I've been reading the many comments post Providence loss and agree with those who believe that we lack high level talent at key positions.
The first position I see us getting dominated is at the five. Soriano gives his all but lacks the defensive skills and athleticism to compete at the Big East level. As big men develop slowly, it may be a while before he reaches his potential. I like that he plays at a high emotional level but it backfires at times like last night.
The second, and perhaps most important position is at shooting guard. While Mathis is a very good attacking guard and decent defender he cannot be counted on to deliver points off his outside shooting. Wusu is hot and cold and loves to penetrate but lacks a consistency in shot selection. Coburn is a good outside shooter but is too passive on defense.
This leads us to the forward positions. We have no real power forward who can penetrate and pose a scoring threat. All of our forwards play a soft offensive game. Champagnie is really a 2 guard in the NBA for his 6'6" height and is a mediocre ball handler. Wheeler is the most talented at the forward position and both handles and shoots the ball well but is a very average defender. The most athletic forward we have is Stanley but he poses no scoring threat at this juncture in his young career..
It remains to be seen if our recruiters have the selling skills to bring in impact players given the mediocre product they have to sell. The last decent recruiting staff was during the Lavin years which is evident to this day by the number of players having succes overseas.
Due to our obvious lack of offensive talent, this likely will be coach Anderson's first losing season.
His future next season will be decided by who he is able to retain to build on the experience factor and what transfers he identifies as immediate impact player's.
Finally, while talent is a key factor in winning games, as Michael Jordan once said "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
The first position I see us getting dominated is at the five. Soriano gives his all but lacks the defensive skills and athleticism to compete at the Big East level. As big men develop slowly, it may be a while before he reaches his potential. I like that he plays at a high emotional level but it backfires at times like last night.
The second, and perhaps most important position is at shooting guard. While Mathis is a very good attacking guard and decent defender he cannot be counted on to deliver points off his outside shooting. Wusu is hot and cold and loves to penetrate but lacks a consistency in shot selection. Coburn is a good outside shooter but is too passive on defense.
This leads us to the forward positions. We have no real power forward who can penetrate and pose a scoring threat. All of our forwards play a soft offensive game. Champagnie is really a 2 guard in the NBA for his 6'6" height and is a mediocre ball handler. Wheeler is the most talented at the forward position and both handles and shoots the ball well but is a very average defender. The most athletic forward we have is Stanley but he poses no scoring threat at this juncture in his young career..
It remains to be seen if our recruiters have the selling skills to bring in impact players given the mediocre product they have to sell. The last decent recruiting staff was during the Lavin years which is evident to this day by the number of players having succes overseas.
Due to our obvious lack of offensive talent, this likely will be coach Anderson's first losing season.
His future next season will be decided by who he is able to retain to build on the experience factor and what transfers he identifies as immediate impact player's.
Finally, while talent is a key factor in winning games, as Michael Jordan once said "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
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