blueandgray
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Post by blueandgray on Sept 30, 2015 16:43:03 GMT -5
govan Derrickson Copeland peak DSR
That's a nasty first five!! Watch out for Derrickson.
White Tre Reggie Cameron Kaleb Hayes mourning agau
Bench according to minutes....all will play. Had to take a stab at it. Our bench alone is good enough to win a few BE games.
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seaweed
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Post by seaweed on Sept 30, 2015 19:44:21 GMT -5
Speaks to your credibilty on this board b&g that in 2 hours nobody has challenged your whack assertion that we start two frosh. 100% on the bench winning its share of games. Dont care what others say, DSR at the PG/1 makes us better, deeper, more lethal, and it shows him to be as versatile as he needs to be.
Big D, you're gonna be a stud
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Sept 30, 2015 19:54:43 GMT -5
Speaks to your credibilty on this board b&g that in 2 hours nobody has challenged your whack assertion that we start two frosh. 100% on the bench winning its share of games. Dont care what others say, DSR at the PG/1 makes us better, deeper, more lethal, and it shows him to be as versatile as he needs to be. Big D, you're gonna be a stud From the reports so far, while it may not be the starting lineup day 1, that lineup by mid-season could very well be the one that balances us the best both in talent and in youth/experience.
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sleepy
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Post by sleepy on Sept 30, 2015 20:27:30 GMT -5
govan Derrickson Copeland peak DSR That's a nasty first five!! Watch out for Derrickson. White Tre Reggie Cameron Kaleb Hayes mourning agau Bench according to minutes....all will play. Had to take a stab at it. Our bench alone is good enough to win a few BE games. Defensively that line-up is quite scary. Not the good kind of scary, just to be clear.
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MCIGuy
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Anyone here? What am I supposed to update?
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Post by MCIGuy on Sept 30, 2015 21:03:42 GMT -5
Speaks to your credibilty on this board b&g that in 2 hours nobody has challenged your whack assertion that we start two frosh. Well, the suggestion isn't exactly new. Some have been penciling Derrickson in the starting lineup since the Italy trip (although I prefer Paul to be in there). Also this board isn't all that active now so posts can stay up for days before anyone notices, let alone post a response.
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Sept 30, 2015 21:47:13 GMT -5
I don't know MCI - we seem to have the innate ability to just sense posts that foster argument, disagreement and outright derision.
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Sept 30, 2015 22:34:37 GMT -5
govan Derrickson Copeland peak DSR That's a nasty first five!! Watch out for Derrickson. White Tre Reggie Cameron Kaleb Hayes mourning agau Bench according to minutes....all will play. Had to take a stab at it. Our bench alone is good enough to win a few BE games. Defensively that line-up is quite scary. Not the good kind of scary, just to be clear. Offensively, it could be pretty scary too. The good kind. PW made strides last year on D and, personally, I expect him to be quite good eventually. But he's not a lockdown defender yet and he's not yet a plus rebounder. Derrickson and White have pretty different skillsets but, because of how versatile PW has the ability to be, I love him as a starter and I love him just as much as an anchor off of the bench. The versatility on this squad is exciting. Strangely, because PW has the ability to be so versatile and to be a facilitator, Derrickson's comparative lack of versatility may make him more attractive as a starter with the current personnel. Regardless of the starting five, it looks like many guys will get a lot of minutes. I certainly hope that both Paul and Marcus make it a tough decision as to who gets more minutes and are playing well enough to make an argument for Isaac to sit to get them more minutes. The more prepared players we have, the better. This is going to be a fun year. I'm amped about this group of Hoyas. The ceiling is high but guys climb that ladder at different rates. It's nice to have a guy from whom we expect a lot like Paul White that can provide a cushion for the younger guys in terms of the things he can do and gaps he can fill. Even if they break out in one capacity, PW's value to this team isn't at all diminished. He can be a safety blanket in many ways if he keeps on developing the way he looks like he can. Isaac and LJ may be more attractive to scouts right now but I'm really curious to see what White can do in his time in school. I think there's a lot of upside yet to be realized.
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blueandgray
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Post by blueandgray on Oct 1, 2015 0:10:09 GMT -5
Great post. Another note on paul.....he was an outright poor rebounder last year, especially grabbing defensive boards. From what I saw in Italy and from the conversations I've had with him....he is going to make rebounding a huge priority for him this year. He actually looked greatly improved in that area in Italy.....think his rebounding numbers improve significantly.
