Next Year

[PGsHeroes32]

9 days off so figured this ok.

Is it realistic to expect we should be one of the top 3 teams in the BE next year?

Obviously there's a long way to go for rosters to change and I don't know much about any of the other teams recruiting classes

But it seems like most of these teams are losing a ton from graduation and if Nova has their studs leave early even they may be dethroneable.

Thoughts??

[Herman Cain]

9 days off so figured this ok.

Is it realistic to expect we should be one of the top 3 teams in the BE next year?

Obviously there's a long way to go for rosters to change and I don't know much about any of the other teams recruiting classes

But it seems like most of these teams are losing a ton from graduation and if Nova has their studs leave early even they may be dethroneable.

Thoughts??

I believe we are going to be one of the top 3 teams this year.

[We R Final Four]

Nova just reloads—they will be there.

[Silkk the Shaka]

I think we'll win the BEast next year if everyone stays and joins as planned

[Tugg Speedman]

I've been thinking about next year.

We have the top three 3pt shooters in the BE right now (based on total makes).

Rowsey is a senior. 

How is Joey's 3PG shot?  Is it as good as Sam?  Better?  How about Bailey?

Can we still have the top three shooters in the league again next year?

[MuMark]

Joey is a very good 3 point shooter. Sam is 1 of the best in the country so I wouldn't expect him to be quite that good.

[oldwarrior81]

Joey shoot 46% from 3pt, with 32% of his attempts being threes.  Almost 90% from FT.
Bailey shot in the low 30% with about 40% of his shots from three.  Just under 80% FT.

Sam was about 6-6 185 guard as a junior in high school.  He's put on 40-50 pounds since then.
Joey was about 6-8 200 junior forward.  A little bigger than Sam was at the same age.  Will he also bulk up like Sam?

[Daniel]

If we can play defense next year, we can do very well.  That's the ticket.

[MU82]

9 days off so figured this ok.

Is it realistic to expect we should be one of the top 3 teams in the BE next year?

Obviously there's a long way to go for rosters to change and I don't know much about any of the other teams recruiting classes

But it seems like most of these teams are losing a ton from graduation and if Nova has their studs leave early even they may be dethroneable.

Thoughts??

Sure it's realistic.

Big question is will you give everybody in this thread $100 if we finish ahead of Nova next season?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Yes. Just go down the Big East standings.

1. Villanova - Assuming Brunson, Bridges, and Spellman don't all go pro, they will be back at #1. (Should be better)

2. Xavier - Loses their two best players in Blueitt and Macura and 2/3 of their post players in Kanter and O'Mara. Bring in 3 3 star players and ivy league midseason transfer. (Should be worse)

3. Seton Hall - Loses their three best player and their 5th starter. Bring in two decent transfers and three low ranked three stars (should be worse)

4. Creighton - Lose on of their two stars in Foster. The other star Thomas could decide to go pro. Loses two bench players in Hegner and Suarez. Brings in a trio of players ranked between top 100-150 and a former top 100 comes off redshirt. (Better with Thomas, same or slightly worse without Thomas)

5. Marquette - Loses one of the big three in Rowsey and no one else. Brings in a top 50 player, a very good transfer, a former top 100 player coming off an LDS mission, and a three star coming off a redshirt. (should be better)

6. Providence - Loses three best players. Holt coming back is questionable. Brings in two top 50 recruits and two three star. (should be worse)

7. Butler - Loses best player and starting center. Brings in a solid midseason transfer and a low ranked 3 star (should be worse)

8-10 - Georgetown, DePaul, and SJU - too much ground to make up

Lot of time until the start of next season. Still a few recruitments to wrap up, grad transfer season, players transferring out/decomitting....but it looks like there could be a big power vacuum beneath Villanova. Us and Creighton are the two teams best positioned to step up and take that #2 spot.

[tower912]

If all of the'ifs' fall into place, MU could be competing for the top spot in the Big East next year.

If Wojo can find a PG ready to play immediately
If Wojo can figure out a rotation that keeps everybody happy.
If Joey recovers fully from his ankle injury.
If everyone continues to develop.
If the egos stay under control.

[rocky_warrior]

If all of the'ifs' fall into place, MU could be competing for the top spot in the Big East next year.

If Wojo can find a PG ready to play immediately
If Wojo can figure out a rotation that keeps everybody happy.
If Joey recovers fully from his ankle injury.
If everyone continues to develop.
If the egos stay under control.

If... defense.

[KampusFoods]

If... defense.

Precisely

[mu03eng]

If... defense.

The defense will be better next year, Elliot will be starting and we will have only one bad on-ball defender to account for instead of two. We will be very long and will have a lot of tough interior players.

I expect us to have a top 75 defense per KenPom next year and a top 15 offense next year. We will be 1 or 2 in the Big East and in the top 10 nationally for the majority of the season.

[avid1010]

yeah...defense.  who the hell would have thought we'd be saying that about a wojo team when the dude was hired.

i hear a lot about how joey is better than sam, and for mu's sake, i hope that's true...but how many hs players each year do we say that about and they don't ever fully make the transition.  sam is a REALLY good d1 basketball player.  in my opinion he's earned the right to have that conversation flipped around to "can joey be as good as sam."

