MUScoop

Ok, lets start this and see what happens. I think that if the team comes together, we could be an NCAA Tournament team. We have a lot of work to do and our parts have to fit. But I'm bullish on our five returnees and I think the four we have coming in plus Wally will be a huge lift.

Yes, I know they are freshmen, but I think our four are good enough to get us back into the close games and over the top. Are we a 1 and 2 seed next year? No, but we should make it as a 6 to 9 seed with a few good breaks.

I'm dying for next year to start!

I couldn't respond because National Champs wasn't an option.

Quote from: MU82 on March 10, 2015, 10:00:07 PM
I couldn't respond because National Champs wasn't an option.

FIXED!

Put the weed down, for now!

I say NCAA but barely.  The team will struggle early in the year because the Freshmen will be... Freshmen.  5 game winning streak to finish the conference season plus 2 wins in big east tournament gets them 22 wins and a 12 seed.

NIT

Expect low seed NCAA. Ellenson, Fish & Steve can do damage and Duane should be more consistent.

Quote from: dgies9156 on March 10, 2015, 10:01:10 PM
FIXED!

Put the weed down, for now!

Nice!

Now, how come "First of Four Straight National Titles" wasn't an option?

Good weed. Really, really good weed!

9-12 seed in NCAAs. Henry's team from start to finish.

Quote from: dgies9156 on March 10, 2015, 09:59:25 PM
Ok, lets start this and see what happens. I think that if the team comes together, we could be an NCAA Tournament team. We have a lot of work to do and our parts have to fit. But I'm bullish on our five returnees and I think the four we have coming in plus Wally will be a huge lift.

Yes, I know they are freshmen, but I think our four are good enough to get us back into the close games and over the top. Are we a 1 and 2 seed next year? No, but we should make it as a 6 to 9 seed with a few good breaks.

I'm dying for next year to start!

Five freshmen coming not four. Plus Wally as a a new player. And likely one or two more new players. NCAA 5 seed.

Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on March 10, 2015, 10:03:22 PM
NIT

Agreed. Not enough experience coming back.

I think anything but NCAA tournament will be a disappointment

Right now, NIT with hopes on a NCAA tourney bid. Add a starting PG, dancing fo sho

Hope.

NIT.   Be happy with that and strive for NCAA the next year.

NIT.    But with enough potential that if everything falls perfectly, a 9 seed in the tourney.

NCAA, in the 5-10 seed range.

We were a 7 seed in 2005-06 (the Amigos' freshman year), when our only returning talent was Novak and Chapman.  Combined, I see no reason why Duane and Luke can't put up the kind of numbers they did.  Neither might be a Novak, but both will be better than Chapman.

I'll be happy with an NIT bid, absolutely thrilled with an NCAA appearance.

I'd be surprised if we were over .500 in conference.

Quote from: MU82 on March 10, 2015, 10:16:43 PM
Nice!

Now, how come "First of Four Straight National Titles" wasn't an option?

Good weed. Really, really good weed!

I don't see why you need any weed to select that option.  I click the wrong button quite frequently when I'm sober.

Return of Team Bubble Watch. I think a 10 seed.

It all depends on our perimeter shooting. If we can find at least 2 preferably 3 guys that can consistently pose an outside threat will be competitive. I think Wally will help with rebounding; the kid can jump! We will not be playing 4 on 5 ball next year so this should be a positive as well. We should be better than this year. How much better is still an open question.

NIT, anything better will be gravy.

I know this will be controversial, but I have to say it:

I wish we had Derrick for 1 more year.

That's not because I think Derrick is great, or that Carter is bad. But, Derrick is the perfect fit to share PG duties with a young PG. You could split time between the 2 of them and likely get pretty good production night in and night out.

As it stands now, if Carter has a rough game next year (all frosh do), MU is going to be in a really tough spot without a veteran PG on the roster.

With this said, I'm looking forward to next year. I want to see how Wojo does with young players, and see how much improvement they can make in 1 season.

