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Post by RockawayHoya on Apr 11, 2022 16:37:21 GMT -5
On local recruits early. Like night and day, love to see it.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Apr 11, 2022 13:07:21 GMT -5
Welcome home, Brandon. Hoping this is the first domino of many.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Apr 6, 2022 10:50:03 GMT -5
Negotiations are certainly dragging, aren't they? Got all the time in the world, I guess.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Apr 4, 2022 21:06:15 GMT -5
Confirmed with a close source that he and GTown are currently in negotiations for him to join the staff. Huge get for local recruiting! I hope they can agree on terms. Huge get if true. Hope you are right.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Apr 4, 2022 10:31:26 GMT -5
Would have thought we'd be further along by now with Nickelberry in the fold, so this is a bit concerning.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Apr 1, 2022 12:00:40 GMT -5
Hold up, we're not really comparing Tim to Efton Reid and worrying about a drop-off at the 5, right?
Offensively, Tim was a flat out nightmare. Defensively, he was inconsistent at best and repeatedly exploitable at worst. Outside of hitting the glass, there was nothing he did that was even remotely passable on the court.
Ighoefe, junior: 14.9% usage, 42% FG, 49% on close 2s, 29% on far 2s, 77% dunks, LOL from 3, 40% FT Reid, freshman: 17.8% usage, 52% FG, 66% on close 2s, 45% on far 2s, 95% dunks, 25% from 3, 49% FT
Don't get me wrong, Reid still has a long way to go himself. But he will clearly be an instant upgrade at the 5 and has a lot more runway left in his career to improve and develop than Tim.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Apr 1, 2022 9:47:45 GMT -5
Holloway is fearless. He was our only big man who could score of the dribble and take it to the hoop (Aminu tried more but failed way more often). He showed an occasional nice 3 point shot and I was at the Nova game where he scored 25. Considering this was really his first year his upside is tremendous. It would be a tremendous loss if he transfers. I'm torn on Holloway. He would be an absolute star at somewhere like Towson. And he can more than hang offensively with a rec center repertoire of moves and shots to be highly effective. But I just don't see how he ever can even be average on the glass and on defense in the big east. Athletic wings eat him up. Physical 4's move him around the paint. He's unlikely to ever be quick or athletic enough to not be a net negative on the glass and on defense. Maybe if you had a good enough defense around him to hide the flaws...but, yea, that's not exactly our current M.O. I hope he stays. But if he's our starting 4 next year we are in trouble. I have the same overall concerns. At the same time, in my eyes he was the only player this year to show considerable growth in development both between seasons as well as in-season. Kid is clearly a hard worker and if he can continue to improve his efficiency and get a bit quicker/stronger, there'll be room for him to contribute in this rotation.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 31, 2022 16:38:59 GMT -5
Tough blow for Depaul losing Mintz to Cuse. That one seemed locked up awhile ago.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 31, 2022 16:37:15 GMT -5
Which means for a team of 13 scholarship athletes, if you have 3 people transferring you're technically below the national average. Wild.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 30, 2022 15:52:38 GMT -5
This is the new norm. Once the free transfer rule went into effect, it no longer became reasonable to expect near perfect roster continuity from season to season. It won't happen here, and it's not happening anywhere else either... so if you're still holding out hope that one day we'll get back to graduating every kid we recruited out of HS, you're going to be disappointed.
Hard to argue against any transfer when you just went 0-20. In my view there's a certain level of shared responsibility, though. Certain kids didn't come ready to play. Others didn't develop over time even when given ample opportunities. Staff certainly deserves some blame in not helping these kids to progress more quickly than they did, but the onus is also on the kids for not improving themselves as well. You play like you practice and from what we saw on the court on gamedays, I have strong reservations as to whether or not we were putting in max effort as a group on a consistent basis. If you've watched any of the NCAA tourney, you've probably noticed how the effort level of virtually every team is significantly higher than what we put forth this season. And that's independent of talent.
