Tennessee needs a big more than we do. I’m actually a little surprised we beat them out for him. Ibe probably isn’t starting at any P4 school but Tennessee literally doesn’t have a Center (and really 1-2 post players on their entire roster) so the path to a bigger role was much clearer there than here.
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Ugly game all around. Ibe is definitely a “project” recruit. Upside is massive, that’s obvious, but it would be naive to think he’s plugging into Ugo’s role. Now we may not need him to since odds are Johann’s is going to more than last year, so hopefully Ibe isn’t asked to do too much year one. Catch the ball and dunk it, and set screens on offense, defend the rim and rebound on defense. Anything more is gravy.
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Ruben from Loyola is their 6’10 5. Ibe would have been his backup. The thought was 8-10mpg from him. Uva needs him more but don’t know if he’s ready for that.
Drew
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I’m wondering if the plan is to also have TDR or Barksdale play some backup 5 in a 4 guard lineup. For example, Grünloh played 21 MPG last year. If he can get that up to 25-28, you need 12-15 minutes of backup. 15 of true freshman Ibe seems tough but 5-8 of Ibe and 7-10 of TDR while Barksdale plays PF or 4-guard lineup might work.
Even if those might work, and even if I’m psyched about Ibe, I am surprised we didn’t go and add one non project big even if their ceiling is limited.
I’m sure we could but it’ll be a ding. You’d like to have the flexibility to play that if it’s a plus, rather than it being a requirement, where it could be a negative.
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I could see times where having Silas and TDR on the floor together would be just fine too… and then when TDR comes off the floor - could have Silas and JG together…. Or have wing army with EG, Dixon, Sam, and Chance and Grünloh on the floor together for stretches
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Rubin is okay but he’s 6’10 220 lbs and was a fairly average big in the A10. He’s not Grünloh (obviously). Very different situations imo.
Feel like this hinges entirely on how ready Silas is. I think he’ll be ready for spot minutes regardless, but if he can give us more, then yeah we can play around with the lineups a bit. He’s not a center but he’s a pretty legit 6’9 so it’s not crazy to think he could slide to the 5 in some matchups.
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Yea if we need 80 big minutes
TDR - 30
Grünloh - 25
Barksdale - 15
Ibe - 10
Feels risky unless we are really confident in the two freshmen. I’d really think we are adding another big but we’ll see.
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I think he can play as much center as Maliq Brown
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And there will be some games where TDR and Grünloh play closer to 20 each because of foul trouble.
I do think 5-10 of those 80 minutes could come through doing a 5 out, 4 guard lineup. Basically run Chance, Eli, Harmon, Sam, TDR. So we could pencil in one of the wings for spot minutes at the 4. The 4 guard lineup was pretty good against Tennessee in the tournament but unclear how it would fair over a season
Yes I haven’t seen it mentioned much but Johann is absolutely going to have to learn how to play without fouling… he so often picked up early fouls last year -
Pump fakes were his nemesis… maybe Ugo can teach him?
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Lang started 7 games and played in 24 as a freshman for Vandy in 23-24. I know that was a terrible team and the end of the Stackhouse era, but is he capable of giving us 5 replacement level MPG next season?
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Yes 5-10 min
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My biggest memory of the four guard lineup was the UNC game where we got blasted when TDR came out and Lewis had to play the 4, but it would probably work fine against certain teams
Or…he has to either learn to play with fouls or without Ugo waiting in the wings. His foul rate (per minute) was not terrible but whenever he got two fouls Ugo would pretty much play the rest of the game. Johann never fouled out, but he also didn’t play a lot while in foul trouble.
It’s equally possible that coaches asked Johann to be aggressive early knowing that Ugo could fill in if he got a couple quick ones. So, like “set the tone that noone’s coming in here without being contested, and if you get into foul trouble that’s fine we can put Ugo in”.
So we don’t really know how he will play (or how he will be coached to play) with no Ugo.
Secretly they told Johann to be super aggressive so they could play Ugo more?
Brilliant tactics!!!
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He does move well but needs a full season in the weight room- Ibe is a classic Tony Bennett redshirt big. Kadin Shedrick, Jay Huff were more developed out of HS than Ibe. He ill struggle against Power 5 ACC level bigs.
I’d disagree with that assessment re: Huff and Shedrick. The goofy gawky lanky quotient for both was off the charts.
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I mean,
Shederick was ranked 50 spots higher coming out of high school and he redshirted.
Huff was ranked 100 spots higher coming out of high school and he redshirted.
I think it would be a pretty big ask for him to play real minutes day one, but we shall see.