Either the freshman can really play (NCAA) or it's a mixed bag (NIT). If the former, hopefully Henry stays for another year with his brother (likely) and we're a force (top 4 seed) in 2016-17. If the latter, with Henry we're a middling seed in 16-17 and without him we're a bubble/NIT team.

I get frustrated because we (Scoop folks) always seem to think that young guys cannot play at high level from the start. IMO the bar for next season should be set high and the guys need to play at high level. Too often we have solid freshmen that waste a year or two not playing at high enough level. I understand not every guy will be an impact player from the start but do think expectations need to be higher.

To sum it up, Wojo has put together a great class on paper and my expectations are they play at a high level from day one. If we are not a NCAA team next year I will be disappointed. These kids play AAU and are not freshmen from 30 years ago. The days of Al saying the best thing about freshmen is they become a soph are long gone. Other schools have impact freshmen and I am betting we will next season.

NIT

I think people need to let the excitement of a recent commit wear off before they make their decision. Next year we only return 2 starters, and while many may argue this will be "addition by subtraction", there are a lot of unknowns. Also, I believe the same issues that plagued the team this year will again return (maybe to less of a degree) next year.

Rebounding: We were soft on the glass all year and consistently out rebounded, even with Fisher in the line up. I hope Wojo fills one of the last 2 scholarships with a high energy, rebound machine. While Henry will help, i don't think we can expect him to make up 100% of our deficiency.

the PG position: Don't want to rehash all of the Du. Wilson conversations. But, even with Carter, next year is still a huge question mark. While I believe Carter will be great at MU, i don't think it will start Day 1. He will need time to grow into the position and get use to the speed of college basketball. while this takes place who fills the role?

Scoring: We lose Carlino, who makes up these points? while Duane Wilson has shown flashes of brilliance he has also disappeared for full games (case in point the DePaul game: 0 points, 1 assist, 3 turnovers) Granted, the best thing about freshman is that they become sophomores, but i still think he is a full year away from being our go-to scorer. Besides Wilson, who else is there that has impressed? JJJ? Cohen?

To sum it up, next year could go a million different ways. However, I don't think we should "expect" to make the NCAA Tournament... "Expectations" is the first word in the title of this thread.

Quote from: Goose on March 11, 2015, 10:03:18 AM
To sum it up, Wojo has put together a great class on paper and my expectations are they play at a high level from day one. If we are not a NCAA team next year I will be disappointed.

Then you'll probably be disappointed. The jump from HS/AAU to high-D1 ball is big. The game moves much faster, and a lot of these kids haven't had the coaching to help them process things quickly enough.

There's no doubt this class looks really good on paper. And what gives me hope is that they're all known as smart players and gym rats. That gives Wojo and the staff a nice starting point to establish how they want to play. How quickly they pick up on it will determine if they can get to the postseason or not.

Quote from: MUfan12 on March 11, 2015, 10:11:33 AM
Then you'll probably be disappointed. The jump from HS/AAU to high-D1 ball is big. The game moves much faster, and a lot of these kids haven't had the coaching to help them process things quickly enough.

There's no doubt this class looks really good on paper. And what gives me hope is that they're all known as smart players and gym rats. That gives Wojo and the staff a nice starting point to establish how they want to play. How quickly they pick up on it will determine if they can get to the postseason or not.

I expect Henry to more or less have made the jump given his AAU/USA work. He's been in the faster game already. So I consider Duane, Steve, Luke, Henry and (hopefully) JJJ to have made the jump already.

Sacar, Haanif, Matty, Cohen and Traci need to get on the pace. The good news is a lot of prognosticators and scouts seem to think Traci has the focus and polish of a Big East PG already. He certainly has the body and ability to finish in contact. It also sounds like Sacar and Haanif have the defensive intensity to play for Wojo early on with the former developing a hell of a scoring game lately. Heldt will largely succeed if the Butch lessons he's gotten help him adapt to bigger bodies beating him up inside. And Cohen just needs to become a soph and gain a bit of control and poise. Let's hope those upsides are figured outl.

