Starting 5

[Halldan1]

It's early and this will probably change as the season progresses.

But right now my choice would be as follows.

PG Carrington
2G Whitehead
SF Singh (if healthy)
PF Sonogo
C Delgado

First guard off the bench: Gordon
First forward off the bench: Rodriquez at the 3 Nzei at the 4.
First center off the bench: Anderson

 

[Seton75]

I buy that. I still would not be surprised to see Desi at the 3.

 

[Halldan1]

Dick, my opinion is need is the determining factor. Other than Whitehead my lineup does not have accuracy from range with the obvious exception being Singh if he starts.

So I would go with Veer. If he's not playing well then you sub Desi or Gordon at the 3.

You also hope that Carrington can give you something from the perimeter as well.

 

[Halldan1]

One thing I noticed so far this year is that Ish has no trouble guarding threes. He might struggle playing that position on offense, but on the other side of the court I think in special situations he can get the job done against three's with height.

 

[knowknow456]

One thing I noticed so far this year is that Ish has no trouble guarding threes. He might struggle playing that position on offense, but on the other side of the court I think in special situations he can get the job done against three's with height.

Could you envision scenarios where Ish is a 3 on Defense and 4 and offense in some kind of shared position with Singh?

At the Baruch game, Ish did a great job guarding the small point guard kid. Last year in his one big moment in the spot light, I thought he played really well against Roosevelt Jones. Those two guys represent two totally different types of players and Ish handled himself well in both spots. It was impressive

 

[HALL85]

It's early and this will probably change as the season progresses.

But right now my choice would be as follows.

PG Carrington
2G Whitehead
SF Singh (if healthy)
PF Sonogo
C Delgado

First guard off the bench: Gordon
First forward off the bench: Rodriquez at the 3 Nzei at the 4.
First center off the bench: Anderson

That's going to be the 8-9 man rotation for sure. The problem with bringing Desi off the bench is that there is zero three point threat from your bench. Hypothetical....Gordon and Desi sub for IW and Veer...be prepared for long stretches of offensive struggling. That sub line-up looks like a bunch of one-on-one moves by Desi and Khadeen and hoping they can dump it into Angel on occasion.

 

[Halldan1]

Could you envision scenarios where Ish is a 3 on Defense and 4 and offense in some kind of shared position with Singh?

At the Baruch game, Ish did a great job guarding the small point guard kid. Last year in his one big moment in the spot light, I thought he played really well against Roosevelt Jones. Those two guys represent two totally different types of players and Ish handled himself well in both spots. It was impressive

Yes, I expect coach to mix and match depending upon match-ups.

Willard has said often this year that he has options and won't be putting a player on the court because he has no choice. Now he will be doing so because it's a match-up he wants.

 

[Halldan1]

That's going to be the 8-9 man rotation for sure. The problem with bringing Desi off the bench is that there is zero three point threat from your bench. Hypothetical....Gordon and Desi sub for IW and Veer...be prepared for long stretches of offensive struggling. That sub line-up looks like a bunch of one-on-one moves by Desi and Khadeen and hoping they can dump it into Angel on occasion.

Excellent point that's why it's important that you substitute with that in mind.

This team has limited offensive ability. Especially in the halfcourt so you might go with certain starters a little longer than you might like to ensure you don't cripple your offensive firepower.

 

[Seton75]

Dick, my opinion is need is the determining factor. Other than Whitehead my lineup does not have accuracy from range with the obvious exception being Singh if he starts.

So I would go with Veer. If he's not playing well then you sub Desi or Gordon at the 3.

You also hope that Carrington can give you something from the perimeter as well.

Yes, I see that logic. I also see the need for more toughness down low, thus my wondering if Desi gets the nod. And he can't hide his ball skills forever! This is even a bigger issue if the worries about Angel prove to have even the shortest legs.

 

[knowknow456]

This is even a bigger issue if the worries about Angel prove to have even the shortest legs.

Can you elaborate?

 

[Halldan1]

With Desi at the 3, Ish or Nzei at the 4 and Delgado at the 5, along with two two decent rebounding guards in Whitehead and Gordon we could actually have a strong rebounding team on the court. It's been a while since we could say that.

 

[Seton75]

Can you elaborate?

Nothing more than him playing awful in the Baruch game, not being even the slightest factor. It made me worry if he is in good a shape as he needs to be. IMO, most of the time when you see a good player like this have a bad game against such lesser level opponent, it turns out to be nothing.