[Galway Eagle]

yeah...defense.  who the hell would have thought we'd be saying that about a wojo team when the dude was hired.

i hear a lot about how joey is better than sam, and for mu's sake, i hope that's true...but how many hs players each year do we say that about and they don't ever fully make the transition.  sam is a REALLY good d1 basketball player.  in my opinion he's earned the right to have that conversation flipped around to "can joey be as good as sam."

I think with Joey having a year off his senior year we should pump the breaks on expectations, at least initially

[mu03eng]

I think with Joey having a year off his senior year we should pump the breaks on expectations, at least initially

It's fair, and we also don't need Joey Hauser to be super good next year, especially in non-conference. We can ease him in.

Besides we'll still have Matt Heldt, #1 most efficient play in the NCAA next year, we'll be fine.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

Joey is 1-2 inches taller than Sam, more athletic, not quite as good of a shooter.  I'd anticipate Joey being in the 35-39% area on 3s.

Joey also needs time in the weight room to add muscle.  If Joey can get to 235 by his sophomore year, he'll be a stud.  Joey should still be a nice contributor as a frosh but I think he'll need some time to become a star.

[WindyCityGoldenEagle]

  in my opinion he's earned the right to have that conversation flipped around to "can joey be as good as sam."

Yep, as good as joey is and as highly ranked as he is, Sam is on a trajectory to be a first team all conference player some day. Will be very difficult for Joey to outperform that. If I had to guess now, I'd say he won't be as good as Sam. Not a shot at Joey but rather a statement of how good Sam is.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

As for the rest of the roster, we need to see if Wojo adds a guard and whom.  Plus, how do players develop?  Froling and John might be a lot better by the end of the year, or they might not.

Cain either Cain or Elliot make a big leap?  How good is Morrow: A solid role player or a very good starter?

Lots of questions, lots of fun possibilities.  Will be interesting to see how it all works out.

[skianth16]

The defense will be better next year, Elliot will be starting and we will have only one bad on-ball defender to account for instead of two. We will be very long and will have a lot of tough interior players.

I expect us to have a top 75 defense per KenPom next year and a top 15 offense next year. We will be 1 or 2 in the Big East and in the top 10 nationally for the majority of the season.

The brakes are on the left, bud. Might want to give em a tap.

We should be better next year than this year, but top 10 for most of the year? Let's manage our expectations a bit on that. I think we should be ranked, but there is a huge leap from 25 to 10. Plus, with so many new guys expected to be getting minutes, we may have issues with finding the right personnel and rotations. There's going to be a learning curve.

I also don't know if Greg ends up starting. We're most likely going to start 2 bigs - Morrow and Heldt/Theo/Harry - and then Sam and Markus. That only leaves one open spot. Assuming we don't get a PG grad transfer, I think there's a pretty strong chance that Markus gets tapped to shift to point. He needs to improve his handles to get there, but we're already comfortable with a shoot-first PG, so the transition from Rowsey to Howard would be pretty easy. In that case, Greg will have to compete with Jamal and Sacar, possibly even Joey and Bailey, for the last spot. If we get the grad transfer that scoop has been talking about, then I think it could be tough for Greg to crack the starting lineup.

Without the grad transfer, there's a decent chance that the 5th starter changes regularly based on matchups, and in that case, Greg may get some starts. But if I had to bet, I'm guessing he's coming off the bench in the majority of our games. I'd consider this one of those good problems to have.

[mug644]

Joey is 1-2 inches taller than Sam, more athletic, not quite as good of a shooter.  I'd anticipate Joey being in the 35-39% area on 3s.

Joey also needs time in the weight room to add muscle.  If Joey can get to 235 by his sophomore year, he'll be a stud.  Joey should still be a nice contributor as a frosh but I think he'll need some time to become a star.

Given that Joey's not playing this year, I wonder if he's focusing his energy in the weight room, and building some of that necessary muscle now. Are trainers from the schools where a player has committed allowed to inform/guide them before they arrive on campus?

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Yep, as good as joey is and as highly ranked as he is, Sam is on a trajectory to be a first team all conference player some day. Will be very difficult for Joey to outperform that. If I had to guess now, I'd say he won't be as good as Sam. Not a shot at Joey but rather a statement of how good Sam is.

crap, Sam should be borderline first team all conference THIS season.  Dude is just so good. 

[wadesworld]

Joey isn't some scrawny kid.  Joey is very solidly built.  I'm not sure that he's more athletic than Sam, either.

I think Joey will be a big time contributor right away.  No, not one of the top 3 players on the team (I think that goes to Sam, Markus, and Ed), but I wouldn't be shocked if he's our 4th best player next season.

[skianth16]

Joey isn't some scrawny kid.  Joey is very solidly built.  I'm not sure that he's more athletic than Sam, either.

I think Joey will be a big time contributor right away.  No, not one of the top 3 players on the team (I think that goes to Sam, Markus, and Ed), but I wouldn't be shocked if he's our 4th best player next season.

This is the impression I've had of Joey as well. With him sitting out his senior year due to injury, he may be on a different trajectory skill-wise and size-wise than he was when he signed his LOI.

Does anyone know what Joey's limitations are now with his injury? Is he still able to shoot and lift, or is he pretty limited physically? I'm hoping he can still spend time in the gym even if he's not able to play at game speed right now.