Coach314

Dietrich Richardson - PG, 6-7, 180 - Peoria, IL (Manual) - AAU: MidPro Academy - Twitter: @DietrichR_11
Offers: Saint Louis, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Arizona State, Indiana State, SIU-Carbondale, Bradley, Green Bay, Bryant.
Interest: VCU, Duquesne, Xavier, Purdue, Wisconsin, Iowa, LSU, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Boston College, Iowa State, Colorado State, Utah State, San Jose State, Brown, Drake, Northern Kentucky, Holy Cross.
Latest News: Richardson received an offer from SLU. He was previously recruited by Josh Schertz at Indiana State. (4/24/24)
Scouting Report: Richardson is a big, long lead guard with scoring and big-time playmaking ability. He gets where he wants on the floor, plays with great pace, and creates for his teammates. He has a developing jumper that he can hit off the dribble. He's a disruptive defender. He is the nephew of former Illinois player D.J. Richardson.
 

Our Town's Connor Turnbull transferring from Butler.  He was hurt most of this year. He could qualify for a red shirt season, giving him three years eligibility.
He showed offensive promise, but had difficulty defending in the Big East. In a very limited sample size, he hit 45% from the arc (14 of 31). 
https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/butler/2024/03/26/butler-bulldogs-basketball-sophomore-connor-turnbull-enters-transfer-portal-roster/73111671007/

My wife and I barely have associates degrees, 2 kids under 5, and we own 2 homes and are rehabbing a small property in the city to be an airbnb. The American dream is alive and well. Don't worry!!! You can do it.

Really hope Thames sticks around next season. 

It was a titanic effort but we still fell short.  Some observations:
If you haven't noticed, we have found our "identity" and that identity is also our offense, namely hero ball compliments of Sincere Parker.  I have long asked what CTF's offense is and these last two games have shown it: hero ball.  Find that one extraordinary talent and run it into the ground.  It started with Javon Bess.  Tremaine Isabell.  Jordan Goodwin.  Javonte Perkins.  Yuri Collins.  And now Sincere Parker.  It was also Marcus Smart.  Le'Bryan Nash.  And Phil Forte.  This is what CTF is.  
The injury bug excuse.  Again, it was solely Sincere Parker.  That broken foot took the hero out of hero ball.  Meadows doesn't matter.  Thames didn't matter.  Hughes didn't matter.  Sure, those injuries might have limited the rotation but the real injury was the loss of Parker.  Jimerson is not equipped to be 'the man.'  The kid works his arse off but he can't create his own shot.  Only Parker can.  I bought that but these last two games have revealed the CTF strategy beyond a shadow of a doubt.  
Turnovers killed us but again as Soderball has pointed out as have others our true weakness is evidenced by the fact that we have no point guard.  For all the Hughes love, he had seven turnovers.  Medley had four and Ezewiro three.  Compounding Ezewiro's bad game is the fact the Joeys had no interior presence whatsoever.  Yet Big Brad was nowhere to be found today.  Essankado didn't even play.  Klacek is useless.  Today would have been the best day to play matchup and leave Hargrove at the 5.  
Defense.  What defense?  First Parker then Thames down the stretch played matador defense.  Ezewiro's fifth foul was pure stupidity .... the man was in for a dunk/layup.  With four fouls, you basically concede that and live to fight another day.  Not Big Brad.  Right before Tim McCormack echoed my point I noted X. Brown could only go to his right.  Yet no one overplayed him and forced him left.  Parker could have dribbled out his defensive rebound with 28 seconds to go and us up one.  Instead he throws a dumb pass to the small point guard and we turn it over.  Four seconds after that .... FOUR SECONDS .... TJ loses Fleming for the dunk.  Parker makes the go ahead layup again but then fouls Brown.  Then despite calling a timeout right before that, Ford designs a play to get the ball into Parker to go the length of the court.  NOT LIKE EVERY FAN IN THE BUILDING KNEW THAT WAS COMING!  Three guys were on Parker but heros don't give it up, do they?  We shot 86% from the line and one would think that with 28 seconds left and the ball, we'd be smarter.  The Joeys will go for the steal and missing that, they would foul.  Likely a three-point lead with under 20 to go.  
The melted down just like their coach did.  Another win would have been nice yet immaterial as far as the season is going.  To come all that way and then lose it just hurts.  

