Thoughts on Next Year

[theneumann64]

Mar 15, 2019 11:41:11 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

Let's not get too specific about desires for players to leave. I hope they do what they feel is best for them and their basketball careers.

Agreed. I think it's fair to say that given the circumstances, it would SEEM like a few guys are guys you could see transferring, but I don't have any knowledge. It's just speculation. And I'm also not going to "hope" anyone transfers. Each player should make their own decisions based on what's right for them.

[diehardexplorer]

Mar 14, 2019 22:13:24 GMT -5 luhoopsfan said:

Watch Ashley’s presser today, good stuff in there. He called the guys out without being a jerk. My only questions was who he told to sit at the end of the bench if he wasn’t going to play hard.

overall, i was pleased with the job that ashley did this year and he should only get better as he gets more head coaching experience, but looking at yesterday's game, he was as much to blame as the players.  it would have been nice for him to critique himself too.

uri ran a simple pick and roll with either russell or dowtin yesterday and got no less than 9-10 baskets (along with foul shots) off of it.  at least 7 of langevine's 9 baskets were layups/dunks off the pick and roll, along with 5-6 of his free throws.  even if la salle stops half of them, that's 10-12 points and maybe it's not the rout that it was.  

not once did i see an adjustment made to deal with that.  how about throwing a zone at them for a few possessions which might keep russell and dowtin out of the lane?  it never happened. 

this ain't brain surgery.  when something isn't working, try something different.  i felt like i was watching a dr g coached team.

[talkinbball]

A lot of good thoughts here. Mine are we are just not good enough in talent. We need both a best player and a second best player to be among those incoming which is too much to ask. The returning players are just not that talented so room for improvement is limited. The sample on Clark is too limited and, unfortunately, I think Ed is too slow to have the amount of impact some are expecting.

[explorer88]

Mar 15, 2019 12:37:53 GMT -5 talkinbball said:

A lot of good thoughts here. Mine are we are just not good enough in talent. We need both a best player and a second best player to be among those incoming which is too much to ask. The returning players are just not that talented so room for improvement is limited. The sample on Clark is too limited and, unfortunately, I think Ed is too slow to have the amount of impact some are expecting.

I love when talkinbball posts. He sticks to the meat of every discussion and never wanders off.

I agree with the talent. It just isn't there right now. I see your point on Croswell but slow or not he has a nose for the ball. That in itself is something to work with.

As far as Jack Clark, I have seen him numerous times in high school and his time at La Salle. The sample size for Clark is perfectly fine as far as I can tell. Loved him in high school and was very glad he chose La Salle. He can play and you don't come in and in your first 8 collegiate games average double figures and not see the kid has a lot of potential.

[23won]

Here are some thoughts on our players

1) Carter: I like his defensive intensity; offensively, he could step up in the league if he could break down his film on offensive and learn how to make better decisions and effectively finish drives around the lane or at the rim; his shot percentage improved during the year, but it could increase into a good zone if he can focus on shooting in rhythm off of a pass and avoid shooting off the dribble

2) Saul: we won with Saul and that says a lot; I'd like him to (a) hound defenders without getting too touchy because the guy you're defending will fail under that pressure and those touchy fouls come late and put guys on the line and (b) focus shooting his threes more on the arc diagonal from the elbow and less from the top of the key and corner; I like how he brings intensity and passion

Beatty: I like his strength and control on the court; would like to see him focus on shooting in rhythm off of a pass and avoid shooting off the dribble; plays pretty solid D

Moultrie: wish I had seen more of him; Ash looks like he wanted him to be a combo guard; I see him as a pure 2; I thought his D improved a bit this year; would like to see him sprint around screens and double screens to get open looks on the three point arc diagonal from the elbow; love how he sets his feet and I wish he shot all the time in rhythm off of a pass



3) Shaggy: the guy is athletic; need to put on some strength weight and shoot more selectively; D looked netter this year; stay focused

Stretch 4) Clark - I like what I saw; need to strengthen the knee, legs and upper body; can be an A10 star but the body must transform to achieve this

5) Croswell: absolutely love his nose for the ball and ability to rebound; need to learn how to take the ball up quickly down low or off a rebound; often bends in down low with the ball inviting a block; needs to press the shoulders back against his man when facing or near the basket to create space; I don't want him to develop a 14 ' shot - I want him near the hoop; work on the handle so you can get in triple threat position 6-7 feet from the hoop and work on foot speed to get to the hoop from that spot


Jared: great rookie year; work on a mid range shot and a few moves to get from the midrange spot to the hoop; good strength but we need you at French and Langevine level strength

Miles: finishes well around the hoop: needs to work on strength and box out around the rim; Opt for a mid range jumper over a 3

Sullivan - from what I saw a 14-18 foot shot would be awesome


Everyone needs to learn how to pick and then move quickly off that pick!