 

[HALL85]

Excellent point that's why it's important that you substitute with that in mind.

This team has limited offensive ability. Especially in the halfcourt so you might go with certain starters a little longer than you might like to ensure you don't cripple your offensive firepower.

Another way of saying that is that Willard is going to have to have two of the three (IW, Khadeen and Veer) on the floor at all times or the offense is going to suffer. If you start all three, it makes that harder to do when you sub. Personally, I'd rather start off the game with Veer on the bench since you want to move the ball and try to get Angel involved as early as possible. If you fall behind, you have Veer come in with some instant offense pop. The other way, you have to keep them on the floor for a longer stretch before subbing your weaker offensive players (and putting more stress on them).

 

[Shuathelete]

Desi was at the 4 last year when i thought he should play 3. This year we are set up where I would want him to play the 4 again. He really battles under the boards. Not good when you have Ish as a starter. Kid barely played any minutes last year. We need our best players to play and I think Desi is top 5 best players.

 

[sportsfantatic44]

Couple of questions....
- Is Singh going to play Friday night vs. Dartmouth?

- What happened to Anderson? Wasn't he expected to start when he was brought here? Is he still bothered by the concussion, ineffectiveness, law school, combination of the 3? If he is only going to play 10 minutes or so seems like this was a stretch to bring him here. Might be a good locker room guy but when you need to win this year seems like this was a reach, no?

 

[knowknow456]

Nothing more than him playing awful in the Baruch game, not being even the slightest factor. It made me worry if he is in good a shape as he needs to be. IMO, most of the time when you see a good player like this have a bad game against such lesser level opponent, it turns out to be nothing.

Its funny you say that. He did play awful and if he played to even 50% of what he's capable of, the outcome would have been way different. But I chalked it up to one of those things.

What actually had me worried was KW quote about him playing in the Pan-Am games. I usually ignore most of what he says and always find it comical what the people here choose to focus on, but here was a solid quote that made no sense, even by KW standards.

By any measure, the Pan-Am games are a huge privilege and honor - as well as a chance to interact with past, present and future professional players. His learning curve there should have been far greater than missing some shoot arounds or whatever he missed back in NJ.

I believe KW knows that, yet he said it anyway. That leads me to believe he is dissatisfied with something else regarding AD. I don't know what that is, and was wondering if you knew.

 

[knowknow456]

Another way of saying that is that Willard is going to have to have two of the three (IW, Khadeen and Veer) on the floor at all times or the offense is going to suffer. If you start all three, it makes that harder to do when you sub. Personally, I'd rather start off the game with Veer on the bench since you want to move the ball and try to get Angel involved as early as possible. If you fall behind, you have Veer come in with some instant offense pop. The other way, you have to keep them on the floor for a longer stretch before subbing your weaker offensive players (and putting more stress on them).

I agree with what you are saying. Baruch showed a glimpse of what the offense is like with only IW/KC on the floor and frankly it wasn't pretty. Singh has a huge load to carry pretty much from day 1. Personally I would not freak out if DR started at SF and Singh came off the bench but lets see what happens.

 

[knowknow456]

Desi was at the 4 last year when i thought he should play 3. This year we are set up where I would want him to play the 4 again. He really battles under the boards. Not good when you have Ish as a starter. Kid barely played any minutes last year. We need our best players to play and I think Desi is top 5 best players.

The reason you should want him playing the 4 again is because that is where he is best suited. Until proven otherwise, Desi has not shown he is a fully formed SF at the Big East level. Willard knew that last year and tried to shield us from that, much to people's consternation. We may find out KW was on to something.

 

[knowknow456]

Couple of questions....
- Is Singh going to play Friday night vs. Dartmouth?

- What happened to Anderson? Wasn't he expected to start when he was brought here? Is he still bothered by the concussion, ineffectiveness, law school, combination of the 3? If he is only going to play 10 minutes or so seems like this was a stretch to bring him here. Might be a good locker room guy but when you need to win this year seems like this was a reach, no?

As I saw it, thinking Anderson was going to start was a bit of a reach. The first semester of law school is generally the toughest so it is not surprising he is struggling in basketball. I still believe he can give 10 solid minutes from the start and could potentially get to the 15 minute mark. If he has 15 good minutes a game, that would be a tremendous help.

 

[HallLine69]

I understand the rationale for wanting to start Veer....his ability to shoot from the perimeter. We surely will need that. But something about Desi not starting makes me uncomfortable....I don't know Desi's mindset but I fear he would feel slighted by the freshman coming in and moving ahead of him at the position Desi really wanted to play last year and definitely wants to play in the future (which he made clear in his recent interview).

