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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 24, 2024 12:52:22 GMT -5
A few things: 1. There are multiple reports Georgetown is willing to spend big on NIL, but none of us know how much. Nor do we know if it is tied to specific players or if there is a "bank" of sorts for Cooley and the university to use any way they wish. Very few donors just splash money around without wanting to have influence or say in how it is used. 2. There are reports that we are the highest NIL bid Omoruyi has, but he wants more. Omoruyi is a very good player who would greatly help our team, but he also isn't the level of Hunter Dickenson, for example. Point being--can we "overpay" for guys to compensate for our recent poor history? Yes. But only so much. Would Cliff Omoruyi come if we threw $2 million at him? Maybe. But that would be silly because he's not worth that much and he has only one year left. This is so key. Let’s not overpay someone just for the satisfaction of checking off a box, especially if the player is not worth such a financial commitment. And guaranteed, if Cooley and the administration threw money around and overpaid players who turned out not to be worth the money we paid them (NIL is not public but if we drastically overpaid someone it would get out), the same poster would criticize Cooley and company for horrible decision-making and recruiting, while simultaneously pointing out Cooley's salary and that he has only been to one Sweet 16. It is set up as a no-win situation.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 24, 2024 11:42:26 GMT -5
No, NIL chest, no matter how big, can make 7 foot capable basketball players grown on trees. There are only a handful of such guys at any given time in college. St. John’s just got one. Xavier is recruiting one from UC-Irvine. We just had one on campus for a multi-day visit with a huge NIL bag at our disposal. Why wouldn’t we be able to land him? Saying he’s asking for too much money seems like a pretty poor excuse when for a year we’ve been told we have huge NIL resources. A few things: 1. There are multiple reports Georgetown is willing to spend big on NIL, but none of us know how much. Nor do we know if it is tied to specific players or if there is a "bank" of sorts for Cooley and the university to use any way they wish. Very few donors just splash money around without wanting to have influence or say in how it is used. 2. There are reports that we are the highest NIL bid Omoruyi has, but he wants more. Omoruyi is a very good player who would greatly help our team, but he also isn't the level of Hunter Dickenson, for example. Point being--can we "overpay" for guys to compensate for our recent poor history? Yes. But only so much. Would Cliff Omoruyi come if we threw $2 million at him? Maybe. But that would be silly because he's not worth that much and he has only one year left. It is important to remember that even in situations where players want NIL money, it is not the only factor. And if Omoruyi's NIL offer from Georgetown is the highest, and he wants to try to bid himself up, he has that choice. Whether it's smart is a whole other question. If he does this, I think there's some chance nobody else outbids Georgetown and he ends up getting less to go somewhere else, if we have moved on to someone else by that point. 3. Minor point, but most sites and rosters have Omoruyi at 6'11, so technically he isn't a seven footer. 4. There are reports we have been connected to Kentucky transfer Ugonna Onyenso, who is a 7 footer. 5. The window for entering the portal ends May 1, but players have plenty of time to do visits and make commitments. Our roster isn't complete.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 24, 2024 11:33:24 GMT -5
