Rutgers Exhibition Game - Sunday 1 PM

USF had exhibition vs. Flagler and won 94-66.

Skecic played 14 minutes.  4 pts , 3 rebounds, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 to's

Maybe he would have gotten eaten by Freeman too.

I'm not sure your latter quote was tongue in cheek, but my point is having someone who can give us a decent 10-15 minutes per outing. 

You're right on French. The staff messed up bigtime with that situation and criticism there is very warranted.

Just because we are light up front doesn't mean we have to take on a kid that can't play just because he's 7'2. That Scekic dude would not have helped us this year. 7'2 dudes that can't move and have no skills are much bigger liabilities on the court than a 6'7 athletic guy that is forced into playing the 5.

To me, it is fair to criticize the staff for not getting another much needed big. But there are a finite amount of them out there that can play at this level and just throwing a dude on the court just because he's big would have negative results.

https://twitter.com/BigNik_41/status/827311873494118400

https://twitter.com/BigNik_41/status/851231524678758400

He's no elite athlete by no means, but he moves just as well as Amar (and, he's 5 or 6 inches taller than Amar).  He's no game changer, but he doesn't look like a lummox, either.

If the 7 2 dude was a grad student, 1 year investment I would say go for it , but not worth wasting a scholy on him for next year. That said, we should have been able to get a competent big for his year.

You recruit over him, if that's the case.  Either, he sticks it out and fight for time or be fine with very minimal time.  Or, transfer.   

Quote from: RedStormNC on November 05, 2017, 10:38:17 PM

Agree...but our issue is we don't seem to have much in the way on big men next year.

Amar's size gets swapped w/ Keita, and Bashir for Roberts/Diakite (both 185-205 range (

Aside from Jordan Brown (200 range) and unlikely, we still need to work tirelessly to lure a few warm halfway decent bodies here

Keita was a top 100 recruit. Much better B.B. player than Amar, will help a lot.

The staff knows they need bigs for the future which is why they pursued and landed Keita. He's as close to a true big as it gets in today's college basketball landscape. I think he's more of a solid depth big than a starting 5 and hopefully thats what his role will be here starting next year.

I would guess the staff will continue to be aggressive in the transfer market. Hopefully there will be a grad transfer big out there interested in coming here that we can plug in right away. I know we had hoped that the last couple years and it didn't happen but we did have a hook on that Livingston kid until the higher ups nixed it.

We'll see. The staff knows we need bigs and aren't being lazy when trying to land them. For this year, just have to hope that the staff can figure out a way to overcome our limitations up front

Keita  was a top 100 player. Much better B.B. player than Amat , will help a lot.

Quote from: Poison on November 05, 2017, 10:46:18 PM

This is a new staff learning on the job. They don’t know what they’re doing. Still, it’s no dumber than the rest of the terrible hires they’ve made since 1992.

Are you saying the staff isn't smart enough to see what literally everybody else can see about this team?

Yes

I'm glad they lost. They would have won at home, but now they get a tough week of practice to learn from.

Did Clark come here to shoot the 3s Izzo wouldn't let him? only 2 games, but he's been overly reliant on the deep ball, and shooting it poorly even when wide open.

Followed up his 14 bounds against D2 with an invisible game against Rutgers.  He may be a bit undersized, but this team needs him to mix it up down low and rebound.

Obviously one scrimmage means nada.

Plus side - clearly the three guards are very, very good & will cause a lot of problems for most opponents.

Potential negative - the undersized front court guys have to overachieve on both ends of court & in particular avoid domination by bigs with size. Having to help on the post too often usually results in kick outs & open threes. Agree with Dink's suggestion re zone utilization at times as well.

Without the latter, this team will have its ups and downs. To me, it is critical to fare well in early out of conference games v some solid teams. To stumble there would warrant doing very well in BE schedule, a daunting task. Build momentum early & go into conference play feeling good seems a path to post season opportunities.

Yakwe looked better I thought he was just marred with foul trouble (1 or 2 were real BS calls) he had 4 rebounds 2 blocks in 11 minutes. As was Clark who sat most of the key parts of the second half before then fouling out before the game was over.

I can and can't believe there would be this much backlash losing a freaking charity game.

Guards need to score over 50 points a game if this team wants to go anywhere

Guards need to score over 50 points a game if this team wants to go anywhere

They will.

Guards need to score over 50 points a game if this team wants to go anywhere

Offense won't be the problem

Our offense is going to be fantastic.  We have 3 guards who can kill it out there and some good wings, and PF as well.  Our main problem was second half defense.  Our offense is going to give poeple trouble.  I'm still a fan of mixing some zone in there, if our man-d is faltering but I sense it won't happen.  We will go as far as our defense takes us this year.  It has to improve.

A big part of any offense is the ability to pay a two man game. Unfortunately we lack any interior player to fit this role. This restricts the guard play which is the nucleus of our offense. I agree with the sane guy who said the inability to bring in serviceable big will haunt us all year

Good to have the season back and to read this very spirited and thoughtful opinion site. Not much has changed in fan attitude in the 66 years I have been tuning in.  On the lack of big guys,  I watched Maryland,  with a similar sized team to StJ this year, play several games in the NCAA the year they won it all, (12 years ago?)  It's not the size of the dog; it's the fight in the dog that counts. We will be better than last year and that's improvement. Further, our kids graduate and there is no chance of cheating not even a little bit, once again.. I want to "win it all" but I'm happy we are  re-growing.

