19 days until basketball starts and...

[commadore]

This board is dead as Queen Elizabeth. What's up? Any news? Any talk?
Or is it all Predators?

[Dsdore]

To me the question is how to replace Scotty Pippen, in terms of both scoring and primary ball handling. I believe Manjon will be adequate as a ball handler and distributor. So the big issue is making up the scoring, and I believe.the key to this may be Collin Smith. I expect Jordan and Myles will pick up some of the deficit, but we will still need a third reliable scorer. Unless Robbins can regain his old form, which I am not confident he will (although if he does I think we can be a tournament team), the scoring burden will fall to Collin. I believe he is talented enough to be the third scorer. If both Liam and Collin produce, it could be an exciting year.

[MrMemorial]

My prediction: finally... a fully healthy Tyrin Lawrence will breakthrough to be as originally advertised.

[Nashmann]

My prediction: finally... a fully healthy Tyrin Lawrence will breakthrough to be as originally advertised.

Unless he has developed a fairly consistent outside shot his scoring on the inside will be minimal I believe.

[UltimateVUFan]

My prediction: finally... a fully healthy Tyrin Lawrence will breakthrough to be as originally advertised.

Unless he has developed a fairly consistent outside shot his scoring on the inside will be minimal I believe.

Stack said in an interview last year that Lawrence was finally getting back to form from the injury and that he was possibly the team’s best downhill (i.e., driving) scorer, including SPj.
A torn ACL is a hell of an injury in terms of limiting explosiveness. Not only does it present physical limitations, but mental recovery is a part of the equation, too. Trusting the knee to handle hard cuts and drives takes time. Lawrence is now about 18+ months out from the initial ACL tear. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him take a significant leap this season (both literally and figuratively speaking).

[Hutch37]

Tyrin was coming on stronger towards the end of last year and I expect him to continue to improve. Losing a player like Pippen can help to eliminate the tendency to look to one player to get things going. For me it is all about CJS having his kind of team and I think we are starting to get close to having that. The strange thing about this year's team is having the questions center around the guard play as opposed to the interior. We are much tougher inside . I admit I am giving Robbins more homage than he may deserve after what we saw last year but I am hopeful that his injury prevented the conditioning to get him comfortable and confident in his role. Predictions are hard to do with the number of new faces but I really think that this is easily a bubble team and we will see a toughness that matches our coach.

[Jason94]

My prediction: finally... a fully healthy Tyrin Lawrence will breakthrough to be as originally advertised.

Unless he has developed a fairly consistent outside shot his scoring on the inside will be minimal I believe.

Stack said in an interview last year that Lawrence was finally getting back to form from the injury and that he was possibly the team’s best downhill (i.e., driving) scorer, including SPj.
A torn ACL is a hell of an injury in terms of limiting explosiveness. Not only does it present physical limitations, but mental recovery is a part of the equation, too. Trusting the knee to handle hard cuts and drives takes time. Lawrence is now about 18+ months out from the initial ACL tear. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him take a significant leap this season (both literally and figuratively speaking).

Lawrence has good size and athleticism and was out of position at the point guard last season. He did shoot 56% inside the arc last season which is good for a guard, but his overall efficiency was bad considering how seldom he shot and possessed the ball. Even if he could improve his three point shot to 30% and his FT shooting to 70% (which is still not good for a guard but much better than he did last season) he could be a decent option at the off guard. The news that Wright is being tried at the 2 means that we aren't relying completely on Lawrence, Thomas and Freshmen at this position. Lawrence could work out at 15-20 mpg. Thomas should be used sparingly IMO, and not when Manjon is playing at the point.

[dore74]

For me every new year in major college sports, especially with the portal playing such a prominent role, is really a tabula rasa. Losing Pippen and adding a ton of new faces makes this even more so for the basketball team this year.
I have a lot of respect for Coach Stackhouse and the staff and am optimistic that this could turn out to be an NCAA year...finally. But suspect that getting to an optimum level of game will take the squad some time as they get to better know each other on the court.
Hence, while he speculation is fun to read, I'm keeping my eye to reports about the (not so) secret scrimmages to get a better sense of where the team may be headed this year.

[commadore]

For me every new year in major college sports, especially with the portal playing such a prominent role, is really a tabula rasa. Losing Pippen and adding a ton of new faces makes this even more so for the basketball team this year.
I have a lot of respect for Coach Stackhouse and the staff and am optimistic that this could turn out to be an NCAA year...finally. But suspect that getting to an optimum level of game will take the squad some time as they get to better know each other on the court.
Hence, while he speculation is fun to read, I'm keeping my eye to reports about the (not so) secret scrimmages to get a better sense of where the team may be headed this year.

Don't forget the summer trip. That should have helped a ton to get them used to each other. So, they should be way ahead of where they would have been had they not gone on that trip.

[Ndorefin]

“Tabula rasa”….add another to the list of expressions rarely used in everyday conversation!