22-23 Team Discussion

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We shouldn't ran Saunders off. Counting on freshman to PG to be teams top 3 players on tourny team is asking for trouble. If Collier doesn't want earn his spot, its a easy pass for me. We're going get crushed depending on young team entering Big12.
 
TheRealMick said:
We shouldn't ran Saunders off. Counting on freshman to PG to be teams top 3 players on tourny team is asking for trouble. If Collier doesn't want earn his spot, its a easy pass for me. We're going get crushed depending on young team entering Big12.
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In his own words, we didn't run Saunders off.

Here's a link to an extended interview Saunders gave recently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZTeQOET4z0&ab_channel=SchuZ

Essentially it came down to Wes didn't anticipate Saunders role changing much next year and Saunders believing he can do more and wanting to be a starter. No bad guy, no running off.

It's a good listen if you've got the time. Two hours, but really only an hour if you listen to the relevant timestamps (Cincinnati and transfer portal). Some good tidbits in the about Wes (who Saunders still likes) and Brannen (who seems like maybe even more of an ass based on Saunders interview).

Saunders had mostly praise for Wes. His main complaint was about the set rotation (which many fans have also complained about). Wes's philosophy is "next play", forget about mistakes and the past and focus on the next play.
 
skyblade said:
In his own words, we didn't run Saunders off.

Here's a link to an extended interview Saunders gave recently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZTeQOET4z0&ab_channel=SchuZ

Essentially it came down to Wes didn't anticipate Saunders role changing much next year and Saunders believing he can do more and wanting to be a starter. No bad guy, no running off.

It's a good listen if you've got the time. Two hours, but really only an hour if you listen to the relevant timestamps (Cincinnati and transfer portal). Some good tidbits in the about Wes (who Saunders still likes) and Brannen (who seems like maybe even more of an ass based on Saunders interview).

Saunders had mostly praise for Wes. His main complaint was about the set rotation (which many fans have also complained about). Wes's philosophy is "next play", forget about mistakes and the past and focus on the next play.
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Bro that's run off to me. How you tell player their role ever go be same or doesn't see it changing? Players can either get better or worse. Saunders had as much chance get better than whoever we replace him with. Personally I'll rather tell player they not good enough.
 
Skyblade you're smarter than most. How could coach tell the guards the starting PG wasn't on roster yet? We had absolutely ZERO open spots if a player didn't leave. Please don't call it something else fit our agendas about this coach or that. I don't care what he said about Brannen, Wes recruited them back UC and then ran em off.
 
TheRealMick said:
Skyblade you're smarter than most. How could coach tell the guards the starting PG wasn't on roster yet? We had absolutely ZERO open spots if a player didn't leave. Please don't call it something else fit our agendas about this coach or that. I don't care what he said about Brannen, Wes recruited them back UC and then ran em off.
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If you listen to the interview, Saunders came back as much because of lack of options as because of Wes Miller. He said last year he was recruited by Wichita State and BYU, but both backed off. When Wes came calling, no other schools were actively recruiting him, so coming back was an easy choice.

I'm not sure Wes told the guards the starting PG isn't on the roster. We saw last year that there are issues if you play DDJ and Saunders at the same time because of their lack of size. Even if the rotation next year was MAW/Saunders/DDJ the minutes weren't likely to change much from last year, add another guard (or Skillings) and minutes only go down.

I like Saunders, I hope he does well. I would have been fine if he stayed and DDJ left. But I don't see how you can keep both DDJ and Saunders (and play them both significant minutes), it's just not enough size.
 
We're in touch with Jahmir Young from Charlotte. 6'1" PG who can score and has two years eligibility remaining. I worry about our chances with guys like him if Phinisee commits next week.
 
Queens_NYC said:
Kalu Ezikpe commits!
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Overall I'm not particularly impressed.

I've got doubts that he belongs at this level of play with his level of athleticism. He's slow footed, not particularly athletic and on the short side for a center (pretty much all the same things we've said about Davenport at PF). Defensively he's going to have issues and offensively he's going to find it harder to finish at this level. Not the best shot selection either.

The good is that he's a very good passer and has good vision. But I'm not sure that makes up for his issues.

If Vik/Ody don't improve and Kalu starts we're probably in trouble. If Kalu is a rotational piece in case of foul trouble/injuries we should be fine. I would have preferred a bigger guy to deal with big/strong big men (since Ody is undersized, but at least he's athletic), but you take what you can get I guess.
 
