For those who said hello to me Tuesday night, it was great to see all of you again. Very few places I’d rather be, and you wouldn’t get stuff like this at the one I graduated from down the Hutch and across the Whitestone.
Anyway, here’s the first of at least two preview pieces, and there might be three depending on how much I can take from the Barr and Reaves audio. This one is all Tobin to start you off:
People who questioned our three point shooting, keep in mind that most of the work seemed to be on fast breaking, and attacking the rim, more than on half court stuff. Even so, it's something to keep an eye on.
After reading the posts by Jaden Daly and BEGaels, if TA decides to get out of coaching, it seems that he'd make a great salesman. You just want to buy whatever he's selling. At least that is how he comes across to me.
People who questioned our three point shooting, keep in mind that most of the work seemed to be on fast breaking, and attacking the rim, more than on half court stuff. Even so, it's something to keep an eye on.
After reading the posts by Jaden Daly and BEGaels, if TA decides to get out of coaching, it seems that he'd make a great salesman. You just want to buy whatever he's selling. At least that is how he comes across to me.
Did you listen to the podcast?
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
For those who said hello to me Tuesday night, it was great to see all of you again. Very few places I’d rather be, and you wouldn’t get stuff like this at the one I graduated from down the Hutch and across the Whitestone.
Anyway, here’s the first of at least two preview pieces, and there might be three depending on how much I can take from the Barr and Reaves audio. This one is all Tobin to start you off:
People who questioned our three point shooting, keep in mind that most of the work seemed to be on fast breaking, and attacking the rim, more than on half court stuff. Even so, it's something to keep an eye on.
After reading the posts by Jaden Daly and BEGaels, if TA decides to get out of coaching, it seems that he'd make a great salesman. You just want to buy whatever he's selling. At least that is how he comes across to me.
Did you listen to the podcast?
I did. The bad news: My hearing is bad.
The good news: I'm getting a hearing aid in September.
I may have missed some of his comments but I had a real hard time from 9-13, I remember hearing a little on each but basically it was only a brief mention.
Feel free to correct me if you heard differently , I’m sure Guy would have the most knowledge of Tobin’s compliments on each.
JB, a pretty good job. I have a feeling that he goes out of his way to mention the three most senior players near the top. Let's see what we hear as we get closer to November. I"m going to take your top three seniors out of the equation, and see what I read about of the rest. As of now Biggie is as close to #1 imo. And I'm still hoping for an exhibition game, so I can see for myself.
JB, I'm not ranking these guys, but they are the ones that caught my attention (warmups and practice) in a good way:
Frontcourt-Rupert, Moundi, Jungers and Patterson.
Backcourt-Njie, Menard, Wallace and Bundy.
And, I'm in no way disappointed in the other six players, I just didn't get a chance to follow them. This was a result of talking to people as they walked by. That's a problem I usually don't have sitting in the top row. Also, I often had to try to look around a photographer who was often standing right in front of me. If you get a chance check out Instagram, today, which has photos of the platers from Tuesday night. Best news, they all mentioned that was our FIRST open practice, inferring that there will be others. Fingers crossed.
So hard to do any of this, but that's what message boards are for! I said prior to the scrimmage that it's going to look like all 13 scholarship players could contribute and play a decent amount, but it's just not reality. At the end of the day we're not at practice every day and can't tell who blows their offensive/defensive assignments the most, who is most consistent in terms of bringing it the most/least, which guys may slip once classes fully start, which players tend to get banged up more often than others, etc.
At the end of the day I'm always going to lean toward the guys who have more experience, even though all of the frosh appear impactful. But, as we saw even just last year, 1-2 frosh will outplay 1-2 more experienced guys. Either way, I think barring a bunch of injuries we'll go 10 deep in a given game--but those 10 guys will vary based on the opponent/style of game. Expanding that point further, I think there are 7 guys who will end up being the "true regulars" and then the other 6 will get their minutes but not necessarily in every game. Now that I've said that, I59 is going to want me to name the 7. I can't do that because I haven't seen enough, but I will name 4 that I think are locks for that 7: Rupert, Moundi, Biggie and Dejour. My first instinct for the next 3 are Barr, Wallace and Njie, but I'm not comfortable calling any of those guys locks as regulars just yet.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
Guy, thanks. I will respond with an opinion and a question. And, I'll start with the question. You list seven guys and I would like to know if they are based upon more of what you saw on Tuesday or what you have heard or read about them? And if you say both do you mean 50/50?
My opinion has to do with your inclination to lean towards experience when evaluating players. In today's game that's a risk as you are aware, you also want to retain your players, and the amount of PT must also factor into that equation. And, I won't even mention what they are being paid/NIL. So does that change your thinking?
Guy, thanks. I will respond with an opinion and a question. And, I'll start with the question. You list seven guys and I would like to know if they are based upon more of what you saw on Tuesday or what you have heard or read about them? And if you say both do you mean 50/50?
My opinion has to do with your inclination to lean towards experience when evaluating players. In today's game that's a risk as you are aware, you also want to retain your players, and the amount of PT must also factor into that equation. And, I won't even mention what they are being paid/NIL. So does that change your thinking?
On day 1, I'll almost always opt for more experienced, proven talent. I'm putting very little into what I saw on Tuesday--it's just too small a sample size to put stock into.
As a coach, your job is to do what's best to win now, not necessarily plan for the future. Yes, as you put it, in today's game that's a risk, but in today's game it's important to win now, not next year. So, at least on day 1, I roll with experience. Now, like I said, we're not in the practices, and if, say, Jojo or Njie are killing it in practice every day, then yeah, Tobin's going to go with them too, but as part of the package, not in place of.
All in all, my guess is not even Tobin is sure what his actual rotations will look like--it's just too soon. If (when?) we get to see another open practice, Tobin will likely have a better feel, and then so will we.
Also don't forget my earlier point re matchups/style. The guys he rolls with the most vs Princeton may be very different than the guys he rolls with in game #2. Further, we have a LOT of games early on--NINE games from Nov 4 to Dec 1. Tobin's going to tinker with combinations and guys' minutes throughout that time, and then by January when we settle into MAAC play he'll likely have a rotation he'll be more comfortable with, as many MAAC teams play similar styles.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
After seeing this team and thinking about the upcoming season it seems the best chance this team has to be very good is to be one of the best defensive teams in the country. And then thinking about our history I don’t ever think we have been a team that won with defense, it’s pretty much always been offense. Possibly 98 was the best defensive team we had. I guess overall in college basketball you need to have a decent offense to win, so I think we would need to be exceptional defensively and at least better than average offensively in order to have a big year.
We do have the athletes to play good defense. And that athleticism also translates to being a good fast break team. But, I have no idea about our half court offense. All in all, we should be fun to watch.
