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Post by bringbackcaro on Mar 4, 2020 9:20:11 GMT -5
Congratulations to the team and coaches for getting up for the final game of the season. If the PL had a “bottom ten” rank of teams in the PL since it’s inception, this team would finish number three of four, most likely. Let’s hope the inclusion of a few incoming freshmen can drastically improve Nelson’s defense. Fingers crossed. I just don’t see the current group playing much better defense next season, at least of the man to man variety, so I would make the starters minus Pridgen, the second group next season and have them play zone. I would have Pridgen and the four frosh the starting lineup and have them play man to man. Our defense is atrocious and doing more of the same next season is going to sour a lot of people on the progress of the program. Something drastic has to happen for our defense to improve and doing more of the same isn’t going to get it done. Completely unrealistic to expect a Division 1 program to have any type of success with this approach. Having a short-term (dysfunctional) approach to try and (maybe) win a couple more games next year, is not going to turn the program around. Nelson needs a whole roster who is bought in on his culture and defensive approach, and taking half measures will only stunt our growth in year 3 and beyond, after our roster is turned over.
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Post by WorcesterGray on Mar 4, 2020 9:31:44 GMT -5
We definitely need an interior presence that can help reduce the inordinate amount of layups we surrendered this year. Hopefully Rabinovich can assist in this effort but as we know freshman bigs are prone to fouling. It would be very helpful to land Prince Moses and add another big body on the interior. I don't know who might be in the queue after Moses, but I really liked a kid from Brooks I saw last month, Myles Foster. Strong-bodied 6-8, hard-working, runs the court well, solid inside game at both ends, good shot blocker and passer. He had several offers last year, including one from Brown, picked up another from Robert Morris in January, and one from BU last week. Still uncommitted.
Brooks is a Class B school, but has traditionally been competitive against schools in higher classifications. They are the top seed in the Class B NEPSAC Tournament, and should reach the finals this Sunday, a game which will be played at Worcester State and live-streamed. Again, I have no idea whether there is any mutual interest, but we are certainly very familiar with him (have offered his 2021 teammate, George Smith) and there shouldn't be any academic issue.
Just a name to file away for future reference, perhaps.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Mar 4, 2020 9:33:27 GMT -5
Oddly enough, Matt Faw led the Patriot League in blocks this year with 41. Second place was Sean Good of Laf with 31.
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Post by Tom on Mar 4, 2020 9:45:32 GMT -5
Player Development: No evidence that any occurred during this season Overall: Our PL opponents this season were men; we were boys. High schoolers against middle schoolers. They slapped us around.
Train wreck
Pridgen with his incredible 8 rookie of week awards had zero for the first month or so of the season. I'd say he progressed. Faw and Niego started out as guys who hung around on the perimeter. As the season progressed they developed the ability to actually work down low. On the Faw topic, somewhere along the line he became a shot blocker with close to double his total from last year ----------- It did seem like the other teams' big guys were always stronger than our guys. When you are consistently getting pushed around and out muscled it's easy to start grabbing to compensate which leads to a lot of bad fouls. That certainly happened. Faw isn't scrawny, but he's not exactly a wide body. However, next to Niego he looks like Pat Whearty (the senior, not the freshman), and Niego looks like a beast when he stands next to Verbeek. To the groups' credit, they were scrappy and always willing to mix it up, even if they wound up on the floor ---------- Yup
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Post by bison137 on Mar 4, 2020 10:05:13 GMT -5
Oddly enough, Matt Faw led the Patriot League in blocks this year with 41. Second place was Sean Good of Laf with 31. Good is a tremendous shot blocker. His block rate would be second in the nation if he had enough minutes to qualify and could sustain that rate. But he only plays seven mpg due to the fact that he has no other skills.
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Post by sarasota on Mar 4, 2020 10:38:39 GMT -5
Player Development: No evidence that any occurred during this season Overall: Our PL opponents this season were men; we were boys. High schoolers against middle schoolers. They slapped us around.