I think the forgotten guy is going to be Wally, and maybe I'm crazy, but I think he'll be an important piece of the puzzle. He was a freshman on a loaded Minnesota team under Tubby, then never given a chance by Pitino. The guy has had 3 years of high-major practices to get his body into shape and get ready for the nightly grind. As a HS player, he was a good shooter from range and good rebounder. He knows the expectations of a high-major player and will be ahead of the curve when it comes to the defense and Wojo's expectations. I think he's going to surprise a lot of people by how much he brings to the table.

Basically, his skillset is exactly what we need. Shooter, rebounder, defender. He won't necessarily lead us in any categories, but I do think he'll make a real impact on all three of those aspects of the game.

Quote from: brewcity77 on March 11, 2015, 10:49:02 AM
I think the forgotten guy is going to be Wally, and maybe I'm crazy, but I think he'll be an important piece of the puzzle. He was a freshman on a loaded Minnesota team under Tubby, then never given a chance by Pitino. The guy has had 3 years of high-major practices to get his body into shape and get ready for the nightly grind. As a HS player, he was a good shooter from range and good rebounder. He knows the expectations of a high-major player and will be ahead of the curve when it comes to the defense and Wojo's expectations. I think he's going to surprise a lot of people by how much he brings to the table.

Basically, his skillset is exactly what we need. Shooter, rebounder, defender. He won't necessarily lead us in any categories, but I do think he'll make a real impact on all three of those aspects of the game.

Oh crap. I totally forgot about him and I also completely agree. He has good range, can jump out of the gym and has also had a "red shirt" year to get a lot of practice time in Wojo's system. At worst he is a high energy guy. But I think he will be able to contribute 8-10 pts on any given night when we need him to.

Quote from: Canned Goods n Ammo on March 11, 2015, 09:51:20 AM
I know this will be controversial, but I have to say it:  I wish we had Derrick for 1 more year.

That's not because I think Derrick is great, or that Carter is bad. But, Derrick is the perfect fit to share PG duties with a young PG. You could split time between the 2 of them and likely get pretty good production night in and night out.

As it stands now, if Carter has a rough game next year (all frosh do), MU is going to be in a really tough spot without a veteran PG on the roster.

With this said, I'm looking forward to next year. I want to see how Wojo does with young players, and see how much improvement they can make in 1 season.

Easy to talk smart when Ners is on hiatus. 

This is not a crazy thought at all.  A JC point or a Russell Wilson guy would help here.

Quote from: Canned Goods n Ammo on March 11, 2015, 09:51:20 AM
I know this will be controversial, but I have to say it:

I wish we had Derrick for 1 more year.

That's not because I think Derrick is great, or that Carter is bad. But, Derrick is the perfect fit to share PG duties with a young PG. You could split time between the 2 of them and likely get pretty good production night in and night out.

As it stands now, if Carter has a rough game next year (all frosh do), MU is going to be in a really tough spot without a veteran PG on the roster.

With this said, I'm looking forward to next year. I want to see how Wojo does with young players, and see how much improvement they can make in 1 season.

Your logic tracks.   Most rational people would agree.  Having a senior defensive stopper to help calm things for 12-15 mpg?    We can only dream. 

Quote from: Canned Goods n Ammo on March 11, 2015, 09:51:20 AM
I know this will be controversial, but I have to say it:

I wish we had Derrick for 1 more year.

That's not because I think Derrick is great, or that Carter is bad. But, Derrick is the perfect fit to share PG duties with a young PG. You could split time between the 2 of them and likely get pretty good production night in and night out.

Probably no surprise that I agree with this ;D

I think Derrick is ideal to help lead a young team. Willing to defer, willing to do the dirty work, willing to teach. I'd love a grad transfer clone of Derrick, even better if he could hit 35% beyond the arc and 70% at the line.

