Oso planning to go pro
www.theresourcenexus.com/2022-2023-big-east-college-basketball-preview/I hope TK doesn't see their take.
I would take the Rick SLU program right now.
May be an outside perspective, but its definitely fair to say Shaka's offseason was a snoozer; the roster probably deserves a bottom 3 pick. Let's hope Shaka shows a better job developing his talent than our last HC did. Looking forward to the season!
ElonI said months ago that I thought Shaka retaining the entire roster, minus Lewis, was very impressive. At that time, I said if any of the returning guys were new incoming transfers, we would have been excited to have them. My bar is higher going into this year than it was a year ago.
I knew we could count on you to show up for this thread and bitch. Same old, same old. At least you have not-so far-wondered why we were not picked last because "I haven't seen this team perform on the floor yet" like you did last year. I nominate you for president of the Mopes. Anyone second the motion?
I agree Goose. That 9th place finish prediction is going to be harped on and used as motivation. I think we will see incredible effort from this team, and believe our 6-10 guys are as talented as any bench we've had in awhile.
This exactly. As a sophomore, Kam comes in with similar usage at higher efficiency than Lewis had. I expect him to be a better scoring option (not necessarily high point volume) than Justin was.Transfers like Tyler tend to bounce back in terms of efficiency and scoring, and he's become the best distributor in the league.I expect Oso and O-Max to be better versions of what Kur and O-Max were a year ago.In general, people are looking too much at the prolific (but not very high efficiency) names we lost and not what we brought back. If you compare this year's roster with last year's at the same point in time, this year is better.
If I had to wager, I’d bet this resourcenexus guy is either a bad sports gambler or a failed day-trader.
I said months ago that I thought Shaka retaining the entire roster, minus Lewis, was very impressive. At that time, I said if any of the returning guys were new incoming transfers, we would have been excited to have them. My bar is higher going into this year than it was a year ago.
I am going to subscribe to this as it matches my thoughts/expectations. If efficiency scales with more minutes for Kam that is going to do a lot from the scoring side. Moreover, Tyler bouncing back in terms of efficiency and scoring is probably the biggest help to the team overall--if they can't sag on him and he can keep people honest with 3pt and a mid range, then the floor opens up for Oso (who in his own right is more mobile than Kur). O-Max is my wild card. He might just be a slightly better version than last year, but I think we see him come into his own this year when he puts it together on both sides of the floor.
A lot of Kolek's overall positive assist numbers come from the stretch of pick and roll dominance with him and Oso. Once teams figured out how to stop that, his numbers and overall offensive efficiency nosedived. He needs a big step up in his shooting to maintain those high assist numbers and keep defenses honest. He's definitely capable of that as he was able to do that at George Mason his freshman year. Just needs to prove he can do it consistently or defenses will find it simpler to limit his success.
That's what I was alluding to for sure. Success with shooting should lead to the PnR feasting for TK. It's a lot to ask of a player, but I think if anyone can do it, it's probably him. I also think that using a 2 ball handler system (TK+ Stevie; TK+ Sean Jones) allows TK to be a set shooter a times which can help twofold: (i) give him the confidence of seeing the ball drop early (if I remember correctly, he shot well from set shots as the season went on) and (ii) the made set shots will keep a defense honest in thinking he is a "shooter" and not being able to sag (thus allowing the PnR feasting, hopefully). In an ideal world, he also hits a few shots off the dribble to really hammer down the mindset created by number (ii).
Our 3 "Juniors" and 4 "Sophs" have 3 seasons of eligibility left counting this season. If Shaka can keep at least 5 or 6 of those players over the '24 and '25 seasons I would expect the coach's poll would have us in the upper half of the league. What surprises me is that the coach's have such a low regard of our players compared to the rest of the league.
Maybes 'apples and oranges' but TCU had a yawner of an off season, picked 7 in the BIG XII and not predicted to go to a bowl. How's that working out for them?
The last paragraph tells you everything you need to know about this site."More off seasons like this, and Shaka Smart will likely wear out his welcome at his second school pretty soon."1) The season hasn't even started. How can they call this an off season?2) Marquette isn't Shaka's 2nd school.
They did hire the program's first new coach in more than 20 years.