Lesson and response

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roanoke
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Lesson and response

Post by roanoke »

It is hard given injuries and the portal these days to field a full team this time of year. It leaves you shaking your head over missing Robbins, Stute, even Disu.

We have extraordinary guard talent. Both Manjon and Lawrence can drive on anyone. Basically the only teams that beat us the last two months of the season did the same thing. They stacked the middle and extended the front court d - focusing on taking away the drive. A&M did it with excellent defenders. UAB did it with waves of defenders and a 1-3-1 zone. It is easier for this to work when refs swallow their whistles and let our guards get roughed up.

Ironically this defense gives us open threes - but you have to hit them.

With Liam - opponents couldn’t pull this off. Without Liam, we had no front court scoring threat. And by frontcourt scoring threat I mean a big scoring in the paint - not launching 3s. We have some young guys - and very good frontcourt players. But the window for next year is immediate - while we still have the extraordinary guards… We need a front court scorer via the portal. Someone to punish the d when they spread up court to harass our guards. This is especially important when your three is also often undersized.

We missed a lot of shots from 2 feet last night.

The young guys need to step up their defense to get on the court. Still, the kind of season that has you excited for next season the next morning.


dore74
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Re: Lesson and response

Post by dore74 »

Adding to the shopping list, or the development list if he’s already on board, we could use a dead-eye three point shooter.
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Re: Lesson and response

Post by Hutch37 »

great analysis- really unfortunate that Dort was not healthy when Liam went down- he didn't seem the same when he played again so hopefully he just needs time to heal and plans to stick around. He will need to develop offensively and learn to play without fouling- QMB dramatically improved in that from when he started playing. It is kind of ironic that Dia played outside in HS and then CJS had him beef up and play inside this year. Can he rebound and play D well enough to be a small ball 5 or is he really a 4? We know Colin can hit the three but he is going to have to develop his drive to the basket and scoring in traffic- he certainly could see a similar path to improvement each year as Jordan Wright did. The question is do we have any roster spots to grab the right transfer ?
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Re: Lesson and response

Post by ymtn64 »

If it sounds like I've said this before, its probably true. I'm certain our Coaching Staff knows the details here way more than I ever will, so I am not questioning their decisions. The mention of is this dead-eye shooter on the team already question, immediately had me thinking about Noah Shelby. Best I can tell, his defense, ball handling, and sometimes shot selection have all been called into question for his Freshman season, and probably those were all fair critiques of his game. I do wish he had been provided more opportunity "in game" to develop, but this is only a fans perspective that never goes to practice. At one point last night, I leaned over to my brother and said "if we dont get someone hot from 3 quickly, we are in trouble" & then I said "I wish our Coaches felt they could depend on Shelby & see if he could come in and knock down 3 or 4 quick 3's". Before anyone else says it, if I had been the coach last night (everyone should be grateful I am not ha!), I probably would not of risked putting him in the game with so much on the line after him not playing in several games.

On a side note without knowing anything other than just a gut feeling, my brother mentioned when Dia came in the game so quickly instead of Dort last night that maybe this gives a hint that Shelby/Dort might be considering leaving. This is only speculation without any basis from a factual standpoint. His idea was that if Shelby isn't happy, maybe he and Dort have made a decision to remain together since they are obviously close. I REALLY REALLY hope this isn't true because I feel certain these two could be fantastic players and develop nicely at Vanderbilt(I just now saw someone else quoting Stack as saying Dort's foot kept him out last night, so glad all this is wrong speculation)
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Re: Lesson and response

Post by dunc77 »

Setting Stute aside (I understand his reasoning while not agreeing with it), do players who transfer because of playing time have no confidence in their own ability to improve? I seriously doubt that any coach would bench players who are better than ones they send in. There is always the problem of fitting into a system, but I'm talking about improving the skills that put you behind another player. Of course Stackhouse and his staff explain what needs to improve, and work with a player to shore up weak areas. But even if you're the last guy in the rotation,transferring to get playing time isn't going to magically correct weaknesses. To mangle a metaphor, you're just going to become a situational bigger fish by moving to a smaller, less skilled pond. It seems like an admission that you're satisfied with what seems to be your limits. Show the coaches some improvement, and you get to play more.
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Re: Lesson and response - and tea leaves

Post by roanoke »

I am sorry to see Dia in the portal - because he will be a Disu somewhere in three years.