Quote from: Canned Goods n Ammo on March 11, 2015, 09:51:20 AM
I know this will be controversial, but I have to say it:

I wish we had Derrick for 1 more year.

That's not because I think Derrick is great, or that Carter is bad. But, Derrick is the perfect fit to share PG duties with a young PG. You could split time between the 2 of them and likely get pretty good production night in and night out.

As it stands now, if Carter has a rough game next year (all frosh do), MU is going to be in a really tough spot without a veteran PG on the roster.

With this said, I'm looking forward to next year. I want to see how Wojo does with young players, and see how much improvement they can make in 1 season.

Totally agree, Derrick would be a perfect fit on next year's team. Timing obv. didn't exactly work out with everything else that transpired (Junior burning his red shirt in '10 was a terrible move). Defense, rebounding, low turnovers... would provide the perfect safety net to a young, developing, PG.

Based on this poll as of noon central, we certainly are expecting A LOT from our Freshmen!

Almost 60% of us expect an NCAA berth. Wow, if they're that good, I'm looking forward to going somewhere next spring.

Can we get an NCAA first and second round in Orlando or West Palm? There's personal reasons for that!

I voted for a low seed (7-10) for next year.  That is as good as it gets for next year. 

If I could vote for Low NCAA seed / NIT bid that is what I would choose.

Quote from: dgies9156 on March 11, 2015, 12:39:55 PM
Based on this poll as of noon central, we certainly are expecting A LOT from our Freshmen

I definitely don't think Wojo is done. I have a feeling at least one starter isn't on the roster yet. It may be unfair, but the easy Wojo has shown he can close the deal has me believing he will get a grad transfer that can have an immediate impact like Carlino did.

Quote from: brewcity77 on March 11, 2015, 01:55:09 PM
I definitely don't think Wojo is done. I have a feeling at least one starter isn't on the roster yet. It may be unfair, but the easy Wojo has shown he can close the deal has me believing he will get a grad transfer that can have an immediate impact like Carlino did.

In addition to one more starter not currently listed, it would not surprise me if there was one more departure, opening one more schollie.      BTW, I think Wojo's best option right now is to sit on those last two scholarships and see how (A) graduate transfers, (B) regular transfers, (C) decommits, and (D) coaching changes go.    2-3 options will present themselves.   

Quote from: tower912 on March 11, 2015, 02:00:46 PM
In addition to one more starter not currently listed, it would not surprise me if there was one more departure, opening one more schollie.      BTW, I think Wojo's best option right now is to sit on those last two scholarships and see how (A) graduate transfers, (B) regular transfers, (C) decommits, and (D) coaching changes go.    2-3 options will present themselves.   

Exactly, with the end of each season comes about 150 players who open up when coaches change jobs/get fired/etc... best to be patient, see who opens up and get an experienced guy from that pool versus trying to grab another remaining uncommitted freshman.

Quote from: tower912 on March 11, 2015, 02:00:46 PM
In addition to one more starter not currently listed, it would not surprise me if there was one more departure. 

Who? We have five returnees for next year.

We know Duane, Luke and Sandy aren't going anywhere. As many as all three could be starting next year.

STjr will be a senior. It's unlikely he's going anywhere and given what we've seen, STjr is coming into his own and will be a critically important Warrior as we retool for next year.

That leaves JJJ. He'd be crazy to leave now. He's showing a lot of improvement and hinting that he's with the Wojo program. We have a great team coming in and lord knows, with some work over the summer, particularly on defense and his shot, he could be that "3" we need for next year.

I think anyone leaving now would be nuts!

I voted NIT.  I hope for better and things could break for the better, but for now, NIT.  We are a better team on paper going into next year than going into this year, so that seems reasonable.  A solid Point Guard and we could achieve better.   

