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Post by a10champion15 on Dec 16, 2020 16:54:34 GMT -5
Can we win any A10 games this season?? I'm very confused by this comment. This wasn't a wire to wire blow out nor is a lose to UMass terrible from an optics perspective. We got beat by a much better team, that completely took over in the 2nd half. UMass was a dark horse entering the season, nearly every A10 media/twitter has made the case for this. If UMass plays the way they did today they are fighting for a double bye. La Salle currently projected to win 6 conference games. I'd say they win 5 to 8. I think that's fair and I also think this team going to improve over the course of the season. They really don't have all these holes like a team such as GW or Fordham. This isn't the year for La Salle whatsoever. It's all about setting up for the next two years.
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Post by diehardexplorer on Dec 16, 2020 17:06:06 GMT -5
Can we win any A10 games this season?? I'm very confused by this comment. This wasn't a wire to wire blow out nor is a lose to UMass terrible from an optics perspective. We got beat by a much better team, that completely took over in the 2nd half. UMass was a dark horse entering the season, nearly every A10 media/twitter has made the case for this. If UMass plays the way they did today they are fighting for a double bye. La Salle currently projected to win 6 conference games. I'd say they win 5 to 8. I think that's fair and I also think this team going to improve over the course of the season. They really don't have all these holes like a team such as GW or Fordham. This isn't the year for La Salle whatsoever. It's all about setting up for the next two years. you're overrating umass. mitchell is very good but what he did today was an embarrassment to our interior defense. it was nonexistent. everyone does realize that umass lost to northeastern a few days ago and mitchell was held to 10 points and 8 rebounds. umassathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2020-21/northeastern/boxscore/12448
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Post by a10champion15 on Dec 16, 2020 17:57:01 GMT -5
I'm very confused by this comment. This wasn't a wire to wire blow out nor is a lose to UMass terrible from an optics perspective. We got beat by a much better team, that completely took over in the 2nd half. UMass was a dark horse entering the season, nearly every A10 media/twitter has made the case for this. If UMass plays the way they did today they are fighting for a double bye. La Salle currently projected to win 6 conference games. I'd say they win 5 to 8. I think that's fair and I also think this team going to improve over the course of the season. They really don't have all these holes like a team such as GW or Fordham. This isn't the year for La Salle whatsoever. It's all about setting up for the next two years. you're overrating umass. mitchell is very good but what he did today was an embarrassment to our interior defense. it was nonexistent. everyone does realize that umass lost to northeastern a few days ago and mitchell was held to 10 points and 8 rebounds. umassathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2020-21/northeastern/boxscore/12448Time will only tell. I certainly can be. I think they're going to be an NIT team top 75ish. The Northeastern lose isn't good for sure but Mitchell had a bad game. A few days before they beat them from wire to wire. Our defense wasn't good today. Part of that is that we just didn't have anyone to match Tre Mitchell and the players around him delivered as a result. Our defense this year and last year hasn't been the problem so I'm hoping this is more of an outlier. If we can get more of a defensive performance closer to our game against drexel, our offensive performance today and clean up our free throws and turnovers this team won't end with a terrible record. Again, we don't have all these glaring holes just a few key areas that MUST improve.
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Post by calsufan on Dec 16, 2020 17:58:58 GMT -5
I'm very confused by this comment. This wasn't a wire to wire blow out nor is a lose to UMass terrible from an optics perspective. We got beat by a much better team, that completely took over in the 2nd half. UMass was a dark horse entering the season, nearly every A10 media/twitter has made the case for this. If UMass plays the way they did today they are fighting for a double bye. La Salle currently projected to win 6 conference games. I'd say they win 5 to 8. I think that's fair and I also think this team going to improve over the course of the season. They really don't have all these holes like a team such as GW or Fordham. This isn't the year for La Salle whatsoever. It's all about setting up for the next two years. you're overrating umass. mitchell is very good but what he did today was an embarrassment to our interior defense. it was nonexistent. everyone does realize that umass lost to northeastern a few days ago and mitchell was held to 10 points and 8 rebounds. umassathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2020-21/northeastern/boxscore/12448Or Mitchell had a bad game against Northeastern, sort of like Obi Toppin did last year against Grambling when he scored 8 points in 28 minutes. Mitchell's good and he's capable of going off like that. UMass is a better team than La Salle? 19 points better? No, they're not, but players and teams have clunkers and doing a one off like you did is disingenuous.
