Bear8995 said:
Foreman had a ROUGH game. I would not start him. Bring him off the bench. If he is hot, he plays. If he is not, he comes out right away. I love the energy he brought to the past 2 games but tonight he was off and never got on. He is also a liability defensively.
Hyder should get very limited minutes or not play at all Not a P5 player. I would politely ask him to move on so we could use the scholarship. Same with Klonaras. I'd use one of these scholarships on a point guard.
Thiemann had a good game for him. That said, he shouldn't play more than 5-10 minutes a game. His hands haven't improved that much and he can't shoot free throws.
Alajiki needs to play more. Period. I would start him.
We go as Grant goes. He was intimidated tonight. He will struggle against more athletic teams.
Kelly also will struggle against more athletic/long teams.But he is the best we got so we have to roll with him.
I could see Shepherd being really effective as a #2 or #3 scorer on the team. Problem is that we are asking him to be a #1 scorer. He is not consistent or good enough to do that. If we still had Bradley, I could see Shepherd doing well. He is not a good defender.
Brown had a forgettable game. WAY too many turnovers. Really wish he would develop the ability to finish around the hoop because he is quick enough to get there. A nice floater and the ability to score from around 10 feet and he would be nearly unstoppable.
KK is basically the same player as Alajiki but Alajiki has more upside in my opinion and he plays better defense. KK is still very raw after 3 years in the program. I'm not seeing much more upside with him.
Celestine could be good once he is fully healthy.
My rotation would be:
Brown
Shepherd
Alajiki
Anticevich
Kelly
Hyder to spell Brown (until we get another point guard - 5 minutes or use Shepherd to play point when Brown needs a blow)
Celestine and Foreman to spell Alajiki and Shepherd
Thiemann to spell Grant and Kelly for 5-10 minutes/game
I'd play KK to spell Grant and Kelly and go with 1 big during that time.
Bottom line is that we need to recruit some scorers. We don't have many. So we have a chance if the game in the 60s but any higher and our chances of winning go down big time. We basically need 3-4 guys to score 10-ish points (plus contributions from others) to win as we don't have 1-2 guys who will regularly put up 15-20.
Next year is going to be rough offensively when Grant, Shepherd, Foreman and I assume Kelly leave. That is much our scoring walking out the door. Bowser and Roberson don't strike me as consistent scorers that can carry a team. The freshmen who signed don't strike me as scorers who can carry a team either. I really don't understand the strategy of recruiting a team of guys who can't shoot/score but that is what we have.
As a team, we don't defend the 3 well and we for some reason like running into screens (with no hedge) instead of going under or over. I believe that is because we aren't athletic enough to recover.
Also pretty obvoius we don't practice fast so when the other team forces us to play faster, we freak out and turn the ball over. I don't suggest playing fast as the only way we will win is to grind it out with teams and slow them down, but we have to learn to deal with pressure better than we do.
I too am very confused about roster construction and the type of player/team fox is trying to build.
We obviously have recruiting limitations. We just aren't going to be able to consistently pull the 4-5 recruits we used to in the 90's and 00's. So in my opinion, you can either go one of two ways. Recruit raw athletic guys, hope to develop them and then run and play pressure D like Florida. Or you recruit high IQ guys who can just shoot the lights out. And you would build the team like a mid major would.
But fox just has a whole hodge podge of dudes that clearly don't fit together. Thus the team has zero identity. It seems like fox is trying to recruit more raw prospects with upside, but once they develop, is he going to start running and gunning? Highly doubt it.
If the warriors have shown anything this year, it obviously helps to have talent. But roster construction is key. You need to have players who complement each other. We clearly don't have that. And what are we in? Year 3? How long is it supposed to take?