I recall it vividly. Papi was going to start his first year. He was going to the NBA. Several people were ooing and awing because of his work in international play. None of it here, but elsewhere.
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Yeah, I believe there was an international tournament before his FR year where he more than held his own against Bacot and 1-2 other highly rated US bigs that got the hype train rolling.
While I didn’t jump on that right away, I did think Tobey could be an early entry candidate after his FR season. He just never got a lot better until towards the end of his SR season. He didn’t have a bad career here, but never felt like he fully hit his potential.
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Sure, but every fan base has fans that don’t pay any attention and offer up wild hot takes.
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I will say this about Papi do we have any idea how good he would be by now if he had stayed fully healthy for five years?
Of course is there ever a seven footer who can stay healthy for four straight years?
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No one ever said Papi was going to be a one and done I don’t care how vividly you remember it. And I remember that he played very well in that international tournament, specifically against the US
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I also remember Papi playing really well in that FIBA thing, and I remember Roy sitting courtside (to watch Bacot and Cole Anthony) and raving about him, too. So I remember the optimism, for sure, but I don’t remember any OAD chatter.** I mean, people get excited and optimistic, so I don’t doubt there were folks throwing out some takes, but if that happened, I think that was an extreme opinion.
As it pertains to Elijah, I am one of those who is wildly optimistic, but I don’t think OAD is in the cards. Even an incredibly wildly optimistic comparable player like Jaden Ivey needed a first year to get his feet wet. And the second to really shine.
** Another thought – even by that FIBA tournament, I think the NBA was mostly moving away from Papi-type bigs. And it was clear by then he was definitely, an old school, paint bound big. Tbh, the most optimistic take seemed more like “better Jack Salt” or “Jack Salt with some offensive moves.” Compare to Elijah, who has the type of athleticism that would allow him to thrive in the NBA, but skills are still a question mark. Not to mention recovery.
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We’re going to have to agree to disagree.
I definitely remember getting psyched about Papi. There was one offseason when Papi and Stattmann were playing in international tournaments, and I streamed some of those games. Papi was raw but you could see the potential. Kody on the other hand looked absolutely brutal. I remember being shocked he was on scholarship
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Yeah. I remember the tournament Kody played in Crete or something? I remember being excited to see what he could do so I streamed some highlights or whatever was available and checked out the box scores every game. I think he hit like 24% of his 3s for the tournament and I remember thinking “That’s not great”.
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The highlights probably didn’t show the 3 misses for every made 3.
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And of course Papi looked arguably worse than Kody in his subsequent international play. Will always be a mystery what got into Caffaro for a week or two and why it never showed up again
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Kody is much better when he can get out in transition and fill the lane. Not standing around shooting 3s or having to dribble
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Man, you are the ultimate‘Tony and the staff could never do any wrong/why aren’t you the coach?’ guy. It’s a message board and he’s sharing an opinion. PLENTY of folks disagree with our redshirting approach. It’s hardly a hot take. And sure, not many are thinking Gertrude is a one n done, but there are surprise one n done’s occasionally and with his level of athleticism it’s in the realm of possibilities.
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Fun trip. Got to listen in on some assistant coach talk and spent some time with Sodie.
Can’t find where I wrote up what I saw. I remember that Kody shot terribly, but I was encouraged that he was clearly Australia’s go-to guy, so the team thought quite highly of him.
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Pointing out that we are the *only team in D1 that is redshirting multiple 4-star players, including players of the year in their own states when doing so causes us to have a *low ceiling at the most important times of the year I don’t think is controversial or dramatic. We already are limited by the following:
- A uniquely lower possession offensive and defensive system
- We are not paying players like Miami in order to get them to join our team
- Are a religiously affiliated team (Not saying it’s a negative, but some recruits may not be in the same space)
- Whether we want to believe it or not we are playing in the 4/5/6th ranked power conference so good players will go to the SEC, BIG 12, BIG 10, BIG EAST, PAC 12 (California Love), and maybe the MWC before the ACC- based on power rankings.
- We have a pillar system in which we are looking for specific types of players (Again not a negative, but not everyone fits into this group.
- We are NOT getting 5 stars or are replenishing our roster with serviceable 4-5 stars yearly (2017-2022 classes say hi).
In other words we are threading a VERY small needle so when we are able to land players that fit this above mold, we now want to delay them getting on the court? Imagine how Bond could have helped us defensively against the Pitt, Miami and dook guards this year? Imagine when BVP went out if we had Traudt come in to hit 1-2 threes and spread the floor for us over the past few weeks? Or when Kadin was in his funk if Traudt would have gotten the playing time that he or Papi had?
This was our MOST seasoned team in a LONG time and yet we KNEW from the beginning of the season that the ceiling was lowered and there wasn’t alot of flexibility if Armaan and Jayden were off. We now probably have to wait another 2-3 years to have another decent shot at making noise in the tournament, UNLESS we pick up some major pieces this year.
To summarize: We basically lost a GREAT opportunity to make even a little noise in the NCAA tournament because we didn’t utilize all of our weapons…and by the way you can believe other teams are pointing out the fact that we are redshirting our highly recruited players so we may have just made that a bit more difficult for us in the future as well. TB’s decisions don’t just happen in a vacuum.
But you can play Hear No Evil, See No Evil game if you want and act like we don’t have to make *any changes.
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Yes so the goal is to get them out on the court in order to play a game sooner than later. It seems like we are “hiding” players so that they can stay for 5 years, which in some arguments can seem a bit selfish…
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Don’t think this is true. If Reece and Kadin come back we are contending next year. Book it.
And not kinda-sorta-on the periphery of the conversation like this year or 20/21. I mean a legitimate top 7-10 team. It’s either March 2012 or March 2017 right now depending on what Reece and Kadin do. If they come back we are contending next year (like 17/18). If they don’t we are contending the following year (like 12/13 into 13/14).
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I agree. We have a load of talent and, if Reece, Kadin, and Armaan come back, experience. We’re a top 5 team next season if this happens. If Kadin drops, I think we’re still a dang good team, it it’ll be interesting to see who we get in the portal to fill his role. If Armaan leaves, that’ll be an interesting scenario. Tony almost certainly brings in a transfer to try to replace him.
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As long as Reece and Traudt return I’m going to be as excited for next season as I’ve been in a long time. Let the kids play! And get a solid rim protecting big with some touch around the basket for good measure
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