hoyaboya
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Post by hoyaboya on Jun 19, 2024 16:02:20 GMT -5
Hoya fandom, why are we going down these roads again? This discussion about the reliability of the KL as a measuring stick has been going on for decades and unfortunately there are those who still don’t get the intent of these games. I’ll get back to that in a moment. First let me address hoyaboya’s hoops version of The Dating Game (look it up, youngins). Player C had this description of one of his games from HoyaTalk poster MCIGuy: "As most by now he had a VERY impressive showing last Saturday. He started off efficient enough and then just blew up during the latter part of the first half. His shots were mostly from threes and he was nailing them. His attempts were coming from a good distance behind the line and when you add his height (at least 6’8) and his quick, smooth release, no defender was able to keep him under wraps. In the second half whenever the game got tight, Player C would be the go-to guy to create some distance in the scoreboard. He wanted the ball, wanted to take the shot in those circumstances. My favorite moment of his probably came in the second half when he posted up his defender, got the ball and hit a sweet turnaround basket." Player D had this description of one of his games from HoyaTalk poster MCIGuy: "Watching Player D could not help but think that he is the type of wing that UConn has rolled out since the days of Jim Calhoun. Lengthy. Thin but muscular. Quick. Athletic. Ability to shoot...In his first game the previous week he was knocking down a bunch of threes. In the game of his that I watched, he was getting his points off the drive. And these were some explosive drives. A quick step and a steady hand allowed him to get by his man. His athleticism allowed him to finish, a few of them spectacularly. Perhaps my most 'wow' moment of my observations came during the second half when he was bringing up the ball before midcourt, towards the side where the fans were sitting. He saw Rowan was the closest defender to him but he also saw Rowan was in the process of making an adjustment to move nearer to him. Player D saw that opportunity and took off. His feet flew and he became a blur that Rowan had no chance of getting in front of. Player D blew right past him and made an angle to go straight to the hole where he would then proceed to throw down a nasty dunk. It got the crowd oooh-ing and ahhh-ing...Player D was indeed the best player on the court for that game and his absence was felt negatively by his team whenever he sat on the bench. And Bachelor D was of course Wayne Bristol. Last week coincidentally I found myself thinking of those very comments I made about him. I loved what I saw of Bristol and in a moment of hyperbolical exuberance I compared how he LOOKED THAT DAY to studs from UConn’s past. His performance stuck with me long enough that I could not understand when leading up to the actual season, all the early buzz was on Dontrez Styles. What I saw of Styles in comparison in two games had left me more underwhelmed. Of course it turned out that Styles was the best of the two, a worthy starter who had the better handle and midrange game. And you know that’s cool. People get this wrong all the time. The best way to make any evaluation is to see all of the KL games first (which I did not) and even then there is no guarantee of getting it right. However I am curious on why hoyaboya would drag Drew McKenna, Bachelor C, into the discussion. McKenna did not play last season which means there is no conclusion to draw from at this moment. Or perhaps the whole point for hoyaboya is to cast doubt on my observations of McKenna’s capabilities considering my take on Bristol was more of a swing-and-a-miss. Thing is it doesn’t work like that because no one bats 1.000. I still feel comfortable about what I wrote of McKenna anyway. His showing that day was the top performance by any Hoya player I glimpsed last summer. What made it more impressive was that McKenna hadn’t even yet entered his senior year in high school. Unlike Bristol who had already been in college for four years, McKenna was not close to being a finished product.
