dailey247
Century (over 100 posts)
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Posts: 126
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Post by dailey247 on Apr 16, 2009 8:57:42 GMT -5
You seem to be equating leadership to having just won a game. Do you have any evidence? Can you prove that NJIT didn't have a strong leader last year? What about DePaul? Did they throw up a bagel in the regular season because Dar Tucker is a bad leader, or because the rest of his team couldn't crack the starting five at Dallas Academy? Furthermore, can you prove that Tyler Hansbrough's teammates don't find his antics as annoying as we all do, but won in spite of him? I don't know if other players think Chris Wright is a super swell guy and would follow him into a burning building. I do know that the only things he can do to make them play better are draw double teams and make accurate passes. We will go precisely as far next year as the intersection of talent and execution takes us.
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Apr 16, 2009 8:57:52 GMT -5
Greg's team. Chris is gonna be the energy guy.
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kellycpcm
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
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Post by kellycpcm on Apr 16, 2009 9:17:28 GMT -5
The verdict is completely out for next year. We will still be a young team. Two juniors-Chris and Austin and the sophomores. No one knows who will emerge as the leader, if anyone. The leadership role is earned both on and off the court. This same group of players ended this year without a will to succeed most of the time. I still see the amazing looks on their faces as we continued to under-perform the second half of the season.
Hopefully, a new season, a new attitude, a new desire to win, being more mature in the system and having the correct role players will lead to the success of what Jeff’s sophomore or junior teams looked like
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Apr 16, 2009 9:18:41 GMT -5
How can anyone say right or wrong about leadership? None of us are going to know, ever, we're just going to make up stuff after the fact.
Giga, we do need to add players (I actually think G is oddly a higher priority for NEXT year) but our improvement on the boards I expect to come from being able to play two bigs at once and their improvement. We had two frosh and a soph last year -- there's a lot of potential improvement there. Latavious would be great as well, but I expect big leaps from our returning players if we're going to be good.
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Post by daytonahoya31 on Apr 16, 2009 9:27:09 GMT -5
oh boy, debbie downer _the way had to make an appearance.
We hit rock bottom last year. We'll be much better with Chris having the reigns, because he will have the reigns. We'll be much better with greg and henry having another year under their belts. we'll be better with our two best players not constantly auditioning for the league, for the simple reason that our best player knows he'll be in the league regardless.
I think we'll be a much better rebounding team. I also think that our best players were embarrassed by the collapse and won't let it happen again. I love how people on this board don't anticipate improvement. The biggest jump for a player is between his first and second year....this will be the second year for greg, henry and chris, not to mention nikita and julian.
The people who are thinking this will be the same team next year are dead wrong. This will be a different team, if for no other reason than they know exactly what to expect.
The talent will take care of itself.
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guru
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by guru on Apr 16, 2009 9:36:57 GMT -5
Like the proverbial blind squirrel, the_way has stumbled into something that is close to true (call it half an acorn). Leadership, or lack thereof was a huge issue with the Hoyas this past season. We didn't get any from anywhere, including our bench. Someone will need to step up and take that role next season.
But this is the offseason. There are no games to gauge our progress. All we have is "on paper" - and "on paper" the Hoyas look to be one of the better teams in the conference next season, with great potential if they work hard in the offseason to improve their weaknesses.
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FrazierFanatic
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Apr 16, 2009 9:42:56 GMT -5
I don't think it is a matter of not anticipating ANY improvement = it is a question of how much. To be honest, I don't think Austin showed a great deal of improvement this season, although he did improve in some aspects. Many posters simply want to presume huge jumps merely because of a year of experience. It may happen - I desperately want it to happen - but we can't predict it just because we want it. Will we be better next season? I think everyone would agree that we absolutely should be. Will it be enough to turn a 12th place team into a contender? No one can guarantee that. There are a lot of variables that we will not know about until January.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Apr 16, 2009 9:57:07 GMT -5
I just can't live my life as a pessimist. I can't temper my expectations so I'm not hurt later. That's Edited . I believe in the best in this team. If I have to deal with a season like this oh well. Screw being pleasantly surprised.
Back of next year's shirt:
I Find Your Lack of Faith Distrurbing
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butler
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 117
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Post by butler on Apr 16, 2009 9:58:36 GMT -5
The departure of DS is addition by substraction, and if you are paying attn, I think it's apparent coach shares that view. With Jesse, it's a bit different, because his play, while down last year, was still helpful, but it's replaceable (not that many minutes to replace and his level of play is not that hard to match). And the departure of both guys should held the cohesion of the team (regardless of who is to blame for last year's lack of cohesion). And the talent is there: the starting 5 will have 3 McD AAs, and 4th who could have been a McD, and the 5th (Sims) was a top 50/60 guy. Add clark, met player of the year and top 100 guy, and our first 6 is as talented as any in the country outside of NC. And (1) they all went through a full season in the BE last year, apart from Hollis, who did get to practice; (2) our two best players, Greg and Chris, will no longer be in their first full season; (3) no-one on the team will be playing one position "bigger" than they should be, unlike last year, when both forwards were (in college, almost every team has a PF at Center, so I exclude that); (4) I think we all agree that JT III's track record shows he can coach. Sure, I would be more optimistic if we made the tourney this year, but given the likely improvements set forth above, I think it's reasonable to expect a much larger than "ordinary" improvement from this team.
