven is the case this year with Gilyard. Will replace Khwan to start the season, but wouldn't be surprised to see the two play alongside one another later on. He was overlooked by many schools because of his height (3 star recruit).
Verbinskis - Tall athletic player who has experience playing international basketball. Mystery guy as well, but may fill in nicely to give starters a breather (3 star recruit).
I wouldn't call it Ulla level of optimism, but I can't help think that next year's team can be very good. We have a lot of player's who were touted highly out of high school, as well as players who have won accolades in the A10. Most importantly, we have players who have great chemistry with one another and want to play for each another.
Depth in front-court is a big issue, as well as free throw shooting, but where we stand right now I see a top 5 A10 team and even a NCAA birth.
Yep, I think this is the most athletic team Mooney has ever had – and possibly our program has ever had. Whether that translates into wins or not, we'll have to wait and see. But I am pretty optimistic that we will be good – or should be, at least. I'll be disappointed if we finish lower than fifth, but I also think this is a year where a couple games could separate fourth place from tenth place.
Are you saying you expect freshman Gilyard to replace a rising junior who last year played 34 min/game, started every game, averaged 11 points and 4 rebounds, is one of our best defenders?
I'm optimistic about Gilyard but that's too far in my opinion.
A-10 will be even weaker than last year in my opinion. Only two players stand out to me, Aldridge and Mathews. URI will be very good but still coached by a mad man. VCU and St. Louis could be bad or great. We could end up anywhere from 3rd to 10th. We of course will have to win the tournament to be in the final 68.
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I'm not seeing the most athletic ever label for this team? Fore and Buckingham are top athletes. I recall the team with Garrett, Kevin Smith (possibly the best leaper in program history), Martel and KA touted as such.
I am definitely optimistic we can be near the top of the A10.
I am definitely optimistic we can be near the top of the A10.
Was told that Solly is exceptionally athletic; one said, "Solly does things that make you look twice and ask did he really do that?"
No surprise we are picked here. I would expect us to be picked no higher than 6 and no lower than 10 in pre-season polls/magazines.
Reason being - we had the A10 player of the year, Rookie of the Year, and an all-conference guard - and finished 4th. We lose Cline and SDJ (along with Wood and Kwesi) and really the success of next year is really resting on Stansbury, who is a mystery at this point to all outsiders because he has never played in college and Grant, who collapsed during a game last year and hard to say how he will bounce back from that. We do return Buckingham, Sherod, and Fore - which is a solid start, but they are still young - so still some unpredictability there.
So no surprise we will be picked low - just something to motivate the guys this summer and in the pre-season
Reason being - we had the A10 player of the year, Rookie of the Year, and an all-conference guard - and finished 4th. We lose Cline and SDJ (along with Wood and Kwesi) and really the success of next year is really resting on Stansbury, who is a mystery at this point to all outsiders because he has never played in college and Grant, who collapsed during a game last year and hard to say how he will bounce back from that. We do return Buckingham, Sherod, and Fore - which is a solid start, but they are still young - so still some unpredictability there.
So no surprise we will be picked low - just something to motivate the guys this summer and in the pre-season
Don't really care about or put much stock into preseason predictions from low rate journalists. Don't see us finishing lower then 6th TBH just too many question marks in the A10. I know many of you don't want to jump he gun on DMB but personally think he'll be one of the all time greats (Anderson/Newman) and will raise the level of play of his teammates. By the end of this season I expect him to be one of the top players in the conference.
Be alert FRS, heard Rothstein has been seen at the Seven Eleven in Front Royal wearing purple.
Pretty sure we finished tied for 3rd and the two teams ahead of us lost a lot more than we did. The only decent teams that lost less than us were URI, the Bonies and Davidson. I could see those teams moving ahead of us, but I don't see us falling 6 places in the standings based on what everyone else has lost and what they are bringing in. SJU brings back almost everyone, but they were really really bad last year. They did have a lot of injuries, but they might have been the worst team in the conference. SLU brings in a ton of talent, but Ford is known for his recruiting, not his coaching. It remains to be seen how that pans out, there is a reason he isn't in the P5 anymore. He may be able to out-athlete other A10 teams with the way he is recruiting more than he could in the P5.
Yeah, in a few of the league projections I've seen, other teams are getting a lot of credit for guys who have never dressed for them yet. Meanwhile, we get zero credit for any of our new guys, only negative comments about who we lost. The knife cuts both ways. Mason has some good young guys becoming eligible, but they lost two really key players. VCU lost a ton and its coach. Rhody lost some good talent. Dayton lost a ton and its coach. It's really wide open.
Most other A-10 schools have brought in highly recruited players. We are all excited (rightfully so) about Gilyard but look at our recruits and none of them were sought after by P5 programs or even other A-10 schools. Any preseason projection is going to hone in on guys who are more highly recruited of which we have none.
But I agree with your sentiment.
Saw my buddy Spider Joey today and told him the Spiders will have some awesome shooters this year which will have a big impact on the A10. I easily see the Spiders as Top 5 and if Buck and Sherod don't have Sophmore slumps could be top 3. Golden will pick right up where TJ left off at the end of the season. Y'all have a few question marks but solid overall.
