I think people are too quick to judge Harvey. His bad freshman year should have been expected. He was injured for months before he signed, missed most of his HS senior year and spring practice for UC and part of summer practice because of his injury. It's part of the reason a player ranked so high ended up here.
His game reminds me a lot of Keith's, but he seems to have better court vision and a better 3 point shot than Keith did as a freshman. It takes slashers a bit longer to get used to the higher level of college play and also to stop deferring to upper classmen.
I also continue to believe that the freshmen class as a whole is being expected to do way more than is realistic. They are likely to miss significant chucks of practice time due to Covid-19, making the adjustment even tougher. Freshmen who make major contributions are the exception, not the rule.
If we are going to do well next season, I think Keith, DeJulius and Diarra are going to have to be the stars and play major minutes. Harvey, MAW, Rap and Vogt have to be solid contributors. At least one other player (Eason or (?)Prince) needs to step up.
I think people are too quick to judge Harvey. His bad freshman year should have been expected. He was injured for months before he signed, missed most of his HS senior year and spring practice for UC and part of summer practice because of his injury. It's part of the reason a player ranked so high ended up here.
His game reminds me a lot of Keith's, but he seems to have better court vision and a better 3 point shot than Keith did as a freshman. It takes slashers a bit longer to get used to the higher level of college play and also to stop deferring to upper classmen.
I also continue to believe that the freshmen class as a whole is being expected to do way more than is realistic. They are likely to miss significant chucks of practice time due to Covid-19, making the adjustment even tougher. Freshmen who make major contributions are the exception, not the rule.
If we are going to do well next season, I think Keith, DeJulius and Diarra are going to have to be the stars and play major minutes. Harvey, MAW, Rap and Vogt have to be solid contributors. At least one other player (Eason or (?)Prince) needs to step up.
Yep, I’m all in on Harvey. Good IQ, good passer, good athlete when healthy, and shot the ball well from 3 the 2nd half of the year. It’s hard not to be at least solid with all those things going for you. Same with Eason. 6’8, good ball handler, great athlete. Unless these guys don’t work at all on their game, they will be good.I think Harvey has a good chance to start and be a good player. He plays with a very high IQ and I think Brannen prefers those guys. Even with Harvey struggling last year he was still always making the right play on offense. Shooting when he should, passing when he should. Thats very rare for a freshman, and especially one thats struggling.
On defense he's extremely quick side to side for a guy his size and gets a lot of steals.
With a full year getting that ankle stronger and trusting it I feel like he has the best chance of anybody on the team to make a huge jump this year.
Also if we want to talk about going to the rim, all our guards/wings struggling finishing. Harvey didn't get a lot of attempts, but his shooting % around the rim was the highest among all guards/wings (and his wasn't good)
Harvey - 52.9% (only 17 attempts)
KW - 52.5%
MAW - 52.6%
Jarron - 49.4%
Jaevin - 48.1%
Thats not good enough from any of them. Every single one of those is in the Red on barttorvik. Keith did far better as a SO at 62.0%. If we get him back to that and these other guys up, our efficiency should really rise.
I hope diarra makes a jump. I really do. At least to where he can stay on the floor. If he can I think this team could be a top 30ish team. (With Keith and DD getting eligibility for this year). We have some talent.Yeah, I think Harvey and Diarra are going to make the biggest jumps.
I imagine Keith and Harvey will benefit a lot from having Rap/Diarra spread the floor. Brannen seems to want to run the 5-out offense and this year we will have all the pieces to do so for at least half the game.
Hell I hope Harvey starts...that would be a very good sign! I wouldn't mind seeing MAW backing up 2 positions (pg and sg). Actually he can back up 3 positions and come in for either Keith or Harvey but play the 2 guard in either scenario. In the end I hope Gabe is the guy backing up the 2 and 3 but he's the frosh so it's not as likely.
I hope diarra makes a jump. I really do. At least to where he can stay on the floor. If he can I think this team could be a top 30ish team. (With Keith and DD getting eligibility for this year). We have some talent.