He filled in admirably while they faced injuries early on.  Their offense revolves around their Big 3 creating offense in isolation.  Otherwise they run it through Nurkic.  Beal,  KD,  Booker,  Gordon,  Allen can all bring the ball up and initiate offense.  So when you're one of the "others" you have to be able to knock down shots when one of the stars kick it to you.  In my opinion if Good could have knocked down some shots to go along with his other attributes he might have stuck with the team.  He has what it takes but to secure a pg spot in the NBA is very hard.  They either go with experience or a young draft pick.

Dang it play Stef van Conklin as much as possible, same with the Serb Sniper. Jimer's 35 minutes a game are repeatedly going to waste anyway, plenty of minutes to go around.

It's not a question for me.  Roster construction is absolutely a weakness of Coach Ford.  If you don't have a fixed offensive scheme, then you at least need an offensive philosophy.  Ideally, how are we going to score?  What is plan B if our first option is taken away?  You can't just continue rolling the dice and fixing the gaps in the offseason.  You'll invariably find yourself in a situation where you're sacrificing defense to fix offensive problems.  

Let's say Coach Ford survives the season, fixes the defensive problems and we make the tournament next year.  What happens the next year after the seniors graduate?  Since there is no discernable offensive philosophy, then it's another 2-3 years of recruiting the best player available and hoping the pieces fit together.  What's to stop us from being right back here when the pieces don't fit?

Coach Ford is making his job a lot harder than it needs to be.  Just pick an offensive scheme and recruit accordingly.  Now that NIL allows teams to replace half their squad every year, coaches who can plug players into a scheme have a distinct advantage over coaches who don't.

Not in garage time, coach. Not in garbage time .

They could always just pay him. That would be a valid reason. Never underestimate a desperate coach.

LOL.  Or, a coach that kids want to go play for.

Verbal meme: Vegas Doesn’t Know performed by Matt Damon in Eurotrip.

From what I heard, he stopped playing basketball altogether.
He was a super hyped player coming into HS and his stock declined every year. Still, he could be playing somewhere now if he really wanted to play.

Jimmer get your head in the game!

The difference between pro sports and college sports is every year in college sports is free agency for a player.  You can save up for four years, win the initial bidding war to acquire a blue chip recruit, only to lose him in an even hotter bidding war the following year. 
The high majors are orchestrating a future where there will be fewer spots for mid majors in the big dance.  They will grab their fair share of all-conference players from the mid major ranks in free agency. 
This talent deficit will trigger a change in the kinds of high school players recruited, IMO.  We need to be able to stop people.  I believe you will see more Larry Hughes Jr level recruits in the future, who are above average offensively but are very good defensively.

Some value in the betting markets this evening. Last season Jordan had at least 1 steal in 70% of the games he played +10 minutes. 
DraftKings has Over .5 steals tonight at -120 currently. Wager 50, win 41.66. 

If you think he is playing over 10 minutes, odds are fairly high that he gets at least a steal.
Over 2.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds are -170 and -165 respectively. Also a good wager if you think he's playing 15-25 minutes this evening. But not as good money.  

Combination of lack of buzz, fan hangover from last year's disappointment and a terrible schedule.  They're going to need to string some wins together and show a fun and exciting brand of basketball to get the fans back in the house.

Suns waive Keon Johnson.  Roster down to 15 🥂🥳

Suns waive Keon Johnson.  Roster down to 15 🥂🥳

Suns waive Keon Johnson.  Roster down to 15 🥂🥳

Suns waive Keon Johnson.  Roster down to 15 🥂🥳

They can't have every player, though. From Duke to Stonehill, everyone has 13 scholarships. The "haves" will always find a way to have. The "have-nots" will always have a chance to get better because not every good player can be hoarded by a small number of programs. The balance of power hasn't shifted at all.

By the time they hire someone and they get up to speed Ez will be a PhD candidate. 

TJ at the 5 👀

I was just passing on info for those that would be tuning in strictly for J Good.  I know everyone in here aren't the biggest NBA fans lol.