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Post by calsufan on Dec 16, 2020 18:00:30 GMT -5
Can we win any A10 games this season?? Yes. A handful (5 to 6 is my guess).
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Post by coachd on Dec 16, 2020 18:34:18 GMT -5
Who is coaching Maine this year? We may have an opening soon!
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Post by a10champion15 on Dec 16, 2020 18:41:23 GMT -5
Who is coaching Maine this year? We may have an opening soon! Trolls will be trolls
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Post by explorer88 on Dec 16, 2020 19:08:39 GMT -5
Or Mitchell had a bad game against Northeastern, sort of like Obi Toppin did last year against Grambling when he scored 8 points in 28 minutes. Mitchell's good and he's capable of going off like that. UMass is a better team than La Salle? 19 points better? No, they're not, but players and teams have clunkers and doing a one off like you did is disingenuous. La Salle has a lot of clunkers. This was far from a one off. More like par for the course. We don’t have a Mitchell. We also have no consistency and haven’t for some time. I wish someone could point out the light at the end of the tunnel because I don’t see it and I don’t think others do either.
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Dec 16, 2020 19:25:08 GMT -5
I wish someone could point out the light at the end of the tunnel because I don’t see it and I don’t think others do either. sometimes the light at the end of a tunnel is an oncoming train...
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Post by a10champion15 on Dec 16, 2020 20:53:28 GMT -5
Or Mitchell had a bad game against Northeastern, sort of like Obi Toppin did last year against Grambling when he scored 8 points in 28 minutes. Mitchell's good and he's capable of going off like that. UMass is a better team than La Salle? 19 points better? No, they're not, but players and teams have clunkers and doing a one off like you did is disingenuous. La Salle has a lot of clunkers. This was far from a one off. More like par for the course. We don’t have a Mitchell. We also have no consistency and haven’t for some time. I wish someone could point out the light at the end of the tunnel because I don’t see it and I don’t think others do either. This is a good point. Probably the most important aspect this team is missing is someone to emerge as the Tre Mitchell for La Salle. It doesn't necessarily have to be a player who is POY candidate but a 1st or a couple 2nd A10 team players. The team has depth. It's hard to find any A10 teams that go 9 players deep averaging over 5+ points a game, currently there are only 2 other teams. Last year, there was no one in sight of that. This year you have guys like Brickus, Clark and Gill who show a TON of potential. I'm also interested to see what Ray does as an upperclassmen. His analytics today were quite good. I'm disappointed in how Hikim has played cause I believe he can be a better player. This is why I'm not that pessimistic. Odds are in favor for Ash given his roster...the question is can he develop these guys? We aren't going to know until probably conference play of next year. If he fails to develop this sophomore and freshmen class I'll have major concerns.
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Post by milkoliverwurst on Dec 16, 2020 21:23:28 GMT -5
After reading all of the comments, I am saddened by the resignation I hear from so many. Whether or not UMASS was the better team is irrelevant. Clearly they are. We should not just accept that fact. It's year 3 of a coach who came with a lot of hype and has shown us absolutely nothing. No semblance of an offense. No ability to adjust in game. Coach just lost the highest rated recruit La Salle has had in years because of his inability to develop talent. Can anyone name one player who has shown any real improvement in the past 2+ seasons? I've seen more regression than anything. It's disheartening. It's frustrating. Our wins come against lesser teams from lesser conferences and we view those wins as progress when in reality they are simply mirages which disguise the fact that we are a mess of a basketball team. It's year 3 of the Ashley Howard era. We are not where we should be. Every team is dealing with Covid restrictions. That's no excuse. I expected a lot more.
