2021-22 Open Thread

[cincyguy13]

You know, it's funny you say that. Implying that somehow I'm representing myself as a "basketball god".

Not but a few posts ago you said you looked forward to coming back here and calling me a moron this time next year. You also said, twice, that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Am I opinionated? Sure. But I'm not exactly running around telling others they have no idea what they're talking about and calling them morons either.

If anyone is representing themselves as a basketball God or an authority it's you.

I'm just sharing my own opinions, and I think I've been respectful to the others here while doing so. You, not so much...

If you’re complaining a month in, I think it’s fair to question if you know what you’re talking about. Maybe you do, but this is an odd take.,

 

[MDW79]

I will say this, we'll just have to wait and see.

I could very well be wrong and this team could actually be pretty good. Maybe they win 20+ games.

To be honest, if Miller can even get them into the NIT then I would consider that a success. Just because I'm negative about the job he's done thus far does not mean I'm putting unfair expectations on him. If he can this team to top 5 in the conference and win 18 or more games I'm a happy camper in year 1.

All this said, I think this is around a .500 level team as it sits. If you pick some abitrary ranking system then I would consider them probably somewhere between 75 and 125. It looks to me like it's got mid major, and not a good one, written all over it. I hope I'm wrong. I really do.

 

[sedziobs]

In Koval's junior season at Central Arkansas, they played at Baylor, Georgetown, Duke, Wichita St, and Marquette. He averaged 4 blocks in those games, and he scored 21 against Georgetown.

 

[waterhead]

I think there is a perception among a lot of fans that since there are over 1500 players who have entered the portal, there must be hundreds who are capable of starting on top 50 teams. That's just not true. I have been tracking rebounders for weeks now, and the list of guys who are simply above average for the 4/5 position is only around 20. There aren't that many starting caliber player out there, and every team is competing for them.

Sounds like Big Vik is coming back so that final piece is going to have to be a scoring wing/guard go to guy.

Unless someone transfers late. Then we add another impact guy

 

[sedziobs]

Same goes for this defensive wing you spoke of. It';s a lot easier putting up decent analytics when you're playing Little Sisters of the Poor week in and week out.

The defensive wing played at Clemson. You think the ACC is the Little Sisters of the Poor? These are bizarre takes.

 

[sedziobs]

There's plenty of better guys in the portal than what we got. Period.

Define "plenty". Then compare that number to the number of spots that top 50 teams are looking to fill. We got 1 guy who would start on a lot of top 50 teams if healthy (Newman), and another who would start on most teams that don't have an upperclassman big blocking his path (Oby). How many teams are doing better than us in the portal? Do you think there are 50?

 

[MDW79]

If you’re complaining a month in, I think it’s fair to question if you know what you’re talking about. Maybe you do, but this is an odd take.,

Not sure what the amount of time in has to do with anything.

We had 4 coaching spots to fill and 6 players spots, for a total of 10 spots. 9 of those have been filled now. I'm judging him on that.

It doesn't matter if it's one week, one month, two months, or 6 months. He's elected to fill out this staff and roster in a way that I don't think is at all impressive. It's as simple as that.

Maybe he really turns on the recruting next year. Maybe I'm wrong about these UNCG guys. Who knows? All I can talk about right now is what I've seen thus far. And IMHO what I've seen leaves a whole lot to be desired.

I guess we'll have to wait and see. I hope I'm wrong. I do apologize for continued to defend my take. I've probably made my point by now but I keep getting pulled back towards the conversation. I know I'm in the minority, so I'll stop now.

PS If it's any consolation I could NOT be any more excited for football. I can't wait. I'd hibernate these next 3 months if I could. Go Bearcats!

 

[MDW79]

The defensive wing played at Clemson. You think the ACC is the Little Sisters of the Poor? These are bizarre takes.

Oh, please. I thought you were talking about one of the UNCG guys on the wing. (You didn't name them, you just said we got one of the better defensive wings in the portal).

It should have clear when I referenced Little Sisters of the Poor after laying out a Southern Conference schedule that I was under the impression it was a UNCG player you were speaking of.

Sorry I haven't got my calculator out to run on the numbers so I can immediately identify who it is you're referencing. My bad for being so bizzare.

 

[waterhead]

Oh, please. I thought you were talking about one of the UNCG guys on the wing. (You didn't name them, you just said we got one of the better defensive wings in the portal).

It should have clear when I referenced Little Sisters of the Poor after laying out a Southern Conference schedule that I was under the impression it was a UNCG player you were speaking of.

Sorry I haven't got my calculator out to run on the numbers so I can immediately identify who it is you're referencing. My bad for being so bizzare.