As for the Kenner League it deserves more respect than some of you are willing to give it. Do any of you think that college coaches would not be in their players’ ears to keep away from Kenner if they believed no value came from participating? Would they be okay exposing their guys to possible serious injuries through participation in a summer league that they viewed as useless and insignificant? That’s crazy talk. These old regurgitated accusations that no defense is being played in KL are lazy and likely being made by people who rarely (or never ) see any KL games in person. The players on the court play defense in the KL, moreso than they used to in earlier decades. They are not perfect by any stretch, but you won’t see guys allowing opponents continuous unobstructed drives down the lane as if it was NBA All Star weekend. Their KL coaches demand defense, sometimes via irritating screams. And no guy wants to be punked in front of his family or girlfriend ; the dudes man up because they have some damn pride. This is a league in which the defense is almost always ahead of the offense. Check out the scores of modern KL games. You may end up with teams not being able to reach 60 or 70 points. When Greg Monroe made his KL debut I figured he would have his way with the opposing team. Instead he had to work to get his points. There was still some softness to his game and the opposing players could pick up on that and push him around a bit until he settled in. The key thing is that he was not given anything. Unlike some other summer leagues, you can go an entire summer without a team reaching triple digits. The effort is there on defense; what they lack though is scouting and practicing together as a team on the defensive side of the ball. Its no different then what guys do in a pickup game in that there may not be a strategy other than trying your best to defend the opponent in front of you. Claiming a person’s showing in the league is no indicator of future performance is both obvious and short-sighted. A kid can dominate against great competition for his high school team in a loaded state and yet end up with at best a pedestrian career when he moves on to college. So what use was high school basketball in making a determination of how good that kid was supposed to be? A player can have a whole summer looking like a guaranteed future star on the AAU circuit but it ends up not translating when he plays college ball. Do we never use AAU performance as an indicator going forward? A player can look like a Can’t Miss when making First Team for a top college conference and an NCAA All American but never comes close to living up to expectations in the pros as a lottery pick. Do we automatically dismiss how well players do in college when determining who to draft? The point is there is no tool to attain 100% certainty of how anyone will fare at whatever next level lays ahead. Why hold the KL to a higher standard than any other organized play of basketball? You can see someone perform exceptionally in the Kenner League and you can walk away with the belief that that person is going to do great things. Sometimes it doesn’t turn out like that; sometimes your expectations hold up. So why discount the latter? Regardless you have to first see something worthwhile to get excited about in the first place. I first saw Roy Hibbert in person the summer before his senior year in high school. He had already committed to Georgetown and I had spent many of the previous months defending his commitment to one or two guys on Hoya Talk who insisted that he was not Big East material. So I was left kind of deflated when I watched him take the court at George Washington (the KL had to be played away from Gtown that summer because of construction around campus) and observed some things about his capabilities (or lack of) that concerned me. I still remained a champion of him and reminded myself that he still had a year to go to get better. The next summer I happen to catch about four or five of his games with the Tombs with teammates Jeff Green and some dude Jon Wallace that hardly a soul was familiar with. Hibbert did show improvement but early on that summer it was clear he still had a long climb ahead. To make it worse there were people in the stands who would belittle him. Roy could have packed it up there and stopped making appearances. Other players did that even despite not being the butt of jokes. But he displayed fortitude by showing up to play time and time again. While he did not make a huge jump within those summer weeks, you could see him gradually get tougher and more effective on the court; he was a factor in helping the Tombs make it to the championship game. That wasn’t enough for some Hoya fans who were of the opinion he wouldn’t get minutes as a frosh at GU. But Hibbert not only got minutes he ended up starting for much of the season. He was a major factor in some of the big wins for John Thompson III’s first year as coach. The following summer Hibbert was a beast in the KL, having one of the better showings any player had put together in the KL as he led Clyde’s to a championship. As one person who witnessed a few of his performances first hand and saw how much his game has grown, I knew he had a big year ahead of him. Despite all that what I came across on HT and other Hoya sites was pushback from doubters who insisted that people could not make a true evaluation of Roy because the KL was not the Big East and he was not playing against BE level competition and no defense is being played blah, blah, blah. Roy proved those