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Post by explorer88 on Dec 16, 2020 21:50:04 GMT -5
After reading all of the comments, I am saddened by the resignation I hear from so many. Whether or not UMASS was the better team is irrelevant. Clearly they are. We should not just accept that fact. It's year 3 of a coach who came with a lot of hype and has shown us absolutely nothing. No semblance of an offense. No ability to adjust in game. Coach just lost the highest rated recruit La Salle has had in years because of his inability to develop talent. Can anyone name one player who has shown any real improvement in the past 2+ seasons? I've seen more regression than anything. It's disheartening. It's frustrating. Our wins come against lesser teams from lesser conferences and we view those wins as progress when in reality they are simply mirages which disguise the fact that we are a mess of a basketball team. It's year 3 of the Ashley Howard era. We are not where we should be. Every team is dealing with Covid restrictions. That's no excuse. I expected a lot more. Agreed. I can’t hide my disappointment with where we are in Ash’s tenure. I don’t see the ton of potential others see in our players. I see 4 players I like their game but do not see anyone special except a slight chance Jig is.. I see perhaps 4 decent contributors if they reach their potential but are there any first team A-10 players in this program? I don’t think so but we will see in 4 years. The coaching is far from an improvement over G. Their is nothing the program is doing to make it self better or attractive to players. Ash had a shine when we hired him because he coached under Jay Wright. The more he loses or is just okay at La Salle the less his shine becomes. That is worrisome. The La Salle optimist in me hopes Ash makes me eat my words but as I said earlier I don’t have the optimism to hold on to any longer. We are not talented enough, disciplined enough, or loaded enough with incoming players for me to feel this is going to change any time soon. I hope I am wrong because we all deserve to have a better program but to Milko’s point I am surprised at the continued reluctance to be more critical of the program given it’s continued dismal performance. Perhaps I am just getting beat down going through so Many years of this while others are younger and haven’t endured the misery as long. Whatever the reason is, no one can deny what we are doing now isn’t Working and we are not improving......at all.
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Post by diehardexplorer on Dec 16, 2020 22:11:40 GMT -5
Or Mitchell had a bad game against Northeastern, sort of like Obi Toppin did last year against Grambling when he scored 8 points in 28 minutes. Mitchell's good and he's capable of going off like that. UMass is a better team than La Salle? 19 points better? No, they're not, but players and teams have clunkers and doing a one off like you did is disingenuous. so what if mitchell had a bad game against northeastern. i was talking about the umass team, not just him. i'll make sure i check with you before i post from now on. who the fuck are you calling disingenuous.
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Post by a10champion15 on Dec 16, 2020 22:26:40 GMT -5
It's fair to criticize Ash for each game whether it's how the offense is being run or the rotations, etc.. However, the overall generalizations about Ash's time with La Salle being a disappointment are beyond premature, it's frankly incomplete. If you're expectation was that Ash would have a strong team 6 games into year 3 of his tenure I don't know what to tell you.
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Post by explorer88 on Dec 16, 2020 22:35:34 GMT -5
It's fair to criticize Ash for each game whether it's how the offense is being run or the rotations, etc.. However, the overall generalizations about Ash's time with La Salle being a disappointment are beyond premature, it's frankly incomplete. If you're expectation was that Ash would have a strong team 6 games into year 3 of his tenure I don't know what to tell you. I guess this is directed at me. I didn’t say strong team. My contention is in year three there is no identity, little court discipline, little role definition, and a program that has nothing to hang it’s hat on. I am all for giving a coach time but in year three there should be some groundwork laid for a program that is on the rise. Does anyone actually think that? If so I have a bridge I want to sell them.