As for transfers, one never knows.  Remember these guys have people in their ear telling them how great they are, how coach is holding them back, how they should have the offense running through them, etc, etc.  Think of Ners and Dawson.  Now think of a few people surrounding you like Ners, telling you things and encouraging you to move on... throw in a little ego or a hanger on with an incentive to get you to move to a different program, and it can be a recipe for an unhappy player.

Quote from: Canned Goods n Ammo on March 11, 2015, 09:51:20 AM
I know this will be controversial, but I have to say it:

I wish we had Derrick for 1 more year.

That's not because I think Derrick is great, or that Carter is bad. But, Derrick is the perfect fit to share PG duties with a young PG. You could split time between the 2 of them and likely get pretty good production night in and night out.

As it stands now, if Carter has a rough game next year (all frosh do), MU is going to be in a really tough spot without a veteran PG on the roster.

With this said, I'm looking forward to next year. I want to see how Wojo does with young players, and see how much improvement they can make in 1 season.

I agree with this in theory ...

But any coach would have difficulty benching a senior captain who had played as many minutes as Derrick. And even rational people (in other words, those other than Ners and a select few others) would have difficulty accepting 30+ minutes for Derrick and 10-15 minutes for Carter.

Quote from: dgies9156 on March 11, 2015, 02:57:58 PM
Who? We have five returnees for next year.

We know Duane, Luke and Sandy aren't going anywhere. As many as all three could be starting next year.

STjr will be a senior. It's unlikely he's going anywhere and given what we've seen, STjr is coming into his own and will be a critically important Warrior as we retool for next year.

That leaves JJJ. He'd be crazy to leave now. He's showing a lot of improvement and hinting that he's with the Wojo program. We have a great team coming in and lord knows, with some work over the summer, particularly on defense and his shot, he could be that "3" we need for next year.

I think anyone leaving now would be nuts!

exactly what I thought about Burton before he left, he'd get tons of minutes this year after Luke joined the team but...

Quote from: goldeneagle91114 on March 11, 2015, 10:10:44 AM
I think people need to let the excitement of a recent commit wear off before they make their decision. Next year we only return 2 starters, and while many may argue this will be "addition by subtraction", there are a lot of unknowns. Also, I believe the same issues that plagued the team this year will again return (maybe to less of a degree) next year.

Rebounding: We were soft on the glass all year and consistently out rebounded, even with Fisher in the line up. I hope Wojo fills one of the last 2 scholarships with a high energy, rebound machine. While Henry will help, i don't think we can expect him to make up 100% of our deficiency.

the PG position: Don't want to rehash all of the Du. Wilson conversations. But, even with Carter, next year is still a huge question mark. While I believe Carter will be great at MU, i don't think it will start Day 1. He will need time to grow into the position and get use to the speed of college basketball. while this takes place who fills the role?

Scoring: We lose Carlino, who makes up these points? while Duane Wilson has shown flashes of brilliance he has also disappeared for full games (case in point the DePaul game: 0 points, 1 assist, 3 turnovers) Granted, the best thing about freshman is that they become sophomores, but i still think he is a full year away from being our go-to scorer. Besides Wilson, who else is there that has impressed? JJJ? Cohen?

To sum it up, next year could go a million different ways. However, I don't think we should "expect" to make the NCAA Tournament... "Expectations" is the first word in the title of this thread.

Well after today's loss to Nova i think there is a clear need for an experienced point guard and a high energy rebounder. Luke with only 2 rebounds... that just doesn't cut it.

the best thing that came out of today's game is that the underclassmen got t see how elite basketball is played.

Wow, I was surprised when I saw the results - 92% of responders think we'll be heading off to a tournament, and there's a majority that says it will be the Big Dance.

Wasn't there a formula on here a while ago using HS ratings and college experience to predict wins? It would be interesting to see what that method would predict. Hell, it would be interesting to see what it predicted for the year we just had (although I don't recall any provision for predicting player departures).

I just think that we are perhaps a tad optimistic. I think Steve has shown us who he is. Luke will likely show some development. Jajuan needs to work on the mechanics of his shot. Wally could contribute, and I think we all expect Duane to show us some stuff. Not going long on Sandy, and the rest are highly-rated, but freshmen. Hope you guys are right!