But harkening back to the initial premise, this gives me hope that we are actively seeking a “win now” frontline in the portal.

Bottom line, Dia can shoot, score and run. He did not seem to love banging - which is what we happen to need. But he will be a future star somewhere.

Shelby is also in the portal. He too will score plenty somewhere. He really did not excel at defense. That can improve - but it kept him off the court here.

Basically Dort’s ceiling as a 5 was higher than Dia’s. If we are planning to bring in another big - I can understand Dia not wanting to be the #4 big next year.

Two talented departures - but a little room to make a run at impact transfers ourselves.
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Re: Lesson and response - and tea leaves

Post by OldDude »

roanoke wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 5:43 pm I am sorry to see Dia in the portal - because he will be a Disu somewhere in three years.

But harkening back to the initial premise, this gives me hope that we are actively seeking a “win now” frontline in the portal.

Bottom line, Dia can shoot, score and run. He did not seem to love banging - which is what we happen to need. But he will be a future star somewhere.

Shelby is also in the portal. He too will score plenty somewhere. He really did not excel at defense. That can improve - but it kept him off the court here.

Basically Dort’s ceiling as a 5 was higher than Dia’s. If we are planning to bring in another big - I can understand Dia not wanting to be the #4 big next year.

Two talented departures - but a little room to make a run at impact transfers ourselves.
The existence of the portal almost demands a "win now" approach. Developing players with a succesion plan over a 2 - 3 year period is a fool's game. The portal has changed the game (and athlete academics) very much for the worse.
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Re: Lesson and response

Post by Minoadoc »

absolutely agree ^^^. Sad to see guys leave, we are somewhat invested in them, and appreciative that they chose to play here. But this provides an opportunity to plug in two transfers who would supplement a solid nucleus. With the portal, every year is a win now opportunity. Get a grad transfer center with a more rounded game than QMB, and a grad transfer forward like Ledlum who has double-double potential, and we are looking at a team that could make a run in the tourney
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Re: Lesson and response

Post by OldDude »

Just a portal thought. Will this year be the beginning of the end for the current portal ? A whole lot of the "name teams" have gone home at the hands of the so called " little guys". These little guys have been made up of transfers from power programs - kids who got little playing time at the bigs, the same bigs whose second team players were starter talent for many schools. The KYs, Dukes, AZs, etc. not only recruited solid starters but stocked their bench with talented subs who were traditionaly there for at least 2 - 3 years. How long will the power coaches accept having their depth depleted , going 5 deep instead of 10 and seeing themselves be beaten in tournament by the kid who was a sixth man the year before ?
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Re: Lesson and response

Post by MrMemorial »

OldDude wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:20 am Just a portal thought. Will this year be the beginning of the end for the current portal ? A whole lot of the "name teams" have gone home at the hands of the so called " little guys". These little guys have been made up of transfers from power programs - kids who got little playing time at the bigs, the same bigs whose second team players were starter talent for many schools. The KYs, Dukes, AZs, etc. not only recruited solid starters but stocked their bench with talented subs who were traditionaly there for at least 2 - 3 years. How long will the power coaches accept having their depth depleted , going 5 deep instead of 10 and seeing themselves be beaten in tournament by the kid who was a sixth man the year before ?
The portal can swing both ways. Ohio lost Sears to Alabama and VerderPlas to Virginia at the same time. All-MAC players. They would have been as good as FAU possibly with those two, instead of 19 wins. But a mid-major can take the overlooked kids or grad transfers and have an outstanding season...the NIT has 3 of 4 finalists from mids.

The following teams had a huge number of wins this season:
FAU
Charleston
Oral Roberts
SDSU
North Texas
Kent St.
Furman
Utah Valley
VCU
UCSB
Toledo
Drake
Iona
Sam Houston
UMass-Lowell
USM
UAB
Kennesaw St.

and various others
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Re: Lesson and response

Post by dore74 »

I like the kids having as much freedom as the coaches and being able to transfer wherever and whenever they'd like. I don't like kids switching schools for playing time etc. and leaving their schooling aside as they chase PT etc. Very few of these kids can make a living playing ball and in the long run the short term freedom may not be worth while. Of course with the right support from their schools it might not be a problem, but how many of these schools really care. Wouldn't want to change back but don't like it nevertheless... I get the strong impression old VU does this in the right way and that is awesome.
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