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Post by milkoliverwurst on Dec 16, 2020 22:36:59 GMT -5
It's fair to criticize Ash for each game whether it's how the offense is being run or the rotations, etc.. However, the overall generalizations about Ash's time with La Salle being a disappointment are beyond premature, it's frankly incomplete. If you're expectation was that Ash would have a strong team 6 games into year 3 of his tenure I don't know what to tell you. Year 3 means Ash has had two full recruiting classes. These are his guys. This is his team. It's been a failure thus far. What's most disappointing is there had been no improvement. No development. They are no better than they were in G's last season. This is a results oriented business. If you're content with what you are seeing on the court then you're blind to reality and drowning in complacency and denial.
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Post by a10champion15 on Dec 16, 2020 22:47:54 GMT -5
It's fair to criticize Ash for each game whether it's how the offense is being run or the rotations, etc.. However, the overall generalizations about Ash's time with La Salle being a disappointment are beyond premature, it's frankly incomplete. If you're expectation was that Ash would have a strong team 6 games into year 3 of his tenure I don't know what to tell you. I guess this is directed at me. I didn’t say strong team. My contention is in year three there is no identity, little court discipline, little role definition, and a program that has nothing to hang it’s hat on. I am all for giving a coach time but in year three there should be some groundwork laid for a program that is on the rise. Does anyone actually think that? If so I have a bridge I want to sell them. There was a few of you, your's was just the most recent comment. Meant no disrespect. but yes, I think Ash is setting the groundwork. Will it work out I don't know. The guy was a top tier hire and would be today if he was still an assistant on Nova. I don't know what the odds are La Salle lands a guy of that caliber again. I want to see how it plays out.
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Dec 16, 2020 22:52:01 GMT -5
If I'm remembering correctly, Ash's specialty at Villanova was recruiting, and there is no doubt he has recruited well here. The underclassmen he recruited seem generally stronger than what we had in the past. What I'm not seeing is his ability to develop the players, get them to play hard for a full 40 minutes, and make in-game adjustments needed to win with those pieces he recruited. He is learning how to be a head coach while on the job. Why am I still holding my breath whenever we call a timeout and have an inbounds play? Why did he have no game plan for Tre Mitchell today?
We had the pieces to be competitive with a St. John's and beat an Army and a St. Peter's, and we didn't. Those last 2 should be gimme games for an Atlantic 10 team.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2020 22:52:22 GMT -5
Please re-read what I wrote. Pay particular attention to the first sentence. I know you can do it . See what is there and not what you want to see. BTW, the other day you called this game and how Mitchell would dominate. Hell, why let a clear as day statement like " Today, we got beat by a better team, but i have no idea how much better as the way the refs called this game just took us completely out of it." get in the way of a preset agenda? You missed the “BUT” sure. Maybe it wasn’t blaming it entirely on the refs. But to even suggest it’d be a game with better officiating is a joke. No game is called perfectly. Whether we win or lose. So maybe it was only a 14 point game because they gave UMASS one? But they also probably missed one or two that would have given Mitchell free throws. When you look at this game, the refs should not even factor into the evaluation. They had better players. Our defense was lacking. Our interior defense is alarmingly thin and we don’t (for the most part) make winning plays.
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Post by explorer88 on Dec 16, 2020 23:07:03 GMT -5
I guess this is directed at me. I didn’t say strong team. My contention is in year three there is no identity, little court discipline, little role definition, and a program that has nothing to hang it’s hat on. I am all for giving a coach time but in year three there should be some groundwork laid for a program that is on the rise. Does anyone actually think that? If so I have a bridge I want to sell them. There was a few of you, your's was just the most recent comment. Meant no disrespect. but yes, I think Ash is setting the groundwork. Will it work out I don't know. The guy was a top tier hire and would be today if he was still an assistant on Nova. I don't know what the odds are La Salle lands a guy of that caliber again. I want to see how it plays out. No disrespect taken. I don’t have the same optimism you have. Simple as that. I wish I did as it would be much easier to follow the program. At some point the progress should show on the scoreboard. I am wondering when that will be.