doubters wrong and proceeded to make a major jump for his sophomore season at Georgetown, enough to draw national attention. While Jeff Green and Brandon Bowman were still the best guys on the team, Gtown wouldn’t have made it to the NCAA tourney if it was not for Roy’s major growth. The Kenner League was never meant to be some iron clad predictor of what was to come. It is instead a means of an assessment. Understanding that plays a crucial role in one’s expectations. Logically if a player looks anywhere from so-so to awful over the course of a KL summer it is typically unheard of for such a player to make a positive impact on his college team in the near future. If a guy looks exceptional, though, there is always a chance that can translate immediately for his college team. When some friends went with me to check out Othella Harrington’s debut week, I recall a few things sticking out to this day : 1) Just as I expected Othella was nowhere near 6’10 2)that he was not going to be the next Chris Webber despite being a top four player of his class and 3)that Moochie Norris who was playing for the other team was the true standout that night as he drew “ooohs” and “aaahs” all game long by KILLING Joey Brown with his crossover and scoring at will. O ended up having a fantastic frosh year. Norris would up going to a juco school before landing at Auburn years later. Both ended up staying in the NBA for just under a decade. The difference is that Othella came out of high school with lofty expectations while Norris was more of an unknown except to the locals. But if you were there to watch him that night you could have made enough of an assessment of Moochie’s abilities to see he was criminally underrated. Years later there was tremendous buzz over a playoff KL game that involved Steve Francis (juco heading to Maryland) on one squad and Anthony Perry (A McDonald’s All American heading to Georgetown) on the other squad. I wasn’t fortunate to catch this matchup myself but the reports were that both Francis and Perry put on quite a show. Well, the real season came and Francis more than lived up to the hype. He had a dominant season at Maryland, became an All American and was a lottery pick after one single year with the Terps. Eventually he would become an NBA All Star. Perry on the other hand? Never amounted into much. Was a disappointment at GU and could never live up to his billing. One national recruiter had done a disservice to Perry when he was still in high school by comparing him to Gary Payton (its not just Hoya fans who get this stuff wrong). Perry didn’t have any of GP’s skills unfortunately. He transferred out of Gtown before his junior year if I am not mistaken (perhaps largely in part to John Thompson’s retirement) and moved on to another school from which he was never heard of again. Two guys. One Kenner League game. Two great performances. Two entirely different careers afterwards. That’s Kenner in a nutshell. From a Hoya fans’ perspectives the KL has been a basis from which we could see whether returning players have made improvements and what skills do the incoming players bring to the equation. If observers see things they like, then the KL not only become a source of valuable information but a possible reason for excitement. That’s the type of fuel that can reignite a dispirited fanbase after tough years. Unless you are a Blueblood school who expects nothing but greatness in every recruiting class, what fandom does not live for hearing super positive news about an incoming player, particularly if said player had been flying under the radar? But what is the point of anyone going out of their way to provide any of this information if the attitude of Hoya Talk fans is that KL impressions don’t matter and we shouldn’t get our hopes up? For the dwindling amount of you out there who do make it out to those games, sit in awful seats and get bombarded with horrible music in order to do your recaps of games, I would suggest you don’t waste your time. Or perhaps just keep the info to yourself and your friends who care about the Hoyas. I know that is what I’ll do this time around. Its not worth posting anything with this constant beat of negativity that has now infiltrated every single thread. "Bachelor C" is not Drew McKenna. |
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Jun 19, 2024 17:08:15 GMT -5
Damn. lol. I had to go back and look at basketball reference. My memory failed me. He didn’t play his freshman season and averaged less than 17 minutes his senior year. My mistake. Those seasons were a blur. His heavy minutes were his soph season and junior season and I had mistaken the soph season for his freshmen year and his junior season for his sophomore run. Then I figured he bolted. My goodness. What was the reason for his not suiting up for his freshmen year? Perry's arrival on the college scene would be delayed by the NCAA, who ruled that a computer science course taught at St. Anthony's was insufficient as a core requirement, rendering Perry ineligible for the 1997-98 season. That’s right. Totally forgot. Thank you. |
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Jun 19, 2024 19:50:48 GMT -5
Being 2700 or so miles away, I don't expect to ever attend a KL game, and I certainly don't intend to belittle MCI's always steadfast contributions. However, I don't think there has been a season where people express expectations for players based on their KL performances that don't prove to be grossly overstated. It's just the way things are, so forgive me if I view every rave notice skeptically.
