Jump to content

You're Bruce Pearl... What's the plan?


Zeek

Recommended Posts

1. Get a shooter or two in the portal.

2. PF to pair with Jaylin.

3. Portal big that can start. 

4. An offseason spent on overhauling the offense to highlight our guard skills.

Link to comment
Share on other sites





On 3/25/2022 at 8:01 AM, ellitor said:
On 3/24/2022 at 9:13 PM, NoALtiger said:

I don’t think we are ok at all with Zep and Green at the point. I’m not sure how many of the big time programs these guys would even start for matter of fact.

I do. A couple of things. As arguably the best on ball defeding PG in the nation Zep would start for a lot of teams.  On Green, don'tforget he was one of the assist leaders in the nation as a freshman before transferring to AU. He can evolve to be a better PG than he was for us this year just like Jared Harper evolved.

When teams learned we couldn't hit a jump shot, i think they packed it in and we beat ourselves from the 3 pt line..  If we can hit from outside the middle is opened back up and they are again driving and dishing machines like they were early in the season.

I liked those two at PG.  We occasionally were taken advantage of on size, I didn't think it significant enough to warrant major changes.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suspect we'll play smaller and faster next year. That's been Bruce's MO until this season. This was, by far, his most frontcourt oriented team. I doubt that continues into next year. I also expect us to try to get older. We were overwhelmed by the sheer intensity and physicality from Miami. You could see it in Bruce's interview after the game. He thought (and I think he was right) that was a "grown man v. boy" difference. Our 18-20 year old guys (Jabari, Wen, Kessler, Flan, KD) just couldn't handle their 24-year-old men.

You even saw that in the SEC this year. JD Notae is 23. Zep is 24. Tshiebwe is 22. That's the pattern I think you'll start to see in the transfer portal. Target grown men and supplement them with your young guys. That's kinda what I expect, and that's what we're seeing. Erik Stevenson will be 23 years old with over 125 games played by the start of next season. That's an effort at bringing a grown man into the program. I also think that's why Bruce is talking about building around Jaylin and Allen and older guys like that.

So if I had to project, I'd guess we bring in Westry, Donaldson, Traore, and one or two old transfers. The possible exception is Brandon Murray. That's a talent we'd probably take a flier on.

I expect us to play with either two PFs (e.g., Williams and Traore) along with Flanigan or with a Center and three guards. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not always been the best at seeing talent or lack there of. But I almost feel like I’m alone in thinking Cardwell is going to be very good for us. I think a lot of people are selling him short. 

Edited by alexava
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, alexava said:

I have not always been the best at seeing talent or lack there of. But I almost feel like I’m alone in thinking Caldwell is going to be very good for us. I think a lot of people are selling him short. 

He needs an offensive game. Even Kessler had a few moves to get him buckets.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, alexava said:

I have not always been the best at seeing talent or lack there of. But I almost feel like I’m alone in thinking Caldwell is going to be very good for us. I think a lot of people are selling him short. 

Pretty sure you mean Cardwell. :P

And you're not alone. There are several people, myself included, that are very high on Cardwell. He's one of my favorite players on this team and I believe he can take the step to be our starter but we still need another center.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, AUlurker said:

He needs an offensive game. Even Kessler had a few moves to get him buckets.

1 hour ago, tgrogan21 said:

Pretty sure you mean Cardwell. :P

And you're not alone. There are several people, myself included, that are very high on Cardwell. He's one of my favorite players on this team and I believe he can take the step to be our starter but we still need another center.

Corrected. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Upgrade our guards. Find another uber athletic shot blocker and look for that 6'7"-6'10" guy that's a versatile player that causes mismatches by literally walking on the court, and build around him. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
On 3/25/2022 at 1:27 PM, AUlurker said:

1. Get a shooter or two in the portal.

2. PF to pair with Jaylin.

3. Portal big that can start. 

4. An offseason spent on overhauling the offense to highlight our guard skills.

It's interesting to look back at this after landing Traore and Broome. I didn't know either of those names at the end of the tourney but am stoked about both. So check on numbers 2 & 3. I do think that 1) Jaylin and Green will shoot much better this year, 2) Westry will be a better shooter than Cambridge, and 3) am curious to see how Traore shoots from 3. 

Hopefully we get Phillips and our spacing and shooting improves via number 4. If we don't get Phillips, then hopefully we can find another wing that is a knock down shooter. But we'll see what Bruce can do. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, HAPvsOA said:

am curious to see how Traore shoots from 3.

Not sure he's going to do that much.

1 hour ago, HAPvsOA said:

then hopefully we can find another wing that is a knock down shooter.

There was never many available in the portal this season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Not sure he's going to do that much.

There was never many available in the portal this season.

