What I Want from Basketball Santa Claus

[TheBluePirate]

I want our team members to return for their entire four year eligibility. They will get stronger and faster. And be able to dominate other BE teams.

I reasoned two months ago that next year is the true make or break year. Without unrolling the full argument, I will say that I remain convinced this is the case.

The team has improved in many dimensions compared to last year. When they play a perfect game, they can beat great teams. If they play a mixed game, they are still competitive, which is good.

With juniors next year, it will be the final put up or go home time.

Therefore, I am going to still remain positive this year. They already have passed my low expectations.

Anyway.

Consider this post a bit of preemption this afternoon. Hoping the postgame meltdown includes observations of the positives.

 

[mjs428]

Losing to Xavier on the road is expected with a team full of sophomores. I just expected them to play a lot better/smarter. Still see a lot of bad habits

 

[pirated]

Losing to Xavier on the road is expected with a team full of sophomores. I just expected them to play a lot better/smarter. Still see a lot of bad habits

Its not youth its coaching thats the biggest problem

 

[Marc1996]

Regardless of coaching, if all the Sophmores stay four years, this team will be the favorite to be BE Regular Season Champs. Too much talent.

 

[halltheway]

I want a legitimate big man and a true three point shooter...don't believe, as of yet, Veer Singh fits the roll at all.
I guess I'll wait till next year for the three point shooter.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

We don't have an answer for a very good big man. Coaching was good enough to win on the road at PC. We almost beat #4. We struggled today. We have to find an answer before Saturday. People jump off the deep end and blame Willard for everything.

 

[Piratefan2009]

Team full of sophomores (not counting Gordon) doesn't explain:

52% free throw shooting and a complete lack of offensive game plan or a half court offense.

 

[catholicman]

The center with the Irish surname on Xavier was a recruit we tried to get. We could have used him on our side today. Btw, I am not interested in discussing our big man recruiting right now.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

Team full of sophomores (not counting Gordon) doesn't explain:

52% free throw shooting and a complete lack of offensive game plan or a half court offense.

The staple of this team early on was the defense. We score 74 points we need to win these games. We can't be allowing teams to put up over 80 on us.

 

[Pirate64]

We don't have an answer for a very good big man. Coaching was good enough to win on the road at PC. We almost beat #4. We struggled today. We have to find an answer before Saturday. People jump off the deep end and blame Willard for everything.

Why after 6 years are we a sophomore laden team without a true point guard. ? Regardless of the reasons, that's on KW.
" We're young". Tired of it.

 

[Piratz]

Who is going anywhere? None of them are NBA prospects at this juncture, IMO. IW will be in the D-League if he thinks he's ready.

 

[TheBluePirate]

Just trying to be a combination of realistic and positive today.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

Why after 6 years are we a sophomore laden team without a true point guard. ? Regardless of the reasons, that's on KW.
" We're young". Tired of it.

The fact we were led by seniors 2 years might have something to do with it. We had to replace them with with freshmen last year. That's generally the cycle unless you are Kentucky or Duke being led by freshmen most years.

 

[HallB]

Dear Basketball Santa, all I want for the 2016-2017 basketball season is a legitimate 6-9/6-10 big man who can contest the likes of James Farr and Daniel Ochefu. Sincerely, HallB. P.S. Thank you for the early Christmas present of a 3-point shooter, and a transfer pure PG.

 

[TheBluePirate]

Dear Basketball Santa, all I want for the 2016-2017 basketball season is a legitimate 6-9/6-10 big man who can contest the likes of James Farr and Daniel Ochefu. Sincerely, HallB. P.S. Thank you for the early Christmas present of a 3-point shooter, and a transfer pure PG.

Now that is the spirit!

 

[Vegas pj]

Dear Basketball Santa, all I want for the 2016-2017 basketball season is a legitimate 6-9/6-10 big man who can contest the likes of James Farr and Daniel Ochefu. Sincerely, HallB. P.S. Thank you for the early Christmas present of a 3-point shooter, and a transfer pure PG.

Don't forget a new coach to replace what's his name.

 

[shu09]

Don't forget a new coach to replace what's his name.

Good luck keeping the roster in tact then. Would be a big rebuild all over again.

 

[TheBluePirate]

I agree with both PJ and 09. How do I resolve this conflict?

Realize that we need this group to stay and grow. Expectations are high as they should be. Payoff must happen starting next year.

MUST.

 

[hallgrad80]

The only thing I want from Basketball Santa is no contract extension for Willard.

 

[Bluebeard]

If Eugene Tuegue was a senior on this team, we'd be a Top 15-20 team. We're a legitimate inside presence with offensive moves away from being a very good team. That's all that's missing. If these sophomores stay 4 years, they will be there.

 

[NYC Pirate]

Losing to Xavier on the road is expected with a team full of sophomores. I just expected them to play a lot better/smarter. Still see a lot of bad habits

This is exactly how I feel about the Xavier game. You expected that this would be a tough game
and that It would be a probable loss. Once Xavier lost to GTown you knew that they'd bring a strong
performance. I know we had a difficult game with Nova, but our guys didn't look like Sophomores, they looked
like first year players. Desi was the only one that handled the tempo of the game.

Villanova and Xavier are the class of the league. Not sure about Providence yet. Seton Hall is building
and on an upswing, but too many hybrid players on the roster. Next year you add Powell's shooting and at the
same time lose Gordon's defense and leadership.

This year's team has exceeded my expectations to a certain degree. I thought we'd get more productivity
from a couple of the players this season.

 

[hallgrad80]

Until this team adds the missing pieces to the core players that have been here we're going to fall short of being an upper echelon team and looking at the talent that the top teams in the conference are adding doesn't make our moving up any easier . Just look at what Nova and Xavier are adding in their 2016 classes. Nova adds top 25 , five star PF Omari Spellman , Eric Paschall who sat out this year as a transfer, a SF/G who was the A-10 Rookie of the year plus three star C , Dylan Painter.

How about Xavier who adds Norfolk St. PF/C Rashid Gaston a transfer who averaged 15.5 PPG and 9.6 RPG plus top 150 PF Eddie Ekiyor from Canada and top 100 four star PG Quentin Gordin.

Butler adds two two top 100 players including a four star center in Joey Bunker plus another top 150 player.

The point is that other teams are adding high caliber talent and their freshman and sophomores will also be improved next year's as will ours and we need to follow up the IW/AD class with another loaded class hopefully with a legitimate center.

 

[TheBluePirate]

The point is that other teams are adding high caliber talent and their freshman and sophomores will also be improved next year's as will ours and we need to follow up the IW/AD class with another loaded class hopefully with a legitimate center.

This is a fundamental point. My original wish may come true, but if the same quality pipeline is not immediately in place, it all becomes merely a brief arc.