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Jun 20, 2024 2:56:20 GMT -5
Being 2700 or so miles away, I don't expect to ever attend a KL game, and I certainly don't intend to belittle MCI's always steadfast contributions. However, I don't think there has been a season where people express expectations for players based on their KL performances that don't prove to be grossly overstated. It's just the way things are, so forgive me if I view every rave notice skeptically. Ever? Really? What about Jeff Green? Consensus was that he was the real deal based upon what people saw at Kenner going into his freshmen season (in contrast to Roy whom people were divided on at best)? The same could be said for Otto Porter. The Hoyas' fans who were first truly convinced of Mac McClung's legitimacy as a BE level guy were those who watched him excel in the KL. AM I missing something here? Also there seems to be some implying that there is a player or two who gets ridiculously hyped by the collective fanbase every summer. This is far from the case. Most summers there is not anyone generating that type of high expectations. McClung was the last guy I can recall who generated a lot of buzz for a Hoyas' player but in his case the interest was there well before he played his first Kenner game. Everyone wanted to check out the kid who was not ranked in the top 100 but was a huge YouTube sensation. Fans who ended up seeing him in person were electrified by his play. No one was saying he was the next Iverson but people came away believing that he was not ranked high enough and that he could eventually be a star player in college. There was no one who generated even that low level of hype last summer. Rowan was talked up the most and folks came away convinced that he could play a big role on the upcoming Hoyas' team, but overall people had reasonable expectations. Who else? Perhaps LJ Peak who had one of the best incoming-freshman numbers for a Hoya in the Kenner League. Didn't catch any of his games but I do remember fans being impressed. I'm sorry but I think the Hoyas' fanbase have been more grounded when it comes to post Kenner League projections than you are giving them credit for. |
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Jun 20, 2024 18:51:02 GMT -5
Being 2700 or so miles away, I don't expect to ever attend a KL game, and I certainly don't intend to belittle MCI's always steadfast contributions. However, I don't think there has been a season where people express expectations for players based on their KL performances that don't prove to be grossly overstated. It's just the way things are, so forgive me if I view every rave notice skeptically. Ever? Really? What about Jeff Green? Consensus was that he was the real deal based upon what people saw at Kenner going into his freshmen season (in contrast to Roy whom people were divided on at best)? The same could be said for Otto Porter. The Hoyas' fans who were first truly convinced of Mac McClung's legitimacy as a BE level guy were those who watched him excel in the KL. AM I missing something here? Also there seems to be some implying that there is a player or two who gets ridiculously hyped by the collective fanbase every summer. This is far from the case. Most summers there is not anyone generating that type of high expectations. McClung was the last guy I can recall who generated a lot of buzz for a Hoyas' player but in his case the interest was there well before he played his first Kenner game. Everyone wanted to check out the kid who was not ranked in the top 100 but was a huge YouTube sensation. Fans who ended up seeing him in person were electrified by his play. No one was saying he was the next Iverson but people came away believing that he was not ranked high enough and that he could eventually be a star player in college. There was no one who generated even that low level of hype last summer. Rowan was talked up the most and folks came away convinced that he could play a big role on the upcoming Hoyas' team, but overall people had reasonable expectations. Who else? Perhaps LJ Peak who had one of the best incoming-freshman numbers for a Hoya in the Kenner League. Didn't catch any of his games but I do remember fans being impressed. I'm sorry but I think the Hoyas' fanbase have been more grounded when it comes to post Kenner League projections than you are giving them credit for. I didn't mean to imply that players never live up to the hype. Certainly some do, but I think far more don't. But tell me, in the last 10 years, who lived up to their KL hype? I'd say Pickett did, but not right away. And I guess Mac did, but then he bolted. Who else? And again, this is not to imply that McKenna won't turn out to be terrific. Hopefully he will. But when it comes to KL, I'm from Missouri. I'll believe it when I see it in real games. |
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Jun 20, 2024 18:58:48 GMT -5