Likely on Traore. And there are a few shooters remaining on this transfer portal list from yesterday that I am sure that BP and crew are aware of: 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ranking-top-25-transfers-for-2022-lsu-lands-murray-state-center-kj-williams-as-matt-mcmahon-keeps-building/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, HAPvsOA said:

Likely on Traore. And there are a few shooters remaining on this transfer portal list from yesterday that I am sure that BP and crew are aware of: 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ranking-top-25-transfers-for-2022-lsu-lands-murray-state-center-kj-williams-as-matt-mcmahon-keeps-building/

Man, I don't hate Mosley's stat line...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

Man, I don't hate Mosley's stat line...

same, but here is what 247 is saying and I didn't realize that he may stay in the draft. 

https://247sports.com/college/basketball/recruiting/LongFormArticle/College-basketball-transfer-portal-Emoni-Bates-Tyrese-Hunter-Matthew-Mayer-top-dozen-available-187243166/#187243166_5

Latest buzz: After spending the last couple of season lighting up the Missouri Valley, shooting guard Isiaih Mosley is another who has also entered the NBA Draft. Because of his ability to connect from deep and his penchant for making tough, contested shots he just may have an NBA future. However, there are questions on that level about the competition Mosley’s gotten his numbers against and his overall athleticism. He could erase many doubts with a return to school.

You have to keep an eye on Kansas here. The Jayhawks have had a lot of success with players from Mosley’s summer program MoKan Elite and just won a National Championship with three of the program’s players – Christian Braun, Dajuan Harris and Ochai Agbaji – in their starting lineup and Mosley played in high school with Harris. That doesn’t mean the Jayhawks are a lock though and others like Duke, Kansas State, Louisville, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Texas are all looking to get involved.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm Bruce Pearl......My plan is to land Phillips and then spend the next month partyyyyying my butt off cuz I've got a great team AND I'm RICH....

I know, it's better that Bruce is Bruce.

Edited by Cardin Drake
  • Like 1
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/6/2022 at 1:26 PM, HAPvsOA said:

Likely on Traore. And there are a few shooters remaining on this transfer portal list from yesterday that I am sure that BP and crew are aware of: 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ranking-top-25-transfers-for-2022-lsu-lands-murray-state-center-kj-williams-as-matt-mcmahon-keeps-building/

@HAPvsOA Can any of them play the wing/3 position? Looks like they are all listed as Guards which we have plenty of at this point. AD is too short for the position & we already have some shorter 2Gs so no fit there. TA is likely following his HC to Miss St.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm guessing that if we miss on Phillips, we'll just eat the final probation scholarship next season. I think we're good either way, we'd just be better with Phillips coming to the Plains. But I have faith that Allen is going to rebound, so I don't think missing on Phillips would hurt us too much, if we do end up missing with him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

I'm guessing that if we miss on Phillips, we'll just eat the final probation scholarship next season.

Not sure about that. I love Flan but we can't assume he will get back to 2020 form minus the TOs. We still need to upgrade the SF/Wing if not for depth purposes alone & there are still good options available who may withdraw from the draft when all is said & done. I'm particularly interested in Matthew Mayer from Baylor.

https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/top/basketball/2022/?position=sf

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, ellitor said:

@HAPvsOA Can any of them play the wing/3 position? Looks like they are all listed as Guards which we have plenty of at this point. AD is too short for the position & we already have some shorter 2Gs so no fit there. TA is likely following his HC to Miss St.

Not sure. Mosley seems like the most likely candidate of that list due to his size and could probably play the 2 & 3. But after looking at his stats, I see why he may be a NBA draft pick. Obviously Phillips would be ideal at the 3, but I also think that Westry could play the 3 at times based on his skill set, so a person that could play both the 2 and 3 even if they were a more natural 2 may be a good fit if we don't get Phillips IMO. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ellitor said:

Not sure about that. I love Flan but we can't assume he will get back to 2020 form minus the TOs. We still need to upgrade the SF/Wing if not for depth purposes alone & there are still good options available who may withdraw from the draft when all is said & done. I'm particularly interested in Matthew Mayer from Baylor.

https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/top/basketball/2022/?position=sf

It's interesting that they list Mayer as a SF. I thought he played more like a  stretch 4, kind of like Manek at UNC. While that makes Mayer a very attractive transfer, it seems like he would potentially overlap in skill set with Jaylin and create even more of a logjam at the 4, but perhaps I am wrong. I've only seen Mayer play once.

I'm also intrigued by Keion Brooks form Kentucky and am surprised that he is not ranked higher. But his 3 pt shooting numbers look low, so he's probably not the right fit for what we need at the 3. But he had an amazing game when UK routed Kansas earlier in the year and obviously has talent. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, HAPvsOA said:

It's interesting that they list Mayer as a SF. I thought he played more like a  stretch 4, kind of like Manek at UNC. While that makes Mayer a very attractive transfer, it seems like he would potentially overlap in skill set with Jaylin and create even more of a logjam at the 4, but perhaps I am wrong. I've only seen Mayer play once.

You may be right but the games I have seen from Mayer has me seeing him more as a 3 than Jaylin. He more consistently spaces the floor better & is a better ball handler. Also I think he can play D on other 3s better.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...