I'm wondering if the school is keeping quiet on Toyambi because he's a foreigner. He went to part of high school in California, but I don't think his parents are living there. So many foreign students have been denied visas in the past year. If he's not on the team they might be concerned he'd be sent back to the DRC.
Not sure how close he is towards graduation, but I hope he's able to finish his degree, for his sake.
Diarra made the jump at the end of the season. Yeah it was only a few games, but I see no reason why it won't continue. There were plenty of earlier games that he put if together for stretches (and I still think Brannen could have given him more of Vogt's minutes). There quite a few (no longer just me) calling for Diarra to start in the tournament.
I still don't see us as anywhere near a top 30 team though. I'm hoping for a top 100 team. Too many new pieces and new starters. We will also be relying too heavily on freshman.
I'm not convinced by Rap yet. He was second worst on his team last year in ORTG, shot 26% from 3 and didn't defend particularly well. There are reasons to hope (he was much better in 18-19 and shot 43% from 3), but moving up competition level generally gives grad transfers problems.
I see this year as a development year. 21-22 should be the year we are top 30. Barring transfers we will only lose Keith, Vogt and possibly Rap (he has a chance at getting a 6th year of eligibility).
Top 100? I think we will be safe there. Haven’t been that bad in 15 years. If diarra is better, or as good as you think, and Keith returns, that alone is a top 60 team. With those two players. If DD gets a waiver, he averaged 7 points in the big 10. No reason to think he can’t put up 10 a game. We were a top 50ish last year with a brand new team and system. A hurt Jarron most of the year. And Chris McNeal. Not sure why we can’t be at least that good this year. Like I said, if diarra is as good as you think he could be, that could single handily put us top 60.
Rap could at least give us jay sollara production. And give the guys a rest. That’s worse case for him. Best case is 7-8 points a game off the bench.
Also if everyone can play and comes back we aren’t really relying on freshmen. We won’t have any freshmen starting. You just said they won’t crack our top 8.
I agree, in 2 years we could be special but I think this year could be really good too if everyone can play. Maybe I’m wrong.
Top 100? I think we will be safe there. Haven’t been that bad in 15 years. If diarra is better, or as good as you think, and Keith returns, that alone is a top 60 team. With those two players. If DD gets a waiver, he averaged 7 points in the big 10. No reason to think he can’t put up 10 a game. We were a top 50ish last year with a brand new team and system. A hurt Jarron most of the year. And Chris McNeal. Not sure why we can’t be at least that good this year. Like I said, if diarra is as good as you think he could be, that could single handily put us top 60.
Rap could at least give us jay sollara production. And give the guys a rest. That’s worse case for him. Best case is 7-8 points a game off the bench.
Also if everyone can play and comes back we aren’t really relying on freshmen. We won’t have any freshmen starting. You just said they won’t crack our top 8.
I agree, in 2 years we could be special but I think this year could be really good too if everyone can play. Maybe I’m wrong.
I'm wondering if the school is keeping quiet on Toyambi because he's a foreigner. He went to part of high school in California, but I don't think his parents are living there. So many foreign students have been denied visas in the past year. If he's not on the team they might be concerned he'd be sent back to the DRC.
Not sure how close he is towards graduation, but I hope he's able to finish his degree, for his sake.
Okay, top 100 may be extreme. But top 75.
More than anything I worry about the loss of Scott. You know I love Diarra, but he has yet to make it clear he can play the 4. All year he was better at the 5 and his run of very good play at the end of the season was at the 5. Rap I don't think can play the 4 on defense, especially not with Vogt at the 5. With Diarra at the 5 Rap may work out at the 4, because Diarra is so good at cutting off driving lanes. But either Diarra figures out the 4, Rap surprises me or we are in major trouble (I suppose Eason starts is also an option).
If Rap is Sorolla level and Diarra struggles at the 4, things get rocky real quick. It seems like we are going to be relying on Rap a lot, but his lack of intensity and giving up on plays is a worrisome trend. He also shot only 26% from three last year (though over 40% the year before that) and was one of the worst on the team in ORTG (one of the best the year before that), which is a potential problem as well. Rap was not a very good player last year, but was very good in 18-19, we are hoping for him to make the jump in competition and return to his 18-19 form, that seems like a lot to hope for.
