Just a gut feeling but we win the Wisconsin battle by 2.
The First Coaches Poll for the 2014 Season
- Thread starter NYCRedmen
- Start date
It won't be in the 40's. D'Lo can drop more than half that himself. Don't discount the issues we had last year that hampered our scoring. Greene was injured all season and Branch was eligible late, then also got injured. We were running on fumes at the PG spot. D'Lo's issues derailed a likely tourney team. This year, Sanchez should be a big, big boon for us up front with his skill set. We are healthy across the board in the backcourt and add Jordan who will be a big piece for us. Hooper to gun from the outside and I think we'll be a bit different than last year. More Branch and Jordan alone will be a ton different. We played our best ball last year with a healthy Branch. Now we'll have 3 healthy guys as options at PG.
Biggest x-factor is the new coach. Other than that, Jordan is the only real major new piece and fortunately for him and the team, he is not going to be looked upon with this group as a necessary savior. The other thing to consider wrt these pieces is that Sanchez and Hooper have been with the team and practiced with them for an entire year. Gift - two years including a full year of play with extended PT. I see that as an advantage not a disadvantage.
Sanchez is definitely a major new piece.
The Wisconsin game worries me because Wisconsin can shoot the lights out from 3. It's what they do, and we've always had trouble defending the 3 under Lavin. Hopefully the addition of Whitesell to the staff will change that. Conversely, we have better 3pt shooters now with Hooper and I to expect Marco to improve and with D'Angelo back and hopefully improved. We'll see. I don't think this first game is anything to get worried about if we lose with regard to the rest of the season. I see this team really coming together and turning it on starting right at about the time of the Syracuse game.
Whitesell was brought in for good reason, I fully expect him to be worthy of his salary. We will see his influence from the 1st game.
Unless Wisc is extremely hot from beyond the arc for the entire game, I see SJU pulling away as the game goes on. I think it will be a double digit win and will make the BE and nation take notice from the starting gate.
I only bring it up because I read an interview with coach that indicated we weren't really changing anything per se, just would be more effective because we had better and more experienced personnel. He was asked by Espn about our anemic offense and why we had to settle for so many low percentage jump shots...
He said: "The numbers that you're looking at? They're going to change but it's not like we're going to be doing anything so very different. It will be because we finally have some balance, including a perimeter attack."
http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-col...trics-fixes-st-johns-south-carolina-wisconsin
I just think we have a better chance of beating sorta depleted Syracuse at home with 5 weeks of games in our rear view mirror vs. on the road, 1st game, against the always fundamentally sound Bo Ryan-led Badgers. Regardless of practices, the coaches won't really know what they have in their players until they go head to head for a few weeks of games against competition, when it counts. I think the Wisconsin game will be/ could be our toughest game of our entire season.
Same holds true for Wisconsin. If this was Kentucky or Louisville who are loaded with NBA talent, I'd agree but arguably we are a better team even on paper. Unlike say meeting #3 Stanford in 1998, this is a more evenly matched early season test. It wasn't just practices. These guys competed in games and have had a lot of extra practice time. That early season learning curve killed us last season. It won't this season.
Not sure what exactly lavin meant but i know that Whitesell wasnt brought in and paid a high salary to fetch coffee. I think it will be evident in the exhibitions that the offense, both in execution and style is clearly better than last season and it wont just be due to experience