Thoughts on off-season improvement needs

B

bk8664

Active member
Time to start looking forward to next year boys. I think the team played hard this year, but we all will be wanting some improved results next season. Here are some of my thoughts on the team and off-season improvement needs.

What does each player do well and what does each player need to improve on?

Overall team improvement needs:
1) better shooting
2) better shooting
3) better shooting

Overall coaching improvement needs:
1) Need to develop a better half court offense, creating easier shots for certain players.
2) Need to teach better defensive rebounding.
3) Need to figure out if Branch is the answer at PG. Do we need a back-up PG if we can’t land Rysheed Jordan, or is Phil Greene the answer?
4) Need to figure out if Harrison can fit in.
5) Need to continue to recruit like crazy.
Player by player analysis:

Jakarr Sampson:
Does well: Elite athlete, good midrange game. Developing into a leader.
Need to Improve on: Put on a touch of weight, get stronger. Needs to improve his dribbling in close-quarter situations, especially his ‘spin’ move – it often turns into a turnover. He needs to extend his shooting range. I know this would be hard to do in one off-season and I doubt it happens, but: if he were somehow able to get rid of his hitch in his jump-shot that would do wonders for his NBA potential. If he has a normal jump shot, I think he can get himself drafted high next year. If he doesn’t….I don’t know what his NBA potential is. He is hard to figure out.

Phil Greene:
Does well: Good on the tear-drop shot, doesn’t turn the ball over because he didn’t take risks with the ball. Good free throw shooter.
Needs to Improve on: His three point shooting is atrocious. He really needs to improve his jump shot. He also needs to get of the ball faster and not ‘circle-dribbble’. His shot selection needs some improvement a lot. I hope that if he gets playing time next year it’s because he’s improved his jump shot and not because we don’t have other back-court options. If he is getting major minutes next year, his jump shot, or lack thereof - maybe a huge swing factor in our wins total.

Dom Pointer:
Does well: Good defensively generally, improved his shot.
Needs to improve on: He improved moderately in all aspects of the game this year vs. last year. He needs to continue on this arc. His jump-shot needs improvement, his handle needs improvement. He needs to stop picking up ticky-tack fouls. Free throw shooting in general needs to improve.

Chris Obekpa
Does well: Tremendous shot-blocker, getting better at rebounding, even foul-shooting showing signs of life. Quietly, he is a pretty good passer.
Needs to improve on: Foul shooting – please get up to 60%+ next year! Needs better decision making on boxing-out vs. going for the block every time. If he could add one or two post moves, that would be huge. Needs to get a touch stronger, but without losing the quickness.

D’Angelo Harrison:
Does well: streaky shooter, surprisingly decent rebounder. Decent passer.
Needs to work on: Does Lavin even allow him to play next year? Can he get his head screwed on straight? He gets Kobe-itis too much, forcing too many shots (is that a product of bad alternative offensive options, or because he doesn’t want to play within whatever half court offense system we are operating?). His shooting percentage has to go up, whether by better pure shooting, or better shot selection. Can he control himself and be additive to team instead of a distraction? Improve his left-handle. He plays completely one-sided.

Jamal Branch:
Does well: Shows moments of being a good passer. His knee injury really de-railed his season and our ability to evaluate him if can be the answer for the next two years. He’s a pretty good free throw shooter.
Needs improvement. Way inconsistent as a passer. Needs to improve his shooting. More importantly he has to stop turning the ball over. He’ll make some sloppy passes as well and loose the ball in the open court. He needs to get to the rim stronger, and instead of ‘under-arming’ a prayer shot for the ball to go in and hope for a foul. Is his lack of explosiveness because of his injury or because he doesn’t have confidence? He needs to drive to the paint more often to create for others. Our season, if he’s our starter next season, hinges very much on him I think.

Marco Borgualt –
Does well – Overall, he really didn’t stand out this year. I think all the riding the pine-time took his confidence away. He does seem to have a sweet stroke, but his shooting percentage was poor.
Needs improvement - His shooting percentage. I think his three point shot was too ‘flat’ all season long. He needs to figure a way to get open for shots (not sure if its on him or his coaches). Somehow be able to win the confidence of your coach to stay in games.

