smokeyjack
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Post by smokeyjack on Mar 23, 2019 8:55:05 GMT -5
You have to be ecstatic about the upside of this team going into next season.
1. You have a rack of talented 5s coming in to replace the two you lost. By all accounts, Yurt is superior to JG as a defender and his offensive numbers compare favorably as well...even if he didn’t progress any during his redshirt year and even if he doesn’t benefit from our much faster pace compared to NC St.
2. Akinjo, Mac, LeBlanc, Pickett - Pretty safe bet that at least 2 take a jump forward.
3. Galen is a player, a man and a dog. Perfect addition.
4. Chemistry HAS to be better. More dogs in the mix, and next year the team will belong unquestionably to last year’s frosh.
5. Pat can’t be worse. He’s got to get better at late-game situations. He’s got to grow as a strategist, because there’s nowhere to go but up. 6. Defensively, next year’s group is likely to take an exponential leap forward. Alexander is a strong defender. All of the incoming 5s are significant defensive upgrades. And Akinjo, Mac and LeBlanc will all get stronger and smarter on that end. Unlike our unpredictable offense, our defense was predictably awful this season. Next season, if we can just get to reliably average, we’ll win 2-3 more games.
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Bigs"R"Us
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Post by Bigs"R"Us on Mar 23, 2019 9:00:40 GMT -5
The ball needs to move around better next year. Quick and fluid. Need to get defenses off balance. Also, hit the open shots when they present themselves.
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drquigley
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by drquigley on Mar 23, 2019 10:11:28 GMT -5
I think we are mixing two issues when we talk about whether we are an "improved" team and how much better we will be next year. You really have to be delusional if you can't see how much we've improved from the hot mess we were when PE took over. But the question really is have we improved "enough" to be a legit BE powerhouse and NCAA tourney team next year. Watching the NCAA tournament both encourages and discourages me. When I see teams with less overall talent than us but better key players (and probably better coaches) I think we could easily make the leap. But then I see what the elite teams are bringing to the tourney and realize how much farther we have to go. My feeling is that we will be improved enough next year to finish with 20+ wins, a top 3 BE finish, and an NCAA bid. But making it out of the tourney's first weekend and beyond still seems like a stretch for this group.
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Post by gatormcclusky on Mar 23, 2019 10:59:12 GMT -5
We've all pretty much agreed shooting needs improvement and the defense..God help us. But unfortunately, I also think we were not a good passing team at all. Even James, who I know I know, led the BE in assists, mostly dribbled until he found a cutter or pick and roll. That is good..but the players generally had very poor overall court vision and ball movement as a team was nonexistent. You see other teams whipping the ball around the court until someone is open..not much with the Hoyas. Can you really say that the majority of double teams on Govan cam from the player covering Malinowski or Blair? Teams that consistently get open 3’s for shooters usually have very good ball movement.. Of course not, I never put it squarely on Govan, I put it primarily on him, Mac and James. Why? Because they are the only 3 guys capable of getting other guys easy open looks on a consistent basis. If they don't do that then it requires guys who aren't very good at creating their own shot to start doing just that. Combine that with the fact that Ewing inexplicably would use lineups that didn't feature any of the three between Mac, James, and Jessie, and you had a lineup without a single creator or double team threat on the floor which was usually a recipe for disaster. If James, Mac, and Jessie all played less selfish, they would all three likely of gotten about the same amount of shot attempts, they just would've been easier, better looks at the basket, but it would've required all three to buy in, they never did that. agree 100% with these two posts - ball movement has to be better next year and the team has to play more unselfishly in order to take the next step. That will start with James and Mac as the two primary ball handlers and creators next year - I expect the offense to run through them, so they're both going to have to improve significantly in that regard. James has to learn to give the ball up more often and earlier in possessions and stop overdribbling, especially in transition - I can count on one hand the number of times this year that he looked to pass the ball ahead to guys off of rebounds for what could have been quick scoring opportunities instead of slowing it down and bringing it up himself. And Mac absolutely has to learn that A) he's not in Gate City anymore where anything he threw up was considered a good look and B) he can't do everything himself offensively at this level and needs to figure out how to play within himself more on that end of the floor. At times this past season it almost seemed like there was a little bit of a struggle going on between Mac and James trying to prove which one of them was going to be the alpha dog on this team rather than just playing smart basketball and finding the open man. I'm hopeful though that both these guys are smart enough and want to win enough to where they'll understand that more success offensively has to involve a willingness to trust each other and their teammates more by sharing the rock. One of the hardest things for young guards with aggressive scoring mentalities to figure out is that you don't always have to have the ball in your hands to create the best shot for your team, and the quicker these guys pick that up, the better things will go next year.
