2013-2014 Season

[Scheids21]

To answer a question from earlier in this thread, Joe Linardi tweeted that no, the unnamed conference does not get an automatic bid next season. He did not specify when they would, but next year they do not.

 

[L-T]

Forgot to mention in my post above, in addition to the critical issue we will have shooting the ball next year, just as concerning is our inability to pass the ball. We may have had the worst passing team in Division 1. If we don't seriously upgrade these two fundamental skills, next season will be a long season. We won't have the reputation of the Big East Conference to negate our sub-standard performance and still get us a bid in spite of finishing in 10th place. We'll have to earn our bid next year on our own. The league won't help us.

 

[UCBearcats]

Strickland, Caupain, and Lawrence all have the potential to make immediate impacts. Does that mean all of them will? No. Could I mean one of them will? Yes. I don't think they will all come in and be studs right away, but all of them have the potential to fill glaring weaknesses on our team. If Strickland is a big guy with half a brain and somewhat filled out, he will help. If Caupain can do some of the smaller things that he does in HS, like rebound and play gritty, he will help. And finally, Lawrence has the potential to help lift the burden off of our main scorers some nights next year. Does that mean he will score 25 ppg? No. Does that mean he will play great every game and have no off nights? No. But each could contribute in their own way.

Can any of these guys play defense and will they be physically tough enough to make an impact on our ability to rebound the ball? I think something we can all agree on is that Mick will not give a ton of minutes to guys that he feels can't play his style of defense. Mick is happy to sacrifice offense if he believes it will improve our defense. We can debate all day if that's the right philosophy but I think that last statement is pretty much fact.

Look at guys like Shaq Thomas, Jermaine Sanders and Guyn. These guys are all going on their 3rd years in the program and they're just now starting to learn how to be defensively up to par with what Mick requires. I think if a lot of you are expecting big things from the incoming freshmen you're setting yourselves up to be disappointed. Strickland is going to be a huge project, Lawrence has the most promise but in a lot of ways is the same type of player that Shaq Thomas is.

I think next year we'll be relying mainly on the same guys we did this season. Killa will still be here, Guyn is going to play, Thomas will hopefully start, Rubles will start some, Jackson will start some and most likely Nyrasuk will too. I think JDIII is a huge wildcard, I really liked what I saw out of him his freshman season, can he evolve in the PG role and can his shot be a factor? I think getting a big contribution out of JDIII is much more likely than getting an big impact from any of our freshman, including Lawrence.

 

[Scheids21]

I hate these "how good will our recruits be" arguments. I think it comes down to this: Our team has holes that will need to be filled, and given our other options, the freshmen will have an OPPORTUNITY to fill those voids. And as far as how much someone will contribute, everyone is just guessing. Let's face it, we're all just taking shots in the dark based on rankings and a couple highlight clips.

 

[CaptDale]

Forgot to mention in my post above, in addition to the critical issue we will have shooting the ball next year, just as concerning is our inability to pass the ball. We may have had the worst passing team in Division 1. If we don't seriously upgrade these two fundamental skills, next season will be a long season. We won't have the reputation of the Big East Conference to negate our sub-standard performance and still get us a bid in spite of finishing in 10th place. We'll have to earn our bid next year on our own. The league won't help us.

And who, exactly, is going to teach this to them?

 

[westsidecat]

To answer a question from earlier in this thread, Joe Linardi tweeted that no, the unnamed conference does not get an automatic bid next season. He did not specify when they would, but next year they do not.

thanks for clearing this up. after nts said they were granted a waiver, wen't looking and couldn't find a thing.