I Will Play Along

[williaza01]

I want our coach out as much as anyone. But I will play along with those who have pleaded to give it a rest. So with that I will ask those "insiders" or anyone how will we be better next year? I think our number 1 problem this season was mismanagement of talent on the team but a close second and the number 1 problem in all years past was a clear lack of talent.

We have 3 legit BE type players in IW Sterling and Delgado. KC and Desi are very nice player but are young and every other BE team has roster loaded with players at their level and have had them for years. Now this year Nzei didnt play and Ish Anthony Ajou barely played and didnt show much promise for HUGE improvements for next year.

Mix in we lost Mobley Sina and Karlis. So we should have 3 open ships. We also logically might have to replace someone else (transfers are ubiquitous in D-1) which would be 4. We have 1 good 2015 signed but not a game changer and it is very late in the 2015 recruiting year (not to mention we should be finishing our 2016 class at the time we are trying to piece a 2015 class together)

So I would assume we need JUCO and Transfers (who can play immediately) to be any better next year and we need 3 of them.

Who are they going to be? How can it be determined they will be able to impact immediately? How can you look at this situation and think we will be better next year?

Thank you for the responses

PS: Ok i already screwed up and forgot about Soffer(sorry not intentional) so we have 1-2(maybe) ships but the same questions still stand
This post was edited on 3/23 8:29 AM by williaza01

 

[HALL85]

Short of Willard leaving, our only chance is for him to take a leave of absence from the program and let Sha coach this year. Not fair to Sha, but my guess is that the kids will at least look at him and listen. And Sha won't quit on the team as well.

There is talent on the team but we are woefully thin in a few glaring areas with no hope in sight. Feel for the kids, but we don't appear to have a BOR or leadership that cares about them.

 

[HALL28]

You're underrating our talent.

Gibbs
Carrington
Whitehead
Desi
Delgado

Bench: Nzei, Sanogo, Anthony, Soffer, Singh, Ajou,

That is a roster that you should make the NCAA Tournament with because of the quality of the top 4 guys. Desi has a ton of potential to get much better in his sophomore year. But it would look a lot better if Willard had followed up his 2014 class with another top 100 2015 guy who could come in and make an immediate impact. But when you look at the reality that Whitehead/Gibbs could not play together effectively and the players do not respect the coach, it looks pretty bleak. If this is our roster and Willard stays, I see us as a bubble team at best. If there is a significant transfer, we're going nowhere again.

 

[Shuathelete]

Originally posted by HALL28:
You're underrating our talent.

Gibbs
Carrington
Whitehead
Desi
Delgado

Bench: Nzei, Sanogo, Anthony, Soffer, Singh, Ajou,

That is a roster that you should make the NCAA Tournament with because of the quality of the top 4 guys. Desi has a ton of potential to get much better in his sophomore year. But it would look a lot better if Willard had followed up his 2014 class with another top 100 2015 guy who could come in and make an immediate impact. But when you look at the reality that Whitehead/Gibbs could not play together effectively and the players do not respect the coach, it looks pretty bleak. If this is our roster and Willard stays, I see us as a bubble team at best. If there is a significant transfer, we're going nowhere again.

Starting 5 is ok but the bench is non existent

 

[Bobbie Solo]

Willard needs to be fired immediately. Any other discussion is moot. Fire Kevin Willard and Pat Lyons too if he won't fire his buddy. What's worse, if Lyons actually wants to fire Willard, but can't b/c of our silly BOR having the real power, then Lyons should quit b/c he's an AD with zero power when it comes down to it. Only at Seton Hall...gotta love it.

 

[sportsfantatic44]

don't know why anybody really thinks this team is going to be better next year with this coach here. You are what you're record says you are. It's awful. I could make a case we could be worse next year.

 

[lloyde dobler]

It's kind of unfair to Lyons. Willard is the highest paid employee at the school -- by far -- so he wouldn't have the authority to make the call himself with so much $$$ on the line. His opinion should carry a lot of weight, but it's not out of line for a decision like that to be in the ultimate hands of the BOR. It all traces back to the guy in the law school office in Newark who'll be leaving soon anyway.

 

[Bud Boomer]

Originally posted by williaza01:
I want our coach out as much as anyone. But I will play along with those who have pleaded to give it a rest. So with that I will ask those "insiders" or anyone how will we be better next year?


This post was edited on 3/23 8:29 AM by williaza01

How can we not be better? We return 5 rotation players, 70% of our scoring, 80% of our rebounding, 4 of our 5 top scorers, our 2 best rebounders, and our three most used players on offense. Four key rotation players will become sophomores. Whitehead will be improved, Carrington will be improved, Rodriguez will be improved, and Delgado (if you can believe it) will be improved. All of the minutes our freshmen logged will pay big dividends next year.