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Post by calsufan on Dec 16, 2020 23:09:22 GMT -5
Or Mitchell had a bad game against Northeastern, sort of like Obi Toppin did last year against Grambling when he scored 8 points in 28 minutes. Mitchell's good and he's capable of going off like that. UMass is a better team than La Salle? 19 points better? No, they're not, but players and teams have clunkers and doing a one off like you did is disingenuous. so what if mitchell had a bad game against northeastern. i was talking about the umass team, not just him. i'll make sure i check with you before i post from now on. who the fuck are you calling disingenuous. If you're not sure who I called disingenuous, I suggest you reread my post.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2020 0:01:20 GMT -5
It's fair to criticize Ash for each game whether it's how the offense is being run or the rotations, etc.. However, the overall generalizations about Ash's time with La Salle being a disappointment are beyond premature, it's frankly incomplete. If you're expectation was that Ash would have a strong team 6 games into year 3 of his tenure I don't know what to tell you. I agree. Criticism post game is fair. Praise post game is fair after a win as well. However, there are a few things that don’t sit too well when we talk about optimism. 1. Development- he does have a bunch of his guys. Brickus looks really good. Gill is definitely showing early promise. And Moore is kinda what I expected from a big 10 player with his frame. However, last year I said the same things about Hikim, Kenney, Ray and Stone. Stone is obviously gone, but Hikim and Kenney don’t look any better now than 365 days ago. 2. Depth- the front court is DEPLETED. Moore and JK are really the only non guards on the team (Tegra is so early but does not look good). JK does not fit in Ash’s vision, IMO so you really just have Moore. 3. Discipline- again, awful passing. Turnovers. Not boxing out. Not sticking to training when it comes to defensive principals. Low accountability. Poor free throw shooting. These are all things that should happen by year 3. You’ll never win without having those 3 things. They all feel like things that are fairly attainable for most coaches at any level. Again, I feel the disappointment after this game. But because of the aforementioned deficiencies, I’ve come to expect it.
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Post by vital on Dec 17, 2020 0:02:58 GMT -5
Can we win any A10 games this season?? I'm very confused by this comment. This wasn't a wire to wire blow out nor is a lose to UMass terrible from an optics perspective. We got beat by a much better team, that completely took over in the 2nd half. UMass was a dark horse entering the season, nearly every A10 media/twitter has made the case for this. If UMass plays the way they did today they are fighting for a double bye. La Salle currently projected to win 6 conference games. I'd say they win 5 to 8. I think that's fair and I also think this team going to improve over the course of the season. They really don't have all these holes like a team such as GW or Fordham. This isn't the year for La Salle whatsoever. It's all about setting up for the next two years. Last year they lost twice to UMASS and Mitchell respectively had 19pts 6reb and 24pts 4reb in 2 games...No confusion teams in the A10 are also getting better...
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Post by victoriouslasalle on Dec 17, 2020 7:02:07 GMT -5
Hell, why let a clear as day statement like " Today, we got beat by a better team, but i have no idea how much better as the way the refs called this game just took us completely out of it." get in the way of a preset agenda? You missed the “BUT” sure. Maybe it wasn’t blaming it entirely on the refs. But to even suggest it’d be a game with better officiating is a joke. No game is called perfectly. Whether we win or lose. So maybe it was only a 14 point game because they gave UMASS one? But they also probably missed one or two that would have given Mitchell free throws. When you look at this game, the refs should not even factor into the evaluation. They had better players. Our defense was lacking. Our interior defense is alarmingly thin and we don’t (for the most part) make winning plays. "They had better players. Our defense was lacking. Our interior defense is alarmingly thin and we don’t (for the most part) make winning plays." I can agree with all of this. "But to even suggest it’d be a game with better officiating is a joke. No game is called perfectly. Whether we win or lose." Sorry disagree here, first, you suggest I suggest it would be a game if... this is not what I was saying. Please re-read. I was angry however with the officiating that I saw and felt the need to call it out. I am looking for relatively fair, even handed not perfect. It was not a joke to me. I honestly felt it was a factor in their margin of victory as I tried to say and my sense of how bad we might be at this time. "When you look at this game, the refs should not even factor into the evaluation." Disagree with this. For me it is helpful to consider all factors that can contribute to an outcome. Try it sometime .