A big part of any offense is the ability to pay a two man game. Unfortunately we lack any interior player to fit this role. This restricts the guard play which is the nucleus of our offense. I agree with the sane guy who said the inability to bring in serviceable big will haunt us all year

Thank you.

Good to have the season back and to read this very spirited and thoughtful opinion site. Not much has changed in fan attitude in the 66 years I have been tuning in.  On the lack of big guys,  I watched Maryland,  with a similar sized team to StJ this year, play several games in the NCAA the year they won it all, (12 years ago?)  It's not the size of the dog; it's the fight in the dog that counts. We will be better than last year and that's improvement. Further, our kids graduate and there is no chance of cheating not even a little bit, once again.. I want to "win it all" but I'm happy we are  re-growing.

It was 16 years ago, and you can't be serious, per your comparison.

Tahj Holden and Chris Wilcox were both 6'10 and decently built.

Lonny Baxter was 6'7" 260 lbs.  He was also a legitimate low post player.  Our frontcourt in NO WAY resembles Maryland's frontcourt during their championship season.

If we had a similar frontcourt to go with our current backcourt, then we'd likely be amongst the top 10 teams (or higher) in the country, this season.

No similarities whatsoever.

Quote from: oldfan on November 06, 2017, 08:24:53 PM

Good to have the season back and to read this very spirited and thoughtful opinion site. Not much has changed in fan attitude in the 66 years I have been tuning in.  On the lack of big guys,  I watched Maryland,  with a similar sized team to StJ this year, play several games in the NCAA the year they won it all, (12 years ago?)  It's not the size of the dog; it's the fight in the dog that counts. We will be better than last year and that's improvement. Further, our kids graduate and there is no chance of cheating not even a little bit, once again.. I want to "win it all" but I'm happy we are  re-growing.

It was 16 years ago, and you can't be serious, per your comparison.

Tahj Holden and Chris Wilcox were both 6'10 and decently built.

Lonny Baxter was 6'7" 260 lbs.  He was also a legitimate low post player.  Our frontcourt in NO WAY resembles Maryland's frontcourt during their championship season.

If we had a similar frontcourt to go with our current backcourt, then we'd likely be amongst the top 10 teams (or higher) in the country, this season.

No similarities whatsoever.

Thanks mj, beat me to it.

Not trying to beat a dead horse that Maryland team had Gary Williams also

Quote from: mjdinkins on November 06, 2017, 09:35:07 PM

Quote from: oldfan on November 06, 2017, 08:24:53 PM

Good to have the season back and to read this very spirited and thoughtful opinion site. Not much has changed in fan attitude in the 66 years I have been tuning in.  On the lack of big guys,  I watched Maryland,  with a similar sized team to StJ this year, play several games in the NCAA the year they won it all, (12 years ago?)  It's not the size of the dog; it's the fight in the dog that counts. We will be better than last year and that's improvement. Further, our kids graduate and there is no chance of cheating not even a little bit, once again.. I want to "win it all" but I'm happy we are  re-growing.

It was 16 years ago, and you can't be serious, per your comparison.

Tahj Holden and Chris Wilcox were both 6'10 and decently built.

Lonny Baxter was 6'7" 260 lbs.  He was also a legitimate low post player.  Our frontcourt in NO WAY resembles Maryland's frontcourt during their championship season.

If we had a similar frontcourt to go with our current backcourt, then we'd likely be amongst the top 10 teams (or higher) in the country, this season.

No similarities whatsoever.

Thanks mj, beat me to it.

Yeah, but the Golden State Warriors don't really play with a traditional center!  :-)

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on November 06, 2017, 09:41:44 PM

Quote from: mjdinkins on November 06, 2017, 09:35:07 PM

Quote from: oldfan on November 06, 2017, 08:24:53 PM

Good to have the season back and to read this very spirited and thoughtful opinion site. Not much has changed in fan attitude in the 66 years I have been tuning in.  On the lack of big guys,  I watched Maryland,  with a similar sized team to StJ this year, play several games in the NCAA the year they won it all, (12 years ago?)  It's not the size of the dog; it's the fight in the dog that counts. We will be better than last year and that's improvement. Further, our kids graduate and there is no chance of cheating not even a little bit, once again.. I want to "win it all" but I'm happy we are  re-growing.

It was 16 years ago, and you can't be serious, per your comparison.

Tahj Holden and Chris Wilcox were both 6'10 and decently built.

Lonny Baxter was 6'7" 260 lbs.  He was also a legitimate low post player.  Our frontcourt in NO WAY resembles Maryland's frontcourt during their championship season.

If we had a similar frontcourt to go with our current backcourt, then we'd likely be amongst the top 10 teams (or higher) in the country, this season.

No similarities whatsoever.

Thanks mj, beat me to it.

Yeah, but the Golden State Warriors don't really play with a traditional center!  :-)

Good point and there is very little difference between St. John's University and the Golden State Warriors.