Roster Breakdown 23-24 Season

[cole256 17,084]

On 7/17/2023 at 12:48 PM, JwgreDeux said:

I piece of the puzzle that is harder to gauge and is currently largely unknown is can they defend? There's a million guys out there who can shoot, not many that can shoot and defend. 

This was some of my biggest criticism of our guards the last few years. Also because there isn't some type of metric that can fully give you a quantity to show if a guy is good on defense, I think it is somewhat overlooked by fans on how important it can be for some coaches. I'm very interested to see what we are going to look like. 

With the addition of some athletic wings if they are good enough on defense it may actually really open things up for us on offense as well. I'm hoping we can be a more up tempo cause havoc all over the court and run type of team. If we can be that again I think that makes us a more dangerous tournament time team.

[toddc 13,194]

Official roster for 23-24 season released.

 

[toddc 13,194]

 

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

Understanding that it is against high school, juco, and lesser division competition, I've gone back and watched some limited film on our new-comers here are my observations:

Aden Holloway: He's light. Listed at 178, I doubt he's much over 160 unless he's gained significant weight. Has very good handles and keeps his dribble alive well. Creative on the break and in the half court. His shot looks pretty natural and has good form overall. The thing I like the most is he can score inside the arch without getting all the way to the basket. He has shown the ability to pull up, shoot floaters, and other shots. This could be a marketed change from our recent guards that often pushed the ball all the way to the basket and couldn't finish. 

Chad Baker-Mazara: Former sixth man of the year when he was in the MW at SDSU, before transferring down to JUCO because of grade issues. Had 17 pts in the NCAA tournament game vs Creighton with SDSU. He's a lefty that can shoot the ball and create his own shot off of no more than 3 dribbles. Does not handle it well enough to be a 2 and is not big enough (190lbs) to be a 4. He is not as athletic as Flannigan was, but has a much better looking shot form and shoots high 80's % from the freethrow line. Does not play with the physicality that Chris Moore does so it will be interesting to see who CBP goes with at the 3 spot. He is the type of player that can fill it up if playing with a group that is moving the ball around. Good spot up guy. 

Denver Jones: Offensively he's versatile at the 2 spot. Can shot the ball well, release is a little low, and put it on the floor to score. Utilizes his off hand (left) pretty well. Not sure he is as big as he is listed from watching film, and have concerns if he is athletic enough to play the same style he did at FIU. Consistent game to game. Only had two games he didn't score in double figures while leading FIU in scoring by a large margin last season. Averaged 20 pts a game on 14 attempts is pretty good. He is being billed as a pure shooter by a lot of media, but is much more balanced as a scorer. He only had two games last season where he made more 3s than 2s. He was first team all conference in C-USA last season. 

Chaney Johnson: Played the 5 mostly at UAH last season (or the post in a guard heavy lineup). Played against Auburn in our exhibition and got 14pts and 5rebs against our front line. More athletic than JW, but not sure he is as good a shooter. Plays with a good level of aggression that we have not had at the 4 spot in a while. Was conference player of the year at the D2 level. Will be interested to see how he makes the transition up in competition and over to the 4 spot. 

Holloway shows star potential while the others look to be solid role players. If Holloway and Donaldson play well at the point all of the role guys will be able to play at a higher level. If they don't there isn't a Chuma or Okoro that can bail us out. I expect Holloway to push Donaldson, Jones to likely start over KD, Baker-Mazara to start over Moore (at some point, maybe not to start the season) and Johnson to push Williams. Obviously this is off limited film so we will see. 

 

 

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

On 6/9/2023 at 12:57 PM, ellitor said:

JGT said Chaneu Johnson told AU reporters he wants to play the 2/3 position so TIFWIW.

He basically played the 5 at UAH. He's going to play the 4, maybe some 3 if we go big. There's no chance he plays the 2. 

On 7/16/2023 at 8:08 PM, zeroforwinger said:

Good synopsis of the roster. I like our Top 8, but am in wait and see mode for Chaney and Baker Mazara. It can be a big jump from small school to SEC. Hard to count on them yet. I think Broome takes a big step forward this year. You could see it in the pre draft camps. 

Baker-Mazara played at San Diego State and was the sixth man of the year in that conference. Had big a big game in the NCAA tourney and was getting minutes over guys that ended up playing in the final four last season. His trip down to juco was grades not performance. I look for him to really improve our play from the 3 spot. 

On 7/17/2023 at 1:22 PM, Dunndone414 said:

A lot riding on Aden being immediately great at PG, as far as our ceiling goes. 

I would say a lot riding on our play from the PG position as a whole. Donaldson showed some things at the end of last season to suggest he may be able to give us what we need (creating for others with some scoring) from that position.