 

[hallgrad80]

I also found KW's quote about Angel somewhat bizarre , even for a coach who has a reputation for saying weird things. I looked at Angel's selection not only an honor but one that would also give him the opportunity to go against quality talent every day in practice and the opportunity to work on his game . It would allow him to be coached by a different staff , with a different perspective of what they see as his strengths and weaknesses and that staff could develop the type of drills they envision for Angel to improve and become a better player. I still see Angel's selection to the team as nothing but a plus and Kevin's comment just plain wrong.

 

[Save Continental]

I also found KW's quote about Angel somewhat bizarre , even for a coach who has a reputation for saying weird things. I looked at Angel's selection not only an honor but one that would also give him the opportunity to go against quality talent every day in practice and the opportunity to work on his game . It would allow him to be coached by a different staff , with a different perspective of what they see as his strengths and weaknesses and that staff could develop the type of drills they envision for Angel to improve and become a better player. I still see Angel's selection to the team as nothing but a plus and Kevin's comment just plain wrong.

Anyone have the quote handy?

 

[pmulcahy96]

If the team is trying to force the tempo, press and run, I could see a lineup of Whitehead, Carrington, Singh/Gordon, Rodriguez,Delgado.

If we go slow it down, Whitehead, Carrington, Singh, Sanogo/Nzei/Anthony, Delgado.

I'm sure we'll see a lot of mix and match and mad scientist lineups.

 

[Hoya1987]

Whitehead
Carrington
Singh
Nzei
Delgado

 

[shupat08]

Why would Nzei/Sanogo lead to a "slow down" offense?? From all account both of those kids are leapers/rebounders who can run up and down the court quickly and love dunking?? Seems Sanogo and/or Nzei would allow for a fast paced offense as well.

 

[Seton75]

Why would Nzei/Sanogo lead to a "slow down" offense?? From all account both of those kids are leapers/rebounders who can run up and down the court quickly and love dunking?? Seems Sanogo and/or Nzei would allow for a fast paced offense as well.

I agree. I especially see a lineup with Nzei at 4 as one that can fly.

 

[shupat08]

I agree. I especially see a lineup with Nzei at 4 as one that can fly.

In all honesty, I think we are going to need to run and jump up and down the court and let our most talented players "ball out" in order to have a shot at having a successful season this year.

Now will KW allow that to be our approach??

 

[SHUBigT]

I'd go:

Whitehead
Carrington
Desi
Delgado
Anthony

Bring Singh off the bench for instant offense, Gordon to replace one of the guards. Let Angel float between the 4 and 5 depending on foul trouble with Anthony. Let Desi float between the 3 and 4. Give Ish and Andreson some minutes based on match ups.

 

[knowknow456]

In all honesty, I think we are going to need to run and jump up and down the court and let our most talented players "ball out" in order to have a shot at having a successful season this year.

Now will KW allow that to be our approach??

A couple observations

1. The offense will slow down because Nzei/Sanogo have no discernible back to the basket moves at the current time, nor do they have a mid range jump shot. Again, the sample is limited and I expect things to improve but currently, they are limited offensive players. That causes the offense to clog up since defenders only pay nominal attention to these kind of players.

2. Nzei looked tentative in the Baruch game. I expect that tentativeness to decrease but it will take time.

3. Balling out is not a bad idea but people are using this as a work around for KW coaching. That is neither fair nor correct. As we saw with St. John's street ball is not a sustainable offensive model, even if it is successful in spots. Baruch worked hard in transition defense and forced a number of bad decisions/turnovers. Others will be able to do that as well. At some point we need to score in the half court.

 

[shupat08]

Agreed. But we couldn't score in the half court last year with IW, KC, Gibbs, Mobley and Sina.

 

[Shuathelete]

Hes not saying street ball is sustainable, but our best chance at success. Like best worst case scenario. And say what you want about SJU they at least got to see their team play in March.

 

[pmulcahy96]

3. Balling out is not a bad idea but people are using this as a work around for KW coaching. That is neither fair nor correct. As we saw with St. John's street ball is not a sustainable offensive model, even if it is successful in spots. Baruch worked hard in transition defense and forced a number of bad decisions/turnovers. Others will be able to do that as well. At some point we need to score in the half court.[/QUOTE]

I agree with your points as well. Half court offense will dictate a lot of our outcomes. I was hoping to hear how a new set was implemented. I hope these kids play hard and bring it every night. One thing is for certain, I never want to see the look or body language that I saw on this team at MSG last year against Marquette.