Scott's rebounding is also going to be missed. Vogt isn't going to make up for it, Rap I don't think will make up for it. Diarra and Keith may to a degree, but they will probably need help. The guards and forwards need to do much better than they did last year.
I am less worried about where the offense will come from. DeJulius and Keith should be major threats. Diarra, Rap and the other guards will will stretch the floor and open up driving lanes. Vogt will be a change of pace when he is in.
The other concern is the youth at guard. MAW, Harvey and one of the freshmen guards are going to be our starter, and backup guards. While I think Harvey should make a big jump (and MAW a less big one), I could be wrong and we are in trouble there as well.
Too many unknowns for me to be confident. Best case would be top 30, worst case would be closer to 100. We should know more within the first month or so of play.
It seems like we have shut down recruiting for the year and Prince is still on scholarship. This tells me that Brannen thinks there's at least a chance that Prince will play again.
There was some speculation that it has to do with getting higher ups at UC to give him permission to play. If he's waiting for the board to approve him (or not approve him) to play, it may be why Brannen is being tight-lipped.
I’m not confident but I could see how we could be top 30ish. Our offense should be good. We will have a player of the year candidate in Keith. We won’t be trying to cater to Jarron. Dd should be able to give us 10 and be one of the better guards in the league. Which will help. Our returning players will be better. And that’s without counting on any freshmen. Scott will be missed for sure, but can someone step in and give us 8 and 6? I think so.Okay, top 100 may be extreme. But top 75.
More than anything I worry about the loss of Scott. You know I love Diarra, but he has yet to make it clear he can play the 4. All year he was better at the 5 and his run of very good play at the end of the season was at the 5. Rap I don't think can play the 4 on defense, especially not with Vogt at the 5. With Diarra at the 5 Rap may work out at the 4, because Diarra is so good at cutting off driving lanes. But either Diarra figures out the 4, Rap surprises me or we are in major trouble (I suppose Eason starts is also an option).
If Rap is Sorolla level and Diarra struggles at the 4, things get rocky real quick. It seems like we are going to be relying on Rap a lot, but his lack of intensity and giving up on plays is a worrisome trend. He also shot only 26% from three last year (though over 40% the year before that) and was one of the worst on the team in ORTG (one of the best the year before that), which is a potential problem as well. Rap was not a very good player last year, but was very good in 18-19, we are hoping for him to make the jump in competition and return to his 18-19 form, that seems like a lot to hope for.
Scott's rebounding is also going to be missed. Vogt isn't going to make up for it, Rap I don't think will make up for it. Diarra and Keith may to a degree, but they will probably need help. The guards and forwards need to do much better than they did last year.
I am less worried about where the offense will come from. DeJulius and Keith should be major threats. Diarra, Rap and the other guards will will stretch the floor and open up driving lanes. Vogt will be a change of pace when he is in.
The other concern is the youth at guard. MAW, Harvey and one of the freshmen guards are going to be our starter, and backup guards. While I think Harvey should make a big jump (and MAW a less big one), I could be wrong and we are in trouble there as well.
Too many unknowns for me to be confident. Best case would be top 30, worst case would be closer to 100. We should know more within the first month or so of play.
I don't see there is anyway that Rap is near Sorolla level. JC was a body to fill in whose career high was 5ppg. Rap was an IVY league POY and averaged 16 and 13 the last two years. I don't think they will be comparable.
Houston should be the best on paper but for some reason I’m not sold on that group of players. They should have ran away with the league last year and didn’t. I think Jarreau and grimes actually hurt them. They try to cater to those guys but they just aren’t the players they think they are. Not consistent. And They just don’t play together or something. They should be great but I’ll wait and see.If Houston returns all of their eligible players and Memphis returns everyone but Precious, I expect there to be a bit of a talent gap between those two teams and the rest of the league.
With that being said, I think we can be a top 50-60ish team as well. If we can replicate Wichita's results from this past year where they clearly did not have one of the AAC's most talented rosters, but also did not register a single bad loss and took care of business in their Q2 games with the occasional Q1 win, I think we can at least stay in contention for a NCAA bid next season.