Understand - but it seems that every game I have seen the last few years, the teams with mobile bigs have overwhelmed us in every which way. We should at least try to counterbalance in some way. Just saying. The bolded part is key. Big, mobile bigs. If Ryan Mutombo was as mobile as someone like Edey, we would have been set, except he isn't. I would love to have a big, mobile center who is 7'. Realistically, though, there are a handful of those guys out there, and the odds of getting them are pretty low. I really feel like people focus too much on 7 footers anyway. Sure, if all else is equal, give me the height. If Roy Hibbert grew on tree, I would want one every year (good example of a big who would still be great in college, but whose NBA prospects would be more limited now than 15 years ago). But especially in the college game, I would take an athletic, high IQ, skilled center who is 6'9 or 6'10 any day over a 7 footer who isn't mobile and without skill. Other than Hibbert, the best big we have had in the last 20 years is Greg Monroe, who was 6'10/6/11. I know he gets a lot of hate on here because of his academic ineligibility and weight, but Josh Smith was an effective offensive player in scoring and he was 6'10--granted his huge size helped him a lot on that too. And he was 6'10. We need a very good defensive big who can also be serviceable on offense to supplement Sober and Fielder. Do we realistically have a shot at the Kentucky guy who entered the portal recently? That would obviously fit the 7 footer category. But absent him, I don't think there are many 7 footers out there, so we need to just go for the biggest, most skilled guy we can get.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 24, 2024 9:26:41 GMT -5
It's amazing to me we can't sign a veteran rim protector (7' or taller). This individual would surely get some significant playing time and great exposure in the Big East. I didn't follow Providence under Cooley, but did Cooley ever have a starting 7' C there? Admittedly, I looked extremely quickly, but the only 7'0 player Providence had during Cooley's tenure was Carson Desrosiers (transfer from Wake Forest after his sophomore year there), who logged minutes in the 2013-2014, and 2014-2015 seasons. He did start almost every game in the 2014-2015 season, and he played almost every game the season before. But that's it. (It's possible I missed a walk on or someone who didn't play much.) Even in absolute numbers, the number of 7'0 tall players is extremely small, and even smaller when you account for guys who actually have good basketball skills. Edit: Coooley did have Paschal Chukwu, too, but he barely played.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 23, 2024 22:25:45 GMT -5
My understanding is different. Fielder had knee tendenitus issues stemming from high school. He was limited last summer. His play early in the season was impacted by his knees. By the end of the season, Fielder’s knees were feeling better and he looked faster and more mobile and received more minutes. This is correct. S and C staff focused on building strength and rehabbing for months. Paid dividends as season went on. Good to know. To me the timing is just unclear. For example, in his last five games, Fielder did play more--17 minutes, 20, 24, 7, and 18. But there were some stretches in the season, like late January/early February where Fielder did not play much and Massoud did despite Fielder outplaying Massoud when they did play. So, either Cooley was playing Massoud on purpose over Fielder then, or his knees were the reason? To be clear, there was a stretch from January 27 to February 24, where Fielder's minutes played were very low--5, 18, 3, 13, 10, 8, 13, 8. In contrast, for those same games, Massoud's minutes were 34, 34, 19, 13, 12, 4, 21, 20. I would prefer to think the latter, because if Fielder was fully healthy in that period, and Cooley was playing Massoud anyway, it would make me sincerely question that decision-making. By January 27, it was pretty evident Massoud was a bust, and Fielder was a better player.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 23, 2024 17:04:04 GMT -5
On the Fielder v. Massoud point--it also befuddled me that Massoud was playing so much over Fielder toward the end of the season. But, then I heard from multiple sources that he had a knee injury, and Cooley eventually mentioned it in either press availability or press conference. That makes Cooley's decision more sensible.
Also, Fielder tended to foul a lot (6.2 fouls per 40 minutes), which was another reason he saw the bench more than we would have liked. But, I think the knee injury was a bigger deal than anybody realized at the time. (Another good reminder that when things are unfolding in real time we don't always have all of the facts.)