Ram Bal followed SpidUR last night into Bon Air. Any of you all have that plate?
Ram Bal
Ram Bal followed SpidUR last night into Bon Air. Any of you all have that plate?
Ram Bal
I don't think free throw shooting was as bad as perceived, we ended up shooting 71.3% as a team and lost three of our weakest shooters in kwesi, marshall and yes, TJ too (68%). We did lose sdj who was among our best but I think we will be fine.
Yeah,
I'm not worried about FT shooting either. TJ missed a lot of big ones and FT's in general, it was a huge weakness in his game. SDJ shot the best for our team but man he always seemed to miss the ones that matter.
Of our returning players, Sherod, Buck, and JJ all shot over 75%. Khwan shot 61%, which is terrible for a PG, but he was really good in high school and I think we saw him improve as the year went after a really poor start at the line.
I feel like Sherod and Buck will be clutch FT shooters. Buckingham is just very mentally strong and focused and Sherod is very quietly confident with the smooth stroke.
I think it will be very very interesting to see how Nick progresses from FR to Soph year. He really had a great ability to slow the game down and be in the right spot and free himself for shots as a freshman. If he increases his strength and athleticism a little, watch out. I feel he missed a lot of shots just adjusting to the level, and I think he could make a big jump this year.
I think it will be very very interesting to see how Nick progresses from FR to Soph year. He really had a great ability to slow the game down and be in the right spot and free himself for shots as a freshman. If he increases his strength and athleticism a little, watch out. I feel he missed a lot of shots just adjusting to the level, and I think he could make a big jump this year.
Khwan improved FTs markedly over the course of the season. He shot 54% from the line in non-conference play and 69.5% in A-10 play. Would obviously like to see that even higher for a PG, but hopefully there's still some room for him to improve.
Our team being healthy all year, especially the starting 5 will be a big key to the season. If we lose one of those guys for an extended stretch will be devastating. We cannot have a Grant-type situation this year, especially with anyone in the front court.
That being said I think this might be the weakest the A10 looks to be in years.
That being said I think this might be the weakest the A10 looks to be in years.
We lost SDJ but have a very capable player coming back in Fore and our most talented freshman is also a PG. We lost TJ but feel confident that Golden will develop nicely. We obviously lose overall production from this change. Every other player is adding a year of experience and are operating with the knowledge that the primary focus of last year's team, TJ, is no longer there. Everyone will step their game up. Solly will bring a lot to the team.
If I look at just the above, I think we start the season a bit weaker than we ended last year, but not as big of a drop as most expect. Then, if I throw in a grad transfer to spell some minutes and give some fouls, as well as ANY improvement from PF, that helps keep Grant in the game at crucial moments.
Any production from the freshmen is a cherry on top. I just don't see this team finishing 9th. Buck's heart alone is worth 8th.
If I look at just the above, I think we start the season a bit weaker than we ended last year, but not as big of a drop as most expect. Then, if I throw in a grad transfer to spell some minutes and give some fouls, as well as ANY improvement from PF, that helps keep Grant in the game at crucial moments.
Any production from the freshmen is a cherry on top. I just don't see this team finishing 9th. Buck's heart alone is worth 8th.
I think 9th is a fair and good spot to be in. You can exceed expectations, if not give the young forecourt a lot of minutes because the outcome won't matter as much as being in contention.
It's how we do in the OOC that worries me. It could set the tone for the season before the A10 even starts.
It's how we do in the OOC that worries me. It could set the tone for the season before the A10 even starts.
The biggest thing to me is how our offense will run without TJ. You remember last season we were a completely different team without him on the floor. He opened up shots for everyone. Very hard to replace an A-10 player of the year, especially in the offense we run. It will an adjustment IMO, and it may take some time. We have a pretty young team and some guys will have to step up into leadership roles. It will be interesting to see how we develop, but I don't expect the offense to click as well as it did with TJ on the floor. Maybe our defense will be improved with the addition of new guys.
Our offense was based around TJ last year which is why we were lost when he was off the court. The offense will obviously not be based around him this year, so we should be less lost when he is not there. And since TJ was so essential to our offense and we didn't have a good back up option he was very limited defensively due to trying to not foul. I believe our interior defense should improve this year. SDJ wasn't a great defender, I think his minutes will be replaced with a better defender. Khwan, DMB, and JJ are all good defenders, as is Solly apparently. Not sure about NS yet.
The point is, the offense that develops during practice and the early season will be different this year than the offense that developed last year. Mooney has had a good track record of letting the players have an influence in how the offense runs, and I trust we will see a different but effective offense develop next year based on DMB/Khwan/Sherod. I also think we will see better defense overall. Our interior defense was our biggest hole last year, allowing 51% of 2FG, having very few blocks, and having poor defensive rebounding. If we can have Solly at the 4, DMB at the 3, and Grant is serviceable defensively at the 5, our interior defense should be much better. How much the defense improves and how our offense will compare to last year remain to be seen.
Some of the aspects our offense lacked last year were drawing fouls (277th in the country), 3pt % (208th in the country) and offensive rebounding (341st in the country). I never expect us to be a good offensive rebounding team, but having the guards use their athleticism to get to the line and shooting better from 3 can go a long way towards making up for the loss of TJ and SDJ.
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