College hoops teams that could slip in 2011-12 [Yahoo.com]

Those departures are a good thing.  I'm more concerned about transfers.  We lost Lawrence, Quincy and almost Evans last year.  Next year that could equate to Garrett, Harrison and Pointer.  We just don't have any bad players that you'd want to lose.   

Those departures are a good thing.  I'm more concerned about transfers.  We lost Lawrence, Quincy and almost Evans last year.  Next year that could equate to Garrett, Harrison and Pointer.  We just don't have any bad players that you'd want to lose.

One historical note.   Matt Barnes, Dijon Thompson, and Ryan Hollins all came off the bench for TWO seasons under Steve Lavin in his UCLA run - and  all three still got to the NBA...(+ 3 other 2 year bench players who got into the NBDL and put up at least 13pt 5 rebs in the showcase - TJ Cummings, Andre Patterson, & Mike Fey)

Wow, we seem to have predictions going on in this thread as to who will transfer out and our Class of 2011 has yet to play one game.

Relax, we played 8-9 average guys this past year, so I can see Coach Lavin going with 10 good players this coming year.  Two things will help PT among the players- substituting that makes sense and winning basketball.  There have been a number of successful teams that have had our numbers problem.  Good coaching certainly helps!

I think we are all in for some surprises next year as some of our players will exceed expectations and some others will not.  Afterall, most of the Class of 2011 will be freshmen.

Will some of these guys transfer or go pro before their senior years, probably?  Besides competing with themselves, I am sure Coach Lavin will continue to recruit and land 4 or even 5 star players, so the unknown will always be with us.  And that usually is a good thing!

The guys who transferred under Coach Roberts did so under very different circumstances than exist now.  Remember, we are also going to get our share of top players who will transfer in.

These will be exciting times not only for our team, but for this website.  It is enjoyable to read all the insights brought to this site on next year.

Quote from: crgreen on May 08, 2011, 05:12:06 PM

Quote from: mjdinkins on May 08, 2011, 04:36:38 PM

Quote from: yankcranker on May 08, 2011, 03:33:52 PM

Yes Bob.  It's a blessing not to have any 5 star players.  You've said some ridiculous things in your day.  Not sure where this one ranks.

    I'm not gonna go there.  I can name many 5-star players who didn't upset the chemistry of their respective teams.  Give me the best talent....  5 or 4-star.

Haven't seen all our kids play except in clips.  But I've followed hoops for parts of 7 different decades now - and the three I HAVE seen play in complete games - Pointer, Harrison, and Garrett - you'll have a hard time convincing me they're not 5 star TALENTs, even if only carrying 4 start RANKINGS.

Immaterial.  The gist of the statement was "I'm glad we didn't get any players better than the ones we got" and it made me chuckle.  That's all.

I think he was trying to say the caliber of players we have coming in are not quite 5star "one and done" type players and are likely to be with us for a while. In that sense I agree with him that it could be a good thing in the long run. For example I think our recruiting class is just as good as Kentucky's because many of Kentucky's class will be gone in a year or two and they will do the same thing all over again, where as at the same time, we will have a group full of seasoned high talent upperclassman, which is a rare thing to have.

Quote from: yankcranker on May 08, 2011, 07:36:02 PM

Quote from: crgreen on May 08, 2011, 05:12:06 PM

Quote from: mjdinkins on May 08, 2011, 04:36:38 PM

Quote from: yankcranker on May 08, 2011, 03:33:52 PM

Yes Bob.  It's a blessing not to have any 5 star players.  You've said some ridiculous things in your day.  Not sure where this one ranks.

    I'm not gonna go there.  I can name many 5-star players who didn't upset the chemistry of their respective teams.  Give me the best talent....  5 or 4-star.

Haven't seen all our kids play except in clips.  But I've followed hoops for parts of 7 different decades now - and the three I HAVE seen play in complete games - Pointer, Harrison, and Garrett - you'll have a hard time convincing me they're not 5 star TALENTs, even if only carrying 4 start RANKINGS.

Immaterial.  The gist of the statement was "I'm glad we didn't get any players better than the ones we got" and it made me chuckle.  That's all.