Ever? Really? What about Jeff Green? Consensus was that he was the real deal based upon what people saw at Kenner going into his freshmen season (in contrast to Roy whom people were divided on at best)? The same could be said for Otto Porter. The Hoyas' fans who were first truly convinced of Mac McClung's legitimacy as a BE level guy were those who watched him excel in the KL. AM I missing something here? Also there seems to be some implying that there is a player or two who gets ridiculously hyped by the collective fanbase every summer. This is far from the case. Most summers there is not anyone generating that type of high expectations. McClung was the last guy I can recall who generated a lot of buzz for a Hoyas' player but in his case the interest was there well before he played his first Kenner game. Everyone wanted to check out the kid who was not ranked in the top 100 but was a huge YouTube sensation. Fans who ended up seeing him in person were electrified by his play. No one was saying he was the next Iverson but people came away believing that he was not ranked high enough and that he could eventually be a star player in college. There was no one who generated even that low level of hype last summer. Rowan was talked up the most and folks came away convinced that he could play a big role on the upcoming Hoyas' team, but overall people had reasonable expectations. Who else? Perhaps LJ Peak who had one of the best incoming-freshman numbers for a Hoya in the Kenner League. Didn't catch any of his games but I do remember fans being impressed. I'm sorry but I think the Hoyas' fanbase have been more grounded when it comes to post Kenner League projections than you are giving them credit for. I didn't mean to imply that players never live up to the hype. Certainly some do, but I think far more don't. But tell me, in the last 10 years, who lived up to their KL hype? I'd say Pickett did, but not right away. And I guess Mac did, but then he bolted. Who else? And again, this is not to imply that McKenna won't turn out to be terrific. Hopefully he will. But when it comes to KL, I'm from Missouri. I'll believe it when I see it in real games. Did Pickett play KL at all? IIRC, he spent the last two summers working with specialists and away from KL. |
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Jun 20, 2024 19:22:54 GMT -5
I didn't mean to imply that players never live up to the hype. Certainly some do, but I think far more don't. But tell me, in the last 10 years, who lived up to their KL hype? I'd say Pickett did, but not right away. And I guess Mac did, but then he bolted. Who else? And again, this is not to imply that McKenna won't turn out to be terrific. Hopefully he will. But when it comes to KL, I'm from Missouri. I'll believe it when I see it in real games. Did Pickett play KL at all? IIRC, he spent the last two summers working with specialists and away from KL. My recollection was that he played KL prior to enrolling at GU and that there were positive comments about him, but I could be wrong about that, and if so, my question remains. |
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Jun 21, 2024 0:58:10 GMT -5
Ever? Really? What about Jeff Green? Consensus was that he was the real deal based upon what people saw at Kenner going into his freshmen season (in contrast to Roy whom people were divided on at best)? The same could be said for Otto Porter. The Hoyas' fans who were first truly convinced of Mac McClung's legitimacy as a BE level guy were those who watched him excel in the KL. AM I missing something here? Also there seems to be some implying that there is a player or two who gets ridiculously hyped by the collective fanbase every summer. This is far from the case. Most summers there is not anyone generating that type of high expectations. McClung was the last guy I can recall who generated a lot of buzz for a Hoyas' player but in his case the interest was there well before he played his first Kenner game. Everyone wanted to check out the kid who was not ranked in the top 100 but was a huge YouTube sensation. Fans who ended up seeing him in person were electrified by his play. No one was saying he was the next Iverson but people came away believing that he was not ranked high enough and that he could eventually be a star player in college. There was no one who generated even that low level of hype last summer. Rowan was talked up the most and folks came away convinced that he could play a big role on the upcoming Hoyas' team, but overall people had reasonable expectations. Who else? Perhaps LJ Peak who had one of the best incoming-freshman numbers for a Hoya in the Kenner League. Didn't catch any of his games but I do remember fans being impressed. I'm sorry but I think the Hoyas' fanbase have been more grounded when it comes to post Kenner League projections than you are giving them credit for. I