Incoming recruits - updates (2017)

[Glorydays2013]

2 hours ago, Old guy said:

That is true Glorydays, a mediocre player in a really bad team can become a star. A very good player in a team full of starts may be pushed aside as mediocre. That is a very good observation.

Which is exactly why I am trying to be real and explain that if those can't put up numbers on this team now, enjoy the bench or another school in the future. 

[BillsBeliever!!!]

Ive been looking at all of the predictions for our lineup, and all of them soon much better than what we have now. 

I think with any of those lineups we are middle to top of the A10 next year, and tourney team the year after that.

[DoctorB]

it's fun trying to guess where the minutes will go, and it's great having highly rated recruits coming in.  But I also want to put a shout out for how drastically a kid can improve over the course of a few years.  Heck, JJ has improved substantially in just a few months!!  What excites me is seeing how this staff is working the players and getting them to take their game to another level.  Which of the recruits/transfers will buy in the most and do that?  Frankly it's hard to know;  and sometimes it's the least expected. 

Don't believe me?? Check out this story on Marcus Keane @ CMU:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/2/24/14573010/marcus-keene-scoring-central-michigan-records

[wgstl]

7 hours ago, BillsBeliever!!! said:

 

I think with any of those lineups we are middle to top of the A10 next year, and tourney team the year after that.

Drink more Kool-Aid, you're thirsty.

[Old guy]

1 hour ago, DoctorB said:

I also want to put a shout out for how drastically a kid can improve over the course of a few years.  Heck, JJ has improved substantially in just a few months!!  What excites me is seeing how this staff is working the players and getting them to take their game to another level.  Which of the recruits/transfers will buy in the most and do that?  Frankly it's hard to know;  and sometimes it's the least expected

Fully agree with you. 

[HoosierPal]

First question for next year, who is staying who is leaving from the current roster.  We all have 'short lists' but who had Bartley leaving last year?  Personally, I guessed Yarbrough and Jolley were gone, but not Bartley or Reynolds.   No, I'm not looking for your list of departing players, but just stating that until we know this first move with any subsequent roster additions, it is hard to guess how the pieces fit together for next season. 

One small piece of the puzzle will partially unfold Wednesday.  If Hines is NOT honored as a departing senior (which he is academically) to me that increases the odds he will walk on again next year.  Today's article in the PD indicated that Psimitis wants to return next year.  Ok, very small pieces to the puzzle, but pieces none the less.

[bauman]

22 hours ago, Major Majerus said:

Not sure which thread I should use but Welmer has a good stroke and I expect his fts to exceed 70% next year as he settles in. 

If Ford can't get Barry in for a ft clinic, maybe he can get a physics prof in after the season to illustrate how much bigger the target is when u increase in arc.

Maybe Travis doesn't need to look any further than his son's high school coach who is one of the best college free throw shooters of all time!

[3star_recruit]

2 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

First question for next year, who is staying who is leaving from the current roster.  We all have 'short lists' but who had Bartley leaving last year?  Personally, I guessed Yarbrough and Jolley were gone, but not Bartley or Reynolds.   No, I'm not looking for your list of departing players, but just stating that until we know this first move with any subsequent roster additions, it is hard to guess how the pieces fit together for next season. .

You can't pick the Nov 2017 starting lineup in Feb 2017 without seeing the players play together, that is correct.  Chemistry can be a strange thing.  The players that look the best on paper may not be ones who play best together.  But you can definitely get a handle on the weaknesses of your team 9 months ahead of time just by looking at the backgrounds of your players. 

If you have a bunch of average athletes who were average rebounders in high school (this year's team), rebounding is going to be a problem.  We knew that a year ago. If you have a bunch of guys who rely heavily on jump shots (this year's team), finishing inside is going to be a problem.  Again, we knew that a year ago.  If you have a bunch of guys who can't shoot free throws (next year), free throw shooting is going to be a problem.  But I have a confidence over the next few years that our free throw shooting can improve.  It's a lot harder to transform average rebounders and finishers into good ones.  Fortunately, those problems have been addressed just by bringing in better rebounders and finishers. 

[cheeseman]

2 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

First question for next year, who is staying who is leaving from the current roster.  We all have 'short lists' but who had Bartley leaving last year?  Personally, I guessed Yarbrough and Jolley were gone, but not Bartley or Reynolds.   No, I'm not looking for your list of departing players, but just stating that until we know this first move with any subsequent roster additions, it is hard to guess how the pieces fit together for next season. 

One small piece of the puzzle will partially unfold Wednesday.  If Hines is NOT honored as a departing senior (which he is academically) to me that increases the odds he will walk on again next year.  Today's article in the PD indicated that Psimitis wants to return next year.  Ok, very small pieces to the puzzle, but pieces none the less.

Hines and Psimitis role next year or not is immaterial.  Neither take up a schollie and you simply have them on the team as walkons who may or may not play.  The only players that count are those who are on a schollie.  If they all stay then our roster is set if one or more decide to move on then we have schollies available to give.

[willie]

1 hour ago, cheeseman said:

Hines and Psimitis role next year or not is immaterial.  Neither take up a schollie and you simply have them on the team as walkons who may or may not play.  The only players that count are those who are on a schollie.  If they all stay then our roster is set if one or more decide to move on then we have schollies available to give.

Agreed. 