You lumped all of these guys together in your first rant about how they are all tied to UNCG but now that you have been called out for it...you want us to break out the ACC players for you?

Not to mention you didn't even know who the hell Sedz was talking about. Who did you think it was? Do you know anything about these players?

 

[MDW79]

You lumped all of these guys together in your first rant about how they are all tied to UNCG but now that you have been called out for it...you want us to break out the ACC players for you?

Not to mention you didn't even know who the hell Sedz was talking about. Who did you think it was? Do you know anything about these players?

No, I initially lumped them all together for coming from a school in North Carolina.

UNCG - North Carolina
Clemson - North Carolina
Wake - North Carolina

It makes me question if this coach can recruit on a national level.

Yeah, I did not know who he was talking about. All he said was we picked up one of the best defensive wings in the portal. I'm sorry I'm not analytics obsessed like some of the people on here and wasn't immediately able to discern that meant Newman III.

I'm finally bowing it out. Promise. I've made my point, and anyone is more than welcome to disagree with it. We'll all have to wait and see.

I'll leave you guys back to your board now. Go Bearcats.

 

[skyblade]

No, I initially lumped them all together for coming from a school in North Carolina.

UNCG - North Carolina
Clemson - North Carolina
Wake - North Carolina

It makes me question if this coach can recruit on a national level.

Yeah, I did not know who he was talking about. All he said was we picked up one of the best defensive wings in the portal. I'm sorry I'm not analytics obsessed like some of the people on here and wasn't immediately able to discern that meant Newman III.

I'm finally bowing it out. Promise. I've made my point, and anyone is more than welcome to disagree with it. We'll all have to wait and see.

I'll leave you guys back to your board now. Go Bearcats.

Clemson is in South Carolina...

 

[kskenyon4]

Why ignore the Koval stats against better competition while at Central Arkansas? Pick a lane and stay with it.

In 30 days Wes has done a 'B' or so job with the roster, and by all accounts done an 'A' job in everything else. Reaching out to former players, trying to inject energy and pushing for 3pt contest at a midnight madness, etc.

Mick walked into a dumpster fire, and Wes is only walking into less of a scolding one. If anything, Wes is almost on even ground, he's recruiting in the AAC. We all know the phenomenal job Mick did to pull us to a relevancy and then success, it took years. We can't ignore Wes starting this job weeks later than we all wanted from a recruiting stand point. All the time we kept complaining about the indecision and Cunningham, is not Miller's fault.

No one here is in the know enough to know enough about the roster make up, but there's no reason to not trust Wes for now.

We had 4 players, and now this team I hope can compete. I don't expect big things this year, and hope for much bigger in year 2-3. Only time will tell.

 

[TheRealMick]

Yeah why would he recruit in the state he’s been a coach in for the last ten years. Come in man you expect him to have ties in the area after 30 days. Lmao

I expected McMillan or Miller to commit with Wes hiring. Huge gamble if he doesn’t have in state connections. We have 3 top 100 players coming out Cincinnati coming up, Darryn Peterson who first ever offer was X, should be top 5 if not best in his class.

 

[TheRealMick]

I think there is a perception among a lot of fans that since there are over 1500 players who have entered the portal, there must be hundreds who are capable of starting on top 50 teams. That's just not true. I have been tracking rebounders for weeks now, and the list of guys who are simply above average for the 4/5 position is only around 20. There aren't that many starting caliber player out there, and every team is competing for them.

You keep leaving out over 75% of portal have little or no playing time to date. Stop acting like y’all don’t understand what he’s saying. We could’ve upgraded a little better than what we did. I’ll take Tari, Harvey, and Gabe over what we added and I thought we needed to upgrade from guys we lost. KD Johnson and Isaiah Miller along with trying convince Williams return should’ve been main goals

 

[sedziobs]

You keep leaving out over 75% of portal have little or no playing time to date. Stop acting like y’all don’t understand what he’s saying. We could’ve upgraded a little better than what we did. I’ll take Tari, Harvey, and Gabe over what we added and I thought we needed to upgrade from guys we lost. KD Johnson and Isaiah Miller along with trying convince Williams return should’ve been main goals

Transfers with little or no playing time are going to step in and start right away for top 50 teams? I don't think that's very common. There might be a dozen guys like that. The threshold I use to evaluate players using stats is 15 mpg. Tari cleared that. Harvey didn't go to a top 50 team. Gabe is going to a team with a new coach and decimated roster (rare for a top 50) so maybe he will start.