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 23, 2024 11:57:31 GMT -5
While I would rather have Omoruyi if that was the choice we had, I think Awaka would be a big improvement on the defensive end over Cook IF he can avoid fouling. That's really been a huge problem for him both freshman and sophomore year and is an inherent limit to his minutes. If we aren't in the running for Omoyuri, I think Awaka would be a nice pickup. The guy just did an official visit at Georgetown and 3 nights ago was partying at Kenny Johnson's condo watching a fight. Additionally, we probably have more NIL money to give him than any other team does. How is that not "in the running for Omoyuri"? Awaka doesn't move the needle for next year's Hoyas team. He's a slight upgrade to Cook but I'd rather those minutes go to Fielder and Sorber, if Awaka is our option - especially if Awaka costs anything from an NIL standpoint. I never said we were out on Omoruyi. Please re-read what I wrote. I said, " if we aren't in the running for Omoruyi." I was setting a condition. If we aren't in the running for Omoruyi, THEN Awaka would be a nice pickup. I would rather have Omoruyi though. It seems like the door isn't shut on Omoruyi, but it's also not as open as it was before this weekend, either. We need to be looking at other options. While I like Cook the person and player, he simply isn't good enough on defense to play more than 10 minutes a game, max. If he does, we aren't going to be very good no matter who else we get. (Unless Cook improves a lot, which is possible, but seems unlikely given that he's going to be a 5th year guy.) He might be a small upgrade on Cook on offense, but I think on defense he'd be a substantial upgrade if he can stay on the floor and not foul out every game.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 23, 2024 10:37:10 GMT -5
The other thing that Awaka can do that Cook and Cliff cant is step outside of the paint. Awaka shot 65% at the rim, but also shot 46% on 2 point jumpers. He made his free throws (74%) So he gives you good defense with the ability to step out and hit a few jumpers and make free throws. Awaka has started exactly 0 games in 2 seasons. He's averaged 11.7 minutes/game, 4.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 0.5 blocks/game. I think he's a nice rebounder, bulky guy who gives you size similar to bigs Cooley used at Providence. He's OK, but arguing that he's anywhere near Cliff O. in terms of impact is nonsense. While I would rather have Omoruyi if that was the choice we had, I think Awaka would be a big improvement on the defensive end over Cook IF he can avoid fouling. That's really been a huge problem for him both freshman and sophomore year and is an inherent limit to his minutes. If we aren't in the running for Omoyuri, I think Awaka would be a nice pickup.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 22, 2024 16:22:58 GMT -5
Cliff and Stewart would be a dream for our last two. I think we'd be getting one or the other. Cliff is priority 1 right now, and I'd be happy to have him. But if Cliff is your 5... A) You've spent a lot of $$. Stewart will cost big $$ also. Too much? There would still be a few smaller holes to fill. B) Neither are particularly good offensive players, and certainly no outside threats. On a 1-3 that doesn't feature rock-solid outside shooting... that's likely a no-go. C) Stewart is a rising SO. If you're going to lose one guy by bringing in Cliff, you'll likely lose both returning bigs by bringing in a starter-level guy w/ three years remaining. My guess is we find one really top level 4 or 5 to go w/ our existing bigs. If it's a C like Cliff, you cobble something together at the 4 from a combo of Fielder/McKenna (outside threats) or a 2nd-level addition - like a Traore. If Cliff doesn't happen, there's always guys like this: Awaka would be a nice add.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 22, 2024 11:54:12 GMT -5
How does a former 4 star player end up at Chicago State? For what it's worth, Chicago State is the only independent team in Division 1, and they played three late games against non-Division I teams. That said, they did beat some pretty good teams, like Northwestern.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 21, 2024 20:10:16 GMT -5
It’s the annual summer tradition of HT talking themselves into a streaky shooter being a good shooter. Williams got his reputation as he had a pretty good shooting AAU summer highlighted by a big game over the #1 team where he was on fire. Even with that game and the somewhat limited attempts he finished the summer at 39% which is good but hardly knock down shooter range. He went through a stretch of games last year where he was 3/30 and in that stretch he was 1/20. Good shooters don’t do that. He was also only a 71% FT shooter. Again that’s fine but hardly elite. Like many past Hoyas he can get hot but is not very consistent right now. He certainly doesn’t fill the shooting need for this team. Those pointing out other players who had bad FR stats are guys who never became great consistent. Otto