We don't have a good coach. We play an unwatchably bad brand of basketball. We know these things. But unless there are transfers, Seton Hall will be a better team next year.

 

[lloyde dobler]

But what if the competition gets better as well?

 

[SPK145]

Originally posted by HALL28:
You're underrating our talent.

Gibbs
Carrington
Whitehead
Desi
Delgado

Bench: Nzei, Sanogo, Anthony, Soffer, Singh, Ajou,

That's good starting talent, not great. Horrible bench. Worst coach in the conference.

Need to see how it all shakes out (who stays, who goes, who comes in) for all conference teams. Right now that looks like a middle of the pack BE team. I think that is where there is a major point of difference. The Willard pro's think that is a definite NCAA squad.

 

[sportsfantatic44]

The only givens next year are Gibbs and Delgado. Everything else is a crap shoot in my opinion. Carrington needs to be more consistent. Willard misused Desi unbelievably this season. Will that change? You would think Whitehead would be a lot better next year but I'm not so sure. Is his head on straight here? It didn't see like he bought into Willard at all. Bench looks to be incredibly weak at this point. What is Nzei? I have no idea. I would expect Creighton and Marquette to be better. Looks like bottom 5 of the league to me today.

 

[Bud Boomer]

Originally posted by lloyde dobler:
But what if the competition gets better as well?

The league loses a lot next year. Most of the teams we need to jump (or who would be jumping us) don't return nearly what we do. St. John's loses its whole team. Providence loses Henton and potentially Harris and Dunn. Xavier loses Stainbrook and Davis. Creighton loses Chatman, Brooks and Kreklow. Marquette loses Carlino, Anderson and Wilson.

Still need to wait and see how the rosters shake out, but IMO Seton Hall and DePaul are the two teams most poised to make a jump.

 

[Shuathelete]

They also gain another round of great freshman classes most notably Marquette.

 

[HALL28]

Originally posted by SPK145:

Originally posted by HALL28:
You're underrating our talent.

Gibbs
Carrington
Whitehead
Desi
Delgado

Bench: Nzei, Sanogo, Anthony, Soffer, Singh, Ajou,

That's good starting talent, not great. Horrible bench. Worst coach in the conference.

Need to see how it all shakes out (who stays, who goes, who comes in) for all conference teams. Right now that looks like a middle of the pack BE team. I think that is where there is a major point of difference. The Willard pro's think that is a definite NCAA squad.

I think it's NCAA talent based on the best of what I've seen from Gibbs, Whitehead, Delgado, Carrington. Problem is they really never came close to playing their best at the same time, especially the guards. I think with those 4 guys as your core it has great potential, meaning 20+ wins. As for everyone questioning the 4 spot and the bench, this is where coaching and player development comes in. It's difficult to evaluate and project expectations when you have no confidence in the coach. I just don't get the feeling these players have any respect for him at all based on what went on this year.

Out of those 4 guys, you've got 3 who have designs on being in the NBA. So you've got to get those competing interests onto the same page while one of those guys has his high school coach right there at all times. Anyone think Willard can do that?

 

[Piratz]

Originally posted by SPK145:

Originally posted by HALL28:
You're underrating our talent.

Gibbs
Carrington
Whitehead
Desi
Delgado

Bench: Nzei, Sanogo, Anthony, Soffer, Singh, Ajou,

That's good starting talent, not great. Horrible bench. Worst coach in the conference.

Need to see how it all shakes out (who stays, who goes, who comes in) for all conference teams. Right now that looks like a middle of the pack BE team. I think that is where there is a major point of difference. The Willard pro's think that is a definite NCAA squad.

+1 to SPK

 

[Ferreri22]

Straight from the horse's mouth (as of last Thursday), Desi and KC are not starting. Instead Singh at the 3, and an unknown at the 5

 

[knowknow456]

Originally posted by Piratz:

Originally posted by SPK145:

Originally posted by HALL28:
You're underrating our talent.

Gibbs
Carrington
Whitehead
Desi
Delgado

Bench: Nzei, Sanogo, Anthony, Soffer, Singh, Ajou,

That's good starting talent, not great. Horrible bench. Worst coach in the conference.

Need to see how it all shakes out (who stays, who goes, who comes in) for all conference teams. Right now that looks like a middle of the pack BE team. I think that is where there is a major point of difference. The Willard pro's think that is a definite NCAA squad.

