Where to, Ododa?

[TBSpyder]

No question in my mind, that we are lifting scholarships, not just telling players that their playing time will be limited. Why, just read this board, there are donors who feel the coach should be fired when we don't make the NCAA tourney often. I disagree, but I'm not a major donor. I believe UR used to honor scholarships for 4 years, and that was probably a recruiting pitch to the parents. The last such player was Connor Smith. It's always difficult to judge how a high school player will fare in D1 basketball, when matched against bigger, stronger, faster players. It helps if they are in a big school division and play in a high level AAU summer league. We are counting on players improving year after year, and maybe it doesn't always happen. I think Chandler was totally blindsided by the decision. If he wants to play 4 years of college basketball, he has no choice but to drop down a division. I wish him well, and I hope he proves to be a very good player. I'm still optimistic about the coming year, but regret, we are becoming more like the big name basketball programs, and less like the old Spider program.

 

[R&B fan]

TB, you obviously do not know CM very well. No scholarships are being lifted. If this did happen, Connor S. would not have finished his career at UR. He chose to stay and not play minutes. I am sure that the staff knew at the end of his frosh year that he was never going to be a factor. Good kid but was not a A10 level player

 

[spiderman]

No question in my mind, that we are lifting scholarships, not just telling players that their playing time will be limited. Why, just read this board, there are donors who feel the coach should be fired when we don't make the NCAA tourney often. I disagree, but I'm not a major donor. I believe UR used to honor scholarships for 4 years, and that was probably a recruiting pitch to the parents. The last such player was Connor Smith. It's always difficult to judge how a high school player will fare in D1 basketball, when matched against bigger, stronger, faster players. It helps if they are in a big school division and play in a high level AAU summer league. We are counting on players improving year after year, and maybe it doesn't always happen. I think Chandler was totally blindsided by the decision. If he wants to play 4 years of college basketball, he has no choice but to drop down a division. I wish him well, and I hope he proves to be a very good player. I'm still optimistic about the coming year, but regret, we are becoming more like the big name basketball programs, and less like the old Spider program.

again, total conjecture. you say we honored Conor's 4 year scholarship ... that we "used to", implying we don't now. with no backup. just conjecture.

 

[TBSpyder]

Actually, I was saying Conor appeared to be the last player, we kept on scholarship, even after it was obvious that there would be limited playing time. And, he actually was on scholarship for five years. It's also conjecture that players weren't motivated by coaching staff to transfer out. It appears to be too many such transfers for it to be entirely voluntary. And there are many programs now doing this. There are no 4 year scholarships, just one year at a time. I'd prefer for all of our players to play out their careers at UR, but we appear in a different era. Heck, we even lost a walk-on player from last year, never heard the reason why. But I think all of this shows that if you're coaching Kentucky, you can just recruit on the basis of what a player can do right now. But with, our place in the pecking order, we have to recruit on the basis of what we think they can do in a couple of years, as much art as science.

 

[SouthJerseySpiderFan]

we are becoming more like the big name basketball programs, and less like the old Spider program.

All speculation presently about lifting scholarships but appears if UR doesn't progress like other schools there won't be many opportunities to make the tourny. Lots of money put into program so the change just has to happen. Maybe some suspect talented kids will not commit knowing they might not be able to get the valuable degree by just sitting on the bench. And if UR's level of recruiting goes up my thinking is these players will probably want to transfer on their own just to get more playing time.

So a good time to ask this question, does Julius or Pisto transfer out by frosh/soph year's out? SDJ go at PG for 2 years with Fore prime backup and hopefully starter beyond. Say TD starts at 3 but some time at 2 and JJones blossoms as the SG. So he has 25-30 minutes this year and next. So only 10 minutes up for grabs for next two years for either Julius or Pisto and no potential for more their last two years.

 

[MrTbone]

I can't believe we are talking about the potential for guys transferring out who haven't even matriculated yet. Jesus.

 

[fan2011]

...So a good time to ask this question, does Julius or Pisto transfer out by frosh/soph year's out?

These guys haven't even stepped foot on campus, much less started practicing or even play in a college basketball game and you already think it is a good time to ask if they are going to transfer out. I don't have the words...

By your logic we should never have more than 8 people on the roster so everyone gets plenty of playing time and nobody transfers out.