had his great year and was just obviously a different level of player. Curtis took more 3s last season than pretty much all of them did in their SR seasons as well. There’s also people touting his defense here when anyone that watched Louisville could see he was their worst defender. He was only a freshman and as I said before one year does not make a career. The thing I will say is he is young for his class which is the biggest reason for hope. I don’t think he was an egregious pickup by any means. Just this early in the cycle and with what we already have it didn’t seem like a need. Pretty much everything that is said about him says good shooter. I have not seen his senior year stats, it was his junior year that he shot 39%. He reportedly shot very well for the Family in AAU and game writeups/youtube highlights show multiple threes per game. Having said that, 39% is really good for a high volume high schooler. WhY are we using 21 free throw attempts to prove anything? What people say about people only goes so far. People said Mescheriakov was a good shooter. He wasn't. People said Stephen Domingo was a good shooter. He wasn't. People said Reggie Cameron was a good shooter. He wasn't. People said Kaiden Rice was a good shooter. He wasn't. People said Ismael Massoud was a good shooter. He wasn't (at least not for us). So, I'll believe that Williams is a good shooter once he is...a good shooter. A lot of guards do make jumps between freshman/sophomore year, so hopefully Williams will do that. But, we haven't had a great history with these sorts of players, so I think it makes sense that some of us would be skeptical. And while the free throws are definitely a small sample, really excellent shooters usually do better than that. We will see.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 20, 2024 21:03:14 GMT -5
In the pre-NIL era, I imagine that some but not all athletes pursued a degree meaningfully. Some athletes don’t prioritize it. Others may simply be unable to complete the rigorous coursework of a serious major and fulfill their athletic obligations. In this new era, I expect this only gets harder. I fear even fewer will end up with degrees. Ones that want to graduate graduate the ones that don’t care about it don’t same as before but atleast now they leave with money in their pockets Yes, and no. If you've been at 3 schools in 4 years (or more), it's virtually impossible to graduate no matter how smart you are. Before free transfers without sitting, virtually nobody did 3+ schools over the course of their career. Now, it is much more common, and thus, fewer graduates are likely.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 20, 2024 21:01:12 GMT -5
Welcome to the team Curtis and family! Let's get to work.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 20, 2024 20:58:58 GMT -5
Now, if we could just land Omoruyi...
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 19, 2024 18:50:54 GMT -5
Do not be in the least worried about Fox leaving. He was a so-so coach through his career hired by Cal when things were a disaster there and did nothing to improve things. Matter of fact things got worse. He was fired when Ewing was fired and Cal hired Mark Madsen. The Bears went from 3 wins to 13 wins with transfers. Now why did that happen? Players left before he came, the roster was thin and players left while he was coach. He was not a communicator and as things became worse, he shut the doors to communication. And then, just before fired he commented that he more or less hated NIL. So my other fav school G'town hires Mark Fox. I have been saying for the last year this was a disaster. A "coach helps coach" thing in the good old fraternity. The Hoyas developed significant funds not because of Mark Fox but he was the "man". I worried. No longer do I worry, nor should you. If you have tapes of Hoya games he is the very bored face sitting behind and a seat over toward the scorers bench with the bland expression. And yes, I have a bias. A died in the wool Cal grad waiting for our BB program to return after minor blips up. I’m glad we were able to drop Mediocre Mark Fox. He was a friends hire here (JT3 connection) and is a friend hire at UK (Mark Pope’s mentor) He’s their problem now: kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/mark-fox.414358/Mark Fox getting hired had nothing to do with JT3. Mark Fox and Ed Cooley were good friends. That's why he was hired. I don't think JT3 has any influence whatsoever at Georgetown, nor does he likely want to have any such influence.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 19, 2024 13:53:49 GMT -5