I am surprised by how optimistic folks are. I hope I am wrong and all of you are right. However, getting to the NCAAs next year would be amazing. We won 4 Big East games this year. I am extremely excited about the incoming class and I am a big Wojo fan. I am sure he is the right guy and he will be a great coach. However, to expect what this poll suggests people are expecting from the freshman is just not realistic in my mind. Henry will be great but after watching some of his games he is still going to be a freshman adapting to a whole new game. The rest even more so. If we win 6 more games and go 10-8 and get in that would be an amazing season. I don't see it but I hope I am wrong.

Quote from: Goose on March 11, 2015, 10:03:18 AM
I get frustrated because we (Scoop folks) always seem to think that young guys cannot play at high level from the start. IMO the bar for next season should be set high and the guys need to play at high level. Too often we have solid freshmen that waste a year or two not playing at high enough level. I understand not every guy will be an impact player from the start but do think expectations need to be higher.

To sum it up, Wojo has put together a great class on paper and my expectations are they play at a high level from day one. If we are not a NCAA team next year I will be disappointed. These kids play AAU and are not freshmen from 30 years ago. The days of Al saying the best thing about freshmen is they become a soph are long gone. Other schools have impact freshmen and I am betting we will next season.

Goose nailed it!  Some of what I've read here about expectations for Henry next season are laughable.  The kid's going to come in right away and have a huge impact on the program.  Some have such a defeatist, don't be too optimistic, mentality here.  I don't know yet about the other four freshman, but Henry puts us on the map next year again, period.  Lightning can and will strike our program again, and that will be in the form of one Henry Ellenson stepping on campus next fall. Take it to the bank.

Quote from: dgies9156 on March 11, 2015, 02:57:58 PM

That leaves JJJ. He'd be crazy to leave now. He's showing a lot of improvement and hinting that he's with the Wojo program.

Please, he showed mild improvement at best.  He's got a long way to go, and now he's got a bunch of talented newcomers competing with him for mintues. 

Quote from: HutchwasClutch on March 14, 2015, 08:29:57 AM
Goose nailed it!  Some of what I've read here about expectations for Henry next season are laughable.  The kid's going to come in right away and have a huge impact on the program.  Some have such a defeatist, don't be too optimistic, mentality here.  I don't know yet about the other four freshman, but Henry puts us on the map next year again, period.  Lightning can and will strike our program again, and that will be in the form of one Henry Ellenson stepping on campus next fall. Take it to the bank.

I don't know about "defeatist," but I do try to be cautiously optimistic and realistic. I think we will improve significantly next season. I think Henry and other freshmen will have an impact, perhaps even a major one, because they will have to given the bodies available to Wojo (not to mention obvious talent they have).

I think most people would rather be cautious and pleasantly surprised than over-the-top optimistic and unpleasantly surprised. That doesn't mean we are defeatist. Defeatist would be saying, "I think we'll suck again." I'm certainly not saying that, nor are most others I've read.

Quote from: MU82 on March 14, 2015, 08:38:58 AM
I don't know about "defeatist," but I do try to be cautiously optimistic and realistic. I think we will improve significantly next season. I think Henry and other freshmen will have an impact, perhaps even a major one, because they will have to given the bodies available to Wojo (not to mention obvious talent they have).

I think most people would rather be cautious and pleasantly surprised than over-the-top optimistic and unpleasantly surprised. That doesn't mean we are defeatist. Defeatist would be saying, "I think we'll suck again." I'm certainly not saying that, nor are most others I've read.

Henry is a special player.  Guys like him don't come along very often.  I didn't vote, or even consider national championship, but you bet I checked NCAA.  If Henry were just another top 100 kid, I would have checked NIT.  But he's not just another top 100 kid.  You're talking about a kid who has the NBA's attention already!  