didn't mean to imply that players never live up to the hype. Certainly some do, but I think far more don't. But tell me, in the last 10 years, who lived up to their KL hype? I'd say Pickett did, but not right away. And I guess Mac did, but then he bolted. Who else? And again, this is not to imply that McKenna won't turn out to be terrific. Hopefully he will. But when it comes to KL, I'm from Missouri. I'll believe it when I see it in real games. Well, its kind of an unfair question. We have had a bunch of bad teams which tends to mean we didn't have a lot of guys generating hype at all, not just in Kenner but even coming out of high school. And we lost Kenner for two or three years because of covid. Also even though I and a few others were impressed with what we saw of McKenna, I would hardly call that hype. There can't be hype surrounding a player if the fans of his team that participate on the biggest message board can barely remember that he is actually on the squad. As for other possibilities over the last decade I would add James Akinjo, but he was overshadowed in KL by McClung. Yurtseven got far more buzz from insider reports of what he was doing in practice more so than anything he did in Kenner. Brandon Murray impressed but like Yurtseven he had already established himself at another high D1 school before coming to Gtown. Also Murray was too inconsistent in Kenner for anyone to get too crazy about. People liked what they saw in Primo Spears but there was no crazy hype surrounding his KL play. And he too was another transfer guy who had played a year in college. The guy that I was expecting to generate some real buzz was Jordan Riley. I was ready to start the hype train for him. But he never took off in the Kenner League. Instead he revealed his skills were too raw (dribbling, shooting). Who is left? Qudus? Had an impressive rookie summer but he did not generate hype. |
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sweetness
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Post by sweetness on Jun 21, 2024 7:30:04 GMT -5
I think what is overhyped is people every year saying Kenner reports are overhyped.
The thing that means almost nothing are the Kenner stats. Or any one particular game. But the overall reports we get throughout the summer -- and especially if you can go and see it for yourself -- are often fairly predictive of who will be contributors and who won't. At least directionally.
The competition does vary a bit year to year, and last year was a little down. But even regarding Rowan B - he did win the MVP, but if you watched a few games you could generally see what he could and couldn't offer. Having said that he probably did underdeliver compared to summer expectations - but also compared to his rankings, pedigree coming from Texas and having been recruited by top schools, etc.
By contrast, I don't think anyone was saying that guys like Styles and Cook were game changers based on Kenner. I know I watched them both last Kenner and came away thinking they were role players. Bristol showed flashes, but again no one left Kenner saying this guy is going to be a major contributor.
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Jun 21, 2024 8:07:31 GMT -5
I think what is overhyped is people every year saying Kenner reports are overhyped. The thing that means almost nothing are the Kenner stats. Or any one particular game. But the overall reports we get throughout the summer -- and especially if you can go and see it for yourself -- are often fairly predictive of who will be contributors and who won't. At least directionally. The competition does vary a bit year to year, and last year was a little down. But even regarding Rowan B - he did win the MVP, but if you watched a few games you could generally see what he could and couldn't offer. Having said that he probably did underdeliver compared to summer expectations - but also compared to his rankings, pedigree coming from Texas and having been recruited by top schools, etc. By contrast, I don't think anyone was saying that guys like Styles and Cook were game changers based on Kenner. I know I watched them both last Kenner and came away thinking they were role players. Bristol showed flashes, but again no one left Kenner saying this guy is going to be a major contributor. Everything you wrote is spot on but the first line is money. And to Rowan's credit he did show flashes and at times put up big games against legit BE teams. Despite being yanked in and out of starting lineup he did finish 4th in scoring last season. That said, yes, we wanted and expected more. But the biggest hype for him did not come from Kenner but from a poster on this site who compared him favorably to Aidan Mahaney and to a lesser extent Jason Kidd. This poster based it upon times he got to see Rowan play in games that had nothing to do with the Kenner League. |
