Apparently it’s “crystal ball day” on 247. haha They’re all doing a bunch of picks, promotional idea.
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Actually like that idea. Make them make some guesses for once.
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Let’s beat the shit out of dook this weekend!
So here’s the mystery 5 star…
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If Mick Cronin can land a five star, Tony deserves one!
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Murray lead New Zealand with 14 points against Australia in their FIBA Asia Cup qualifier. 5 of 15 from the field and 2 of 5 from 3 in a 81-52 loss.
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Welcome to the family 🤝
— McDonald's All American Games (@McDAAG) February 23, 2021
Introducing the McDAAG Class of 2021. #WhereHypeMeetsLegacy pic.twitter.com/WsGMtGKNVv
Keels named to the McDonalds All America team
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Congratulations to He Who Shall Not Be Named (Will re-evaluate nickname if he’s in orange and blue this time next year)
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If there is one silver lining to this recent swoon, it’s that it definitely helps with Keels. The path to immediate playing time at the 2 spot is wide open right now and has never been clearer
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Or our pitch of development is hurt big time w Casey etc
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I think you can drop the etc. to be honest. Casey definitely hurts. But I’m not sure you can really ding CTB for not developing players in a Covid environment. And while I am aware that all programs have had the same situation, there are likely big differences in what each program allows their teams to do. If the basketball team is remotely similar to the football team, then we may have had one of the most restrictive in the country.
Edit: I think the Hall, Anderson, Jerome, and Brogdon examples are way more illustrative and convincing than what’s happened with JAR, for example
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I lean more towards this line of thought. Casey doesn’t help the development discussion, but I believe he’s the exception not the rule. As mentioned there are 3 guards and a wing in the NBA right now 2 of them lighting it up, who all did the 3/4 yr plan and developed nicely. Not every player that steps on the court at a D1 program is going to be an NBA talent. And deep down recruits and players know which guys have it and which ones don’t.
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Some players are ready to play day one and others aren’t. Casey may continue to develop. I’m rooting for him and hope he does. But he wasn’t ready to start game one, replacing KG and Ty, against Syracuse. Played because he had to, but that wasn’t the plan when he signed. I really think his struggles playing day one, probably the first time he has ever struggled, continue to mess with his head. He is sort of an outlier. Specifically related to Keels, if he does sign I imagine the plan would be for him to have significant playing time right away. The expectation would be different.
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Then the same could be said about Brandon Slater and Villanova. Like @BDragon said, “deep down recruits and players know which guys have it and which ones don’t.” I think Keels knows that and has seen what we have put into the NBA as mentioned above. (Same with NOVA) If Keels doesn’t pick UVA, It wont because he doesn’t believe in how we can develop him but rather a tougher path to PT/opportunity.
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Every program has examples of guys who develop and those who seemingly don’t. Anyone who thinks that Casey’s struggles are endemic of the program rather than one player is just believing what they want to believe.
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Agree with this completely. I think the one thing that gives me a little heartburn (but I’m generally too pessimistic) is just not seeing as many flashes from our young guys as we did with like Kyle and Ty their first year (when we were also hearing about Hunter being a beast in practice). I think Reece has shown some things and I really do think he’ll be great, but JAR and McCorkle have basically had no chance to show us anything, Shedrick had some good moments but hasn’t been able to stay healthy at all, and McKoy has been inconsistent although at least energetic. Might just be it being a weird year and it’ll all be fine, but in the past I felt I’d seen more from the young guys and I felt comfortable a few of them would end up as absolute ballers (even Wilkins his first year was disruptive and energetic as hell, and while slightly out of control, you could see his potential). Current crew feels a little more up in the air.
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Agreed. You have to wonder how Keels feels about the offensive struggles this year and what sort of support will be there for him next year. This team is going to be about as bare/unknown offensively as last year.
He has to believe in his ability to impact the offense and succeed in a role that Casey could not ( and Keels will have arguably less support).
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It’s definitely not time to press the panic button. Recruiting is not an exact science and even when you recruit 5 Start 1-n-done talent exclusively sometimes you miss or someone else emerges as the guy. JAR and McCorkle could very much be like Hunter in we don’t see them for a year and then they slowly build into something special. It’s easy to forget Dre only started 1 year. It feels like some things got knocked off with a few transfers coming in to plug some holes, some early exits creating holes and some guys becoming more than expected. Building a team and a program is a chemistry experiment and sometimes you don’t have or get all the correct parts.
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Any recruit seriously considering Virginia has to have already considered the offensive struggles I have to think. The last time the Hoos had a potent offense Keels was in 10th grade, and for what it’s worth, this year’s team is lightyears ahead of last year’s offense when he first started showing interest.
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It’s too late to do anything with JAR and McCorkle this year without basically giving up. I wonder too could either have come along sufficiently to make an impact, but I’m not in practice to see how they perform. We know that to see the floor, a player has to bring a minimum standard of defense. So I can only suppose that those guys were nowhere near ready compared to their teammates. in JAR’s last outing - I think it was 2 minutes vs FSU - he had a turnover, a missed shot, and allowed a 3-pointer on a poor closeout. So I’m not going to question the coaches. They’ll get a notecard, like everyone else, of the things they have to work on this summer.
I’m hopeful that Taine Murray can challenge for playing time. He has a good build, moves very well, an excellent shooting stroke, and seems able to put the ball on the floor to dribble drive. It’s a jump to NCAA/ACC competition, and I don’t know what to make of his experience in the pro league. I’m hopeful for something of a young Joe Harris, although that’s a tall order.
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