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Post by explorerman on Oct 17, 2014 22:05:52 GMT -5
Good to hear some validation regarding our European player to whom I made some very strong and positive comments about..
I was not there at the practice but hearing what I heard from a person I trust greatly this is not surprising..
We will be in good hands at the 3/4.. And considering how good of a rebounder he is for his size (aka plays bigger than his size) I would love him in a spread 4.. He would cause so many mismatches..
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Post by manayunk53 on Oct 17, 2014 22:06:41 GMT -5
Great point about Yevgen's vision. He made a great pass to Zack under the basket where he scanned the defense, waited for the play to develop, and made the pass at the perfect time. His foot speed needs to get a little bit better, but that play made an impression on me.
I feel like you and I must have been at different practices with your notes about Roberts.
Stukes didn't look great. I was a little disappointed by what I saw from him.
Peterson was invisible.
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Post by explorerman on Oct 17, 2014 22:15:04 GMT -5
Cleon Roberts looked awesome. Huge bright spot - he could be great for us. " Cleon Roberts missed every shot I saw him take. I was surprised at his ball handling. Very Good for a big guy. He was yelled at once by G who told him not to sulk." -jellybean Alright let's get an agreement.. Haha.. He is my dark horse to the success of this season.. You can't have a SF, who missed every shot, play well.. Just an FYI.. I am not that concerned about 1 game.. He has 25+ NCAA games of experience to look at... He was a plus shooter in high school, AAU and the 1 year at Ga. Southern.. Roberts' athleticism and basketball skills are very impressive
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Post by explorer88 on Oct 17, 2014 22:19:51 GMT -5
Two thumbs up to Yevgen and Washington. Nice frontcourt pieces for the future.
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Post by manayunk53 on Oct 17, 2014 22:23:17 GMT -5
For what it's worth, I saw Roberts drill at least 3 threes in the live scrimmage.
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Post by explorerman on Oct 17, 2014 22:25:49 GMT -5
Great point about Yevgen's vision. He made a great pass to Zack under the basket where he scanned the defense, waited for the play to develop, and made the pass at the perfect time. His foot speed needs to get a little bit better, but that play made an impression on me. I feel like you and I must have been at different practices with your notes about Roberts. Stukes didn't look great. I was a little disappointed by what I saw from him. Peterson was invisible. My greatest fear is that G is loyal and rides Stukes and Peterson, if they underperform, and it costs us a couple games early when the better players Shuler and Roberts are on the bench.. I have seen Shuler on several occasions and you will be in for a treat.. Sooo quick and gets others involved.. One of the best players in the toughest region in the country.. Not a bad recruit at all.. G and co. did a great job
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Post by jellybean on Oct 17, 2014 22:30:03 GMT -5
Pappy deserves a lot of credit. He is the one who pushed G to look at Shuler.
One of the attendees told me that Tony Washington was the leading scorer in the live scrimmage. I have to believe him.
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Post by a10champion15 on Oct 17, 2014 22:30:20 GMT -5
Great to hear about Washington and Yevgen. I also wasn't able to make and actually didn't know about until last minute. Couple questions....
How was the turnout?
In regards to the players
How did Zack's shot look? Really like to hear he hit a few 15 foot shots. Critical that he is confident shooting the ball.
I am really not too worried about Price and Roberts but if you could provide a little more detail what you liked and disliked from Stukes, Shuler, Lewis and Petersen both offensively and defensively I would appreciate it.
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Post by blueandgold on Oct 17, 2014 22:32:57 GMT -5
Re: Shuler - between his talent & HS accolades and realistic expectations for Lewis and Stukes, no surprise to me that Shuler is forcing G to not redshirt him this year. Outside of Price, I am most excited to see Shuler next month.
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Post by manayunk53 on Oct 17, 2014 23:00:35 GMT -5
The turnout was good. About the same as last year. Zack took a couple threes ... Not sure how to feel about that, but one of them did go in.
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Post by manayunk53 on Oct 17, 2014 23:03:13 GMT -5
Lewis made a couple of boneheaded plays, including a turnover so bad it was almost unbelievable. His shot selection was also bad. As far as Peterson goes, if you walked in having never watched La Salle basketball, you might not have noticed a player with a number 1 jersey.