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Jun 21, 2024 9:35:18 GMT -5
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jwp91
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Post by jwp91 on Jun 21, 2024 10:20:15 GMT -5
I went down this rabbit hole a few months ago. Mulready is not 6'6". I think 6'4" might be a slight exaggeration. He is definitely over 6'1" but I found a picture of him next to 6'7" Caleb Williamson and he was no where close to the same height. I would guess 6'3" based on my recollection. |
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Jun 21, 2024 10:28:12 GMT -5
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SDHoya
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Post by SDHoya on Jun 21, 2024 11:17:01 GMT -5
Maybe we just enjoy Kenner for what it is (a first chance for most of us to see or hear about new Hoyas) and accept it for what it’s not (Big East level competition). Seems like fun to me.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Jun 21, 2024 11:24:58 GMT -5
Mckenna has nothing on Mulready re: forgotten man.  Seriously. Mulready is barely ranked below Sorber on consensus rankings and I mostly see people ask who our backup guards are. I understand all the angst, but this team is going to be much longer and more athletic this next year, and that's the sort of thing that pays dividends when applied en masse. |
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Jun 21, 2024 12:42:24 GMT -5
Maybe we just enjoy Kenner for what it is (a first chance for most of us to see or hear about new Hoyas) and accept it for what it’s not (Big East level competition). Seems like fun to me. I just can’t buy the notion that we have never been able to successfully gauge or make an assessment (good or bad) of an incoming player just because the KL squads aren’t composed completely of BE talent. That is revisionism. That’s my only true argument. |
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SDHoya
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Post by SDHoya on Jun 21, 2024 13:00:41 GMT -5
Maybe we just enjoy Kenner for what it is (a first chance for most of us to see or hear about new Hoyas) and accept it for what it’s not (Big East level competition). Seems like fun to me. I just can’t buy the notion that we have never been able to successfully gauge or make an assessment (good or bad) of an incoming player just because the KL squads aren’t composed completely of BE talent. That is revisionism. That’s my only true argument. Not suggesting otherwise. Certainly Kenner is better than watching a youtube highlights reel of our guy dunking on a bunch of 5'10" high school centers. (Add Rodney Pryor to list of guys who impressed in Kenner and then was better than initially expected in regular season.) But its also not worth getting that worked up over. Its a fun opportunity to root for our guys as they get some summer reps, and hope the good stuff we see continues when it matters. |
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Jun 21, 2024 21:28:56 GMT -5
I just can’t buy the notion that we have never been able to successfully gauge or make an assessment (good or bad) of an incoming player just because the KL squads aren’t composed completely of BE talent. That is revisionism. That’s my only true argument. Not suggesting otherwise. Certainly Kenner is better than watching a youtube highlights reel of our guy dunking on a bunch of 5'10" high school centers. (Add Rodney Pryor to list of guys who impressed in Kenner and then was better than initially expected in regular season.) But its also not worth getting that worked up over. Its a fun opportunity to root for our guys as they get some summer reps, and hope the good stuff we see continues when it matters. I'll be looking forward to this year's KL reviews, and will make some notes.  |
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Jun 21, 2024 22:43:05 GMT -5
On Sorber/Fielder playing in Kenner--my general thought is that if they are healthy they should play. If they have any nagging injuries, or anything like that, they should not. Whether they play Kenner or not, Sorber and Fielder are going to play basketball (and should be playing basketball) in one form or another. Perhaps my memory is failing, but I think Moses Ayegba tore his ACL in practice, not any type of organized games. This happens all the time in all sports.
If you are injury prone, I totally get it--don't play. Otherwise, I think you kind of just need to go with it. We cannot have these guys wrapped in bubble wrap until November. Of course, if either of them get hurt, this comment will sound silly in retrospect.
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saxagael
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,999
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Post by saxagael on Jun 25, 2024 9:31:08 GMT -5
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