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GIGAFAN99
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Post by GIGAFAN99 on Mar 23, 2019 12:13:42 GMT -5
We lead the league in assist percentage as a team (and James individually in assists) but Mac watching gave the impression that our team didn't share the ball. Quite the contrary, 60% of our starters and almost the entire bench had the opposite issue in that they couldn't create their own shot at all so they had to share it if they weren't shooting it. Jessie would either catch and shoot a three or receive a pass when he had cleared out his man and had an easy lay in. Josh rarely took his man off the bounce. Jamorko was almost all catch and shoot (as were Blair and Greg).
So I actually want less sharing, well not really less I guess but I don't want us to have to pass into a score. Assists are great but so is Jamorko or Galen with a ball fake and drive, Yurt having a go to move on the block, Josh picking up more garbage off the glass for putbacks, or James poking the ball away at halfcourt and laying it in.
We didn't get enough easy twos. If our guys individually develop their games, I think we will be surprised how much prettier the offense looks when guys are using the movement to gain an advantage for an individual move and not the feast or famine of great passing and a score or Mac and James having to take it themselves.
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gujake
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Post by gujake on Mar 23, 2019 16:01:39 GMT -5
Giga, I think you mostly have the right idea, but assist percentage is not always a good indicator of ball movement. My guess is we would rank low on "hockey assists", or baskets that involved multiple passes. A lot of the scoring came from Akinjo or Mac driving into the lane and immediately finding someone for a dunk or layup.
That's a great shot when you can get it, but too often when the easy pass wasn't there they would either force up a bad shot or dribble for too long and lose the advantage.
So I think the idea should be to do more of what you suggest at the end of your post: use both individual moves and ball movement to gain an advantage for another individual move or even more ball movement. In other words, string together a few moves and passes quickly.
For example, you might not get an assist recorded on a possession that goes like this: Akinjo uses a PNR to draw two defenders, passes to Yurt who pops out to the three point line, Yurt quickly passes to Alexander whose man had come over to help, Alexander drives into the lane and draws even more help, finds Mac on the perimeter who now has a step on his man, Mac uses the extra space to drive in for an open dunk. In this case, quick dribbling and passing causes the defense to scramble and gives Mac an opening to make an individual move to finish the possession.
As you note, this is easier to do with players who have the skill to exploit small advantages. I think that part will be better next year. But we also need the guards (really everyone) to be willing to make "good" passes when the great pass isn't there, and to do it quickly so the next guy can take advantage. I didn't see a lot of that this year, but I'm hoping Ewing makes it a focal point next season.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2019 9:12:27 GMT -5
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hoyas315
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Post by hoyas315 on Mar 24, 2019 14:26:16 GMT -5
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Mar 24, 2019 14:43:31 GMT -5
Great pickup having lost Edwards... the BE gets stronger...
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Mar 24, 2019 17:44:57 GMT -5
Great pickup having lost Edwards... the BE gets stronger... He needs to regain his touch from 3, he was terrible this season shooting it from deep...
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Hoyas4Ever
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A Wise Man Once Told Me Don't Argue With Fools....
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Post by Hoyas4Ever on Mar 24, 2019 18:41:01 GMT -5
Great pickup having lost Edwards... the BE gets stronger... He needs to regain his touch from 3, he was terrible this season shooting it from deep... Word from Umass press and fan base is Pimpkin was fighting lower extremities issues since early December that led to him missing 2 weeks in February with a hamstring injury. He basically was never fully healthy since the beginning of December...
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hoyaboya
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Post by hoyaboya on Mar 24, 2019 19:01:26 GMT -5
He needs to regain his touch from 3, he was terrible this season shooting it from deep... Word from Umass press and fan base is Pimpkin was fighting lower extremities issues since early December that led to him missing 2 weeks in February with a hamstring injury. He basically was never fully healthy since the beginning of December... Wonder if this means that Providence is expecting more transfers. Awful lot of guards and only so many minutes/basketballs to go around...
