3star_recruit

There's still opportunities for freshmen that are 6'4 and over who are perceived as having upside. But sadly the era of the small snipers going to decent programs out of high school appears to be over. Those players are readily available as transfers after they've proven themselves.

I know we MBMs like to play the stat game when monitoring portal targets but it's more likely the players we get will be under the radar. Ryan Conwell and Jayson Kent didn't have impressive stats prior to transferring to Indiana State.

The A10 can be a multi-bid league. The issue is that the 2nd place team in the conference is rarely a team with a decent non-conference schedule. The only teams that realistically have a strong enough non-con to finish 2nd and secure an at-large are VCU, Dayton, Loyola, Davidson and SLU. We haven't even sniffed a 2nd place finish in over a decade. That's what we're hoping Coach Schertz can change.

If 2 of them are injured to start the season, we will have exactly the same issue with depth we had this year. We haven't had a healthy start to the season in about 4 years now.

I think the major difference between Pikaar and Kerr is that Kerr actually has a post game. There's a chance for him to jump over Pikarr and Warlick if he can pick up a few pounds before he gets to campus.

It's not just mid-majors that are being screwed by the committee. The Old Boy Network is alive and well.

We've had a Big Three before that didn't take us to the Dance: Ian, Tommie and Kevin. Had the same problem before. We weren't good enough in the bottom of the rotation. It's tough to win games when you're not getting much production from spots 6 and 7 on the roster. I understand that those spots were occupied by freshmen we picked up in the spring so I wasn't expecting much. McCottry's emergence was too late to help us secure a top 4 finish. But he did show enough for us to have confidence he can be at worse, our 6th man next season. Replacing the starting backcourt through the portal will be the hard part. I'm optimistic about the bench. I expect Warlick or a more physically developed Pikaar to be a key contributor. We'll need to shop for a backup point in the spring just in case Dotzler's medical recovery hits a snag.

If Anya could return to shooting over 50% from the line like he did prior to this season, he's one of the best power forwards in the league. He was leading the league in rebounding prior to his minutes being cut and his defense is above average.

It used to be coaches got 5 years. Now at the high major level you've got 3 years to get back to the dance. At the mid major level it's 4 years. No mid major program is going to get rid of their coach, for example, for being one of the last four teams out in year 3. You're too close to the goal and it's harder than ever for mid majors to make it into the dance.

Before he got sick Thames was averaging 14 ppg through the first four games. He averaged 14 against our two WCC opponents. He was on track to be a double figure scorer. I think his presence gives us an extra 3 wins. We've lost a lot of close games.

Great honor for Jimerson. He made a helluva push the last two weeks of the season to elevate his status and I'm glad to see him recognized. If Avila wasn't so inconsistent during that same period, he's on the first team instead of Bailey.

I've got no problem putting Goodwin at tier 2. If he had put up the same numbers in the Great Midwest or Conference USA there's an argument for him being in tier 1. Jordair did his thing in a better version of the A10 so I would put him at tier 2 also.

Otherworldly scorers trump great shooters who are okay all around players, IMO. Claggett was a great scorer -- he could create space to get his own shot. He was first team all-conference even before Waldman got to SLU, as a sophomore to boot. We've been MBMs long enough to know that I'm not going to dissuade you on this point. This is more for the benefit of posters who never saw Claggett play. If we're putting billiken Hall of famers on tiers then Bonner and Hughes are on tier one, Claggett and Justin love are on tier 2, and Yuri and Jimerson are on tier 3.