[jellybean]

IMO, Saul was the MVP and Most Improved Player. I was surprised to see he has averaged 30.5 and 32.1 minutes in the last two seasons. His FG% went from .324 to .388 while still not great is a nice improvement. His 3FG% went from .288 to .394 while trying more attempts. Scoring average went from 6.2 to 11.3.

Beatty improved a lot from the beginning of the year to the end. I think after Saul he is our best on the ball defender. If he continues to improve he will be hard to take minutes away from next year.

Like everyone I was impressed by the young big guys but don't fool yourself they need to get better. We were physically pushed around and out muscled by the VCU's, SLU's and Dayton's in the league. Ash said Kimbrough added 20 pounds of muscle DURING the season which is awesome. He needs to work on his footwork in the post. He has a little 10 foot jumper if you watch the pregame warmups. Would like to see a little more of that this upcoming season. Remember one of the things that was mentioned after he signed was that he had a lot of Stephen Smith in his game. Miles and Ed need to build up their stamina. They need to also hit the weight room. All need to learn to pass the ball from the double team. All need to work on the pick and roll. All need to learn what to do when they get an offensive rebound under the basket and are reluctant to go up strong and at least draw the foul. Too many times they are one foot from the basket and are looking for help and throw it to a guard near the arc ( Traci does this a lot when he gets into trouble when he gets to the lane).

[calsufan]

Mar 16, 2019 6:46:59 GMT -5 jellybean said:

IMO, Saul was the MVP and Most Improved Player. I was surprised to see he has averaged 30.5 and 32.1 minutes in the last two seasons. His FG% went from .324 to .388 while still not great is a nice improvement. His 3FG% went from .288 to .394 while trying more attempts. Scoring average went from 6.2 to 11.3.

Beatty improved a lot from the beginning of the year to the end. I think after Saul he is our best on the ball defender. If he continues to improve he will be hard to take minutes away from next year.

Like everyone I was impressed by the young big guys but don't fool yourself they need to get better. We were physically pushed around and out muscled by the VCU's, SLU's and Dayton's in the league. Ash said Kimbrough added 20 pounds of muscle DURING the season which is awesome. He needs to work on his footwork in the post. He has a little 10 foot jumper if you watch the pregame warmups. Would like to see a little more of that this upcoming season. Remember one of the things that was mentioned after he signed was that he had a lot of Stephen Smith in his game. Miles and Ed need to build up their stamina. They need to also hit the weight room. All need to learn to pass the ball from the double team. All need to work on the pick and roll. All need to learn what to do when they get an offensive rebound under the basket and are reluctant to go up strong and at least draw the foul. Too many times they are one foot from the basket and are looking for help and throw it to a guard near the arc ( Traci does this a lot when he gets into trouble when he gets to the lane).

I'm right there with you about our bigs, particularly the :"...one foot from the basket..." comment. I don't know how many times I was screaming "take it up" when Kimbrough or Croswell got the rebound down low. It drove me crazy. 9 times out of 10 you'll either score the basket or at least draw a foul. It was maddening watching them kick the ball out time and time again.

[23won]

Mar 14, 2019 14:18:49 GMT -5 explorer88 said:

Now is a good time to look at next year to make me forget about this year.

These are just my opinions and thoughts on how we can get better for next season. Some of it may sting some people because I am making assumptions but that is all we have now and what make message board banter the reason most come here.

We have no consistent scoring coming back for next season. That hurts and should alter our expectations for next year. Keith Dambrot has turned Duquesne around in two seasons. Let's see what La Salle has and what we can do.

I respect other poster's opinions on this board so I would be interested in the true basketball analysis follow-up from everyone but I am sure some snarky comments will follow since that is how we do it here.

We just need better players. Plain and simple. If you believe Ash can turn this around you cannot come to any other conclusion. All Ash can do right now is recruit better players and players that fit better with what he wants to do. We need to get bigger and and more athletic. This is a general synopsis

I like our freshman. The entire group. Each has some skills I really like.
I like our recruiting commits for new year. All 3 should see significant time for us.
Spencer is someone I am just not sure about next year just because I haven't watched him but he isn't going anywhere since her just transferred in.
Beatty isn't going anywhere. He is terribly inconsistent right now but something tells he is going to get better (Just a Hunch)
Carter will be here but needs to play 10-15 minutes at most.

That leaves Moultrie, Shaggy, Miles, Sullivan, and Saul.

Moultrie - is a prime transfer candidate. He needs to find himself a better situation.

Shaggy - Will he graduate? I would like to see him graduate and transfer. If he doesn't graduate and transfer and he comes back Ash will need to coach him better and an insist no playing time for mental errors and turnovers. That is all that is stopping him from becoming a good player.

