Cranked out 1800 words on next year’s team:
What are you must excited about for next season and what is your biggest concern?
Also, planning to start a ‘19-‘20 season in review series for individual players. Any thoughts on who I should start with?
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Kadin will second on the team in blocks behind Huff and take on Mamadi’s defensive role. McCoy will be in that versatile defender role against 6-4 to 6-8 wings that most teams seem to have now. The challenge next year will our best defensive team will be different players than our best offensive team. Huff and Clark are probably only players on roster in top 5 of both categories. If Morsell finds his shot he jumps into that category as well.
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Yes, it is gonna be very interesting to see how all of this plays out. The new guys are going to have to learn the packline. No easy job and although they are great scorers you have to play defense to get any meaningful minutes. I do expect Reese will have a job backing up Kehei. Mccorkle is a great shooter but its gonna be Jabri who will be hard to keep on the bench. Especially if he picks up the defense.
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It’ll be harder on freshmen next year without summer to get acclimated. Even more so for Jabri and McCorkle since they won’t have played competitively in a while. One thing about Jabri that I’m not sure most fans realize is he’s very comfortable initiating the offense. His game is closer to a Brogdon than a traditional wing. You might even see him essentially operate as the point guard at times. Pair him with Morsell to defend the 1, and it’s another way of giving Clark a break.
Probably won’t happen but the ideal graduate transfer they’d be interested in is basically a Badocchi replacement, or what they hoped he’d be as an upperclassman. That Mitchell/Wilkins type of 4 man. I think that’s what they feel like is the missing ingredient.
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The lack of summer school will have a really interesting affect on cbb next year. I’d figure it could give teams that aren’t relying so heavily on freshman a bit of an advantage, at least early on. Then again, teams like Duke, Kentucky, etc. are bringing in freshman who are already ready to contribute out of the gate.
Regarding the grad transfer 4 man, I figured that’d be the role they’d look to fill, but are you presuming they want to play Hauser at the 3 and bring somebody in to start at the 4, or that they don’t have faith in McKoy to fill those minutes off the bench when Hauser goes out?
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Just based on stuff I’ve heard, the Wilkins type is what they’d want. I wouldn’t try to tie it into other players. Bennett has his model, and an upperclassman guy like that is part of it.
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Getting a fifth year to come in, play defense and not shoot is a tough sell.
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Jabri remind me of Sylven Landesberg with a better jumpshot.
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With all the uncertainty with our returning perimeter. I would be very disappointed if we didnt bring in a Seth Towns type of grad. Someone who can is a three than can occasionally slide down tu the four. But he have tu be a good shooter also. Nobody on our perimeter was consistant and I think having a proven college scorer will make us a final four or bust team.
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Great comparison.
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Which announced transfers fit this bill?
I hope we get another shooter. We need scorers. I love Wilkins but we need players that can score. We are hoping Casey, Tomas and kihei be more consistant. But what if last yr repeats itself? Why bring in another player that cant score. We messed up last yr by not bringing in a grad pg. We all knew that was a necessity. I hope we won’t mess up again. Why cant Justin be that player your talking about. We need proven scorers.
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I agree. Murphy is the perfect transfer fit but he would have to sit out. Idk what the next best option is
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Huff, Clark, and Hauser are proven scorers. Beekman and Jabri are creators with the ball in their hands. McCorkle is the next Joe Harris underrated diamond in the rough. Great shooter. Thomas is streaky but made progress during the season. Shedrick has good tools on offense as well. Lots of new parts but with so many options we don’t need them all to pan out to be really good next year.
Everybody trips named are inconsistent except Hauser. Going by our history. Our transfers take a minute or tu before they settle in. But I do think Hauser will have a great impact. Huff is just not trust worthy yet. We thought he was going tu blow up last yr and he didnt. So im a little hesitant with Huff having a leading role and being a everynite scorer. Our fr having played all yr and going by history. When have a TB freshman come in and played like veterans or our go tu guys. I warn people when they were calling Casey the next Malcalm and how he was going tu play a big role for us. Now I never expected him tu be this bad but I knew our fr need time tu adjust. Everybody think playing our defense is hard. The scheme is not hard. Playing that hard all game is hard. Its hard for fr players tu be continuous in our defense all game. Than come down and have your legs on offense. Thats why we have droughts. Its hard playing our type of defense all game and have your legs on offense. Especially the way we run around screen after screen on offense. Players be tired. Thats why I applaud kihei. That kid took on alot and if course he was going tu have turnovers. Playing in our defense and offense all game will have Chris Paul turning the ball over. Its a very difficult task.
So I think we need one more proven scorer on the wing. Im hearing things also but its not for me tu say up here. I just hope TB know we need another player and hopefully its a combo forward that can score. Someone like Horne from Tulsa. LOL
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I agree with @TUGARD here. Finding a consistent contributor on the wing/backcourt is going to b key to the team’s success. I am far from sold on Huff being able to take the next step into the Hoonicorn that he’s been crowned as for the past four years. The outside shot is solid but they should not plan on relying on their 7 footer to be the spark from outside and he is still streaky. Kihei could become a more reliable scorer but that will be dependent on someone stepping up to be a reliable ball handler. It’s too much to ask Kihei to be the top on ball defender and initiate 90% of the offense and be a leading scorer. He’ll burn out.
I’m curious to see what Casey does in his offseason development. He was turning the corner as a reliable on-ball defender by the end of the season, and there were hints that his shot was arriving. I’m also curious about Caffaro in the middle. I really like his came with the physicality he brings and he showed the beginnings of some touch around the rim. I believe he fits more in the traditional CTB big man role than Huff, plus next year’s team is missing that intimidation factor on the inside.
As far as the first year’s I’ve seen some highlights and I read the great work done by @HoozGotNext but I’m not a recruiting guy and I go by what I see when they are in their new environment. So I know they all have potential to be contributors etc. But they are going to need some work.
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While I agree Hauser may be our only consistent scorer, I don’t think it matters. The 2nd,3rd, and 4th scorers might be different players each game. Ride the hot hands. In some ways it makes the team harder to defend. Who do you focus the defense on?
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I like that for sure. As long as you have someone you can go to in the clutch. Especially when you play a lot of close games. In the past. There can be multiple guys like that, that’s what made the the National Championship team so tough.
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Kehei’s shooting was definitely affected at times last year by all the minutes he was playing. Towards the end of the season Tony was giving him little breaks when he could and it made a difference. Next year either Reese and/or Jabri will give Kehei some rest. A fresh Kehei is gonna be a good shooter. I also expect that by the end of the year that Jabri and possibly Reese will be scoring threats. I dont believe its gonna be as bad as some think. If Jay could get stronger in his lower body he would become a big threat inside and out but that’s a big if. I still think we are gonna be fine
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I think a 28/30 minutes a game for Clark would allow him to be much more efficient both offensively and defensively. He would be at his best at crunch time late. Beekman is a really good player. Giving him 10/12 minutes a game based on the opponent would be a great way to break him in as a freshman.
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