Amir Garrett
Does well – only guy would consistently goes after it on the offense boards. He’s all hustle.
Needs improvement – for the little burn he gets, he needs to improve decision making, free throw shooting. He also really needs to decide this off-season if baseball would be a better use of his time to maximize his ability. I would be remiss if missed out on an MLB career because he was screwing around on the basketball court.

Christian Jones
Does well – He is strong, and a good, albeit slow, leaper. His jump shot seemed ok at the beginning of the year but that disappeared when he stopped getting playing time.
Needs to improve: Rebounding. He showed some flashes of toughness these last few games. Improve his confidence in a ability to hit the boards and ‘mix it up’ on the court. Learn to create havoc with his big body.

Orlando Sanchez
Does well - He’s hard to evaluate. Apparently he’s a good passer and a good shooter, also defensively at shooting bloacks.
Things to improve on: Even before he steps on the court, I hope he has some kind of sense of how to direct the offense – being a 2nd point guard – from the post. I pray he has some post moves.

Max Hooper
Does well – we don’t know. He is supposedly a good shooter.
Needs Improvement – we don’t know – Is he quick enough to get playing time?

Felix Balamou
Does well – Elite athlete, but doesn’t have elite height or basketball skills.
Needs Improvement – He’s a four-year project. Needs to work on all aspect of his game.

Overall the team: I think the team will have an amazing front-court defensively. I think our rebounding deficiencies will get better. Our biggest questions is in our back-court. Is Branch the answer? Does Harrison come back or does Rysheed come on board? Can Greene improve his shooting? I think we know what we are going to get next year from the front-court, despite not knowing much about Sanchez. I think our back-court makes or breaks us if we are going to be a good team.

Thoughts? Criticisms?
 
Time to start looking forward to next year boys. I think the team played hard this year, but we all will be wanting some improved results next season. Here are some of my thoughts on the team and off-season improvement needs.

What does each player do well and what does each player need to improve on?

Overall team improvement needs:
1) better shooting
2) better shooting
3) better shooting

Overall coaching improvement needs:
1) Need to develop a better half court offense, creating easier shots for certain players.
2) Need to teach better defensive rebounding.
3) Need to figure out if Branch is the answer at PG. Do we need a back-up PG if we can’t land Rysheed Jordan, or is Phil Greene the answer?
4) Need to figure out if Harrison can fit in.
5) Need to continue to recruit like crazy.
Player by player analysis:

Jakarr Sampson:
Does well: Elite athlete, good midrange game. Developing into a leader.
Need to Improve on: Put on a touch of weight, get stronger. Needs to improve his dribbling in close-quarter situations, especially his ‘spin’ move – it often turns into a turnover. He needs to extend his shooting range. I know this would be hard to do in one off-season and I doubt it happens, but: if he were somehow able to get rid of his hitch in his jump-shot that would do wonders for his NBA potential. If he has a normal jump shot, I think he can get himself drafted high next year. If he doesn’t….I don’t know what his NBA potential is. He is hard to figure out.

Phil Greene:
Does well: Good on the tear-drop shot, doesn’t turn the ball over because he didn’t take risks with the ball. Good free throw shooter.
Needs to Improve on: His three point shooting is atrocious. He really needs to improve his jump shot. He also needs to get of the ball faster and not ‘circle-dribbble’. His shot selection needs some improvement a lot. I hope that if he gets playing time next year it’s because he’s improved his jump shot and not because we don’t have other back-court options. If he is getting major minutes next year, his jump shot, or lack thereof - maybe a huge swing factor in our wins total.

Dom Pointer:
Does well: Good defensively generally, improved his shot.
Needs to improve on: He improved moderately in all aspects of the game this year vs. last year. He needs to continue on this arc. His jump-shot needs improvement, his handle needs improvement. He needs to stop picking up ticky-tack fouls. Free throw shooting in general needs to improve.

