No Excuses

lawmanfan

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Last season there were some reasonable arguments to be made about the youth of the team, the talent level, etc. Some thought that there was more than enough talent to win and that it was poorly managed. Some thought that there was talent, but it was too raw. Some thought that there just wasn't enough talent.

However, last season is now over and we are on to next season. It appears that (at a minimum) we are looking at the following roster:

F/C: Sampson, Obekpa, Sanchez, Jones
G: Branch, Harrison, Jordan, Greene, Balamou
Swing: Pointer, Bourgault, Hooper

Out of that group there is one freshman (Jordan), five sophomores (counting Branch that way in addition to Sampson, Obekpa, Jones and Balamou), three juniors (Harrison, Greene, Pointer) and three other upperclassmen or equivalent (Sanchez, Bourgault, Hooper).

Moreover, the team will not be playing in a league with two Final Four teams and I believe 3 other teams that were NCAA teams this year.

It certainly seems that the talent, depth, and maturity of the team will leave no excuses for a season that does not include a Top-25 ranking and an NCAA tournament appearance.

Sweet 16 or bust!
 
I think the real key for next season is going to come down to two major issues, outside shooting and free throws. With Gift & Sanchez back in the fold and Obekpa continuing to improve, we should be leaps and bounds better at rebounding than we were last year. With Jordan on board and a more experienced Branch, our PG play should also be much more improved. Needless to say we have a more than solid bench with guys like Greene, Pointer, Jones, etc. But at the end of the day, we need to be able to shoot the ball. Yes we will score in transition but far too often teams have hit us with 2-3 zones because we have been a horrible perimeter shooting team. If Harrison is back, & Jordan, Hooper & Marco give us something from the outside, things can get very interesting next year.
 
There still are 2 questions. ! Is Harrison coming back? 2 Lavins coaching abilty.. Next year we will have no weak links so ,as stated there should be no excuses and we should really be able to gauge Lavins coaching ability.
 
Last season there were some reasonable arguments to be made about the youth of the team, the talent level, etc. Some thought that there was more than enough talent to win and that it was poorly managed. Some thought that there was talent, but it was too raw. Some thought that there just wasn't enough talent.

However, last season is now over and we are on to next season. It appears that (at a minimum) we are looking at the following roster:

F/C: Sampson, Obekpa, Sanchez, Jones
G: Branch, Harrison, Jordan, Greene, Balamou
Swing: Pointer, Bourgault, Hooper

Out of that group there is one freshman (Jordan), five sophomores (counting Branch that way in addition to Sampson, Obekpa, Jones and Balamou), three juniors (Harrison, Greene, Pointer) and three other upperclassmen or equivalent (Sanchez, Bourgault, Hooper).

Moreover, the team will not be playing in a league with two Final Four teams and I believe 3 other teams that were NCAA teams this year.

It certainly seems that the talent, depth, and maturity of the team will leave no excuses for a season that does not include a Top-25 ranking and an NCAA tournament appearance.

Sweet 16 or bust!

Forgot Gods Gift.
 
Last season there were some reasonable arguments to be made about the youth of the team, the talent level, etc. Some thought that there was more than enough talent to win and that it was poorly managed. Some thought that there was talent, but it was too raw. Some thought that there just wasn't enough talent.

However, last season is now over and we are on to next season. It appears that (at a minimum) we are looking at the following roster:

F/C: Sampson, Obekpa, Sanchez, Jones
G: Branch, Harrison, Jordan, Greene, Balamou
Swing: Pointer, Bourgault, Hooper

Out of that group there is one freshman (Jordan), five sophomores (counting Branch that way in addition to Sampson, Obekpa, Jones and Balamou), three juniors (Harrison, Greene, Pointer) and three other upperclassmen or equivalent (Sanchez, Bourgault, Hooper).

Moreover, the team will not be playing in a league with two Final Four teams and I believe 3 other teams that were NCAA teams this year.

It certainly seems that the talent, depth, and maturity of the team will leave no excuses for a season that does not include a Top-25 ranking and an NCAA tournament appearance.

Sweet 16 or bust!

Just curious why you have branch as a sophomore (hell be a junior) and hooper as an upperclassmen (junior scholastically, sophomore sports wise)?
 
Last season there were some reasonable arguments to be made about the youth of the team, the talent level, etc. Some thought that there was more than enough talent to win and that it was poorly managed. Some thought that there was talent, but it was too raw. Some thought that there just wasn't enough talent.

However, last season is now over and we are on to next season. It appears that (at a minimum) we are looking at the following roster:

F/C: Sampson, Obekpa, Sanchez, Jones
G: Branch, Harrison, Jordan, Greene, Balamou
Swing: Pointer, Bourgault, Hooper

Out of that group there is one freshman (Jordan), five sophomores (counting Branch that way in addition to Sampson, Obekpa, Jones and Balamou), three juniors (Harrison, Greene, Pointer) and three other upperclassmen or equivalent (Sanchez, Bourgault, Hooper).

Moreover, the team will not be playing in a league with two Final Four teams and I believe 3 other teams that were NCAA teams this year.

It certainly seems that the talent, depth, and maturity of the team will leave no excuses for a season that does not include a Top-25 ranking and an NCAA tournament appearance.

Sweet 16 or bust!

Agree this is the year that the results have to show out on the court, though I agree with the poster that says that DLo coming back is extremely important. But to a greater or lesser extent there is now depth and experience plus improvement in the two areas that were lacking this year. PG play and Bigs. You have to call Branch a jr. He's played parts of two seasons, practiced all of two seasons and is a junior eligibility wise. He and and Jordan have to play better than he an PGIII did this year and I think they will. It's such an important position. Sanchez has to play like an experience upper level big as well. I expect, given how raw he was coming in and how much he even improved over the course of this year, for CO to be the most improved for 13/14 and that, if it eventuates, will take the team far.
 
