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Post by lasalle69bestever on Aug 3, 2014 16:21:23 GMT -5
To give some realistic perspective -
GO READ WHAT TOM GOLA SAID GOING INTO THE 1968-69 SEASON.
IT'S IN THE ARCHIVES. WHO KNEW BY HIS QUOTES?
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Post by casey44 on Aug 3, 2014 16:34:01 GMT -5
Time of year when basketball news is so sparse that anything G says is dissected every which way. It's all about the pt. We have two pretty good young players. Can they transition quickly to the speed of the game?
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Post by 23won on Aug 4, 2014 7:35:39 GMT -5
Why would anyone exalt his players who have yet to log a minute in the A10 wearing blue and gold? I wouldn't do it in general and I wouldn't do it for the following specific reasons:
1) It is a tough league and if you want to finish in the top tourney echelon, a lot of work has to be done. You can;t have a soft defender or a 5th option who can't shoot and expect to beat GW, VCU, UD and a host of other teams this year. If G says it, it's because he means it and he doesn't want a .500ish season.
2) The press ran with the notion that, after coming off of a sweet 16 run and a hard summer workout season, Duren and Garland would tear up the A10. That didn't happen. Thus, I like tht G is keeping closer tabs on his players and continues to push them. In fact, I hope he continues all year if it is merited and there is not just a head game going on.
3) We will have tough games against Bonnie, Mason, Duquense that will be trouble if we don't bring our A game. Losses like that can torpedo tourney hopes. Better get the soft spots fixed now than suffer that fate later with a pot of gold attitude now.
Good for G.
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Post by luhoopsfan on Aug 4, 2014 9:43:45 GMT -5
I only mentioned it because heading into the 2012-13 season, G talked about how we had a backcourt that he would put up against anyone else in the nation and when the team won games the "weren't supposed" to win, he always answered with lines like, "we know we're good" or "we expected this".
Heading into last season he talked about being injury free, and i think he was alluding to Duren, and some other lines that at the time didn't seem all that worrisome, but in hindsight were quite telling. I see him qualify a lot of positive thoughts with reservations about players limitations and I start to wonder if they are going to be anything other than a .500 team again.
I will say, that he has been really high on Wright and Zack, and in a league like the A10, a big-time front court can really go a long way.
I just want the season to get started instead of speculating. Hopefully the players that were on the team 2 years ago are hungrier than ever to experience the tournament now that they've had a taste of it.
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Post by a10champion15 on Aug 4, 2014 10:46:59 GMT -5
The upside to all of this is that we should be competitive and have a chance to battle for a top spot. Something years ago we couldn't say at all so I will take it.
On paper the team looks good, quality seniors, impact freshmen and transfers and a good core of the team returns overall. Schedule also I am pleased with.
In terms of the A10. its really hard to gauge this year. I lean towards a 5 bid year but I don't know. For one, I think people are way too high on Dayton. Team lost a ton of players, is pretty damn young and isn't the same type of team they were last year. They should still be pretty good but I am not willing to say definitively that they are an NCAA team. I lean towards VCU, GW and UMass returning as opposed to them. URI I think will break out this year. Also, I think SJU and STL are in for down years. Both teams have talented rosters but not a lot of experience. I don't expect Duquesne to be a bad loss this year. The team will be better than last year. They really improved throughout the season and return the majority of the team. It interesting as the league gotten better with more bids the bottom of the A10 is getting better. Fordham the only team I really see who will definitely be terrible. Hewitt is an awful coach but has a talented roster. Davidson way too difficult to gauge and the Bonnies are always tough.
We will have plenty of opportunities this year. Hopefully Dayton turns out to be good and we get two cracks at them. One little tid bit I found recently.
Over the past 4 seasons at La Salle. La Salle is 42-18 at home. 7-3 at the Palestra.
At the Gola of those 18 losses 4 of them are OT losses 8 of them are by 4 points or less
La Salle has only been decisively beat 6 times over the past 4 seasons at home. Impressive I think.