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Post by cosmopolitanhoya on Oct 1, 2015 3:15:15 GMT -5
While I don't doubt Derrickson will play a big role for us, I highly doubt he will start over PW. PW is vastly skilled and has one more year than the freshman here. Not to mention JT3's preference of veterans throughout the course of his career here. But if Derrickson does indeed start over PW, man that kid must be THAT good then.
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Oct 1, 2015 7:37:11 GMT -5
B&g, what's the status on Hayes and his injury?
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Oct 1, 2015 7:39:48 GMT -5
govan Derrickson Copeland peak DSR I'm going to go with Hayes (if injury-free) and White instead of Govan and Derrickson for that first game.
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blueandgray
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Post by blueandgray on Oct 1, 2015 7:40:52 GMT -5
I was told that he will be fine for the start of the season.
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Oct 1, 2015 7:46:55 GMT -5
Thanks. I like that you're giving more than a few minutes to Cameron. It would be huge for the team if he could play like in Italy.
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Oct 1, 2015 7:49:26 GMT -5
I like that it seems like we don't have a deer-caught-in-headlights player this season. We'll see.
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Cambridge
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Post by Cambridge on Oct 1, 2015 8:43:19 GMT -5
govan Derrickson Copeland peak DSR That's a nasty first five!! Watch out for Derrickson. White Tre Reggie Cameron Kaleb Hayes mourning agau Bench according to minutes....all will play. Had to take a stab at it. Our bench alone is good enough to win a few BE games. Jesus. If that is true, I'm not even sure how to calibrate my expectations for the season.
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Cambridge
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Post by Cambridge on Oct 1, 2015 8:47:15 GMT -5
govan Derrickson Copeland peak DSR That's a nasty first five!! Watch out for Derrickson. White Tre Reggie Cameron Kaleb Hayes mourning agau Bench according to minutes....all will play. Had to take a stab at it. Our bench alone is good enough to win a few BE games. Defensively that line-up is quite scary. Not the good kind of scary, just to be clear. Exactly, I think this is what will dictate the ceiling of this team. JTIII has traditionally distributed minutes based on defensive play. While Peak and DSR are quite solid, if not strong, defenders out on the perimeter, Copeland guarding a SF plus two freshmen holding down the paint would make me a little bit nervous.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Oct 1, 2015 9:50:30 GMT -5
govan Derrickson Copeland peak DSR That's a nasty first five!! Watch out for Derrickson. White Tre Reggie Cameron Kaleb Hayes mourning agau Bench according to minutes....all will play. Had to take a stab at it. Our bench alone is good enough to win a few BE games. Jesus. If that is true, I'm not even sure how to calibrate my expectations for the season. I'm on full-on wild expectations right now because it's fun. And because my other sports teams suck. Join the bandwagon. Normally, the "Derrickson is starting" commentary or the "(aside from DSR) Derrickson is the best player on the team" comments that have floated around would be a negative sign. I'm pinning a lot of my hopes for this season on a leap from at least one freshman, and if Derrickson, a freshman, is outplaying Ike and and LJ and Paul White and Tre... I'm not sure that's a great sign. In general, it isn't. When there's a fight for a starting position, it's usually between two mediocre options, not two great ones. You want someone to seize it. And I'm not sure this team can be great if Peak or Copeland isn't the second best player on the team. Is Derrickson going to be freshman Jeff Green or Greg Monroe? Both were the top or perhaps second best player on their team. Of course, those teams didn't even make the tourney. That said, it's tough not to get excited about Derrickson's play in Italy. I hope this is Marcus seizing it. And I'm willing to believe for the moment that that is true simply because he has played so very well. But the sophomores still need to realize their potential -- and I love that the next freshman class is here to press them. The defense may not be good. But even without Trawick and Hopsmith ... I find it hard to believe that our zone will be as bad. This group HAS to be better at understanding where to be, right?