 

[Shuathelete]

One thing is for certain, I never want to see the look or body language that I saw on this team at MSG last year against Marquette.

Neither does Willard... that's why he left early. Couldn't bear the sight.

 

[Seton75]

3 months of hands offs and 30 second to nowhere offense may be the path to more March madness for us again. Countless teams ran and ran to success at every level of hoops, from Neptune HS to the Aurback Celtics.

 

[knowknow456]

3 months of hands offs and 30 second to nowhere offense may be the path to more March madness for us again. Countless teams ran and ran to success at every level of hoops, from Neptune HS to the Aurback Celtics.

I believe you are smarter than this response. Yes, last year our half court results were poor, especially after IW went down, but poor execution and poor philosophy are two different things. We can (and should) blame KW for some of that, but I am not letting the players off the hook here. They chose selfishness over team success. The good news is that was last year and I expect different results this year.

As I see it, we cannot serve two masters. Either we are an uptempo team or we are not. I do not think we have enough back court depth to be a serious running team and if I were coaching I think we would be a half court team that pushes the tempo when possible as opposed to the opposite. There are many people who are going to disagree with me but I suspect they will be disappointed.

 

[hallgrad80]

I see three guaranteed starters in IW, KC and Angel and either Singh of Desi at the three. That leaves Ish , Anthony , Anderson and, Nzei as candidates to fill the other power position although I could envision where both Sing and Desi are on the court at the sale time and Angel being the lone power player in that type lineup . The players to fill both power position are generally one dimensional players with rebounding their principal forte and , other then Angel , I don't see them as a group having a viable offensive game and producing the numbers we need. Hope I' m wrong about that. Gordon will see time which means Willard has up to 10 players to work into his rotation with Soffer and Carter potential candidates to redshirt which I firmly believe would help them.

As to the type of offense that Willard should run I'm not sure the way the roster is constituted and given its skill set and depth one style stands out of any other and it may lead to running different styles based on who's on the court .

 

[knowknow456]

I
As to the type of offense that Willard should run I'm not sure the way the roster is constituted and given its skill set and depth one style stands out of any other and it may lead to running different styles based on who's on the court .

We cannot be all things to all people. KW has to decide (in fact he has already decided) if we will be a predominately uptempo team or a half court team. Of course, being one does not preclude the other from occurring but keep in mind there is limited practice time. Either you teach the kids your pro-style offense or you teach them the press/uptempo offense but probably not both. Not to mention he needs to teach them defense and based on our small sample size to this point, he needs to devote as much time to defense as possible.

If you took a poll, I bet more people would vote for uptempo. I suspect they will not get their wish. When they do see uptempo they are not going to like it as much as they think they might.

 

[catholicman]

We cannot be all things to all people. KW has to decide (in fact he has already decided) if we will be a predominately uptempo team or a half court team. Of course, being one does not preclude the other from occurring but keep in mind there is limited practice time. Either you teach the kids your pro-style offense or you teach them the press/uptempo offense but probably not both. Not to mention he needs to teach them defense and based on our small sample size to this point, he needs to devote as much time to defense as possible.

If you took a poll, I bet more people would vote for uptempo. I suspect they will not get their wish. When they do see uptempo they are not going to like it as much as they think they might.

Teams need to be versatile, otherwise they won't win many games. Teaching half-court offense is not like teaching rocket science.

 

[hallgrad80]

The most important element to playing sound defense is having the players commit themselves to doing so and not being lazy when they're on defense . From a coaching perspective it is , most of all, about the head coach and his staff convincing his players to buying into playing hard nosed defense. You could be a genius when it comes to teaching the X and O's of playing defense but if you can't get the players to buy into what it takes to do so you won't see it on the court.

 

[HALL85]

The most important element to playing sound defense is having the players commit themselves to doing so and not being lazy when they're on defense . From a coaching perspective it is , most of all, about the head coach and his staff convincing his players to buying into playing hard nosed defense. You could be a genius when it comes to teaching the X and O's of playing defense but if you can't get the players to buy into what it takes to do so you won't see it on the court.

Excellent point, especially when you are entering the season with an unpredictable offensive. I was always a fan of the Pat Riley Knicks because the brought the defense every game and that defense kept them in a lot of games. A team like this that is going to have to manufacture a lot of points on the break, needs to play great defense to create those opportunities off of misses and turnovers.