I think he was trying to say the caliber of players we have coming in are not quite 5star "one and done" type players and are likely to be with us for a while. In that sense I agree with him that it could be a good thing in the long run. For example I think our recruiting class is just as good as Kentucky's because many of Kentucky's class will be gone in a year or two and they will do the same thing all over again, where as at the same time, we will have a group full of seasoned high talent upperclassman, which is a rare thing to have.

Quote from: yankcranker on May 08, 2011, 07:36:02 PM

Quote from: crgreen on May 08, 2011, 05:12:06 PM

Quote from: mjdinkins on May 08, 2011, 04:36:38 PM

Quote from: yankcranker on May 08, 2011, 03:33:52 PM

Yes Bob.  It's a blessing not to have any 5 star players.  You've said some ridiculous things in your day.  Not sure where this one ranks.

    I'm not gonna go there.  I can name many 5-star players who didn't upset the chemistry of their respective teams.  Give me the best talent....  5 or 4-star.

Haven't seen all our kids play except in clips.  But I've followed hoops for parts of 7 different decades now - and the three I HAVE seen play in complete games - Pointer, Harrison, and Garrett - you'll have a hard time convincing me they're not 5 star TALENTs, even if only carrying 4 start RANKINGS.

Immaterial.  The gist of the statement was "I'm glad we didn't get any players better than the ones we got" and it made me chuckle.  That's all.

I think he was trying to say the caliber of players we have coming in are not quite 5star "one and done" type players and are likely to be with us for a while. In that sense I agree with him that it could be a good thing in the long run. For example I think our recruiting class is just as good as Kentucky's because many of Kentucky's class will be gone in a year or two and they will do the same thing all over again, where as at the same time, we will have a group full of seasoned high talent upperclassman, which is a rare thing to have.

He might have meant to say that, but he didn't, and I would have disagreed with that as well but at least it wouldn't have been ridiculous.  I think we're all going to end up loving the group of guys coming in.  That said I'd be pretty confident that a LeBryan Nash for example, even if one and done, would have meant a much higher probability of success for next year and wouldn't have screwed up the group for the long term.  I want it all!!!   And I don't see this team being a great team next year, but after that . . .

Ridiculous eh?  I wonder how many guys you can name that sat on the bench behind Mullin, Berry etc.  Times have changed.  Lou used to say if you can't do it with seven........ Try that in these times and guys would be flying out the door.  And how many times do you see a kid ranked 30 spots different between ranking services?  No matter what you read it's still a crapshoot until the balls start bouncing.  Felipe was the SI cover boy and rode his laurels eventually to the NBA but never lived up to expectations.  The minutes he got were as much political as they were deserved.  Five star ratings are still just guesses.  With a 9 player class of fairly equal superior ability we're in a position to see who the best really are and that's a good thing but keeping as many happy as possible is the priority.  I remember going down to Ga Tech years ago and watching Jason Buchanan going home with Kenny Anderson's lunch so you just never know.  And who thought Cjac would ever smell the NBA?  Lavs proved a lot this year and will continue I'm sure.

Interesting comments, bobre45!  With your reference to guys sitting behind Mullin, Berry, etc., I thought Coach C. should have played Jackson, Rowan and Jones more than he did,especially against Gtwn.  Remember back then, Coach Thompson was criticized for subbing too many players and too often.  Yet, Coach Thompson went to a few Final Fours and won the title with playing so many, even with two 5 star players.  I always thought that our Coach C., while a great coach, should have given some of his underclassmen more PT.

Coach Lavin has a few key PT problems facing him next year.  Besides giving guys PT, he will need to see which combinations work best in certain situations.  As most of the Class of 2011 can play at least two positions, I can see some interesting matchups.

Astute observations re Thompson Gumby.  I've always thought he was the guy who did the most to change the game by focusing on defense and playing a lot of guys.  His lack of offensive strategy proved costly at times in the olympics for example.  He just concentrated on athleticism and the overall quality of ball went down IMO despite his success.  He also missed out on some 5 star types due to PT considerations as time went on.  Our games with Gtown were more like basketbrawl than anything else.  Fortunately coaches like Lavin have figured out how to use deep benches without resorting to strong-arm defense.  This year even the last three guys on our bench will be nice players.  We'll lose a few eventually and probably even upgrade our roster more as our record improves.  A good situation in these times.