Honestly we have 12 players on the roster that would be playing at any other school, so it’s VERY tough to get that many people time. Now that we’ve redshirted Traudt and Bond, we are down to 10. We didn’t even play Papi yesterday and we whooped up.
To summarize- What we’ve seen so far- 1. Improved Armaan, 2. Stabilizing BVP, 3. Contributing McKneeley, 4. Defender/slasher Ryan Dunn. Basically we’ve added 4 “new” perimeter players to our team that have enhanced our team. And this is without Gardner or Kadin playing anywhere near as well as they did last year, and so we have a lot to look forawrd to.
Most surprising to me is TB saying it is always up to the players if they wanna redshirt. I never realised that.
I was as surprised as anyone to hear Traudt would be redshirting. When I hear it my instinct is that the coaches meet him and say “hey man you are redshirting”. Seems it was the other way around here so Traudt gets my full support. Maybe he thought “ok i can maybe get 5-10 minutes per game this year. Sometimes 0. Next year I am 15-25 minutes with 3 more years ahead”
His decision is gonna turn out a huge positive for him, I think
There really isn’t any such thing as a redshirt in NCAA terms. It’s determined at the end of the year. If a player hasn’t competed in any games that year, it doesn’t cost a year of eligibility. Every player has 5 years to compete in 4 (with the Covid exception currently in effect). So Traudt and Bond could decide at any time from now thru March to play in a game and use the year of eligibility.
Others have noted valid reasons that Traudt could have for wanting to redshirt - strength, healing an injury, adjusting to collegiate play with diabetes, academics, etc. But I wonder if he was on the fence about some of these issues and the angst of waiting around an entire game to see if maybe he’d get a minute or two maybe gave him a nudge. It’s got to be frustrating for a competitive athlete who has played whole games his entire career to now have to wait his turn for a scrap of time. Maybe he decided to commit to the redshirt approach knowing he’d get ample minutes next year. I also wonder if he was rethinking that at all after seeing McKneely and Dunn lead the team in scoring just after he decided to redshirt.
I was thinking this in regard to Bond. The fact that he’s “month to month” suggests to me he’s less comfortable with the redshirt. “I want to play if I can.” And since Dunn was considered a possible redshirt over the summer, and yet now is lighting it up, Bond may be thinking he’s been underestimated as well.
The month to month thing is kinda silly all things being equal (meaning unless injuries occur knock on wood none). The longer the season goes and the more clear rotations become the less chance Bond starts playing in say January, I think
Unless there is something else going on that I cant see
I’m not sure if Bennett will agree, but it’s pretty easy to see a path where we are a far better team with McKneely and Dunn getting a lot of minutes. And by extension, it’s not hard to imagine the same would be true for Bond and Traudt. They just have so many more tools than the older guys. They lack experience but there’s four months until March.
I’m sure Traudt had a very long convo with his parents about the decision. Had to be complete buy in. Waiting is hard. Improvement is slow. Championships last 4ever!
Traudt is by far the most skilled big we have had since Ralph. His high school competition was non-existent. I believe going up against Kadin and Papi opened his eyes about how strong he needs to be at this level. That plus the players ahead of him this year and it kind of makes sense. Im still very disappointed because i dont believe he will play 4 years. I really wanted to see him in action. Great Shooter
Lol it’s funny because I WISH we had either Isaac or Dunn join our team last year instead of having all four of our players this year and having to redshirt any of them. This year we have a glut of talent.
Yeah, the month at a time thing is a little weird to me. Skip November and you miss like half the cupcakes where you might reasonably expect to get minutes. The only explanation I can really come up with is maybe they really see some potential for him to guard on the wing and add meaningful value but maybe he hasn’t quite clicked yet on his responsibilities or positioning or something and they want to see if over that month of practice it clicks for him. Or maybe it’s just “look, you’re behind taine, there’s not much for you in the way of minutes until you beat him out.”
But it’s probably as simple as it’s something they said to make it sit better with him.
The thing that bothers me on the Traudt redshirt is that I think (or thought) we need him to be a big contributor next year. The only example of a guy really making a difference in the first year after the RS I can think of is Dre, and his RS was injury related, not body development related. Now I feel like IT is more on the Kadin track. I’m not counting on him until his second/third year on the floor. And that means we need a transfer at the 4 for next year and IT is scrapping for minutes vs RD and that transfer.
I generally support the use of the redshirt, but I don’t like it for guys who should play the next year. In that case, I think whatever game minutes you can get are important for developing into a contributor the following year.
I don’t think we’re done figuring out whether McKneely and Dunn will be difference makers in their first years, even without a redshirt year. If so, surely Bond and Traudt could. (Personally I think they could all be difference makers this year, given the chance.)
I get what you’re saying…Its one of those things that opposing coaches can recruit against and recruits/families may not get an opportunity to ask TB the question. So Buchanan and Gertrude already committed and have contacts and conversations with the program already, but what about the players we haven’t begun to recruit yet? They won’t know the whole situation and may dismiss us based on hearsay.