Chris Obekpa
Does well: Tremendous shot-blocker, getting better at rebounding, even foul-shooting showing signs of life. Quietly, he is a pretty good passer.
Needs to improve on: Foul shooting – please get up to 60%+ next year! Needs better decision making on boxing-out vs. going for the block every time. If he could add one or two post moves, that would be huge. Needs to get a touch stronger, but without losing the quickness.

D’Angelo Harrison:
Does well: streaky shooter, surprisingly decent rebounder. Decent passer.
Needs to work on: Does Lavin even allow him to play next year? Can he get his head screwed on straight? He gets Kobe-itis too much, forcing too many shots (is that a product of bad alternative offensive options, or because he doesn’t want to play within whatever half court offense system we are operating?). His shooting percentage has to go up, whether by better pure shooting, or better shot selection. Can he control himself and be additive to team instead of a distraction? Improve his left-handle. He plays completely one-sided.

Jamal Branch:
Does well: Shows moments of being a good passer. His knee injury really de-railed his season and our ability to evaluate him if can be the answer for the next two years. He’s a pretty good free throw shooter.
Needs improvement. Way inconsistent as a passer. Needs to improve his shooting. More importantly he has to stop turning the ball over. He’ll make some sloppy passes as well and loose the ball in the open court. He needs to get to the rim stronger, and instead of ‘under-arming’ a prayer shot for the ball to go in and hope for a foul. Is his lack of explosiveness because of his injury or because he doesn’t have confidence? He needs to drive to the paint more often to create for others. Our season, if he’s our starter next season, hinges very much on him I think.

Marco Borgualt –
Does well – Overall, he really didn’t stand out this year. I think all the riding the pine-time took his confidence away. He does seem to have a sweet stroke, but his shooting percentage was poor.
Needs improvement - His shooting percentage. I think his three point shot was too ‘flat’ all season long. He needs to figure a way to get open for shots (not sure if its on him or his coaches). Somehow be able to win the confidence of your coach to stay in games.

Amir Garrett
Does well – only guy would consistently goes after it on the offense boards. He’s all hustle.
Needs improvement – for the little burn he gets, he needs to improve decision making, free throw shooting. He also really needs to decide this off-season if baseball would be a better use of his time to maximize his ability. I would be remiss if missed out on an MLB career because he was screwing around on the basketball court.

Christian Jones
Does well – He is strong, and a good, albeit slow, leaper. His jump shot seemed ok at the beginning of the year but that disappeared when he stopped getting playing time.
Needs to improve: Rebounding. He showed some flashes of toughness these last few games. Improve his confidence in a ability to hit the boards and ‘mix it up’ on the court. Learn to create havoc with his big body.

Orlando Sanchez
Does well - He’s hard to evaluate. Apparently he’s a good passer and a good shooter, also defensively at shooting bloacks.
Things to improve on: Even before he steps on the court, I hope he has some kind of sense of how to direct the offense – being a 2nd point guard – from the post. I pray he has some post moves.

Max Hooper
Does well – we don’t know. He is supposedly a good shooter.
Needs Improvement – we don’t know – Is he quick enough to get playing time?

Felix Balamou
Does well – Elite athlete, but doesn’t have elite height or basketball skills.
Needs Improvement – He’s a four-year project. Needs to work on all aspect of his game.

Overall the team: I think the team will have an amazing front-court defensively. I think our rebounding deficiencies will get better. Our biggest questions is in our back-court. Is Branch the answer? Does Harrison come back or does Rysheed come on board? Can Greene improve his shooting? I think we know what we are going to get next year from the front-court, despite not knowing much about Sanchez. I think our back-court makes or breaks us if we are going to be a good team.

Thoughts? Criticisms?
Click to expand...

One thought.. Clank... Pointer, garrett, branch, nor Marco can shoot.. Can't win basketball games if you don't shoot more than 30% from the field.. Also, pointer is not a smart or consistent performer.. No expectation of getting anything out of Garrett. Branch, injury affected his play? He is poor. Better hope hooper is Larry bird..
 
Next year hinges on Harrison.
Our backcourt is our Achilles heel, as evidenced by the fact that our first guard off the bench is now a walk-on.
An entire season of a Branch/Greene pairing is a formula for disaster.
 