Ezikpe is a solid pickup. Big men who can finish aren't easy to find. We weren't looking for a number 1 option on offense or a versatile defender, just a strong post presence to complement what we already have inside. CUSA isn't a bottom feeder conference, it's just a step below the AAC. They don't have top programs, but a lot of teams would fit in the bottom half of our league. I don't think we'll see a dramatic drop-off in production.
 
skyblade said:
I would have preferred a bigger guy to deal with big/strong big men (since Ody is undersized, but at least he's athletic), but you take what you can get I guess.
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Ezikpe is 6'8" 240. I expect he will be our strongest player. Ody is 6'9" 225. Vik is 6'11" 245. Hensley is 6'8" 220. Davenport is 6'7" 210. A strong guy like that who can score and rebound ok is what we needed.
 
sedziobs said:
Ezikpe is a solid pickup. Big men who can finish aren't easy to find. We weren't looking for a number 1 option on offense or a versatile defender, just a strong post presence to complement what we already have inside. CUSA isn't a bottom feeder conference, it's just a step below the AAC. They don't have top programs, but a lot of teams would fit in the bottom half of our league. I don't think we'll see a dramatic drop-off in production.
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Our conference brings a lot more physicality than a lot of guys are used to. Look at Ody and his struggles learning to box out this year despite coming from Wake Forest. Teams in the AAC are more stronger, more physical and fight harder for rebounds than a lot of guys are used to, even if they aren't that much better overall.

Granted I haven't watched a ton of his play (only watched anything after he committed), but he doesn't look like he's well suited for that. He was already a worse rebounder last year at ODU than Vik/Ody were here. I don't know that there will be a dramatic drop-off, but I'd expect a small one or at the very least no improvement. He also looks like a guy teams are going to target in the pick-and-roll.

The more I watch him the more I think it's going to be impossible to play him and Davenport at the same time (maybe he backs up Davenport). As we said with DDJ/Davenport last year, you can only have so many undersized, relatively unathletic guys on the court at the same time, Ezikpe is another one of those guys.

I'm not convinced he's going to be any better at finishing than Ody/Vik. The big thing that stands out is his passing and court vision, but I'm not sure that outweighs the negatives.
 
I don't expect him to be a major upgrade over Vik/Ody. He's replacing Ado/Koval and I think he will be better for our style of play than they were. Neither of those guys were great defending pnr, and neither could finish inside (Ado hit a good percentage but only because his usage was so low that he wasn't attempting shots over defenders).

An OReb rate of 8 is about average for a center and I expect that's what Ezikpe will give us. Ody had great rebounding numbers despite his early struggles. Ezikpe has been good to great in all 4 years at ODU. Physical league or not, they are both average to good rebounders and that should translate.

I'm excited about his 56.5 true shooting percentage, much better than anyone on our roster. While I'm sure that will drop some, Ezikpe is a capable scorer which we were sorely missing from Ado/Koval.

I don't know about the passing. His assist rate was decent last year, but bad in the previous 3 years.
 
sedziobs said:
I don't expect him to be a major upgrade over Vik/Ody. He's replacing Ado/Koval and I think he will be better for our style of play than they were. Neither of those guys were great defending pnr, and neither could finish inside (Ado hit a good percentage but only because his usage was so low that he wasn't attempting shots over defenders).

An OReb rate of 8 is about average for a center and I expect that's what Ezikpe will give us. Ody had great rebounding numbers despite his early struggles. Ezikpe has been good to great in all 4 years at ODU. Physical league or not, they are both average to good rebounders and that should translate.

I'm excited about his 56.5 true shooting percentage, much better than anyone on our roster. While I'm sure that will drop some, Ezikpe is a capable scorer which we were sorely missing from Ado/Koval.

I don't know about the passing. His assist rate was decent last year, but bad in the previous 3 years.
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As a replacement for Ado/Koval I'd say he's about equal. Should be a (major?) upgrade on offense, a downgrade on defense and a major downgrade at rim protection. I'll be curious how willing Miller is to play him. It seemed like last year he preferred defense/rebounding over offense in his bigs.

One other concern is Kalu had the worst +/- on his team each of the last two years (-72 21-22, -36 20-21), indicating there might be negatives the stats aren't picking up (depending on how much you trust that +/- and EvanMiya's stats mean anything).

I continue to hope Ody/Lakhin improve, Kalu isn't going to make us significantly better than last year. We needed another big and Kalu fills that need. But we need a big who can be good to excellent on both sides of the court and doesn't Kalu fill that need. The potential is there for Ody/Lakhin, but we need at least one of them to get there in one off-season.
 
We're not getting Gary Clark in the portal. Ezikpe checks all the boxes for me. Strong with ok athleticism for his size, and a proven interior scorer and rebounder in a slightly lesser league. That's as good as I could hope for in the portal this year. I don't think there were many other realistic options. Vik and Hensley still have a lot of developing to do, and Ezikpe gives us a much needed veteran in the frontcourt.
 
sedziobs said:
We're not getting Gary Clark in the portal. Ezikpe checks all the boxes for me. Strong with ok athleticism for his size, and a proven interior scorer and rebounder in a slightly lesser league. That's as good as I could hope for in the portal this year. I don't think there were many other realistic options. Vik and Hensley still have a lot of developing to do, and Ezikpe gives us a much needed veteran in the frontcourt.
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Gary Clark would be nice right about now. Ezikpe is closer Gary than any other player we've had since he graduated.
 
TheRealMick said:
Gary Clark would be nice right about now. Ezikpe is closer Gary than any other player we've had since he graduated.
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He's not. He's significantly less athletic, slower of foot and can't shoot threes.

He's the Davenport of centers, a guy who's got offensive talent (passing and interior scoring in his case), but who is overmatched in quickness and athleticism.
 
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