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Men's Postseason chatter thread (Merged)


tigerbrotha12

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I was at the Troy game today. Don't see Troy getting the upset, but I really hope they do. Wesley Jr is a good player. I wonder if there's any way we could get him as a grad transfer. Don't know if he'd fit in our system or if he's even good enough though 

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See alot of blame being placed on Harper....we knew what we were getting with him. I gave an analysis of his game when everybody was talking about him when we signed. Mitchell is a different player but even if he does take over he will experience the same transitional bumps. That was my point of the prediction this year. We're upping our talent but we aren't signing the type of talent I think many of you hype up.

Are we playing in any type of end of year tournament? When everything is over I'm going to do a thread of my pre season predictions and what happened this season, and explain why things happened.

Oh and Alabama is going to be pretty good next year, I hope we're ready

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The thing about Harper is that BP really hyped him up, saying things like "Jared Harper is worth the price of admission." The only thing he seems to do well is hit a few deep threes and every once in a while make a nice drive and layup. He's not a bad player, but he underwhelmed more than any of the other freshmen imho. With his speed and quickness he can be really good, but he must realize we have other guys who shoot and score better than him. How nice would it be if he drove in and dished it to Bryce at the three point line or dumped it to Wiley or Mac. I like Harper but he has a ton of room to grow, as do the other guys 

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1 hour ago, cole256 said:

See alot of blame being placed on Harper....we knew what we were getting with him. I gave an analysis of his game when everybody was talking about him when we signed. Mitchell is a different player but even if he does take over he will experience the same transitional bumps. That was my point of the prediction this year. We're upping our talent but we aren't signing the type of talent I think many of you hype up.

Are we playing in any type of end of year tournament? When everything is over I'm going to do a thread of my pre season predictions and what happened this season, and explain why things happened.

Oh and Alabama is going to be pretty good next year, I hope we're ready

Woopee! 

In all seriousness, the talk of the one and half year and done was just flat out ridiculous. Man do we hype. 

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12 hours ago, au302 said:

The thing about Harper is that BP really hyped him up, saying things like "Jared Harper is worth the price of admission." The only thing he seems to do well is hit a few deep threes and every once in a while make a nice drive and layup. He's not a bad player, but he underwhelmed more than any of the other freshmen imho. With his speed and quickness he can be really good, but he must realize we have other guys who shoot and score better than him. How nice would it be if he drove in and dished it to Bryce at the three point line or dumped it to Wiley or Mac. I like Harper but he has a ton of room to grow, as do the other guys 

Good points but I want to see what Harper can become before writing him off (I know you aren't writing anyone off). He will be here for 4 years IMO and has lots of room to grow as you mentioned. To be named starting PG on a team as a true freshman is putting a ton on a young kids plate. You don't want a freshman QB starting and you don't want freshman PGs either IMO. Unless he gets steadier, which he probably (hopefully) will, his best role on a team is spark-plug/instant offense off the bench. But I'm not sure how we're going to operate from a ball handler standpoint because Davion Mitchell isn't very big either, I've seen him listed anywhere from 5'10 to 6'1. We are going to be undersized at that spot no matter what, but Davion looks like he might be more of a drive and kick threat but of course that's based on him playing against pimply high schoolers and not D1 defenses.

We can't have late season Harper be our most experienced ball handler though -- we probably need a grad transfer who can handle the rock even if it's not from the PG spot, but who knows maybe the light fully comes on for him over the summer.

 

I want to see Harper turn into the next UNC-level Ty Lawson!

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harper can only underwhelm based on the hype others place on him.  yes, he was a top 100 player, but only #93 overall and #23 PG.  There were games where he was absolutely sensationally ... and games he looked like a kid 9 months removed from his last high school game.  to me, he played exactly like realistic expectations should have been.  

i was most disappointed that we did not end up with one of the upperclassmen as a true leader.  unfortunately, that may still be our problem next year.  

our seniors and grad transfers will be gone.  lang and desean murray are the rising seniors.  i dont see lang as the leader (and i cant help but shake that he may not be around).  has murray gained leadership cred from the team during this season?  I dont think, partly and possibly unfairly, due to  their arrests that spencer/brown will emerge as team leaders.  that leaves the freshmen ... purifoy will be going into his 3rd year in the program.  if he can have a solid season, he is a natural to be a team leader.  is that his personality?  heron, harper, mclemore and wiley will be sophomores and underclassman are rarely leaders.  maybe they will be?  also rare would be an upperclassmen transfer that can be a true team leader, unless he has Cam Newton like charisma/talent.

so, unless murray and purifoy can lead this team ... we may have some "rudderless" performances next year.  I said it a few times this year.  We were bowers/tyler harris away from being really, really good this year.  not just cuz they could play the 4, but also because they were true leaders.