Time to start looking forward to next year boys. I think the team played hard this year, but we all will be wanting some improved results next season. Here are some of my thoughts on the team and off-season improvement needs.

What does each player do well and what does each player need to improve on?

Overall team improvement needs:
1) better shooting
2) better shooting
3) better shooting

Overall coaching improvement needs:
1) Need to develop a better half court offense, creating easier shots for certain players.
2) Need to teach better defensive rebounding.
3) Need to figure out if Branch is the answer at PG. Do we need a back-up PG if we can’t land Rysheed Jordan, or is Phil Greene the answer?
4) Need to figure out if Harrison can fit in.
5) Need to continue to recruit like crazy.
Player by player analysis:

Jakarr Sampson:
Does well: Elite athlete, good midrange game. Developing into a leader.
Need to Improve on: Put on a touch of weight, get stronger. Needs to improve his dribbling in close-quarter situations, especially his ‘spin’ move – it often turns into a turnover. He needs to extend his shooting range. I know this would be hard to do in one off-season and I doubt it happens, but: if he were somehow able to get rid of his hitch in his jump-shot that would do wonders for his NBA potential. If he has a normal jump shot, I think he can get himself drafted high next year. If he doesn’t….I don’t know what his NBA potential is. He is hard to figure out.

Phil Greene:
Does well: Good on the tear-drop shot, doesn’t turn the ball over because he didn’t take risks with the ball. Good free throw shooter.
Needs to Improve on: His three point shooting is atrocious. He really needs to improve his jump shot. He also needs to get of the ball faster and not ‘circle-dribbble’. His shot selection needs some improvement a lot. I hope that if he gets playing time next year it’s because he’s improved his jump shot and not because we don’t have other back-court options. If he is getting major minutes next year, his jump shot, or lack thereof - maybe a huge swing factor in our wins total.

Dom Pointer:
Does well: Good defensively generally, improved his shot.
Needs to improve on: He improved moderately in all aspects of the game this year vs. last year. He needs to continue on this arc. His jump-shot needs improvement, his handle needs improvement. He needs to stop picking up ticky-tack fouls. Free throw shooting in general needs to improve.

Chris Obekpa
Does well: Tremendous shot-blocker, getting better at rebounding, even foul-shooting showing signs of life. Quietly, he is a pretty good passer.
Needs to improve on: Foul shooting – please get up to 60%+ next year! Needs better decision making on boxing-out vs. going for the block every time. If he could add one or two post moves, that would be huge. Needs to get a touch stronger, but without losing the quickness.

D’Angelo Harrison:
Does well: streaky shooter, surprisingly decent rebounder. Decent passer.
Needs to work on: Does Lavin even allow him to play next year? Can he get his head screwed on straight? He gets Kobe-itis too much, forcing too many shots (is that a product of bad alternative offensive options, or because he doesn’t want to play within whatever half court offense system we are operating?). His shooting percentage has to go up, whether by better pure shooting, or better shot selection. Can he control himself and be additive to team instead of a distraction? Improve his left-handle. He plays completely one-sided.

Jamal Branch:
Does well: Shows moments of being a good passer. His knee injury really de-railed his season and our ability to evaluate him if can be the answer for the next two years. He’s a pretty good free throw shooter.
Needs improvement. Way inconsistent as a passer. Needs to improve his shooting. More importantly he has to stop turning the ball over. He’ll make some sloppy passes as well and loose the ball in the open court. He needs to get to the rim stronger, and instead of ‘under-arming’ a prayer shot for the ball to go in and hope for a foul. Is his lack of explosiveness because of his injury or because he doesn’t have confidence? He needs to drive to the paint more often to create for others. Our season, if he’s our starter next season, hinges very much on him I think.

Marco Borgualt –
Does well – Overall, he really didn’t stand out this year. I think all the riding the pine-time took his confidence away. He does seem to have a sweet stroke, but his shooting percentage was poor.
Needs improvement - His shooting percentage. I think his three point shot was too ‘flat’ all season long. He needs to figure a way to get open for shots (not sure if its on him or his coaches). Somehow be able to win the confidence of your coach to stay in games.