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mdtd on Mar 24, 2019 23:01:36 GMT -5
Word from Umass press and fan base is Pimpkin was fighting lower extremities issues since early December that led to him missing 2 weeks in February with a hamstring injury. He basically was never fully healthy since the beginning of December... Wonder if this means that Providence is expecting more transfers. Awful lot of guards and only so many minutes/basketballs to go around... I saw this, don't know if the source is reliable at all, but it makes sense. The kid is a good player and deserves a better opportunity then he got there.
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Hoyas4Ever
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
A Wise Man Once Told Me Don't Argue With Fools....
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Post by Hoyas4Ever on Mar 24, 2019 23:39:41 GMT -5
Wonder if this means that Providence is expecting more transfers. Awful lot of guards and only so many minutes/basketballs to go around... I saw this, don't know if the source is reliable at all, but it makes sense. The kid is a good player and deserves a better opportunity then he got there. He's connected to Providence sports as a student broadcaster and has been correct on things in the past regarding Friars country. Somewhat like Aiden from Hoyas247 is connected to Georgetown. That being said, I will believe it when it's officially announced. Ashton-Langford stock isn't really high. Not sure he would be happy with his realistic options on the transfer market. Ashton Langford is pretty talented but playing PG for Cooley is extremely difficult. Their offense can't reach its potential without the PG playing at a high level. Even Kris Dunn struggled mightily his Freshman year and finally figured it out as a redshirt (injury) sophomore. Everything I've read about what insiders think Cooley's plan is to obviously start Pimpkins with Ashton-Langford backing him up, move Duke permanently to the 2 as a combo and have White back him up, moving Reeves to the 3 having incoming freshman Gantt as his reserve and keeping Diallo as the starting 4. Will see if that holds and Ashton-Langford stays or actually transfers...
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seaweed
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Post by seaweed on Mar 25, 2019 5:22:27 GMT -5
I saw this, don't know if the source is reliable at all, but it makes sense. The kid is a good player and deserves a better opportunity then he got there. He's connected to Providence sports as a student broadcaster and has been correct on things in the past regarding Friars country. Somewhat like Aiden from Hoyas247 is connected to Georgetown. That being said, I will believe it when it's officially announced. Ashton-Langford stock isn't really high. Not sure he would be happy with his realistic options on the transfer market. Ashton Langford is pretty talented but playing PG for Cooley is extremely difficult. Their offense can't reach its potential without the PG playing at a high level. Even Kris Dunn struggled mightily his Freshman year and finally figured it out as a redshirt (injury) sophomore. Everything I've read about what insiders think Cooley's plan is to obviously start Pimpkins with Ashton-Langford backing him up, move Duke permanently to the 2 as a combo and have White back him up, moving Reeves to the 3 having incoming freshman Gantt as his reserve and keeping Diallo as the starting 4. Will see if that holds and Ashton-Langford stays or actually transfers... Or he is just not interested in a future of Akinjo eating his lunch
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SirSaxa
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by SirSaxa on Mar 25, 2019 9:39:45 GMT -5
Matt St. Jean... Does anyone know if he is the son of Garry St. Jean? And brother of Greg St. Jean -- St. john's Asst coach? Garry was the HC of the Sac Kings, then GM of the GS Warriors. Now I believe he is broadcasting for the Warriors.
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mdtd
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Post by mdtd on Mar 25, 2019 14:58:20 GMT -5
Wonder if this means that Providence is expecting more transfers. Awful lot of guards and only so many minutes/basketballs to go around... I saw this, don't know if the source is reliable at all, but it makes sense. The kid is a good player and deserves a better opportunity then he got there. He was 100% right
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jwp91
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Post by jwp91 on Mar 25, 2019 16:18:56 GMT -5
Wasn’t Ashton’s younger brother a recruiting target for us? Maybe no longer a PC lean?
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bostonfan
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Post by bostonfan on Mar 25, 2019 16:25:46 GMT -5
Wasn’t Ashton’s younger brother a recruiting target for us? Maybe no longer a PC lean? His younger brother is a better player than he is, and you have to believe this takes Providence out of the running for the younger brother.
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Post by hoyas big supporter on Mar 25, 2019 16:45:52 GMT -5
Wasn’t Ashton’s younger brother a recruiting target for us? Maybe no longer a PC lean? His younger brother is a better player than he is, and you have to believe this takes Providence out of the running for the younger brother. Try explaining that to the Johnsons lol. (I know, I know)
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