 

[SouthJerseySpiderFan]

I guess the same way we discuss in detail about many potential HS guys who never step foot on the Robins court. To each his own I guess but of course a roster needs more than 8 and greatest success for me would be a 8 man, max 9 man rotation. Since people have mentioned Sherrod plenty, what happens if he commits to UR, what do you see roster wise at the 2 guard? Maybe both Julius and Pisto don't pan out or hopefully they both do and ...... OK no speculation.

 

[spiderman]

this is why I find it crazy when some here expect incoming freshmen to be ready to play year one. if you're at or near a full roster with 12 or 13 players, you can't play everyone. and veterans are ahead of the curve. redshirting, whether via transfer or self imposed, helps. but this year with 12 active we're going to have a couple of very good ballers who don't play. if Dominaus is shirted, we're at 11 which I think is perfect.

all you can do is keep open competition. if Jesse and Julius outplay Josh, they play ahead of him. if not, then someone sits until he's the best option. Jesse will also compete at the 1.

 

[keefusb]

Had our recruiting not improved dramatically after his first year playing (he redshirted as a freshman), Connor Smith might have actually played significant minutes. He was a very respectable 3 point shooter, and was the team's leading scorer during a summer trip to Spain when they played a handful of Spanish pro teams.

His biggest issue was that he wasn't very athletic, he had poor foot speed, and couldn't jump. The irony is that many of us now complain that we recruited athletes and not skilled basketball players in recent years. My feeling is that we simply have not recruited well enough in the past 5 years to maintain the level of success we had in 2010-2011.

 

[keefusb]

BTW, the walk-on payer we lost (Luke Moyer) went to Campbell with McGeehan.

 

[TBSpyder]

BTW, the walk-on payer we lost (Luke Moyer) went to Campbell with McGeehan.

No, the player I was referring to, was Chase Fletcher, Luke Moyer was several years ago, and he's now left Campbell.

What I love about this board, is that it's actually functioning at this time of year. How many schools this size, have this many fans, posting in the dead time of year? I appreciate the different perspectives here, makes me long for the beginning of this season. Though, I'm at an age, where it's not a good idea to wish any part of your life away. So, I'll start to get interested in football, though basketball is my real passion.

 

[spiderman]

I'm worried about the spring of 2018! as it stands now, we might not be recruiting that year. we'll be out of things to talk about by May.

 

[97spiderfan]

. My feeling is that we simply have not recruited well enough in the past 5 years to maintain the level of success we had in 2010-2011.

You are not alone in that feeling.

 

[gcarter52]

Had our recruiting not improved dramatically after his first year playing (he redshirted as a freshman), Connor Smith might have actually played significant minutes. He was a very respectable 3 point shooter, and was the team's leading scorer during a summer trip to Spain when they played a handful of Spanish pro teams.

His biggest issue was that he wasn't very athletic, he had poor foot speed, and couldn't jump. The irony is that many of us now complain that we recruited athletes and not skilled basketball players in recent years. My feeling is that we simply have not recruited well enough in the past 5 years to maintain the level of success we had in 2010-2011.

 

[R&B fan]

TB, Chase is still a student at UR. He was dismissed from the team for an off the court issue. You must be out of town and not able to be at many games or practices. Good kid but made a mistake. Your negative thinking puzzles me.

 

[TBSpyder]

R&B,

I'm in Florida, and haven't been to Richmond in several years. One of my kids has moved back, so I will be visiting Richmond again soon. As for negative thinking, I agree, but, reading recent threads, I'm surprised you'd call me out for negative thinking. For the most part, I'm pretty positive about our recruited players and our coaching staff. I'm just not in the, if we don't go to NCAA tourney every so many years, we should fire the coach, or that we've done a bad job recruiting quality players. I'm very proud of our basketball program, as both a graduate and a Spider parent.

 

[R&B fan]

There is one way that we move up the ladder and that is to improve recruiting.

 

[SpiderK]

I think given the past few years, that we are now "OK" with being a program that gets rid of players who can't play up to standards. I know we used to look down on schools that did this, but the reality is every major program does this and can't keep around a player who can't perform, and I have to think a player wants to play and if they can't play here, they want to go somewhere that can. Gone are the days, when we keep a guy around for 4 years and never play them, ala Connor Smith.

Goes both ways. Players are ditching schools if they think they can do better. 4 for VCU and 1 for UR just did it.