daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 24, 2024 13:40:08 GMT -5
Wonder what was in play with the timing here. Did he want to stay if we didn't land another big? Or did he see the demand for bigs elsewhere and thought he could fetch more $ elsewhere?
Can never know his effort, as someone who goes back to following him from his Fairfield days. I wish him well and hope he lands in a spot where his talents can be best used. I hope for the Hoyas' sake that a replacement is en route and/or the staff wasn't taken off guard by this.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 23, 2024 9:36:01 GMT -5
Guy is looking for the highest bidder and is asking for a small fortune. Wouldn't say we're out - but I'd also be surprised if he ended up at GU. Probably a pretty good strategy for a kid who likely is a good college player and needs to cash in. Maybe our price & opportunity is right but if not, I am sure we are pursuing a few other avenues. The era of money ball is officially here. Hope the staff is not holding out and not pivoting to other targets. It’s a tough game to play, but think they can’t hold out in my opinion.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 22, 2024 20:11:23 GMT -5
Cliff setting up visits with Alabama and KSU. Safe to say we are probably out of the running here unfortunately…
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 21, 2024 17:38:33 GMT -5
I'm not really sure what you expect for someone who will be 11-13 in your rotation and probably your 5 guard. He showed promise in HS and had a good % beyond the arc at least his junior year. He has size for a guard which is always a plus. That's fine if he is the 11-13 man on this team I have absolutely no issue with the pickup... To be clear our 11th man last year was Austin Montgomery who averaged 2 minutes a game over 9 games played... Williams was the 7th man at Louisville averaging 18 minutes a game and started 4 of their 32 games (which he appeared in all of them) If Cooley has convinced/told a former top 100 kid he is fighting Montgomery for scrap minutes in blowouts then I am totally onboard... My guess is his playing time / role is something between Bristol and Bacote. I think 4th guard with a chance for more less playing time depending the game and/or how Mulready is contributing (or not contributing).
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 21, 2024 12:56:21 GMT -5
247sports.com/Season/2024-Basketball/OverallTeamRankings/This combines freshmen and transfer incoming players. Some pretty good company, and best in the conference, despite a 4-55 record the last 3 seasons. #12 UNC #13 Georgetown#14 Purdue Other BE Teams in Top 50: #24 UConn #32 Creighton #34 Villanova #41 Xavier #48 Providence Landing Cliff would put us at #6! For reference, last year (which many of us were content with it at the time) we were #45. So this certainly is another level. If this thing ever gets going, it can open the floodgates.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 21, 2024 5:56:44 GMT -5
247sports.com/Season/2024-Basketball/OverallTeamRankings/This combines freshmen and transfer incoming players. Some pretty good company, and best in the conference, despite a 4-55 record the last 3 seasons. #12 UNC #13 Georgetown#14 Purdue Other BE Teams in Top 50: #24 UConn #32 Creighton #34 Villanova #41 Xavier #48 Providence Landing Cliff would put us at #6! For reference, last year (which many of us were content with it at the time) we were #45. So this certainly is another level.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 20, 2024 21:56:15 GMT -5
It all just depends what the other reasonable options were. A shooter was an area of clear need. If we didn't have a good read on a top tier shooter, this makes perfect sense. A still young player, with size, that reputationally can shoot, likely didn't require much NIL, and doesn't scare off any of our current players. In some sense, this is an example of the staff perhaps learning from last year and locking in what may be a good growth option rather than swinging for the fences and getting left with really bad options ^^^ This. Any proven commodity is not going to be attracted to this situation given Mack and Epp’s role and Mulready waiting in the wings. As a bench piece with upside potential, let’s hope we can catch lightning in a bottle. If not, low risk add that didn’t pan out.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 20, 2024 21:53:08 GMT -5
Why not add a Top 100 talent? One who will make defenses guard on the perimeter. And yes I know his % wasn’t stellar last year, but he had multiple games with 4+ makes. This strikes me as a typical Cooley PC kid who flourishes after an inauspicious start elsewhere. Take all the talent we can get here and hope to strike gold (a la Devin Carter or Tyler Kolek) taking a flier. I guess I don't argue w/the "talent" aspect but yes he was a top 125 kid that was let's be honest dreadful... This is not meant to be a shot at you Dave but not stellar is being kind...he shot 31% from the floor and 28% from 3 and seemed to fall out of favor on an awful Louisville team... We do need shooters so agree he possibly fills a need and maybe just needs a change of scenery but we better hope he finds that form he had only 40 rebounds and 20 assist all season...that's pretty one dimensional Personally I feel like there would have been better options still this early in the portal...hope I am wrong No offense taken. I can’t disagree with your points, but think he’s a low risk / high reward option for us. Not sure we are in position to attract a top sniper who wants 30 mins a game given Mack and Epps’ presence. Plus you have Mulready commanding minutes. I think as a bench piece with upside this is a worthy use of the spot to see if you can catch lightning in a bottle.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 20, 2024 21:29:31 GMT -5
Former Top 100 kid. In fact was once Top 30 early in his HS career. Finished 2nd for Mr Michigan his senior year. Capable 3 pt shooter (multiple games with 4+ makes last year) who played in every Louisville game last year as a freshman, and when he got minutes he generally produced.