Train wreck
Pridgen with his incredible 8 rookie of week awards had zero for the first month or so of the season. I'd say he progressed. Faw and Niego started out as guys who hung around on the perimeter. As the season progressed they developed the ability to actually work down low. On the Faw topic, somewhere along the line he became a shot blocker with close to double his total from last year ----------- It did seem like the other teams' big guys were always stronger than our guys. When you are consistently getting pushed around and out muscled it's easy to start grabbing to compensate which leads to a lot of bad fouls. That certainly happened. Faw isn't scrawny, but he's not exactly a wide body. However, next to Niego he looks like Pat Whearty (the senior, not the freshman), and Niego looks like a beast when he stands next to Verbeek. To the groups' credit, they were scrappy and always willing to mix it up, even if they wound up on the floor ---------- Yup I excluded Pridgen from "development during the season" because he was good from day 1. As for Faw, I agree with your assessment. He doesn't have enough WEIGHT or STRENGTH to back anybody up when he's posted up. I remember distinctly during the last game a couple of instances where he had the ball posted up with ONE defender on him and Faw didn't even attempt to back up the defender. He just held the ball and you could see that he didn't know what to do with it. When Faw was on defense, his opponent back him up right to the rim.....all season. On the plus side with Faw, no one here has commented that for a 6'9" guy he is a tremendous leaper. He really can elevate, which accounts for his blocks stat. IMHO, Niego show some improvement, but not breakout. As for Wade, like a poster's earlier comment, I was shocked to see Wade actually penetrate all the way to the rim on ONE occasion.....ONE occasion. Ironically, our one outstanding offensive basketball play was the deep down dish to a streaking Lesanne who laid it up. I exclude Pridgen because his are one-man plays whereas the dish to CLS was a two-man play. When I say our Offense was one-dimensional, part of what I mean is that, during the season, we made amazingly few two-man and three-man basketball plays compared to our opponents. All we did was high ball screens followed by a kamikazee OVER AND OVER, but I hardly count that as a two-man play.
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Post by timholycross on Mar 4, 2020 10:41:44 GMT -5
Congratulations to the team and coaches for getting up for the final game of the season. If the PL had a “bottom ten” rank of teams in the PL since it’s inception, this team would finish number three of four, most likely. Let’s hope the inclusion of a few incoming freshmen can drastically improve Nelson’s defense. Fingers crossed. I just don’t see the current group playing much better defense next season, at least of the man to man variety, so I would make the starters minus Pridgen, the second group next season and have them play zone. I would have Pridgen and the four frosh the starting lineup and have them play man to man. Our defense is atrocious and doing more of the same next season is going to sour a lot of people on the progress of the program. Something drastic has to happen for our defense to improve and doing more of the same isn’t going to get it done. At the PL level, a very good recruiting class most likely consists of 2 guys who can step in and do the job; another guy who's close and who you can stick in there in spots; and a 4th that's not ready (but some day will be). The idea you could start all 4 of them I wouldn't bank on. The hope is that one of the two is Johnson and the other is a big.
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Post by hcpride on Mar 4, 2020 11:59:39 GMT -5
I just don’t see the current group playing much better defense next season, at least of the man to man variety, so I would make the starters minus Pridgen, the second group next season and have them play zone. I would have Pridgen and the four frosh the starting lineup and have them play man to man. Our defense is atrocious and doing more of the same next season is going to sour a lot of people on the progress of the program. Something drastic has to happen for our defense to improve and doing more of the same isn’t going to get it done. At the PL level, a very good recruiting class most likely consists of 2 guys who can step in and do the job; another guy who's close and who you can stick in there in spots; and a 4th that's not ready (but some day will be). The idea you could start all 4 of them I wouldn't bank on. The hope is that one of the two is Johnson and the other is a big. Essentially agree.
(Of course a very bad PL team with a decent recruiting year might have four starters/significant contributers ...that would not necessarily bring the team up to 'average PL' standards and also would not necessarily mean those players would see much time at all on average PL teams)
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Post by trimster on Mar 4, 2020 12:08:25 GMT -5
I just don’t see the current group playing much better defense next season, at least of the man to man variety, so I would make the starters minus Pridgen, the second group next season and have them play zone. I would have Pridgen and the four frosh the starting lineup and have them play man to man. Our defense is atrocious and doing more of the same next season is going to sour a lot of people on the progress of the program. Something drastic has to happen for our defense to improve and doing more of the same isn’t going to get it done. At the PL level, a very good recruiting class most likely consists of 2 guys who can step in and do the job; another guy who's close and who you can stick in there in spots; and a 4th that's not ready (but some day will be). The idea you could start all 4 of them I wouldn't bank on. The hope is that one of the two is Johnson and the other is a big. Would you be happy if the same starting five for most of this year was the starting five in November? The reason I would keep most of this year’s starting five together is as a group is they are a terrible unit defensively and I would bring them off the bench with Reilly as a second unit and have them play a defense that doesn’t constantly expose their defensive weakness. People lament the lack of a shot locker in the paint but there is only so much he could do to mask the real problem of our defenders’ inability to keep their man from penetrating on the perimeter.