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Cole pretty much nailed it in his early season reviews. I disagreed with him on Purifoy as I thought he would do well at 4 Cole said he should be playing three. Cole was right and I have to give him credit on that one.

Harper played well at times after a couple of games he won with his scoring, I think he lost sight of the fact that he should be a facilitator first and a scorer second but he is in his 1st year. There is a balancing act there as there were times we needed his scoring when others were cold. Herron was even better than I expected I was most impressed by his consistency I would not have expected that from any freshman. Purifoy has talent I believe the ankle injury impacted him as much mentally as physically as his game changed he became a little more tentative on going to the hole. Wiley was pretty much what I expected big kid can score around the basket needs to get into college shape not HS shape solid player for as young as he was and will get a lot better during off season, McLemore was a pleasant surprise as he gets stronger he could be the player that does the dirty work that we were missing this year the hustle plays, pesky defender you love and other team hates, rebounder whatever it takes kind of job. Bryce Brown is our best all ball defender and has gotten his shot back. Spencer is going to have to learn the 4 position in addition to being the backup 5. 

PG will be the biggest possible issue next year Mitchell while talented and bigger than Harper will still be a freshman which is a learning curve hopefully during off season they work with Harper to make him more of a facilitator first scorer second. SG will be a strength with Purofoy Herron, Brown as options. SF will be a strength with Purofoy, Herron, Lang, and Okeke as options. PF will need Spencer to develop and McLemore if Spencer can't develop as a 4 this will be a weak area may still see Purifoy here and Okeke also, Center with year of experience and strength and conditioning program Wiley will be strong 5 with Spencer and McLemore as solid backups. I am hoping a years playing together, Off season strength and conditioning will help all the players especially on rebounding and team defense.

Last year I thought NIT was doable with outside shot at NCAA, next year I expect NIT with a little bit better shot at NCAA one key thing is one of these players will have to step up and be the leader it doesn't have to be the best player but a player the other players respect. There are three that I think could become the leader:

1. Herron because of his consistency.

2. Purifoy because it will be his third year and he has the talent that people will respect him.

3. McLemore if he can become that do the dirty work type player who will lead by example.   

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7 hours ago, mustache eagle said:

harper can only underwhelm based on the hype others place on him.  yes, he was a top 100 player, but only #93 overall and #23 PG.  There were games where he was absolutely sensationally ... and games he looked like a kid 9 months removed from his last high school game.  to me, he played exactly like realistic expectations should have been.  

i was most disappointed that we did not end up with one of the upperclassmen as a true leader.  unfortunately, that may still be our problem next year.  

our seniors and grad transfers will be gone.  lang and desean murray are the rising seniors.  i dont see lang as the leader (and i cant help but shake that he may not be around).  has murray gained leadership cred from the team during this season?  I dont think, partly and possibly unfairly, due to  their arrests that spencer/brown will emerge as team leaders.  that leaves the freshmen ... purifoy will be going into his 3rd year in the program.  if he can have a solid season, he is a natural to be a team leader.  is that his personality?  heron, harper, mclemore and wiley will be sophomores and underclassman are rarely leaders.  maybe they will be?  also rare would be an upperclassmen transfer that can be a true team leader, unless he has Cam Newton like charisma/talent.

so, unless murray and purifoy can lead this team ... we may have some "rudderless" performances next year.  I said it a few times this year.  We were bowers/tyler harris away from being really, really good this year.  not just cuz they could play the 4, but also because they were true leaders.

I feel we wasted a year with Purifoy though. It'd be his 3rd year but now if he moves back to 3 we wasted a year of his development. This year we pretty much turned him into a stand still 3 point shooter

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12 hours ago, cole256 said:

You are heading it here first if we play okeke at 4 we're wasting talent again

I learned from you last year and I agree with you about Okeke aand Purifoy at 4. However  we have limited options at 4. Ideally it is Spencer and McLemore but if Spencer or McLemore  doesn't work out there others will have to play 4 that leaves Purifoy and Okeke. We just don't have anybody on our roster that is what you would call an ideal 4 we have a ton of SG/SF type players. Spencer has the size it really is a question if he can develop the game to play 4. I am less worried about McLemore this year he actually played pretty good defense at the 4 by cheating a little using his quickness to keep the ball away and by using his jump to keep the ball away from bigger 4's when he fronted them.

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Ok, so it's not ideal for purifoy and okeke ... spencer was serviceable at times.  to me, starting in Hawaii, he showed some offense away from the paint here and there that give me offensive hope.  I think he is fine defensively.  But he has got to expand his offensive game to play 4.  