Wish the outgoing kids well and hope they find situations that better align with what they're looking for. At the same time, this program needs to get better in a hurry and these moves are necessary to have at least a fighting chance of expediting that process.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 29, 2022 9:36:43 GMT -5
Does anyone know if the Big East has some rule/policy that none of the athletes announce entering the transfer portal until after the Final 4 is complete? I want to say we heard of more movement last year at an earlier time. At this point I don't think anyone from the Big East basketball programs has shown up in the portal. There have been more and more players entering everyday from other schools/conferences, but I don't think I have heard of anyone from a Big East program. I am sure some players will transfer, it just seems odd that it has not been made public yet. A few other examples from this season have been cited, but as another data point: Q was long gone before the FF last year, so I doubt a rule like that exists. Think more BE kids are just out of eligibility in general vs. the end of last year.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 24, 2022 16:03:24 GMT -5
More signs pointing to at least Murray and Reid coming aboard. Whoa whoa whoa. This sounds like positivity!! 😎 I wouldn't rule out a bump for us in terms of landing Lamothe and Gardner for '23 either. LSU was on both of them as well. Today can only help.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 24, 2022 16:02:36 GMT -5
How did Page get admitted if Deacon said no? How did Egerson get admitted?
My understanding was that there was never a hard and fast rule that Charlie had ultimate authority; rather, it was a norm and a practice that Pops and Charlie would discuss whether a basketball scholarship should go to a recruit and whether the recipient had the capability to succeed with the academic assistance rendered by the Mary Fenlons of the Hoya program (which assistance was genuine, not just window dressing). Pops overruled Charlie on this one so I assume he went over Charlie's head to someone. By the time Egerson was admitted, I believe Charlie was entirely out of the business of having any authority over basketball scholarships, i.e., special athletic admissions - probably not dissimilar to legacy admissions is my guess. If a legacy admission was tied to a large contribution I imagine the powers-that--be would have the ultimate authority over that admission. Maybe someone with more insider knowledge of GU admissions process has a different view, but this is what I heard regarding Victor's admission to Georgetown. Hearsay! It's been lightly discussed here and over at CH and this isn't the time or place for it, but a number of us, myself included, who are former alumni interviewers didn't have the greatest experience in helping volunteer for the university. Understand that this is a different situation altogether, but in light of what has transpired over the past few years, I wouldn't want to die on the hill trying to defend our admissions office for anything.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 24, 2022 13:22:29 GMT -5
I’m probably the low guy on Murray, I like my guards to be more dynamic off the dribble and if not they better be near lights out from 3. But he’s still an upgrade over Riley, Bristol, Beard, etc. I would love Efton Reid. That’s a pro. Agree with everything you've said. There's also the other side of the ball; based on what little I saw of him at LSU, he looks to be a promising defender. Looking forward to the possibility of seeing him paired with Aminu on the perimeter.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 24, 2022 8:41:59 GMT -5
Like putting the focus back on the DMV with this hire. Hopefully Efton Reid and Brandon Murray are back in play for us.
Now add his old assistant Brooks and have him bring Tyrell Ward along so I can start to see something resembling a decent team next year.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 23, 2022 21:38:43 GMT -5
Promising if it happens, fingers crossed.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 23, 2022 13:44:13 GMT -5
Play 1-3-1 defense and experiment with twin towers. Just need a strong leader and communicator on the back line and a feisty guard at the top. This would eliminate any pick and rolls and keep our bigs on the floor. Unfortunately, the one guy willing to experiment with a zone for more than a possession at a time was only able to do so when the head coach was out with COVID, and then he wasn't allowed to once said head coach returned. And again, any notion of landing impact players, whether a capable big, a strong leader/communicator on the back line, a feisty guard up top, etc... you need a functioning staff to recruit those types of guys. Until we figure out the staff vacancies, you are asking a bunch of empty chairs to help bring in better players.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 23, 2022 12:20:46 GMT -5