I'm not normally one for boundless optimism either, but sometimes you can just discard conventional wisdom and be bold in your thinking.  And Henry at MU gives me reason to be in that mindset.

I'm just trying to make a case for posters here to break out of their comfort zone, the way they always think and project, and realize what is coming next year with Henry.    And with guys like Luke (especially Luke), Duane, Sandy, and STJ, we know there are several returning guys to support this special player.

Recall the anticipation w/ Burton, Du Wilson, JJJ, McKay, that did not all come together as hoped thanks Buzzard.  This can be diff. with these recruits, Wojo & Co., Du Wilson, totally diff. trajectory possible.  If it does, these pages will explode and MU fandom will be a great place.

Henry is going to have a Dwyane like impact, next season.  I see a similar season next year to the 2001-02 season, hopefully with a better NCAA result however.   ;)  Remember that team was a 5 seed.

Quote from: HutchwasClutch on March 14, 2015, 09:07:52 AM
Henry is a special player.  Guys like him don't come along very often.  I didn't vote, or even consider national championship, but you bet I checked NCAA.  If Henry were just another top 100 kid, I would have checked NIT.  But he's not just another top 100 kid.  You're talking about a kid who has the NBA's attention already!  

I'm not normally one for boundless optimism either, but sometimes you can just discard conventional wisdom and be bold in your thinking.  And Henry at MU gives me reason to be in that mindset.

I'm just trying to make a case for posters here to break out of their comfort zone, the way they always think and project, and realize what is coming next year with Henry.    And with guys like Luke (especially Luke), Duane, Sandy, and STJ, we know there are several returning guys to support this special player.

I hope you are right about every word of this. I live in N.C. and have not seen one second of Henry Ellenson in live game action. So for me, the proof will be how he performs against college players when the lights go on.

Again, I very much want him to be "Wade special" ... but I reserve the right, 8 months before his Marquette debut, to say, "We'll see." And I don't think exercising that right makes me a defeatist one iota.

Quote from: MU82 on March 14, 2015, 12:36:25 PM
I hope you are right about every word of this. I live in N.C. and have not seen one second of Henry Ellenson in live game action. So for me, the proof will be how he performs against college players when the lights go on.

Have you watched John Brown from High Point at all? He's my top dream grad transfer for Marquette in the next month.

Quote from: HutchwasClutch on March 14, 2015, 09:07:52 AM
Henry is a special player.  Guys like him don't come along very often.  I didn't vote, or even consider national championship, but you bet I checked NCAA.  If Henry were just another top 100 kid, I would have checked NIT.  But he's not just another top 100 kid.  You're talking about a kid who has the NBA's attention already!  

I'm not normally one for boundless optimism either, but sometimes you can just discard conventional wisdom and be bold in your thinking.  And Henry at MU gives me reason to be in that mindset.

I'm just trying to make a case for posters here to break out of their comfort zone, the way they always think and project, and realize what is coming next year with Henry.    And with guys like Luke (especially Luke), Duane, Sandy, and STJ, we know there are several returning guys to support this special player.

I think you nailed it.  There is a long history of sandbagging expectations on this board.

Looking at the adds and subtracts across the league next year, barring injury to Henry, there is no reason for next year's MU team to finish in the bottom half of the Big East. Minimum expectation should be top five, and we have the talent to compete for 2nd.  

Any talk about us being an NIT team, which would require a 6 or 7th place finish is not realistic, and based on people setting low expectations to avoid being disappointed.

Quote from: MU82 on March 14, 2015, 12:36:25 PM
I hope you are right about every word of this. I live in N.C. and have not seen one second of Henry Ellenson in live game action. So for me, the proof will be how he performs against college players when the lights go on.

Again, I very much want him to be "Wade special" ... but I reserve the right, 8 months before his Marquette debut, to say, "We'll see." And I don't think exercising that right makes me a defeatist one iota.

Believe me,  you're not among those my comments were aimed at in my statement about defeatist mentalities around here.   I'm talking about others on the board.  