Saul - I think he is a mediocre A-10 player. His value with the fans is extremely overrated just my opinion. I think he is a decent wing defender and can make some shots but is not a great shooter so he will never be consistent and will never be able to score the ball except as a 3 point shooter. He is a junior so I think Ash will keep him instead of screwing him and forcing him out. So move him into the rotation next next year. My hope is Christian Ray is a better player than Saul Phiri in order for us to be successful.

Miles - He is 3000 miles away from home. He lacks the strength and athleticism needed to propel us up the A-10 ladder. If I am Ash I ask him to transfer to a lower level school closer to home. He seems like a kid everyone likes so perhaps that doesn't happen but Ash is better with the scholarship IMO.

Sullivan - He should transfer one would think. Not playing and we could really use the scholarship.

So right now we are one scholarship over when we look at 2019-2020. At most we could see 4 transfers but most likely 2 IMO. That would allow ASH to take a grad transfer who could be asked to score for us. Makes us more attractive in the transfer market when we are asking someone to be our main scorer. If we get another scholarship I really would like Ash to get a true rim protector. I don't care if he can score. Just get someone to alter shots and keep people from attacking the rim all of the time.

Thoughts?

We are essentially the same team with Ash as where we were 3 years ago, except Moore has some moves in the paint and has improved. Read it and weep.

[23won]

Mar 14, 2019 16:23:19 GMT -5 23won said:

Mar 14, 2019 14:18:49 GMT -5 explorer88 said:

Now is a good time to look at next year to make me forget about this year.

 

We just need better players. Plain and simple. If you believe Ash can turn this around you cannot come to any other conclusion. All Ash can do right now is recruit better players and players that fit better with what he wants to do. We need to get bigger and and more athletic. This is a general synopsis

I like our freshman. The entire group - Clark, Croswell, Jared 

Spencer
Beatty 
Carter 

Moultrie, Shaggy, Miles, Sullivan, and Saul.

Saul Phiri in order for us to be successful.

Miles - He is 3000 miles away from home. He lacks the strength and athleticism needed to propel us up the A-10 ladder. If I am Ash I ask him to transfer to a lower level school closer to home. He seems like a kid everyone likes so perhaps that doesn't happen but Ash is better with the scholarship IMO.

Fair analysis.  Not a whole lot to differ over but will add some thoughts around the edges.

I agree and do like most of the players coming back, but honestly we don't have the talent to win the league or go to the dance.  I wouldn't act like a nice guy - it won't get you or the program anywhere.  I'd act like a man on a mission.

If I were Coach I would try to bring in transfers that could elevate the program. I wouldn't chase players out unless the incoming transfers could help turn the ship, but if they could, I would do it and I would change 4 players if I could improve. I'd treat it like my butt was on the line and I didn't have four of five years left, instead I would add talent and develop players like I had one year to prove I was worthy of a renewal.  Most schools experience turnover, and that turnover goes up when new coaches inherit lineups. I don't see us being any different and hope Ash can bring in some additional difference makers and coach up the returning crew that he wants to build a team around.  Out of respect for the players who work their butt off I am not going to do a list of those four players, but I will say the following.

Our bigs really need to hit the weight and training room to up their aggressiveness against bigs. They also need to be coached up on offensive moves in the paint. Langevine, French, Hughes and Toppin are back next year. We got dominated by them but quite frankly, would any of those three start for a top 25 team? This is how big our gap is and how big the challenge is here. 

Our guards who handle the rock have shown the tendency to be clueless in driving the lane to generate shots or dish to open looks.  Our spacing has been less than desirable and we do a really lousy job setting picks and rolling off the pick.  We did a better job with ball movement around the perimeter as the year went on but unless you can drive or pick with a purpose, you will not succeed.  That is why we (and our offense in particular) was so inconsistent this year.

Would love a tough sinewy player like Ramon but 3" taller, as an eligible transfer to play next year (whether a grad transfer or a loose local hardship a  la Beatty).  We need to beef up toughness all around and we definitely need more depth at the 6-7 spot.  My wish list for 4 transfers would be

2 6-7ish players who could defend, have a decent handle to drive to the rim and shoot 3s at 34% or better in A10 play

If Hikim isn't ready, a strong point guard  with a high IQ who could do what we lacked doing this year (as noted above)

Backfill the difference with 6-4ish  players that defend, have a decent handle to drive to the rim and shoot 3s at 34% or better in A10 play;  if we whiff on the 6-7 types, I'd add 2 of these.  If you can't set up an ideal lineup with the additions above, you can improve fast in the A10 by adding the 6-4ish players noted above.

 

We are essentially the same team with Ash as where we were 3 years ago, except Moore has some moves in the paint and has improved. Read it and weep.