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Post by lwc4591 on Oct 18, 2014 9:24:44 GMT -5
My starting five would be Wright, Zack, Roberts, Price and Shuler. If I were G I would go with Shuler just to take pressure off of A.Stukes because no matter what both are going to see plenty of playing time. You don't do what Shuler did in his final season of high school without being a special player. As far as Lewis goes his time should be 8-10 minutes per game tops and the same goes for Peterson. If you play to win go with your best horses. I really like both Washington and Sauhniuk for the future. G has 6 strong players in Wright, Zack, Shuler, Washington, Price and Roberts. Amar will be fine but let him ease his way in particularly since he hasn't played for awhile. Peterson and Lewis are nice 8 and 9 players off the bench with a lot of experience. J.Davis will see very little time unless somehow he improved dramatically over the past six months. Once again G has proved he has a great eye for talent in landing Washington, Shuler and Sauhniuk.
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Post by lwc4591 on Oct 18, 2014 9:37:24 GMT -5
How could I forget R.Brown who once again this season can always be counted on for good hustle and a solid 10-12 minutes each game to spell either Zack or Wright. A true team player who although not a great player a young man you can always depend on.
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Post by stlexplorer on Oct 18, 2014 9:40:43 GMT -5
The turnout was good. About the same as last year. Zack took a couple threes ... Not sure how to feel about that, but one of them did go in. Must...resist...big...man...shooting....3's....aaric....murray....flash....backs.... I'm fine messing around in scrimmage so hopefully nothing to it but I'd like Steve in the paint and not any further from the hoop
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Post by a10champion15 on Oct 18, 2014 10:00:56 GMT -5
The turnout was good. About the same as last year. Zack took a couple threes ... Not sure how to feel about that, but one of them did go in. Must...resist...big...man...shooting....3's....aaric....murray....flash....backs.... I'm fine messing around in scrimmage so hopefully nothing to it but I'd like Steve in the paint and not any further from the hoop The issue with that is if you have two bigs on the floor who don't shoot its much more difficult to extend a defense. Zack probably shouldn't be shooting threes but he needs to shoot 10 15 foot shots and be confident shooting the ball.
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Post by a10champion15 on Oct 18, 2014 10:52:57 GMT -5
I think DJ has just lost some of the drive to play. If you think he is only going to play 8-10 minutes I would not count on that at all. He probably will play close to 15-20 mins, G is too loyal. Lewis on the other hand I heard both positive and negative things about. I spoke to a couple of my friends about it who I actually believe one of them writes on this board so Dan feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Wrote some of your comments in quotations. Some of the points that were made from him and a couple others were..
"While Lewis had his issues he is going to be a valuable reserve especially defensively where he is a real weapon and he knows how to share the ball. Petersen shouldn't start but be rotated with Lewis as the 6th and 7th man. If G were to use a 4 guard lineup at times they can both be counted on to play their roles. Stukes is exactly what he expected him to be but G isn't doing the kid any favors by hyping him up." He said he would have probably be more impressed if the expectations weren't so high for him. "DJ is the same old DJ which is both a good and bad thing."
Also, hearing the same thing about Shuler. Really happy to hear everyone seems to be really impressed by him. Best quote of the convo "If I had no knowledge of La Salle's team before last night I would have never have guessed Shuler was only a freshmen, his potential is through the roof. One of the quickest guards who can control the ball really well and get to the basket with ease." On Price and Roberts, he told me that they also impressed him but not nearly as much because it is what he expected. "Price is going to be called on to make those critical threes late in the game"
A couple more points both positive and negative
"The team size is a huge advantage." It's kind of funny because he legitimately said some of the same things last night that G has pretty much said. "The team is going to be better defensively and rebounding it is just a matter how well the guards shoot each game. I bet some games we're lights out and other games we have to really depend on Zack and Wright. G's going to really have to make critical in game decisions because there is going to be times he should and shouldn't play Zack and Wright on the floor together. Luckily this team has a lot of options between the guards and our big men. This team has a lot more depth than I seen in awhile." The key for this team is they have to pickup a couple quality wins in the noncon. The positive thing is Virginia and Nova are decent match ups who are probably going to have issues containing Zack and Wright." "Defensively our guards can compete with anyone....or I should say with most guard lineups on our schedule, offensively is where I have concerns with our guards. Shuler and Stukes need to provide Roberts and Price with some offense they can't do it on their own. If we don't come out of the noncon a couple quality wins...that doesn't necessarily mean wins over both Nova and Virginia."
Going forward "Washington and Yevgen are nice pieces to replace Zack and Wright. Washington has the moves just needs to spend time gaining weight. Yevgen is an immediate starter next season. It is a shame he can't be used this year"
So after hearing what I heard we pretty much came to the conclusion that Shuler and Stukes should be rotated in starting but they have to take care of the ball. It wouldn't surprise anyone come A10 play to see them on the floor together. Price and Roberts should start out of the gate. Zack and Wright should also probably start together most games but at times depending on match ups G should use a 4G lineup. Sounds like this team can be really quick. We can beat teams with our size clearly but as already been pounded in we need to beat teams with our guards as well.