As I said on the recruiting sub, he strikes me as a typical Cooley PC transfer, someone who maybe needed a change of scenery and is worth a flier on. I think at this point, a shot worth taking. Could be a 3 year player for us. I’d expect him to get a shot at 10-15 mins a game based on lineups.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 20, 2024 21:25:07 GMT -5
Curtis Williams just committed I don't get this look at all... Why not add a Top 100 talent? One who will make defenses guard on the perimeter. And yes I know his % wasn’t stellar last year, but he had multiple games with 4+ makes. This strikes me as a typical Cooley PC kid who flourishes after an inauspicious start elsewhere. Take all the talent we can get here and hope to strike gold (a la Devin Carter or Tyler Kolek) taking a flier.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 17, 2024 11:24:43 GMT -5
Perhaps Fielder can help fill the gap, but we lost our #2 (Heath) and #3 (Styles) and #4 (Ish) leaders in 3PTM from last year. Mack's freshmen stats (44-27) equate pretty similar to what Heath and Styles provided, which by no means is prolific. Peavy we know is not a shooter, nor would I expect any one of Sorber, McKenna, Mulready, or Williams to fill this void.
A Center / PF rim protector is an obvious need, but I think you have to get one more threat from deep (a la a Malinowski type) to round out this roster. And that commodity is probably easier (and less NIL $ required )to find than the rim protector. But I really hope the staff doesn't think we are done with perimeter players.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 17, 2024 9:57:08 GMT -5
Beautiful to see the Mack commitment affirmed (seems like nothing is real in CBB until Tipton posts it). Obviously we are also in the hunt for a rim protector, with Cliff Omoruyi perhaps our top target. And we have a newfound alliance with Team Takeover, while hopefully achieving at least detente with Team Durant. Once we find a center, assuming nobody else breaks for the portal in the meantime—no guarantee of that, clearly—that would leave us with a roster of: Guards: Mack, Epps, Mulready, Guard TBD (Ben Hammond?) Wings: Peavy, McKenna, Fielder, Williams Bigs: Center TBD, Cook, Mutombo?? Where are the remaining gaps? [deleted, transfer speculation] If Cliff O turns down our NIL bag, what other big men could we target/are we targeting? Is Hammond the right fit assuming he’d want to stick with Kenny J? I am guessing you see 2 bigs and we leave one scholly open just in case. I think we need a little more shooting #hoyabaxa
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 17, 2024 9:50:06 GMT -5
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 17, 2024 9:32:31 GMT -5
LFG
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 16, 2024 14:26:48 GMT -5
When you say "outside" shooters, are you only talking about 3 point percentage because some of the guys you listed had very poor outside shooting numbers. Rowan was not one of our best outside shooters, you can't use him with such low volume. 24% of Epps shots were 2 point jumpers where he shot 40%. 33% of Rowans shots were 2 point jumpers where he shot 28%. 32% of Styles shots were 2 point jumpers where he shot 44% (good). Styles 3 point volume was still relatively low but his biggest issue was he only shot 50% at the rim despite his size. He missed an uncanny amount of layups and shots at the rim it seemed. Almost as if he had too much spin on these shots...
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 15, 2024 14:05:12 GMT -5
Losing Styles is not a good thing, either from his play or from the general regression into a merry-go-round of players. Yes, we were 2 and forever last year in conference, but Styles is certainly good enough to contribute for a team that is back at respectable levels. And likewise, I had hoped that part of Cooley's positives would be a culture that retained better than it lost. We don't know why he left, and it's far too early to understand whether this 2 of 5 transfers out (so far) is either indicative of longer term or good or bad ... but it certainly isn't a home run of retention that I hoped for. And I think we need to be probably a little better than average at retention long terms. So yeah, if this comes with more talent in, I suppose it's a net positive. But that's far from assured, or even rumored, and the overall trend of constant turnover is not productive. Styles was the the guy I wanted to retain second-most, so this is a hit. I believe someone posted it earlier, but among BE teams we had the fewest guys in the portal (2) except UConn. No one (or coach) seems to be immune to the current state of things.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 15, 2024 11:16:51 GMT -5
I liked Styles and he looked great in November and December but thought he disappeared way too often in BE play.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 14, 2024 17:15:34 GMT -5
The thing I’m clinging to is pretty much the entire conference will be weaker. UConn and Creighton will be good still, but I’d expect fall offs from pretty much everyone else. We are lot closer to the rest of the pack in terms of talent than we have been in 4 years.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 14, 2024 5:45:23 GMT -5
This would be the big one. Peavy and Mack with one more guy (either a rim protector or a shooter) would be pretty much an A outcome for this offseason. - Ish —-> Peavy - Rowan —-> Mack - Heath/Bristol/Mutumbo/Bacote —-> 4 talented freshmen Those are material upgrades to the roster and with any further development by Fielder this has the makings of a very competitive BE roster. I know it’s early, but most every other BE roster will be markedly worse given the talent other teams have lost, and this roster on paper has the ability to be top half of the league. I won’t go further than that right now, as we probably will be starting 3 guys from a 2 win season, but there is definitely reason for optimism.
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daveg023
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Post by daveg023 on Apr 14, 2024 5:36:25 GMT -5
The best thing about Peavy is that he’s a really good defender. The second best thing is his versatility. I think hes most naturally a 3, but can easily slide up to 2 or down to 4. Gives us a lot of flexibility as we see how the rest of the roster comes together and how quickly some of the young guys are ready to contribute. I also like the fact that there was no real pre-existing connection to him. He’s not a DMV guy transferring home or a guy who had ties to our staff when they were at PC. We just identified a major need (perimeter defense) and went out and found someone who could help. The fact that we beat some good competition probably speaks well to our NIL offering too. Well said. This feels like a major win for the staff on selling the program.
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