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We won't know how good or bad we will be until several games have been played in the OOC schedule. I hope we play a reasonable OOC schedule against other mid-majors like Pacific, LMU, or Pepperdine so we can build our new team without traveling coast to coast so often. Last year UCI played 7 games in August on an Asian tour and that helped their team gel and they won the regular season title. Other schools have done the same kind of tour in Canada. I don't know what the cost of this would be, but it would help our new roster gel. Here's a link about the August tours.
https://www.flohoops.com/articles/11225722-why-do-college-basketball-teams-take-foreign-tours
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I'm looking at the roster through my Aztec glasses. Long, rangy, defensive and hustle minded, some shooters, tough, a couple big inside bangers. No idea about the total composition, but the individuals seem to fit that mold to some degree.
Player development is a big part of what we should expect, it will be a big focus. I'd love to see a squad that hustles, plays smart and in their lanes, good team concept, and guys develop throughout the season and if they stay, year to year. In this type of system innate skills are important but almost secondary. Biggest concern I have from the individual side so far is shooting. Not a big concern, but I don't see any lights out shooters, yet. Previous Message
Adding to the inexperience is our head coach. The old saying of “moving your seat 18” to the left”. Acker will have numerous in game decisions to be made quickly and effectively. That is a new role for him and will involve a learning curve. Previous Message
I am hopeful and somewhat optimistic. But, saying we are there at this point seems a stretch to me. Clearly, guys like Lloyd and Askew have talent. But, Askew played 6 games last year and 13 the one before, can he stay healthy? Lloyd is probably the recruit I am most excited about, but two years into his college career, he has yet to play a regular season game. Wainwright is probably the most accomplished player coming in, having averaged 10.0 ppg last season. Add in Hart, Lewis and Kam Martin and you have a talented but honestly unproven guard rotation. Of the six, two have no D1 game experience and two have very limited game experience. No one has proven they can carry a D1 offense consistently.
In the frontcourt, we have incoming frosh Nagy, and Juco Richardson with no D1 experience. Add in Xzavierro who is coming off a devastating injury and played a total of 14 D1 games where he averaged 3.6 minutes and 1.7 PPG. Like several of the guards, he looks promising, but is really completely unproven. Eli Djordjevic played in a couple games early last year before getting hurt and frankly did not impress. Only Cam Denson in the frontcourt have any real playing experience at this level. He averaged 8.5 PPG and 4.6 rebounds. Fine numbers, but nothing to make me think he can carry an offense.
So to recap, we have three players so far with any significant D1 experience (Askew, Denson and Wainwright) and a bunch of interesting guys with limited experience. To suggest this is already a good lineup seems seriously optimistic at this point to me. Previous Message
OMG David. Let us wait until the team at least works out together before calling it a good team.
A lot of things have to fall into place before this can be considered a good team.
What happens if the team cemistry is not good. What if they can't get along together or don't particularly like each other.
I certainly hope for and expect the best but I'm not jumping up and down just yet.
2 more to get. Hopefully bigs.
Previous Message
Good team for next year Previous Message
_Do we have too many guards
From every indication I have Nagy is not a walk on. Previous Message
Courtesy of NoCal from the other board:
Guards:
Jason Hart, Jr. So Jr. 6'2 returning
Varik Lewis So 6'2" returning
Devin Askew Sr. 6'3" four star transfer
TJ Wainwright Jr. 6'3" three star transfer
Kameron Martin Fr. 6'4"
Forwards
Ramel Lloyd, So. 6'6" four star transfer
Cam Denson Sr. 6'7" transfer
Eli Djordjevic Fr. 6'8" returning
Andrew Nagy Fr. 6'8" preferred walk on?
Centers
Derrick Xzavierro, So. 6'10" transfer
Chris Richardson So. 7'0" JC Top 50
From above, I'd say another combo guard given Askew's injury history and Lewis and Martin likely needing further development?
Depending on if Nagy is scholie or walk on: 1-2 power forwards to fill the 4/5 positions. This would allow Denson to play the 3/4. As well, the power forwards could cover the 5. This assuming that Xza and Richardson still need time to develop their skill levels. Previous Message
5 guards - 5 s guards and now we need 2 more forwards Previous Message
I haven't kept count but don't we have a lot of guards?
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on 5/10/2024, 8:58 am, in reply to "