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Post by manayunk53 on Oct 18, 2014 13:51:20 GMT -5
I don't know about going four guards a lot with this team. With Tony Washington and Rohan Brown coming off the bench I think it makes sense for this team to only go with three guards almost all the time. Wright is your best offensive player, and Zack is your best defensive player. If they stay out of foul trouble (HUGE IF), I want them on the floor as much as possible.
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Post by La Salle 08 on Oct 19, 2014 17:11:48 GMT -5
In case anyone cares Yevgen is going by Eugene as a more Americanized way to pronounce his name. He is an animal, can't wait to see him play next year. He'll be a crowd favorite for the ladies even siting on the bench I'm sure.
The defense I think is going to be great this year, we are so long and athletic. The offense is the question mark.
Raf was on fire Friday, he is the man.
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Post by manayunk53 on Oct 20, 2014 8:14:53 GMT -5
Raftery rules. He told some pretty great stories too (including one that would not really be considered OK on-the-air).
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Post by 23won on Oct 20, 2014 9:41:54 GMT -5
Here are my thoughts, recognizing that it is really early in the practice cycle.
1) Wright,Zack, Price and Roberts are given starters. The starting PG with those 4 should be picked based on who can create the best matchup against opposing teams. For example, Shuler against the teams with shorter faster PGs (UMass, UR), Lewis against teams with bigger PGs (GW, Bona, SJU) and Amar in between. Each will get time. None in my opinion was clearly better than the others, and each had faults.
2) We should go with one PG at a time. At times, Lewis and Stukes played together and it was pretty awkward. IMO, it's best to have 4 guys who can score and one of the 3 PGs distributing. If they split 13 minutes a game or one guy matches better and gets more minutes some games (20-25), so be it, but G has to drop the loyalty card and go with the best matchup or the hottest hand. This is a luxury, as we typically have one PG who plays too many minutes and is gassed at the games' end. This is a positive and should lead to greater defensive pressure and hopefully fresher offensive sets.
3) The bigs look strong and need to work on finishing around the rim. I am more interested in seeing increased FG percentages this year than SZ hitting a 15 footer, which we really don't need. I agree that Washington looks athletic and definitely will help. Considering he played intramural ball last year, he could really be an asset late in the season with a full year of practice against first teamers.
4) Roberts was the most pleasant surprise. Price didn't impress me as much, but if he can produce like Pettis I will be happy; the old man game Price descriptor comment was spot on. Hopefully, he gets more animated and intense against opposing teams, as he didn't seemed to be going with a full motor.
5) We need to develop an offensive flow. I did not see much, which really concerned me. Hopefully, that gets ironed out and the three headed point guard can operate once a defined offensive scheme is actualy put in place. I hope we are not going back to NBA ball from last year. We need a scheme to get Price open - I do not see him creating his shot. The same can be said for our PGs. Roberts looks like the only guy capable of creating his shot. Jerrell can to a certain extent down low, but A10 teams have figured out how to limit that. We need JW moving to get open and to his credit, he looks quicker and with a better handle this year.
6) This season will define G as a coach. He has a lot of weapons and the best La Salle frontcourt in decades. He has athletic guards. The question is whether he can weave it together and make something greater than the sum of our parts. If he can, it should be interesting. If not, 17 wins will be a stretch.
My biggest suggestion would be that he get all his guys a lot of playing time early. See who can do what and when and use all those pieces. I really hope he doesn't fall into loyalty mode and play a core unit including marginal contributors too much so he can get 9 point wins against lesser opponents. Hopefully he uses those games as a lab to figure out who can produce and when. He also needs to let the young guys have a little slack. They will make mistakes, but they have promise. G can get in their face as he is prone to do, but he must let them play in order to figure this next level of play. If he does, they will pay dividends late, in the same way Miller's young UD players turned in on late last year.
Let the fun begin.
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Post by a10champion15 on Oct 20, 2014 11:24:04 GMT -5
Kjmac
Thanks for the input. I agree for the most part. Can't stress enough how important this season is for G. Shuler and Stukes should benefit from some of the weaker opponents in our noncon. Decent mid major teams should really help them early on with a easy game against Colgate leading to some tougher games against St Peters and @ Quinn. Defense will be the story behind this team not the shooting.
Any thoughts on DJ or Khalid? I heard both positive and negative things both on and off this board from the practice but I am curious what you thought.
Why do you think Steve Zack shouldn't be shooting? I know his percentages aren't great but I'm just curious why you think we should have two bigs on the floor not shooting? I think you already know my thoughts on it.
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