Offseason Takeaways (Blog)

Agreed they probably aren’t hearing from TB or the actual coaches on basketball stuff during the season. That’s probably kept to checking in on them as people. Based off what we’ve heard from past freshmen I bet they have already started doing Mike Curtis’s workouts. That could pay off big time for both of them. Just look at what it did for Traudt from the start of his senior year until now. Similar physical development would be huge for both Blake and Elijah given how much room their frames have to add muscle.

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I definitely have no idea whether our coaches keep track of the development of the signed players during their senior year. That might be a great question for a LRA JWilly show-- do the coaches watch any film on our signed players from their senior year to project their possible contribution next season? With the new transfer rules, I kind of think that might not be a bad idea as coaches plan for which transfers they want to go for in the spring.

This was a bit of a random thought I had, so I certainly don’t feel too strongly, but my basic point is that we will need to make roster decisions BEFORE we get Blake and Elijah on campus that will be better informed by how likely either of them are to contribute, and how they would contribute. So then the only question is whether the staff would like to have only the information they were able to glean from watching them during AAU (when, by the way, job #1 was to be seen, not figure out how to plug them into the program), or whether they would like the additional information they could get from their HS senior years. I don’t have a great sense of whether anyone on our staff would have a few extra hours to break down tape, so I can’t really weigh in on that.

I will readily admit that the amount of extra info they get could be minimal and the cost to get would be too high. I can make educated guesses on the former, but really don’t know much about the latter. (and honestly, I suspect you’re more likely to get usable info re: Elijah given what I assume to be the comp. that Blake plays against).

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I don’t know about during the season but I’d bet as soon as the season is over someone on staff is watching all of Blake and Elijah’s games. Doubt it is TB or one of the main assistants but someone on support staff probably is. Maybe Wilkins as the GA?

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Yeah, it’s a fair assumption, and I forget who said it (maybe @unknown) but it would be a good Q for J-Willy. The amount of film/info/etc. on players has really skyrocketed in the past several years, though it’s possible college staffs always had an understanding with HS teams about sharing tape.

My hypothesis is that things have changed for 2 main reasons: (1) amount of info/tape/data available, and (2) salience of having that info prior to arrival on campus. So would be interesting to know if we’ve adapted.

An unseen thing … these guys playing against the regular HS comp … allows them to work on stuff they’ve been practicing in games because they are usually better than the opponent … trying out new tricks is easier in those situations because there’s less pressure competitively.
A caveat would be being on a team like Traudt was that was so terrible he was triple teamed all game … but even then - he worked on his ball handling and deep 3 game some during the sr year.

I play competitive tennis - and I’m always more conservative against better comp … I tend to go for more low % shots when I know I have a good chance at making it up if I miss.

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Eli’s practice and game competition is real real. Example: last season they played teams like St Peters Prep here who had the Villanove commited guard. Lotta college players in their league

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I can watch a lot for sure

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Should have mentioned earlier that old school methods work, too: talk to HS coach, talk to trusted alumni who watch him play, read message boards to see what @haney has to say – could really stop there and just rely on that, tbh.

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These are the type games Eli’s been playing in so definitely high level high school

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Fresh, do you know if there are any preseason podcasts by LRA planned for this week? I can’t wait until next Monday to see the team in action and form my own opinion. I need you guys to tell me what to think before the season starts. Also, a show with JWilly would be good too,

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We are trying to get our preseason one done, yes. Will let you know if we do. Agree the JWilly show needs to get going as well

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