Willard going all in on DMV recruiting while Hoyas stand pat. . . depressing. Willard said he will have his staff in place by the end of the week, and it will be “very heavy” on assistants who are familiar with the D.C. area. Recruiting local talent will be crucial as Willard rebuilds, and he’ll have the draw of a new practice facility. Evans announced that the money needed to cover the building’s $40 million price tag had been raised by donors. Construction is set to begin in January, with a timeline of about 18 months until completion. Maryland is one of the few high-major schools without a basketball practice facility. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/03/22/kevin-willard-maryland-basketball-introduction/Clearly established and stated goals, a plan of action, and a timeframe by which to adhere to. We could only dream of such things.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 23, 2022 11:53:36 GMT -5
Right now (if you think Aminu is leaving & Riley is his logical backup at starting 3) we have 4 guards - Harris, Beard, Anglin, Bristol. That's if everybody stays. It's probably better than our frontcourt, but it's not very deep. We could really use one more if the roster allows, and absolutely NEED one if any of the 4 leave. Also 6'5 and averaged six boards a game. Got plenty of PT in a good program, so wonder why he's thinking about leaving? Maybe wants a bigger school? Is Coach Kirby our Georgia connection? Was. At the moment, the only connects we have are fathers of recruits that Orr played with or coached plus recruits Crouch follows on Twitter.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 22, 2022 10:04:43 GMT -5
Good update. Pretty sure they exhausted that former-GU list and got a bunch of no's or people just flat out didn't pick up the phone. Glad that they've been in essence forced to the new names list. Both Straughn and Devlin seems at least semi-promising, although a little inexperienced. Their resumes read like Crouch with an additional few years of assistant experience at the mid-major level, which hopefully means they're hungry to prove what he can do in order to continue climbing up the ladder. The youth (both in their 30s) will hopefully at least help in terms of connecting with the players. Straughn's previous relationship with Takeover could be a big plus, he was there coaching as recently as 2018. Devlin's previous experience at Montrose Christian 13 years ago... less helpful. Appreciate that we know now who is responsible for what (Straughn for O and a previous recruiting director, Devlin for D and a previous player development director), hoping they can provide a lot more X's/O's help than the previous assistants. At the same time, have to hope that whatever input they offer, Ewing actually listens to them... he's claimed in the past that his work with the recently departed staff was a collaborative effort, but I have my doubts. Without the heavy hitter assistants that they were never likely to land, I think this would be a far better scenario than going back to Broadus/Cox. As was previously mentioned, would still like to see Orr re-assigned to a support role so we can maybe add one more younger assistant to hit the recruiting trail. I agree that it's some good information that Aidan is putting out there by floating these names in an article. I love that we would be getting some guys that appear to be outside the Ewing/Thompson sphere of influence and might bring some fresh perspectives. That said, if this is the quality of candidate that we're going to bring in, what exactly is the point? Devlin doesn't have a job because his former boss just got fired from GW. I doubt any Georgetown fan had ever heard his name until Aidan's article this morning. Straughn is in his third year on the staff of Billy Lange at St. Joe's. Billy Lange's three-year record at St. Joe's is 22-60. He's about to get fired after next season. Do we really think either of these guys would move the needle? We're looking at assistant coaching scraps from poorly performing A-10 programs. That's part of the "necessary changes" Ewing the the athletic department are taking to improve on 6-25, 0-20? I know DeGioia is a smart guy, as is Lee Reed. What they are trying to shove down our throats is preposterous. It's not going to work. If you're going to fire your assistants and make them scapegoats, then you need to bring in really good new guys to upgrade from them. The much better move is to swallow hard, recognize you made a terrible mistake, and corret that mistake as soon as possible. Band-aids like bad A-10 assistant coaches looking for a lifeline will not make us a competitive Big East team, particularly with proven loser Patrick Ewing as head coach. Agree that the deck is stacked against these guys. These aren't inspiring hires at all, just not the in-the-family guys you knew would be full-fledged disasters from the onset. You just hope that these new guys realize they are in fight to stay in this business because this is the last stop they'll have at the D-1 level if they can't turn this around. As was quoted by several DMV-area coaches/players, GU wasn't considered because they didn't put in the effort. These two are going to have to outwork everyone else from a recruiting perspective and exhibit a desire to continue learning and getting better. It's what I would ask of any assistant, including the Skinns/Jones/Pegues of the world. The last staff, by all accounts, wasn't really doing any of that - "we offered the kid and then waited around, no clue why he wouldn't come, etc". For the record, I don't think these guys will move the needle either. I was very much on the Brooks/Nickelberry train, and still am if this isn't finalized. But I'd rather give these guys a shot than just simply moving Crouch/Howze up a few seats.
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