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Boz
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123 Fireballs!
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Post by Boz on Apr 16, 2009 10:21:15 GMT -5
I just can't live my life as a pessimist. I can't temper my expectations so I'm not hurt later. That's Edited Edited. I believe in the best in this team. If I have to deal with a season like this oh well. Screw being pleasantly surprised. Back of next year's shirt: I Find Your Lack of Faith Distrurbing Nice. ;D
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cnyhoya
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
Posts: 399
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Post by cnyhoya on Apr 16, 2009 10:31:47 GMT -5
It's tougher this off-season to play with line-ups and to assess the team "on paper". Next year's success depends on just about everyone stepping up alot - both individually and collectively. I'm definitely in the "show me" camp. The potential is still there...
The league won't be as tough, as others have noted. But won't Villanova be loaded, with Cheek, Wayns, Mouph, and Armwood coming on board? Ouch!! Give us some of those guys!!
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Apr 16, 2009 10:34:32 GMT -5
Villanova got very young, very quick, especially in the frontcourt.
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FrazierFanatic
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Apr 16, 2009 10:50:43 GMT -5
I just can't live my life as a pessimist. I can't temper my expectations so I'm not hurt later. That's Edited Edited. I believe in the best in this team. If I have to deal with a season like this oh well. Screw being pleasantly surprised. Back of next year's shirt: I Find Your Lack of Faith Distrurbing There is a difference between Faith and Blind Faith. To each his own. I have faith we will be better. I have hope we will be alot better.
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sleepy
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,079
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Post by sleepy on Apr 16, 2009 11:00:30 GMT -5
I don't think drastic improvement from individual players is needed to see a drastic change in results. We need to adjust and tweek small things, and players need to improve, but not neccessarily by leaps and bounds. Monroe needs to develop a right hand, Chris needs to develop consistency, Freeman needs to improve his shooting mechanics and quickness a bit, Sims needs to add muscle and improve his post game, Clark needs to work on his handle, Vaughn needs to improve his finishing and lateral quickness. And everyone needs to work on their shooting. Those aren't huge changes that need to be made by each player, and if they improve on those small little things we would be monumentally better.
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HoyaSox04
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Founding member of the ROCK-tavius Spann Fan Club.
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Post by HoyaSox04 on Apr 16, 2009 11:07:36 GMT -5
There is a difference between Faith and Blind Faith. To each his own. I have faith we will be better. I have hope we will be alot better. Derek and the Dominoes > Blind Faith
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Buckets
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by Buckets on Apr 16, 2009 11:11:17 GMT -5
If Monroe makes a leap that we're all hoping for, I'm not sure how much better everyone else needs to get. If he can command a double team (we can disagree on how much better he needs to get -- I don't think it's that far off), I think even moderate progression from a couple other guys would make us a lot better.
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cnyhoya
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
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Post by cnyhoya on Apr 16, 2009 11:32:41 GMT -5
If Monroe makes a leap that we're all hoping for, I'm not sure how much better everyone else needs to get. If he can command a double team (we can disagree on how much better he needs to get -- I don't think it's that far off), I think even moderate progression from a couple other guys would make us a lot better. Moderate progression would be good. But there is no one on the team who doesn't have something to prove after last season.
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Post by HoyasAreHungry on Apr 16, 2009 12:25:40 GMT -5
last year=mental
we will be fine
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hoopsmccan
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by hoopsmccan on Apr 16, 2009 16:59:54 GMT -5
Uconn= no price or adrien either, who I think are severly underrated losses, and they will miss almost as much if not as much as Thabeet. Pittsburgh= No Fields or Young either Lousiville= No Mcgee or Williams The top three Big East teams lose their top three players. Nova loses their enitre froncourt. Marquette loses their whole backcourt. Cuse loses their starting backcourt. WVU loses their best on only three point threat. Those are some major losses for the top 7 teams. Add Gody to the list (for now): sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/ncaa/04/16/harangody.nba/index.htmlhm
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Big Dog
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by Big Dog on Apr 16, 2009 21:53:21 GMT -5
Let's take it easy on the "special" and "Final Four" talk and just focus on getting things back on track by being in the top half of the Big East, and therefore, a tournament team.
Obviously having Monroe back is huge and really raises the potential ceiling of the team, but to me the team isn't going anywhere unless 3-point shooting and defense improve dramatically from last season. I hope Wright, Clark, and Freeman are shooting 3s as I type this, and if they aren't, that they're in the weight room getting stronger.
Monroe needs to get tougher--enough with the turnovers and improve the rebounding. But the real secret to me to whether this team suffers another disappointing season or really busts out is the development of Henry Sims. If he can be a force inside defensively and also on the glass, that alone will make an ENORMOUS difference in what everybody else needs to do. But if he doesn't improve much, we'll be picking over the bones the second weekend in March like we were this year.
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