There still are 2 questions. ! Is Harrison coming back? 2 Lavins coaching abilty.. Next year we will have no weak links so ,as stated there should be no excuses and we should really be able to gauge Lavins coaching ability.

We will not know if "we will have no weak links" until after the summer tour in Europe.
Most of the players on the Lawman's list will have played against some very good shooting competition.
Will our horrendous free throw shooting improve?
Will our mediocre outside shooting improve?
Will we have an on-court leader?
Will our offense be better tailored to our players' skill sets?
Will our coach be able to make in-game adjustments with the right subs?

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link! Who will be that "weak" link?
 
I know that not everyone agrees that we need Harrison back, but if he doesn't return, who will be our primary threat from the perimeter? Marco, Hooper, Jordan? Hopper has not played one minute of Big East basketball & Jordan has not played a single game in college. Marco showed potential at times but he was too inconsistent down the stretch, hopefully that will change. I know Sampson has shown range but he will not be playing the shooting guard position & will easily be double teamed if no one else steps up as a perimeter threat. Bottom line is that we need someone who can keep the defenses honest from the outside and Harrison may be our best player for that. Obviously if Jordan, Marco & Hooper prove capable of also firing away from the outside, more power to us.
 
I know that not everyone agrees that we need Harrison back, but if he doesn't return, who will be our primary threat from the perimeter? Marco, Hooper, Jordan? Hopper has not played one minute of Big East basketball & Jordan has not played a single game in college. Marco showed potential at times but he was too inconsistent down the stretch, hopefully that will change. I know Sampson has shown range but he will not be playing the shooting guard position & will easily be double teamed if no one else steps up as a perimeter threat. Bottom line is that we need someone who can keep the defenses honest from the outside and Harrison may be our best player for that. Obviously if Jordan, Marco & Hooper prove capable of also firing away from the outside, more power to us.

I, for one, hope that Harrison returns and has his head straightened out. But I think you're memory is playing tricks on you if you're thinking Harrison is a dead-eye shooter. He proved himself a highly skilled scorer – even if not always a great shooter – in the first half of our schedule, but was disastrously bad against top Big East teams. We need one of those other guys to be a pure shooter and Harrison to return to the scoring form he had in the first half.
 
I agree Firestorm but he has shown at times the ability to get on a roll from the outside. Maybe his struggles were more b/c of he was not straight in the head, it may have been better defenses, who knows, but I think given who we have on our roster, he is our best threat from the outside, until someone else steps up and shows us differently.
 
I agree Firestorm but he has shown at times the ability to get on a roll from the outside. Maybe his struggles were more b/c of he was not straight in the head, it may have been better defenses, who knows, but I think given who we have on our roster, he is our best threat from the outside, until someone else steps up and shows us differently.

Agreed. Although their games are different, he reminds me a little of Dwight Hardy – when he's on, he's going to find a way to get the ball in the basket, even if it doesn't look pretty.
 
I agree Firestorm but he has shown at times the ability to get on a roll from the outside. Maybe his struggles were more b/c of he was not straight in the head, it may have been better defenses, who knows, but I think given who we have on our roster, he is our best threat from the outside, until someone else steps up and shows us differently.

Just to make note, Michigan as a team shot (about 36%) better than Harrison from three point land
 
I think the real key for next season is going to come down to two major issues, outside shooting and free throws.
Agree especially FT. No excuse for that nonsense especially for a team with a low margin for error. I think one matchup issue is defensively against large frontcourts. So CO staying out of foul trouble will also be important as would if I had my druthers for next season bringing in an XXXL juco to bang it up on call - for example have a role player like this give us some extra fouls and take on a Wolf type player instead of Sampson...
 
I agree Firestorm but he has shown at times the ability to get on a roll from the outside. Maybe his struggles were more b/c of he was not straight in the head, it may have been better defenses, who knows, but I think given who we have on our roster, he is our best threat from the outside, until someone else steps up and shows us differently.

Just to make note, Michigan as a team shot (about 36%) better than Harrison from three point land

That is exactly why I think improving in this area (not just Harrison) is a major key for us next year. If we can't hit from the outside, it will be the same standing around offense many of us, with good reason, complained about this past year. We can only hope that Harrison, Marco, Hooper & Jordan have what it takes to make this happen.
 
I think the real key for next season is going to come down to two major issues, outside shooting and free throws.
Agree especially FT. No excuse for that nonsense especially for a team with a low margin for error. I think one matchup issue is defensively against large frontcourts. So CO staying out of foul trouble will also be important as would if I had my druthers for next season bringing in an XXXL juco to bang it up on call - for example have a role player like this give us some extra fouls and take on a Wolf type player instead of Sampson...

I keep hoping that Jones can fill that role but he would have to become much more aggressive.
 
Another issue that will be need to be answered is does the team have some kind solution for offensive post presence. It may not be an absolute must, but it'd be nice to make other parts of our offense go. Can Sanchez play in the post at all? Can Obekpa at least keep defenses honest?

As far as hopeful improvements/needs go:
For sure three point shooting improvement is probably our greatest need. After that I would say it would be rebounding margin. Driving into the lane and either getting fouled or creating for free throws is probably third (and hopefully solved by Jordan). Then free throw shooting percentage is probably fourth. And finally an offensive post presence to at least keep defenses 'honest' would be last.

Anything else?
 
We have everyone back except Amir. All will be stronger w more exp. We will also have Gift and Sanchez. I dont see how our rebounding cant improve.
 
Even better news:

@STJ_Basketball: D'Angelo will be with us on Monday to accept a MWBA Award. Will post interview footage. RT @gionysports: What's Harrison's status? #stjbb
 
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