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MisterD
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Post by MisterD on Dec 17, 2020 9:20:51 GMT -5
I don't think its dramatic to say it would have been a better game if Moore and Kimbrough had been able to play more than a combined 26 minutes.
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Post by 23won on Dec 17, 2020 10:04:29 GMT -5
I did not see the UMAss game but from the boxscore and the posts during the game, I won't rush to judgment on Ash. I do think the trajectory of this year's team will be set by A10 game #6 so I think it's best to fine tune the core lineup for the remaining OOC games and have a pretty firm lineup by the January A10 games. MD will be an interesting test.
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Post by a10champion15 on Dec 17, 2020 11:07:40 GMT -5
I agree. Criticism post game is fair. Praise post game is fair after a win as well. However, there are a few things that don’t sit too well when we talk about optimism. 1. Development- he does have a bunch of his guys. Brickus looks really good. Gill is definitely showing early promise. And Moore is kinda what I expected from a big 10 player with his frame. However, last year I said the same things about Hikim, Kenney, Ray and Stone. Stone is obviously gone, but Hikim and Kenney don’t look any better now than 365 days ago. 2. Depth- the front court is DEPLETED. Moore and JK are really the only non guards on the team (Tegra is so early but does not look good). JK does not fit in Ash’s vision, IMO so you really just have Moore. 3. Discipline- again, awful passing. Turnovers. Not boxing out. Not sticking to training when it comes to defensive principals. Low accountability. Poor free throw shooting. These are all things that should happen by year 3. You’ll never win without having those 3 things. They all feel like things that are fairly attainable for most coaches at any level. Again, I feel the disappointment after this game. But because of the aforementioned deficiencies, I’ve come to expect it. 1. You're right, the development has to get there. We definitely need to see more from Hikim and Kenney. I expected them to be better. We will see what they look like come the end of the season. 2. I agree, Jared just doesn't fit the team and he isn't an A10 level player. Moore is going to be very good, it's just can he stay on the court for as long as we need him, probably not. I'm not as concerned about PF or Cs cause I think the A10 is a guard oriented conference but we definitely need another serviceable big. 3. Agreed on the displicine. I'm not happy with their free throw shooting, it doesn't make sense how it can be as bad as it is. I think the passing and turnovers improve as the Brickus and Hikim hopefully develop and chemistry builds. We will see...
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Post by belfieldbully on Dec 17, 2020 11:28:58 GMT -5
I think one thing that goes understated is that La Salle might have THE WORST facilities on the east coast. Recruits coming into Gola vs going into any other school on a visit La Salle is already at an extreme disadvantage. That being said, the quality players Ash has brought in given the circumstances trend slightly higher IMO.
Incoming players: Shepard is a high major athlete. The AAU circuit not happening this year benefitted us because if he had a great spring/summer, I thought he could have gone AAC, even possibly Big East for his potential. This was a great get for the program and I think he has the potential to be a big time player.
Starting from the latest recruiting class: Brickus and Gill have shown flashes of potential All Conference potential. Izay is a project but given that he did not have a summer of strength and conditioning I will give that a pass. I would like to see his body make the jump similar like the jump Ed made from his the end of freshman year to the start of sophomore year. I don't expect to see much from Ward due to the face that he was supposed to redshirt so I'll consider that a wash for this year.