[willie]

I know there is little to talk about this year but this board spends entirely too much time worrying about who is or might transfer. The core is set. 

[HoosierPal]

2 hours ago, cheeseman said:

Hines and Psimitis role next year or not is immaterial.  Neither take up a schollie and you simply have them on the team as walkons who may or may not play.  The only players that count are those who are on a schollie.  If they all stay then our roster is set if one or more decide to move on then we have schollies available to give.

Hines role last year and this year was immaterial also.  Then oops, injuries happened.  Never say never. 

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

Hines role last year and this year was immaterial also.  Then oops, injuries happened.  Never say never. 

I don't mean to be an a$$.  I really don't.  I  think Hines should win every possible team post season award for what he did as a walk on.  But, this stuff is crazy.  Everyone is immaterial when your team is ranked in the 290's.

[HoosierPal]

FT today are making the difference

[brianstl]

There was good Reggie.

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, brianstl said:

I don't mean to be an a$$.  I really don't.  I  think Hines should win every possible team post season award for what he did as a walk on.  But, this stuff is crazy.  Everyone is immaterial when your team is ranked in the 290's.

Nice winning buck today for the Walk On.  And did you note that FT's were the difference today, made and missed.

[3star_recruit]

I commend our guys for fighting through this maddening season. Hopefully Zeke gained some confidence by making plays at the end of the game. We've seen flashes of what he's capable of but he's yet to put it all together.

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

Nice winning buck today for the Walk On.  And did you note that FT's were the difference today, made and missed.

It was a fun game to win as a fan.  I am happy for Hines. 

I am extremely happy for Mike and Reggie.  They both had big plays down the stretch.  They didn't think they were signing up for the shiite show Crews created for them.   

That said, this was the ultimate definition of an immaterial win.  You don't go bragging about beating a depleted team that wasn't all that good at the start of the season when you still are headed to the PIG.

[HoosierPal]

42 minutes ago, brianstl said:

It was a fun game to win as a fan.  I am happy for Hines. 

I am extremely happy for Mike and Reggie.  They both had big plays down the stretch.  They didn't think they were signing up for the shiite show Crews created for them.   

That said, this was the ultimate definition of an immaterial win.  You don't go bragging about beating a depleted team that wasn't all that good at the start of the season when you still are headed to the PIG.

Why don't you tell Coach Ford this win was immaterial. I'm sure he will be interested in your comments. You can reach him @CoachTFord5. Let us know what he says. 

[cheeseman]

3 hours ago, brianstl said:

I don't mean to be an a$$.  I really don't.  I  think Hines should win every possible team post season award for what he did as a walk on.  But, this stuff is crazy.  Everyone is immaterial when your team is ranked in the 290's.

I agree and I believe my response to Hoosier dealt with the fact that if Hines or Psimitis really doesn't matter as far as how the roster will shape up.  Hoosier - I also do not think that we will go through all the guards on schollies next year either.  This year we had a limited number at that position that is why one injury caused the unusual happening of Hines having to take over by default.

[Pistol]

^Hasahn French highlights from CA's game at South Kent. Sure, maybe a couple "blocks" were goaltends, but who cares? Great stuff here - running the floor, handling the ball, finishing in all kinds of ways, including a couple nice dunks, and even a good looking 3 from the corner.

[NextYearBill]

booking my 2018 final four trip now

[TheChosenOne]

13 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Why don't you tell Coach Ford this win was immaterial. I'm sure he will be interested in your comments. You can reach him @CoachTFord5. Let us know what he says. 

I bet you wouldn't say that to his face! Such a classic message board response.

I think we are all happy to see this team (the players and coaches) collect a few wins in an overall terrible season (especially for the seniors Mike and Reggie), but it really doesn't matter. This team is even worse than the team a year ago that we all believed had to mark the end of the Crews era, so lets not sugarcoat just how bad this team is which is historically bad for this program.

The huge positive for fans is that reinforcements are already here sitting on the bench and coming to campus in a few months! The other big positive for me is seeing the improvement of Jalen and having a keeper in him, kid has clearly worked on his game and showing buy in.

[Old guy]

ChosenOne, I think the achievement of this team in winning games they were not expected to win is a big positive in and of itself. It shows a lot about Coach Ford and his staff in terms of their ability to coach and provide a sense of team spirit and cohesion to the team to the level that they have been able to win many more games than were expected to win. This board had some doubts about Coach Ford's ability to coach, I think we can cast aside some of those doubts based on the achievement of the current team this season. Yes, the team was far from having a winning year and we may wind up the season with less (or perhaps a few more) wins than Crew's team had last year. But who cares? This team under Ford's direction improved and has achieved a level of wins (so far) that went beyond expectation. This is a positive result for the year in my book. 

[CBFan]

1 hour ago, Pistol said:

^Hasahn French highlights from CA's game at South Kent. Sure, maybe a couple "blocks" were goaltends, but who cares? Great stuff here - running the floor, handling the ball, finishing in all kinds of ways, including a couple nice dunks, and even a good looking 3 from the corner.

I am really excited about French and I believe he has a chance to start next season.

Pistol you had some concerns about Jalen Johnson at the beginning of the season and I really respect your knowledge of players and I am wondering as the season comes to the end what your opinion is now.

The only thing I see with JJ is his shot looks kind of strange were it seems to release the ball from the middle of his body, I could be wrong about it but it looks different.