2017-18: 15-15

[DanMcQ]

Discuss.

Personally, I was hoping for at least 17-13 but I realize that was pie in the sky. I would have taken 16-14.

Many holes on this year's roster.

The freshman class should be much better as sophs.

For this team to advance much it needs two really good ballhandlers. Yes, there are many other needs but that need is essential.

[joey0403p]

We need to keep Govan and Derrickson. Then there is hope for improvement.

Ewing was great in year one. My only complaint is the schedule, but I understand why- I just don’t like it.

Assuming he improves the sos this year , and we can improve to 20-10 range that will be HUGE leap.

I’m happy though. We were competitive in just about every game save nova

[SSHoya]

Mar 7, 2018 23:57:28 GMT -5 joey0403p said:

We need to keep Govan and Derrickson. Then there is hope for improvement.

Ewing was great in year one. My only complaint is the schedule, but I understand why- I just don’t like it.

Assuming he improves the sos this year , and we can improve to 20-10 range that will be HUGE leap.

I’m happy though. We were competitive in just about every game save nova

I think you forgot the Creighton debacle at home (90-66 loss). I am hopeful that McClung can live up to half his hype and that we get another ballhandler -- guards who can make everyone else better by giving the bigs the ball in the right spots and the ability to drive and kick it out to a 3 point shooter like Blair who can hit when he's square with his feet set (not off balance chucking). Otherwise, next year will be more of the same.

[DanMcQ]

I would love to have a set of guards who know the value of lateral movement and how to keep their man from turning the corner on them on defense. It's probably too much to ask that to close out on perimeter shooters, but that's part of the job description as well.

[calhoya]

Yes guards and guards who can shoot, but last night at the Garden in front of a crowd that was quiet for large stretches of the game one thing became very apparent--the Hoyas lack an on-court vocal leader. Saw all four teams play and every one of the other three has one or more kids out there constantly talking and directing others during the game. On the Hoyas there were two we saw talking occasionally--Dickerson and Mosley, neither of whom starts and only one of whom will be back. In the case of Mosley without significant development in his game at several levels, hopefully he will not be playing as much next year.

Leadership cannot come from just the sideline and it has to be combined with the skill necessary to gain the respect of your teammates and the fear/respect from the other team. I know about leadership by example, but I think that teams benefit most when a leader is also able to motivate teammates even when his game is off or he is being schemed out of the game by the other team. Last player I saw who made himself a leader by his senior season was Trawick. Who takes on that role next year?

[GIGAFAN99]

The biggest thing on defense is bodies and development. Our best defenders last year were Agau and Hayes. Part of that is skill/physical size but part of it is your back-up post guys can be more aggressive on defense because if they foul out who cares? That also helps the starters. We will probably pull another big for depth, but expect at a minimum Walker to hit the weight room and join Leblanc and Mourning in an actual frontcourt rotation. And yes, we will foul more next year but I expect we will also get more stops and press more.

For the guards, it's pretty obvious Blair and Pickett need to get stronger and work on their defense. Pickett improved throughout the season more than Blair, but he should. His length is an obstacle even at this early stage.

Kaleb and Jagan...a lot of work to do. Have to be either a plus defender or a plus offensive player otherwise it will be a lot easier to get lost. They're hard workers so would love to see the competition push them to better things.

Big offseason.

[vv83]

Kaleb seems like a great kid, but no winning BE program is going to put him on the court. He simply does not have the offensive skills needed to play at this level. He is a decent defender - but sometimes I think he only looks good on D because all his teammates are such poor defenders.

I have no idea if Malinowski can play. But by all accounts he is a solid shooter. if he can knock down 40% of his open 3s and be a non-disaster on D - we'll be a better team if he gets any minutes that we might otherwise give to kaleb.

[the_way]

In addition to building a backcourt from scratch, Ewing better recruit some bigs. Govan and Derrickson have one year left.

Walker is the only "big" we have right now, and he is extremely raw.

[FrazierFanatic]

Mar 8, 2018 9:53:09 GMT -5 vv83 said:

Kaleb seems like a great kid, but no winning BE program is going to put him on the court. He simply does not have the offensive skills needed to play at this level. He is a decent defender - but sometimes I think he only looks good on D because all his teammates are such poor defenders.

I have no idea if Malinowski can play. But by all accounts he is a solid shooter. if he can knock down 40% of his open 3s and be a non-disaster on D - we'll be a better team if he gets any minutes that we might otherwise give to kaleb.

You are wrong that Kaleb should not play - but he should not start. He needs to tighten up his dribble, get stronger, and work on his shots, fakes and moves within 5 feet of the basket. He could be more like Stephen Thompson was for Syracuse - could not shoot a lick, but a crafty lefty who could score inside.

[iowa80]

With the abysmal OOC schedule, I'm not happy with 15-15, even with the talent level. After our last two BE wins, there was at least decent hope to beat PC or Marquette and come away with one win in the tournament. I think certainly 16-14 and even 17-13 was attainable, and would have made the season more than successful as opposed to "meh.".

[vv83]

Mar 8, 2018 12:23:42 GMT -5 FrazierFanatic said:

Mar 8, 2018 9:53:09 GMT -5 vv83 said:

Kaleb seems like a great kid, but no winning BE program is going to put him on the court. He simply does not have the offensive skills needed to play at this level. He is a decent defender - but sometimes I think he only looks good on D because all his teammates are such poor defenders.

I have no idea if Malinowski can play. But by all accounts he is a solid shooter. if he can knock down 40% of his open 3s and be a non-disaster on D - we'll be a better team if he gets any minutes that we might otherwise give to kaleb.