We got one player who has already been a top 50 starter (Newman), a player who seems primed to develop into one (Oby), and a good experienced role player (Koval). All three of those guys are elite in one area, which is the type of player Houston has been bringing in the last several years. Isaiah Miller and Keith Williams decided to go pro, I don't think you can blame Wes for that. We could still get KD Johnson or another upgrade.

There are 75+ p6 programs going after top transfers. I doubt there are hundreds of players better than the trio we got. We didn't do as well as some major programs, but it's still a solid transfer class.

 

[waterhead]

Why ignore the Koval stats against better competition while at Central Arkansas? Pick a lane and stay with it.

In 30 days Wes has done a 'B' or so job with the roster, and by all accounts done an 'A' job in everything else. Reaching out to former players, trying to inject energy and pushing for 3pt contest at a midnight madness, etc.

Mick walked into a dumpster fire, and Wes is only walking into less of a scolding one. If anything, Wes is almost on even ground, he's recruiting in the AAC. We all know the phenomenal job Mick did to pull us to a relevancy and then success, it took years. We can't ignore Wes starting this job weeks later than we all wanted from a recruiting stand point. All the time we kept complaining about the indecision and Cunningham, is not Miller's fault.

No one here is in the know enough to know enough about the roster make up, but there's no reason to not trust Wes for now.

We had 4 players, and now this team I hope can compete. I don't expect big things this year, and hope for much bigger in year 2-3. Only time will tell.

Some of Wes's decisions were obvious and some we will have to wait and see. We don't know how much of his decision making came down to things like balancing classes, getting guys with experience in the system, coaches thoughts on future potential, getting some young guys to put in development, stabilizing roster before swinging for the fence, holes in our roster, player mentality or work ethic, immediate success vs sustained success, etc etc etc.

Wes made pretty clear his goals and he knows he has to do well here to keep a job or to get a better job. If we can get an impact wing scorer go to type I will have to trust the rest of his thought process was fairly deliberate.

Patience!

 

[waterhead]

No, I initially lumped them all together for coming from a school in North Carolina.

.

Well that's not exactly true. You made a point to (tie) Newman to UNCG as well as Roberts. When Newman came from Clemson and Roberts from IU. Your point was not so much about tying them to NC as it was to tie them to the SoCon. Newman never played in the SoCon and Roberts last stop was B10.

I am just clarifying. Because if you need to spin the information to make a point then maybe the point isn't as strong as you think.

I have been impressed with what Miller has done (will do) with coaching and staff period. It's a better staff than the last two coaches probably by a long shot. We all want the best recruits we can get of course so I am still looking for a big get but I will also give the guy the benefit of the doubt on how he decided to fill and build the roster. Some of the intangibles he is looking for don't exist in all players. We will have to wait and see if the value of those intangibles are worth more than skirting them to get a more skilled player.

 

[kskenyon4]

One note about Newman and transferring to a 'small fish' in UNCG. He is literally from the heart of Greensboro, hometown. He talked in that hour long interview others had posted about how special home is to him and how much he missed and loved Greensboro. So let's not pretend that didn't played a major role in a decision to leave Clemson for it.

 

[MDW79]

Well that's not exactly true. You made a point to (tie) Newman to UNCG as well as Roberts. When Newman came from Clemson and Roberts from IU. Your point was not so much about tying them to NC as it was to tie them to the SoCon. Newman never played in the SoCon and Roberts last stop was B10.

John Newman was a UNCG commit was he not?

Miller took 4 kids from UNCG (Koval, McGinnis, Hensley and Newman). 3 of them were already on the roster and the other was already commited (Newman).

Mike Roberts was a UNCG assistant was he not?

He was there from 2011-2019 and was the Assistant Head Coach. His last job at Indiana wasn't even as a coach it was an adminstrative role. He was the assistant AD.

I don't think I was being dishonest at all with using the word ties. He took 4 kids with ties to UNCG, and he took 3 coaches with ties to UNCG. None of this is any way untrue. In fact, I was careful to use the word "ties" for the very reasons you just described.

Tell me if this statement is true or not: 4 players that were going to be on UNCG roster in '21 are now going to be on UC's roster in '21.

The only reason I used North Carolina as a whole was to include the recent Wake transfer (Aguama) They're all connected to the state of North Carolina.

PS I won't comment any further about whether this is the right move or not. I've made my opinions known.

 

[TheRealMick]

One note about Newman and transferring to a 'small fish' in UNCG. He is literally from the heart of Greensboro, hometown. He talked in that hour long interview others had posted about how special home is to him and how much he missed and loved Greensboro. So let's not pretend that didn't played a major role in a decision to leave Clemson for it.

Gtfoh, the man literally left before ever stepping foot on campus or workout