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Oct 1, 2015 10:19:08 GMT -5
Trying to create a mental image of HopSmith has completely derailed getting any work done this morning.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Oct 1, 2015 11:25:56 GMT -5
Jesus. If that is true, I'm not even sure how to calibrate my expectations for the season. . and I love that the next freshman class is here to press them. The defense may not be good. But even without Trawick and Hopsmith ... I find it hard to believe that our zone will be as bad. This group HAS to be better at understanding where to be, right? That first part is the key, right? For the first time in a while, we have what we all believe to be a large number of players that appear willing and able to meaningfully contribute. We've had capable benches, at times, but I'm not sure we've ever had a capable backup at every position and to meet most foreseeable needs. I mean, for probably half of the last decade, we've had major challenges filling every starting position with a fully competent player, let alone having options on the bench for each of them. Sure, I understand we have a freshman and an unproven upperclassman at the 5, and we've analyzed to death how if bad things happen, we might be a bit thin at guard. But when those are your worse problems, and you've got depth such that guys that might otherwise play at the 3 or the 4 might be able to fill in at those other spots in extremis, you're in pretty good shape. So, back to SF's first point: when you've got 8 (or 9 or 10) guys that all legitimately can play, there will be no room for complacency and there will be a greater likelihood that these guys will engage with one another in practice and improve in a sort of self-fulfilling loop. I know we're not Kentucky with 10 McD AAs or whatever, but it's the same principle on a smaller scale. And it simply has to be true. Your defense has to improve when you're guarding, say, Ike as compared to if you had to guard, say, Lubick. And I don't think we need LJ or Ike to be truly "great." Obviously if one or more is that would be, well, great. But what we really need at a minimum, is at least one of the freshman to have meaningfully improved and the others to, at least, not regress. If we start there and add competent play from the freshmen (which I think we all expect), I think we get to where we minimally want to be. You could certainly see where a Marcus could come in and at least equal "improved but not great" LJ or Ike. And that would be terrific. On defense, the zone is going to be crucial. Our strength is likely to be our overall length and a 2-3 is a great way to take advantage of that, particularly since lateral defending was a weakness last year and a key part of man defense. As far as expectations go (and somewhere Joe Lang is smiling), I would expect at a minimum that this team would seriously contend for a BE title and go into the postseason with a very legitimate opportunity to play at least into the second weekend. (You all should know by now that I'm not one that stakes seasons on postseason outcomes...) In any event, that's my minimal expectation, and that would be a slight improvement on last year. I am wary of our extremely difficult opening segment. We are integrating young, key players and there's the very reasonable possibility we hit some bumps. And maybe several bumps consecutively. I know over-reacting is the reason for this board's existence, but I would hope that if we start slowly, people understand we still can get where we need to be.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Oct 1, 2015 12:16:15 GMT -5
That first part is the key, right? For the first time in a while, we have what we all believe to be a large number of players that appear willing and able to meaningfully contribute. We've had capable benches, at times, but I'm not sure we've ever had a capable backup at every position and to meet most foreseeable needs. I mean, for probably half of the last decade, we've had major challenges filling every starting position with a fully competent player, let alone having options on the bench for each of them. Sure, I understand we have a freshman and an unproven upperclassman at the 5, and we've analyzed to death how if bad things happen, we might be a bit thin at guard. But when those are your worse problems, and you've got depth such that guys that might otherwise play at the 3 or the 4 might be able to fill in at those other spots in extremis, you're in pretty good shape. So, back to SF's first point: when you've got 8 (or 9 or 10) guys that all legitimately can play, there will be no room for complacency and there will be a greater likelihood that these guys will engage with one another in practice and improve in a sort of self-fulfilling loop. I know we're not Kentucky with 10 McD AAs or whatever, but it's the same principle on a smaller scale. And it simply has to be true. Your defense has to improve when you're guarding, say, Ike as compared to if you had to guard, say, Lubick. Obviously, I agree, because it's been one of my harping points. That's more or less what I mean by leap -- and I think one of them being great makes us a Final Four contender. But we do need someone to make a leap, I think, unless there's a stronger collective growth than normal. The fundamental issue is that, as much as we don't want to admit it, the center position this year could be worse than last year. Govan is a frosh, and the backup options unless Derrickson can play center as not as palatable as last year. HopSmith counts as one player but he was often a 40 minute player, and a long season, foul issues or lack of strength could really plague us with a freshman center down the stretch. The other issue is losing Trawick. I actually don't worry about Peak taking his place on D and I'm less concerned about losing his leadership -- someone will step up -- but Peak has got to replace his outside shooting and also be able to create once in a while. Trawick wasn't a master at the latter and the former always seemed kind of lucky, but last year's LJ Peak couldn't play either role. Isaac or LJ need to be that guy -- we can't put all the creation on DSR. That of course is terrifying, because our freshman class was not good at being where they needed to be. It was a much worse problem than lateral defending -- which I'm not even sure I agree on. I think Tre's issues with getting beat, for example, was more positioning -- he always attacked way too much but never got steals. It's like he gambled for nothing. I'd like this team to get back to the place where we surprised some people. I agree with general expectations but with this being DSR's senior year, the ever looming spectre of early entry, etc., I feel like there's a good opportunity for a big run here. But like last year where we really needed Smith to come in and hit top potential to do that, I feel like we need Ike or Peak to take it to the next level for a Top 4 kind of season.
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