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Post by trimster on Mar 4, 2020 12:19:15 GMT -5
We definitely need an interior presence that can help reduce the inordinate amount of layups we surrendered this year. Hopefully Rabinovich can assist in this effort but as we know freshman bigs are prone to fouling. It would be very helpful to land Prince Moses and add another big body on the interior. I don't know who might be in the queue after Moses, but I really liked a kid from Brooks I saw last month, Myles Foster. Strong-bodied 6-8, hard-working, runs the court well, solid inside game at both ends, good shot blocker and passer. He had several offers last year, including one from Brown, picked up another from Robert Morris in January, and one from BU last week. Still uncommitted.
Brooks is a Class B school, but has traditionally been competitive against schools in higher classifications. They are the top seed in the Class B NEPSAC Tournament, and should reach the finals this Sunday, a game which will be played at Worcester State and live-streamed. Again, I have no idea whether there is any mutual interest, but we are certainly very familiar with him (have offered his 2021 teammate, George Smith) and there shouldn't be any academic issue.
Just a name to file away for future reference, perhaps.
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Post by trimster on Mar 4, 2020 12:21:49 GMT -5
I don't know who might be in the queue after Moses, but I really liked a kid from Brooks I saw last month, Myles Foster. Strong-bodied 6-8, hard-working, runs the court well, solid inside game at both ends, good shot blocker and passer. He had several offers last year, including one from Brown, picked up another from Robert Morris in January, and one from BU last week. Still uncommitted.
Brooks is a Class B school, but has traditionally been competitive against schools in higher classifications. They are the top seed in the Class B NEPSAC Tournament, and should reach the finals this Sunday, a game which will be played at Worcester State and live-streamed. Again, I have no idea whether there is any mutual interest, but we are certainly very familiar with him (have offered his 2021 teammate, George Smith) and there shouldn't be any academic issue.
Just a name to file away for future reference, perhaps.
Foster looks like a bit of a wide body which we could certainly use. He is ranked ahead of the WA duo by NERR and five spots behind Prince Moses.
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Post by timholycross on Mar 4, 2020 13:49:30 GMT -5
At the PL level, a very good recruiting class most likely consists of 2 guys who can step in and do the job; another guy who's close and who you can stick in there in spots; and a 4th that's not ready (but some day will be). The idea you could start all 4 of them I wouldn't bank on. The hope is that one of the two is Johnson and the other is a big. Would you be happy if the same starting five for most of this year was the starting five in November? The reason I would keep most of this year’s starting five together is as a group is they are a terrible unit defensively and I would bring them off the bench with Reilly as a second unit and have them play a defense that doesn’t constantly expose their defensive weakness. People lament the lack of a shot locker in the paint but there is only so much he could do to mask the real problem of our defenders’ inability to keep their man from penetrating on the perimeter. What about Yuetter vis-a-vis Reilly? Didn't he (I never saw him play myself) play better than Reilly before he got hurt? Or do you think what we saw after Lowder left was what we were going to see regardless of Yuetter's health. By the way, it's 100% certain Sandy never got in a game, not even for half a minute? Strange question to ask, perhaps, but wouldn't that mean he still can play (HC or, more likely, elsewhere; somewhere lower than D1) four years?
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Mar 4, 2020 20:19:55 GMT -5
I thought Linc played decently until his plate got overloaded. Seemed like CBN liked him. Hope he (and JR) can build off of their experiences this year.
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Post by efg72 on Mar 4, 2020 20:51:46 GMT -5
I think Lincoln is serviceable as a D1 backup getting 8-12 min/game and possibly more effective if he is on the court with a more athletic/talented roster
With that said it would be great to get another RJ level pg to have better depth
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billy72
Climbing Mt. St. James
Posts: 95
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Post by billy72 on Mar 5, 2020 6:48:06 GMT -5
How did we get to this point ? Been out of the country since Feb 1st and am embarrassed at how we ended the year ! What happened ?!!!