The previous recruiting class: I don't expect much more than backups out of this class. Ray is the student athlete that every coach dreams of but I am not sure if he is an A10 caliber player. He is a tweener of a big and a guard, I'm not sure I've seen a player at 6'5 take as many jump hooks as he has. Ayinde can be a solid backup guard due to his defense and explosiveness but his lack of jumpshot and turnovers are a killer. Kenney I believe is naturally a gifted basketball player (him being previously ranked a 4 star recruit backs this up) but my concern is that he does not buy into the system. As for Stone, he is no longer in the program but if you look at his high school competition he did not play against high level competition. I would not put him leaving all on the coaching staff there could have been a bunch of factors in the decision (basketball or non-basketball related). Plus the fact that he found a new school in less than 72 hours is quite interesting..
Transfers: Spencer is what he was advertised out of high school, a pure shooter. I believe once the team plays more games he will get into a rhythm like he did last year because remember we are only a few games in. Beatty, another guy that had hype coming out of high school, the numbers show he is better off the bench and I would like to see him embrace a Ty Garland 6th man role off the bench. The final transfer Moore, I believe he is an All Defensive Big in the league. There are not many guys with his length and mobility in the league, plus showing (in a small sample size) his ability to knock down the three fits the system.
As for Ash, I believe that he is building something within our program but there are things I would like to see improved. More in game adjustments, less tinkering with the lineups, and letting his guys take over the reigns etc. In an ideal world my line-up would be:
Starters: Brickus (30-35 mpg) Gill (25-30 mpg) Clark (30-35 mpg) Spencer (20-30 mpg) Moore (20-30 mpg)
6th: Beatty (25mpg) 7th: Kenney (18-20 mpg) 8th: Hikim (15-18 mpg) 9th: Ray (10-15 mpg)
I would have Kimbrough come in whenever Moore needs a breather or is in foul trouble and give Izay some minutes if both are in foul trouble.
A tough pill to swallow is that we will be in the bottom four in the A10 this year. It is hard remain optimistic because of the new transfer rules, some of the guys may decide to transfer and play somewhere else right away(while keeping their remaining eligibility). However, if we keep our guys and keep improving I believe this can be a middle/upper-middle program in the A10. As mentioned at the top of this soliloquy, given the circumstances of our school's financial situation and facilities this is an extremely tough job but I DO believe that Ash will be the guy to turn it around. Let's face it, we have a coach that is respected nationally, is from the area and has connections throughout the city. While it may be disappointing him not getting Philly guys, I think that's more on Philly kids wanting to get away from the city (given the state of violence in the city I don't blame them but that is a different conversation). He has shown that he can get talented players to come to the school and if we keep winning that will only continue to improve.
However... if we don't take that next step and the conference continues to improve.. we may be joining a conferences the rhymes with Black.
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Dec 17, 2020 11:29:57 GMT -5
It is fair, 6 games in, to ask, "Are we where we expected to be?"
St. John's - below expectations with sloppy play, turnovers, and FT shooting. Wasn't expecting a W, but expected to see more
St. Peter's - below expectations; expected a win
Army - below expectations; expected a win
Lincoln U - Met expectations with a W
Drexel - Met expectations with a W
UMass - below expectations; met them in the first half but did not play the full 40 with intensity; had no game plan for Mitchell; lost by higher margins than last year. Again, wasn't expecting a win but expected to see more.
20% of the season is done at this point. If this was Ash's first year, then these results wouldn't be too alarming, but we are in year 3. Do we wait two more years? That feels like our mantra all the time.
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Post by walkon on Dec 17, 2020 12:11:32 GMT -5
I don’t think anyone realizes just how hard it is to build a program, here. We are competing in a league where we have hands down the worst facilities, in an urban environment that isn’t necessarily the most appealing. Sure, we can put together some competitive teams. But until we address the major issues of this program, we will never see sustainable success, especially in this conference. That doesn’t make up for missed free-throw‘s, reckless passing, etc. but I think looking at the larger picture this is certainly a continuing trend. Just my two cents.
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