I’ll admit I don’t care much for this dystopian college landscape you paint, SF, but I cannot deny that the signs are there. Until this system is revised (which. I believe it will be eventually), the best way to avoid losing a player or two from a recruiting class to another school may be to lose them to the NBA early if they are good enough. Opens not only a slot but salary cap space. If we have a player that has a great freshman or sophomore season, I will start doing an about-face and implore them to go pro. It affects everyone too, even the high achieving programs. Duke had a very good team this year, and yet they are not immune. Last year their retention was excellent. Not this year. They have now lost 6 players to transfers. They've also lost two to the NBA (a good reason, of course), and one to graduation (also a good reason). So they have already lost 9 guys. They have the best freshman class coming in in the nation, but still. Coaches simply cannot recruit like they did a few years ago and expect to win. EDIT: Make that 7 players transferring. Duke's roster other than the incoming freshman is hugely bare.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 19, 2024 12:44:26 GMT -5
I'm in SEC country and rumors here are that he's Bama's to lose. Unfortunately if he doesn't commit during/following his visit I think Bama will lock him up. We need to make him an offer he can't refuse. If that's the case just hoping Cooley is prepared for that scenario...certainly did not feel like it last year when we didn't land Dickinson...nothing against Cook at all but certainly didn't feel like one of Cooley's top choices at the position... If I recall from last year, Dickinson's decision went well into mid-late May. I feel that if he's visiting Georgetown this weekend and Alabama next weekend that we won't have to wait too long. In my mind, landing this commitment would be a big deal and greatly elevate our ceiling for next year. Alabama is always going to have splashier facilities, dorms, etc., so in that sense we likely cannot compete. But, we may be able to compete for NIL. I doubt it has much significance these days, but I would think playing in DC would be more appealing than Tuscaloosa. Of course, that location doesn't hurt their football team at all. So it's probably not very relevant.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 18, 2024 18:52:40 GMT -5
Current roster doesn’t have a lot in terms of catch and shoot 3 pointers. Curtis had a bad season, but if he can be rehabilitated, then it could be worth the try. Fair. I’m just jaded by our three point specialists who cannot shoot spanning our last three coaches. Nikita Meshcheryakov, Stephen Domingo, Reggie Cameron, Kaiden Rice, Massoud. I guess at some point our fortunes need to turn around. And we do need some guys who can shoot.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 18, 2024 16:53:05 GMT -5
Williams' had horrible stats at Louisville and played a good bit. He's 6'5, which is nice, and was apparently heralded as a shooter in high school, but shot horribly this year. We've already had our fair share of shooters in this program who cannot shoot. I don't want to add to that list. If this is more of a backup/get a younger guy on the bench sort of thing fine, but if we want to be much better, I find it hard to see someone like Williams getting a ton of time barring significant improvement.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 18, 2024 15:22:05 GMT -5
Do we realistcally know how many teams from his list of 12 are actually realistic options? People are saying he's going to visit Georgetown and Alabama. Any buzz about other visits? Good big men are always going to command the highest NIL on average because there are so many fewer available than guards/forwards who do not need as much height. If NIL matters to Omoruyi and we have a bunch left we can use, I would hope we could compete for him. Alabama's biggest advantage, I think, is that they are coming of a really good season, and Oates is obviously a very well respected coach. But, from what I can gather, Omoruyi went to high school in northern New Jersey and now has been at Rutgers. Tuscaloosa is a very different place than the northeast, and basketball will always be second fiddle there to football. That's a battle I would hope we could win with an NIL advantage. The big factor in favor of Alabama is that if Omoruyi wants a sure-fire NCAA team, and he looks at historical performance, the odds may be better there. But, if Omoruyi comes to Georgetown, it would go a very long way to making us competitive for one of those at large slots. I still think it's a reach after last season, but if Omoruyi comes, and things fall into place with a few of the other guys, then it could happen. And if it's in any way a package deal where recruiting Seydou Traore helps you get Omoruyi, you absolutely 100% take him too. For people not aware, me being on of them... What is the connection between the 2 players? They both played for the New York Lightning AAU team. Plus, they were both born in Nigeria. There could be more connections than that. They did both go to high school in the NY/NJ area, so they likely crossed paths there too. I see some Alabama-related accounts saying Omoruyi is visiting Alabama this weekend. I see nothing about him visiting us. Does anybody have any real sources for that information? Early on, Omoruyi was supposedly going to visit St. John's, but that appears to have never happened.
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