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Post by timholycross on Mar 5, 2020 7:34:39 GMT -5
When you left, which is more or less when I went South for a month; you expected more wins? With the exception of the American blowout, went exactly like I thought it would.
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Post by longsuffering on Mar 5, 2020 7:52:46 GMT -5
How did we get to this point ? Been out of the country since Feb 1st and am embarrassed at how we ended the year ! What happened ?!!! [br We were out played and out coached. Attach your own percentage to each factor based on your own observations.
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Post by Tom on Mar 5, 2020 9:22:23 GMT -5
What about Yuetter vis-a-vis Reilly? Didn't he (I never saw him play myself) play better than Reilly before he got hurt? Or do you think what we saw after Lowder left was what we were going to see regardless of Yuetter's health. Early in the season, Reilly was the back-up point guard. Ar some point down in Florida, Yeutter passed him on the depth chart. Yeutter got hurt sometime in late December. Reilly worked his way so far down the depth chart that when Lowder left the team in mid-January the team decided to go with no point guard rather than use Reilly. When he was getting good minutes for those few games, I thought Yeutter did a serviceable job. Not great, but serviceable on a bad team. When they had an open practice back in November, Yeutter was running the second unit during scrimmage portions. In the early season, I thought Reilly was also doing a serviceable job as back-up. I thought he actually defended better than starter Lowder. In limited opportunities after Florida, Reilly seemed to struggle. In answer to your question, from what I saw, Yeutter played better than Reilly between Florida and his season ending injury. Actually having a point guard on the floor certainly would have helped. Still, I think that what we saw after Lowder's departure was pretty close to what we would have been even with Yeutter. A walk-on playing the point would not have turned this season around. A healthy Yeutter might have improved this season from putrid to horrible, but I don't think he could have elevated it to disappointing
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Post by trimster on Mar 5, 2020 9:49:13 GMT -5
From the little I saw of Reilly, I thought he was one of the very few players on the team who could actually keep his man in front of him on defense. His lack of size hurt him if his man posted up on him but all in all I thought his defense was pretty good.
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Post by bringbackcaro on Mar 5, 2020 10:05:56 GMT -5
No offense to either guy, but unless they make major strides, if we're talking about playing either Reilly or Yeutter during the 21-22 season, that is not a good sign for Nelson.
In an ideal world, Bubba Humphrey's Twitter bio (listing himself as a PG) has some accuracy to it, and he and/or another combo guard that we sign late in this period can take on some of the backup minutes behind RJ next year.
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Post by possum on Mar 8, 2020 6:41:40 GMT -5
Saw that old friend Tyler Scanlon hit the winning shot with 3 seconds left to send Belmont to the tournament. If he had stayed at BU for his senior season it may have closed any gap that exists between Colgate and the Terriers.
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Post by WorcesterGray on Mar 8, 2020 6:51:57 GMT -5
Early in the season, Reilly was the back-up point guard. Ar some point down in Florida, Yeutter passed him on the depth chart. Reilly played a season-high 24 minutes vs. Florida Atlantic. He didn't take a shot or have an assist. Playing time went down significantly thereafter..
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Post by HC92 on Mar 8, 2020 8:04:36 GMT -5
Saw that old friend Tyler Scanlon hit the winning shot with 3 seconds left to send Belmont to the tournament. If he had stayed at BU for his senior season it may have closed any gap that exists between Colgate and the Terriers. On a beautiful back-door cut. Warmed my heart.
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Post by HC92 on Mar 8, 2020 8:05:55 GMT -5
Early in the season, Reilly was the back-up point guard. Ar some point down in Florida, Yeutter passed him on the depth chart. Reilly played a season-high 24 minutes vs. Florida Atlantic. He didn't take a shot or have an assist. Playing time went down significantly thereafter.. Will be interesting to see if Reilly returns. I hope he does but I suspect he will not.
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Post by trimster on Mar 8, 2020 8:26:15 GMT -5
Reilly played a season-high 24 minutes vs. Florida Atlantic. He didn't take a shot or have an assist. Playing time went down significantly thereafter.. Will be interesting to see if Reilly returns. I hope he does but I suspect he will not. Is this a hunch on your part.
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