Media Days and Pre-Season Poll
- Thread starter goldenhurricane2
- Start date
10th is....wow. Very little research or care done on that one.
We could finish ninth and TU would say that Haith exceeded expectations.
I know you say this in jest, but that won't cut it for myself and most posters on these boards. We need to finish in the upper half of this league, or I'm going to be very disappointed.
As has been the case for the last few years the returning talent doesn't warrant a high ranking. Our #1 returning outside shooter averaged around 9 points per game. Igbanu will get his usual points, but beyond that there isn't much to hang your hat on. I think we return about 37 points of offense per game. A lot of returnees will be needed to step up and show an ability to score. Korita, Joiner, and Jackson haven't shown that ability in games. Losing Scott to transfer really hurts as he hit some big shots. Maybe one of the new players will bolster our offense and average double figures. Who knows?
we could win the conference and still be picked 8th or worse the following year with the same roster.
We do add quite a bit and subtract a lot of dead weight as well. Does the sum of:
Hill
Rachal
Ugboh
Earley
Jones
and Embery / Haywood
equal more than
Taplin (+)
Jeffries (++)
Scott (+)
Barnes (-)
Hewitt (--)
Falokoun (-)
Moore (-)
Jeffries Taplin and Scott will be hard to replace, but in reality they were only worth 32ish points a game. Hopefully we will be able to get that between those 5 or 6 guys. I could see Rachal, Ugboh, Rachal, Jones and Embery (if cleared and healthy) all being able to score between 8 and 10 points a game if they get enough touches.
Hill
Rachal
Ugboh
Earley
Jones
and Embery / Haywood
equal more than
Taplin (+)
Jeffries (++)
Scott (+)
Barnes (-)
Hewitt (--)
Falokoun (-)
Moore (-)
Jeffries Taplin and Scott will be hard to replace, but in reality they were only worth 32ish points a game. Hopefully we will be able to get that between those 5 or 6 guys. I could see Rachal, Ugboh, Rachal, Jones and Embery (if cleared and healthy) all being able to score between 8 and 10 points a game if they get enough touches.
I think replacing Taplin and his one healthy leg will be easy. Replacing Jeffries honestly shouldn’t be TOO difficult. The guy disappeared every other game (and maybe that’s on Haith). Curran Scott? Yeah he hit a big shot or two or three. But I gotta believe we have someone who can do the same and not dribble into traffic and turn the ball over way too much. Maybe I’m wrong.
Scott was a great clutch shooter and if the ball would have been passed to him in a couple of last second situations rather than other players we might have had a couple more wins last year. He also had a knack for being fouled on drives and was a very good free throw shooter. However I’m with LEC, I’m not sure whether his ball handling might not have negated those positives. I think Jeffries will be the most difficult to replace because he was such a good all around athlete.
Honestly, you guys are delusional if you think you can replace Jeffries easily. He is playing in the NBA right now, whoever we’ve added is not NBA caliber right now. Yes, the rest of our roster will be better but Jeffries will not be easily replaceable
I don't see where anyone said Jeffries will be "easily" replaceable. So no one here is delusional. There are a few around here who actually are delusional in real life, no doubt about that.
Just because he's in the NBA right now doesn't mean
. Where'd that get us? 18-14. If we can borrow a baseball statistic, his WAR would probably be 0.5. I think we'll win at least 17-18 games this year.
Had he played with a little more testicular fortitude and willed his team to 22 victories instead of 18, I'm singing a different tune.
Just because he's in the NBA right now doesn't mean
. Where'd that get us? 18-14. If we can borrow a baseball statistic, his WAR would probably be 0.5. I think we'll win at least 17-18 games this year.Had he played with a little more testicular fortitude and willed his team to 22 victories instead of 18, I'm singing a different tune.
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Love Jefferies. Wish him the best. That was one of the worst teams we’ve ever had with an NBA level player. I don’t know if it was Haith, the surrounding players, or just dumb luck. Taplin’s injury really hurt us. My feelings on Scott have been documented. Wish them all the best and I enjoyed watching them.
I think you guys will be happy with Joiner and Hill. We need at least one of the transfer guards to be eligible to be competitive this year. We just won’t have enough bodies otherwise.
I think you guys will be happy with Joiner and Hill. We need at least one of the transfer guards to be eligible to be competitive this year. We just won’t have enough bodies otherwise.
Agreed. Hopefully we know something soon. Also agree on Jeffries. When he wanted to take over he could be a monster, but then he would have games where he took 3 shots and had 2 points.