You are wrong that Kaleb should not play - but he should not start. He needs to tighten up his dribble, get stronger, and work on his shots, fakes and moves within 5 feet of the basket. He could be more like Stephen Thompson was for Syracuse - could not shoot a lick, but a crafty lefty who could score inside.

If I remember correctly - Stephen Thompson was an explosive athlete who could really jump and who was really quick. Kaleb does not possess any of these skills. Thompson was also a really big time recruit, out of then-powerhouse Crenshaw HS in LA.

I looked up Thompson's numbers. He averaged about 16.5 points on 56% shooting over his final 3 seasons. He was Syracuse's 4th all time scorer when he graduated. Kaleb is not close to capable of doing any of this. Again, I hate being critical of Kaleb, because by all accounts he works hard and he certainly plays hard. But I fear that sometimes we view Kaleb far too optimistically because we like the effort he puts in. After three years of evidence, I think it is pretty safe to say that he just is not good enough to play significant minutes in a major conference.

Now I hope he proves me completely, utterly wrong next season!

[FrazierFanatic]

Thompson shot 56% because he never shot outside of 5 feet, and had a variety of moves that allowed him to get to the rim for chippies. And I was not comparing the talent level, just saying that if he developed a more versatile inside game (granted, not too likely with only one year left) he could score more and be more of a contributor.

[SDHoya]

I can't be disappointed with the final result this year. It was always going to be a struggle--but what was important was seeing improvement over time. We may not have won the last few, but this was clearly a team competing in every contest against any team not named Villanova, even though the Hoyas were essentially playing all year with one hand tied behind their backs (i.e. guard play).

This is a tournament team next year. Will say it now. Next year's team will still not be the finished product, but we will (I assume) have two seniors leading the best front court in the BE, and improvements at every other position on the court, either by maturing current players, or by freshmen ready to take significant leading and/or supporting roles.

There is a lot to work on over the off season, but not nearly as much as there was this past one. This is Ewing's team now, and I fully expect to see a confident team on the court from day one.

[NCHoya]

Without a point guard the team cannot move forward. Sure, Malinowski may provide some shooting to better space the floor, but we need a director on the court. Without this piece, it is way too easy to take our bigs away at the end of the game. Lots of work to do for Ewing in finding the right talent. Currently, I don't see a solve for next season. Hopefully the incoming frosh will be very impactful.

[SDHoya]

McClung will be an upgrade. And I expect something else to happen--either some late pickup (a la Pickett) or a grad transfer to buttress the PG spot.

[prhoya]

Mar 8, 2018 7:57:55 GMT -5 calhoya said:

Yes guards and guards who can shoot, but last night at the Garden in front of a crowd that was quiet for large stretches of the game one thing became very apparent--the Hoyas lack an on-court vocal leader. Saw all four teams play and every one of the other three has one or more kids out there constantly talking and directing others during the game. On the Hoyas there were two we saw talking occasionally--Dickerson and Mosley, neither of whom starts and only one of whom will be back. In the case of Mosley without significant development in his game at several levels, hopefully he will not be playing as much next year.

Leadership cannot come from just the sideline and it has to be combined with the skill necessary to gain the respect of your teammates and the fear/respect from the other team. I know about leadership by example, but I think that teams benefit most when a leader is also able to motivate teammates even when his game is off or he is being schemed out of the game by the other team. Last player I saw who made himself a leader by his senior season was Trawick. Who takes on that role next year?

Very true... remnants of the past administration...
JT3 did not recruit leaders. Pat is changing that.

[drquigley]

I had predicted 7-11 and after the Butler and Seton Hall wins I was sure we would get there. I'd like to be happy with 5-13 but we blew just too many games - 4 of 5 OT games - for me to be happy. But then again watching the talent on our BE opponents, especially at the guard position, I have to be happy that we were as competitive as we were this year. And as for PE, hey, we were fun to watch this year which can't be said about the last 2 years. So how do I feel about 15-15? I'll tell you at the end of next year.

[mdtd]

This team can and will grow. They were competitive and when they start finishing games, we will do damage. If we finished Syracuse, Butler, Depaul, Xavier away game, Providence twice and Marquette this team is 22-8 now. Those all should have been won. So, we know this team can compete. Once we get that guard who can literally do it all (maybe McClung) these games will go our way. That's an NCAA tournament resume. Ewing wanted to focus on the guards as that's the system he was apart of in the NBA. I'm incredibly excited for next year, hopefully not to be let down. Those will come with experience. Just get another guard at least and this team can play with anyone.

[sleepy]

Hopefully both during the close of the season and since our defeat on Wednesday, Patrick after 11 months has a much clearer understanding of what needs to be done. Its pretty clear he has is work cut out for him.
Just from some of the comments on the board over the last couple of days it's apparent that the Indians are restless and want and seemed to expect immediate success. I had much lower expectations in Dec thought we'd be good with 3 BE wins but was very disapointed like many when we seemed to turn a corner in January and thought we had a very realistic chance to get 7 or 8. In my less lucid moments I had anticipated playing tonight in the semis.

Its a critical 9 months for the program going forward. As one who is in the camp that coaching is 75% recruiting we all know he has a lot of work to do. Not to belabor the point we all are acutely aware that we need guards and replacements for our front court hopefully a year from now. My concern is what kind of approach he should be taking or will take. what kind of emphasis on next year vs. the future.

How is he evaluating the staff from a recruiting perspective are they capable to evaluate and get commitments that will significantly improve the talent level that he is looking for. Sitting here today they have much work to be done just to get the talent level up to becoming a much more competitive team at the BE level or are we going to just going to find warm bodies or players not ready to contribute. We have 3 available slots open next year and six over the next two we have a very small margin of error.They can't afford to wait and have a Jamarko fall in their laps.