7-3 at the Palestra 1 OT loss to Oklahoma State 1 4 point loss to SJU - damn was that game intense 1 Robert Morris where we had a few players coming off injury most importantly Galloway
This year we get plenty of opportunities. As of now who I see as 2015 NCAA tournament teams or teams right on the bubble Virginia(N), Villanova, American, UMass(2), Dayton(2), URI(2), GW, @vcu, Temple(bubble), Richmond(bubble)
around 7 chances at Gola give or take a couple. around 2 chances neutral around 4 chances away TOTAL 13 chances probably a couple games fewer if teams disappoint.
I threw Dayton on there because I trust the experts on that one. Richmond was very close before Lindsay went down and they have a star in Shawndre Jones but I don't know if it will be enough. Temple is going to be that team in my opinion like Nova two years ago go around 20-12 and sneak in. Beat teams like Duke, have a couple bad losses, than do decent in AAC play where they beat SMU and UConn.
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Post by coqui900 on Aug 4, 2014 11:08:54 GMT -5
No coach alive can predict the outcome of a team's season ahead of time.
Even vaunted Kentucky missed the NCAA two seasons ago and got bounced out of the NIT by Robert Morris. Would Bennett have possibly thought his team would get a one seed to start the year?
It's so up and down and so many things can happen beside injuries. Maybe the team clicks from the start. Maybe they don't.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2014 13:27:24 GMT -5
Maybe this will make everyone feel a little better. cityofbasketballlove.com/2014/08/durens-replacement-key-to-la-salles-maintaining-success/You have to love Tyreek's quotes, especially about Stukes. Thinks Amar can come in and have a better freshman season than he did because he has the advantage of the redshirt year. He was able to come in as a frosh and average 9.8 pts, 2.8 rbds, and 4.4 assists while playing with a dysfunctional team. Stukes won't have to deal with the garbage that Tyreek and Sam went through as freshman. If he and/or Shuler can combine to give this team those numbers, it will be a good year. Plus you should have a healthy Khalid Lewis to help out as well. G has lots of options in his backcourt this year with at least three of them being able to shoot the ball from deep (Price, Roberts, and Shuler) and the hope that DJ will re-discover his shot and Khalid and Amar will be able to keep defenses honest if not better. I know there are multiple opinions out there on why last season's team underperformed, but my take on it was they simply couldn't make enough shots. They still got plenty of good looks but Tyrone, DJ, and Khalid just never got untracked from the perimeter, and for some reason, Sam was reluctant to shoot. I fully expect this year's team to shoot the ball at least somewhat comparable to the Sweet 16 season (45% overall and just under 38% from three with 7.7 made threes per game) as opposed to last year (41.3% overall and 32.5% from three with only 5.7 threes per game). Jordan Price also has the same deep range that Ramon had. I am cautiously optimistic.
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MisterD
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Post by MisterD on Aug 4, 2014 13:57:04 GMT -5
I would sign up for 10 / 4.5 / 3 so hard my crayon would snap.
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Post by calidelphia on Aug 4, 2014 14:47:48 GMT -5
As for the summer sit down column, I read that in a different way. Yes, Giannini qualifies his statements by mentioning specific area's where a few of the players can improve. However, he starts by saying that " I don't have any doubts that they can play well, and that we can win with these guys, and that we don't have to drop off. " and "I think that overall they are very good players and they're ready to have a chance to win.".
As we know, it's all about getting into the final minutes with "a chance to win". The season hinges on those minutes and G knows that he can't predict winners, only having the chance to pull off wins. Considering the SOS of this season (i think it's a tough schedule again) getting the chance for a win tells me he is optimistic for these guys and realistic about area's for improvement. It also tells me that he may limit guys roles to their comfort areas. The interview got me excited rather than apprehensive about the season, though I am not setting myself up for last year again. The cards all need to fall into place with the level of competition the team will face.
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