Quote from: brewcity77 on March 14, 2015, 12:44:06 PM
Have you watched John Brown from High Point at all? He's my top dream grad transfer for Marquette in the next month.

I haven't seen him, no. Sorry.

I really hope people on this board will temper their expectations for next year. lets look at some facts:

1 . No senior leadership
2. Two best players (Luke and Duane) are injured. Luke will have surgery.
    2B. - Hard to bulk up when you first need to recover from said injuries.
3. With Steve gone, we are even weaker on the glass then we were before...this year was really really weak
4. Next years roster is pretty sparse in terms of actual college basketball experience. who do we have?.. Duane, Luke, JJJ, Sandy (kinda). Not sure what kind of minutes Wally saw at Minnesota, but i don't think it was all that great.
5. Currently 3 open scholarships....Hard for wojo to pull another rabbit out of the hat like he did with Carter this late in the game.
6. Wojo is still a very young coach. We saw some growing pains this year, and they will continue next year.

Personally, i think next year is going to look a lot like this year. I just hope to see more player development and hope that we see Henry stick around for a second year.

Quote from: MU82 on March 14, 2015, 11:00:11 PM
I haven't seen him, no. Sorry.

It's like watching an NBA jam video. He's a high flyer. He'd be a great energy guy.

My expectation for next year? At this point? Last in conference in rebounds.

Prediction: Soon one of the sources will announce a commitment of another top 150 kid and we will all gush about how good we will be in the next year or year after--which I sure hope so. But we will forget that Taylor was ranked 73 by Scout and 83 by ESPN and a first team all stater in Illinois coming out of HS and he did not pan out to many. We will forget that JJJ was a top 40 recruit coming out of HS and had a great state tournament, but has been blasted by many here. We will forget that Burton was a top 100 recruit who "wasn't getting it done early his soph season."

We will go gaga over the next recruit who we hope will be the 2nd coming of Butch Lee. That's life in college basketball.

More transfers.   Unsettled expectations.   

Quote from: jesmu84 on March 18, 2015, 05:09:58 PM
My expectation for next year? At this point? Last in conference in rebounds.

I'll go out on a limb and say we'll be a much better rebounding team next year.

Quote from: brewcity77 on March 18, 2015, 05:39:57 PM
I'll go out on a limb and say we'll be a much better rebounding team next year.

I guess I should have specified with the roster as it is right now. If we get a couple 3/4/5 transfers? Different story.

Quote from: willie warrior on March 18, 2015, 05:32:19 PM
Prediction: Soon one of the sources will announce a commitment of another top 150 kid and we will all gush about how good we will be in the next year or year after--which I sure hope so. But we will forget that Taylor was ranked 73 by Scout and 83 by ESPN and a first team all stater in Illinois coming out of HS and he did not pan out to many. We will forget that JJJ was a top 40 recruit coming out of HS and had a great state tournament, but has been blasted by many here. We will forget that Burton was a top 100 recruit who "wasn't getting it done early his soph season."

We will go gaga over the next recruit who we hope will be the 2nd coming of Butch Lee. That's life in college basketball.

Hey Willie, are you a glass half empty kinda guy? JJJ hasn't gotten there yet and STjr was injured and I admit never was what we hoped he would be. But the incomings are really good and we have the same risk any school with new freshmen do. I think they are talented enough to have us playing a year from now and I would expect Wojo in Year 2 will be a better Coach than Wojo in Year 1.

Quote from: dgies9156 on March 18, 2015, 07:11:56 PM
Hey Willie, are you a glass half empty kinda guy? JJJ hasn't gotten there yet and STjr was injured and I admit never was what we hoped he would be. But the incomings are really good and we have the same risk any school with new freshmen do. I think they are talented enough to have us playing a year from now and I would expect Wojo in Year 2 will be a better Coach than Wojo in Year 1.

I guess some just miss the point. The stuff has already begun.