I don't see where anyone said Jeffries will be "easily" replaceable. So no one here is
delusional. There are a few around here who actually are delusional in real life, no
doubt about that.
Just because he's in the NBA right now doesn't mean
If we can borrow a baseball statistic, his WAR would probably be 0.5. I think we'll win
at least 17-18 games this year.
Had he played with a little more testicular fortitude and willed his team to 22 victories
instead of 18, I'm singing a different tune.
It always seemed to me that Jeffries was an enigma, and a very talented one at that...
Even when he was having one of his 'silent' streaks during the game on offense, he
was still our best rebound/defender.....On the other hand, it was never obvious that
he wanted the ball when the game was at stake in the last minute....That always
seemed to be left up to Scott, or Taplin (more when he was a jr.) He, (Jeffries) like
Scott, didn't have the world's best handle....
As Chris (and others) have said, we have the overall talent to finish considerably
higher than the 10th spot voted by the coaches.....Two or three keys:
1) Hill developing quickly at PG....He can help in several areas; Play making, handling,
and hopefully shooting....While KES's role still seems rather undefined, our PG play
otherwise (without Hill) would project to be a little mechanical...
2) Rachal and Ugboh being far enough along to gain full rotational status....Their
rebounding/defense will be a key to any team improvement...
3) KES's waiver status.....Assuming he;s healthy (didn't he have foot surgery this
summer for an injury similar to KJ's back in the day?), he could be an important
addition......
4) Haith identifying his best 8 players, so that a saner substitution pattern can be
developed.....We need to win all of the winnable games pre-conference..If it comes
down to a possible at-large bid....This has not been his forte in the past.
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Was not a foot issue. Old stress tibia fracture that had treatment at ARky but never totally healed. Had repeat surgery and doing well I heard. We need this guys waiver.
I hope we’re all underestimating the contribution of Reggie Jones. If he plays the 2 spot, which I’m thinking he will, a 6’6” guard who can knock down the 3 will be a tough matchup for most teams we play. I have no idea what his defense is like. It will be interesting to see us playing mostly man D.
@ctt8410 how about a chart of the classes? We were all worried about having so many players in one class and some were saying it would work itself out and with the offseason changes it’s looking like it is starting to.
@ctt8410 how about a chart of the classes? We were all worried about having so many players in one class and some were saying it would work itself out and with the offseason changes it’s looking like it is starting to.
Seniors:
Igbanu
Korita
Juniors:
Joiner
Jackson
Rachal
Haywood (probably in next year's class)
Jones
Ugboh
Horne
Sophomore:
KES
Freshmen:
Gendron
Hill
Earley
Does anyone know if Gendron is a walk on or if he took Simon Falokoun's open scholarship?
Igbanu
Korita
Juniors:
Joiner
Jackson
Rachal
Haywood (probably in next year's class)
Jones
Ugboh
Horne
Sophomore:
KES
Freshmen:
Gendron
Hill
Earley
Does anyone know if Gendron is a walk on or if he took Simon Falokoun's open scholarship?
Yeah but dude this year we are going to be sooooo good!!!!11
(I usually do the same thing.). This year I just want to have fun, not lose any against bottom dwellers, and pull a couple upsets. Really I think that can be achieved simply by Haith finding an 8-9 man rotation early in the season but I won’t hold my breath for that to happen.
I am, however, interested to see the man-to-man Wainwright is implementing, I’ve heard good things about it.
Haith will play our best players less than 30 min per game and it will cost us 3-4 games. Same story every year
I think my favorite non-sports talk specific part of ITS is when you and TUpats “argue” but it’s in the friendliest way imaginable.
hahaha Tupats is a good guy. We’re fraternity bothers, but I have to keep him in line sometimes.
We may know of each other. I'm a few years younger than Tupats. He and I have mutual friends but don't actually know each other.
I think you left off Christopoulos. I suspect he could also be a candidate for the scholarship.
I didn’t leave him off. I was just trying to do scholarship players and I’m 95% sure he’s not one.
You included Gendron who definitely is not one
Not sure on that. Gendron was only added after we found out about the departure of Simon Falokoun. Also, Gendron wouldn't get a full scholarship as his dad ins't employed by the school. I think the relation scholarship is only a couple grand. Seems to me like he might have been added to scholarship after Falokoun left and it was why I asked about it after I posted the list.
Someone might get Falokun’s scholarship this year but the coaches are looking for 3 additions for next year.
And when it's all over with(spring signing) it will probably be 4 or 5. One or two players won't be back, whether it's injury, their decision, or Haith's. We have averaged about 2 players a year that don't return in Haith's tenure.