Mclemore's athleticism and drive will suit him, no matter where in the court.  He is a very likeable player.  He was great within 5 feet of the basket.  Can he play 5-10' from the basket on offense?

i can't help but think we have a grad transfer coming at the 4.  That European kid would do nicely to split minutes with spencer.  

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13 hours ago, cole256 said:

You are heading it here first if we play okeke at 4 we're wasting talent again

You thinking Murray, Mac and Spencer at the 4?

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57 minutes ago, boomstick said:

You thinking Murray, Mac and Spencer at the 4?

 Some might call it wasting talent , but the coach has to do the best he can with material he has.  We don't always have the ideal player for each position but BP still has to put a team on the floor . I'm not sure what other options he has . ... He probably recruits for his weaknesses but eventually has to play whoever he can sign . 

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I'm with Cole here, We are gonna be hurting big time if we are playing Murray and Okeke at the 4 due to size at the very least. Okeke is listed as a PF but only 6'7 which is probably exaggerating his height a little bit which is to be expected. Does Chuma have a perimeter skill-set at all or is he more of a natural fit to be an interior player? I'll be surprised if Murray plays anything BUT the 4 due to his supposed skill set, but his size leaves much to be desired. From what I gather on here he is a big man stuck in a SG/SF's body. You don't want too many of those kinds of guys and we may be loading up on that exact type of player it looks like. Between McLemore, Okeke, Murray our entire 4-man unit is undersized. McLemore plays bigger than he is and is a great low post defender (I love how he jumps straight up against taller defenders, avoiding contact/fouls), so maybe Chuma and Murray can both play taller than their heights but it's not ideal to be in this situation. Rebounding may still be our undoing. 

 

We probably have north of 20 wins and a lock for the NIT if we don't give up so many damn second chance points this season. Even with how poorly we were defensively we actually got enough stops to put us in position to win many of the games we lost but we let our opposition have 2 or 3 cracks at getting a bucket in one possession at times.

 

We need a guy who is good at ball handling and a guy who is at least 6'9 in the grad transfer market (if there are any) IMO. Easier said than done though, I know.

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3 hours ago, AU64 said:

 Some might call it wasting talent , but the coach has to do the best he can with material he has.  We don't always have the ideal player for each position but BP still has to put a team on the floor . I'm not sure what other options he has . ... He probably recruits for his weaknesses but eventually has to play whoever he can sign . 

What's the point of playing an undersized guy at the 4 and he doesn't create any mismatches? Who even said he was playing the 4 in the first place? And I haven't one time seen you bring up any of these excuses while you were being critical of the team not playing defense, or the team getting out rebounded. 

Okeke can be a dominant and literal game changer as a perimeter defender. He can basically make a pick and roll ineffective. Having him playing down low is pointless. It's like sometimes you disagree just to do it. 

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5 hours ago, mustache eagle said:

Ok, so it's not ideal for purifoy and okeke ... spencer was serviceable at times.  to me, starting in Hawaii, he showed some offense away from the paint here and there that give me offensive hope.  I think he is fine defensively.  But he has got to expand his offensive game to play 4.  

Mclemore's athleticism and drive will suit him, no matter where in the court.  He is a very likeable player.  He was great within 5 feet of the basket.  Can he play 5-10' from the basket on offense?

i can't help but think we have a grad transfer coming at the 4.  That European kid would do nicely to split minutes with spencer.  

That European kid would be a very very very big help

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34 minutes ago, cole256 said:

What's the point of playing an undersized guy at the 4 and he doesn't create any mismatches? Who even said he was playing the 4 in the first place? And I haven't one time seen you bring up any of these excuses while you were being critical of the team not playing defense, or the team getting out rebounded. 

Okeke can be a dominant and literal game changer as a perimeter defender. He can basically make a pick and roll ineffective. Having him playing down low is pointless. It's like sometimes you disagree just to do it. 

 I don't think I was defending anyone especially on the quality of our defense or rebounding which is about effort as much as anything else.  I find it difficult to believe anyone does not think our defense and rebounding was shameful most of the season. 

 Meanwhile I don't think I ever made a comment about Okeke or where he plays ... Never even heard of him and sure don't have any opinions about him or what position he should be playing . 

As for who plays which position , I'm satisfied to leave that to BP to do what he thinks gives the team the best chance to win which might mean that sometime players are not in their ideal position. 

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Well of course we'll all have to be satisfied but just like a person can come to a conclusion of giving Gus or Lashlee a pass because a qb got hurt or rushed, A conclusion can be made for BP playing with a short deck of cards himself

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