+1 to SPK

I believe the above bolded sentence needs to be exploited. Next year is a definite NCAA squad. When next year comes and there is still no NCAA bid, I believe that will bring about the end of the Willard era. Probably a year too late, but such is life.

 

[Woah Bundy]

The thing that concerns me about next year if he comes back is that we could be in the very same position as St. John's right now. They are looking at a completely different team next year with seniors graduating and underclassmen moving on. Lavin has not recruited well lately and they are rightfully considering whether they should bring him back or move on. Say we make the NCAA's next year (as we should) and lose the first round, or even a play-in game. So Gibbs is done and Whitehead/Delgado decide to move on. Does Willard then get a contract extension for a job well done setting us back another five years?

 

[chickenbox]

Originally posted by HALL28:
You're underrating our talent.

Gibbs
Carrington
Whitehead
Desi
Delgado

Bench: Nzei, Sanogo, Anthony, Soffer, Singh, Ajou,

That is a roster that you should make the NCAA Tournament with because of the quality of the top 4 guys. Desi has a ton of potential to get much better in his sophomore year. But it would look a lot better if Willard had followed up his 2014 class with another top 100 2015 guy who could come in and make an immediate impact. But when you look at the reality that Whitehead/Gibbs could not play together effectively and the players do not respect the coach, it looks pretty bleak. If this is our roster and Willard stays, I see us as a bubble team at best. If there is a significant transfer, we're going nowhere again.

We got brutalized in the Big East going three guards and if we somehow managed to squeak into the tournament real size would crush us.

 

[Burnsly]

We got brutalized because we basically played 4 guards.

 

[SHUMA04]

Originally posted by Ferreri22:
Straight from the horse's mouth (as of last Thursday), Desi and KC are not starting. Instead Singh at the 3, and an unknown at the 5

That's a bit odd, and omens a transfer or two?

 

[HALL85]

Originally posted by HALL28:
You're underrating our talent.

Gibbs
Carrington
Whitehead
Desi
Delgado

Bench: Nzei, Sanogo, Anthony, Soffer, Singh, Ajou,

That is a roster that you should make the NCAA Tournament with because of the quality of the top 4 guys. Desi has a ton of potential to get much better in his sophomore year. But it would look a lot better if Willard had followed up his 2014 class with another top 100 2015 guy who could come in and make an immediate impact. But when you look at the reality that Whitehead/Gibbs could not play together effectively and the players do not respect the coach, it looks pretty bleak. If this is our roster and Willard stays, I see us as a bubble team at best. If there is a significant transfer, we're going nowhere again.

First of all, despite the public messaging, Gibbs coming back is no lock. Remember (and this is not a criticism of Dan, but the information he was told), Auda was 99% coming back. There is no penalty for Gibbs to move on if he gets a better opportunity once the dust settles on this season.

Second, with that starting line-up, what happens if Delgado is in foul trouble? So he's going to have to protect his foul totals even more next year, so interior defense will continue to be an issue with a coach that has no idea how to defend another team.

The is lots of talent from the core group unfortunately is off-set by the lack of depth and poor coaching. And if Gibbs is not here, it's going to be tough.

 

[anon_4htvdezyfe7k9]

Originally posted by Ferreri22:
Straight from the horse's mouth (as of last Thursday), Desi and KC are not starting. Instead Singh at the 3, and an unknown at the 5

Huh? What horse are you referring to? Willard? And what individual even closest to the program would have any idea who will be starting next year?

 

[Ferreri22]

Phi-pirate: Yes, straight from Willard. He would not comment on the 5 position, Angel at the 4

 

[anon_4htvdezyfe7k9]

Originally posted by Ferreri22:
Phi-pirate: Yes, straight from Willard. He would not comment on the 5 position, Angel at the 4

IDK if you're an insider, I can't keep track of those that claim to be and those that are, but if he already has established his starting lineup all while pursuing external opportunities, maybe he is the basketball mastermind we were all led to believe he was.

 

[Ferreri22]

Hahaha, no, by no means am I an insider. Just a casual conversation over a beer. That was his potential starting lineup (IW, SG, VS, AG, new guy). Infer what you would like from that...

 

[anon_4htvdezyfe7k9]

Originally posted by Ferreri22:
Hahaha, no, by no means am I an insider. Just a casual conversation over a beer. That was his potential starting lineup (IW, SG, VS, AG, new guy). Infer what you would like from that...

Did you ask him about his Holy Cross interview during said beer?

 

[Ferreri22]

Yes, I didn't use the word interview, but I did say offer, but obviously he downplayed it...

 

[Shuathelete]

Did he answer you in morse code via clapping?