Amir Garrett
Does well – only guy would consistently goes after it on the offense boards. He’s all hustle.
Needs improvement – for the little burn he gets, he needs to improve decision making, free throw shooting. He also really needs to decide this off-season if baseball would be a better use of his time to maximize his ability. I would be remiss if missed out on an MLB career because he was screwing around on the basketball court.

Christian Jones
Does well – He is strong, and a good, albeit slow, leaper. His jump shot seemed ok at the beginning of the year but that disappeared when he stopped getting playing time.
Needs to improve: Rebounding. He showed some flashes of toughness these last few games. Improve his confidence in a ability to hit the boards and ‘mix it up’ on the court. Learn to create havoc with his big body.

Orlando Sanchez
Does well - He’s hard to evaluate. Apparently he’s a good passer and a good shooter, also defensively at shooting bloacks.
Things to improve on: Even before he steps on the court, I hope he has some kind of sense of how to direct the offense – being a 2nd point guard – from the post. I pray he has some post moves.

Max Hooper
Does well – we don’t know. He is supposedly a good shooter.
Needs Improvement – we don’t know – Is he quick enough to get playing time?

Felix Balamou
Does well – Elite athlete, but doesn’t have elite height or basketball skills.
Needs Improvement – He’s a four-year project. Needs to work on all aspect of his game.

Overall the team: I think the team will have an amazing front-court defensively. I think our rebounding deficiencies will get better. Our biggest questions is in our back-court. Is Branch the answer? Does Harrison come back or does Rysheed come on board? Can Greene improve his shooting? I think we know what we are going to get next year from the front-court, despite not knowing much about Sanchez. I think our back-court makes or breaks us if we are going to be a good team.

Thoughts? Criticisms?
Click to expand...

One thought.. Clank... Pointer, garrett, branch, nor Marco can shoot.. Can't win basketball games if you don't shoot more than 30% from the field.. Also, pointer is not a smart or consistent performer.. No expectation of getting anything out of Garrett. Branch, injury affected his play? He is poor. Better hope hooper is Larry bird..
Click to expand...

He's not. In fact, he is not even Marco Borgault. If he hardly got any burn at Harvard, what will you expect from him at this level?
 
it seems like every year Redmen.comers pin their hopes on an in coming player they have never seen. Many posts have been written canonizing Hooper as a great player. Hooper was a 2** recruit out of High School and as Sims pointed out Hooper did not get time at Harvard so I am at a loss to understand why anyone would believe he will be a difference maker in the Big East. I will be happy if Hooper is a contributor.

This current team will have sufficient talent with the addition of Sanchez to qualify for the NCAA. IMO the required improvement for next season must come from better coaching and more focused players.
 
Next year hinges on Harrison.
Our backcourt is our Achilles heel, as evidenced by the fact that our first guard off the bench is now a walk-on.
An entire season of a Branch/Greene pairing is a formula for disaster.
Click to expand...

On point Tom!
 
if you look at the optimism of three years ago...this season has to be seen as a big disappointment. the rose colored glasses have to come off for a moment.

teams win with a superstar and four good players on the floor at one time. we need a player who can carry the team. there are none on the horizon. we have a dozen good to very good players with a major problem. they can't shoot. not threes...not free throws...not even in the paint. harrison would be a superstar possibility. so would sampson. neither can shoot. that's something the whole team can work on in the off season. they've been practicing their whole lives, so i can't say their percentages will improve enough to make us more than a 7-10 seed in the ncaa tournament next year.

even with a superstar, teams can't win without a top notch point guard. we don't have one. i get the sense that lavin is grooming greene for that role for the next two years. as you can't teach height..you can't teach basketball IQ. greene will never be on the level of calzonetti/barkley/jackson/cook/or even ingram. the greene/branch point guard combo make lavin look like norm roberts. maybe eliminating pitt/syracuse/uconn/cincinnati/notre dame and louisville from the schedule and adding dayton/butler and xavier with extra games against seton hall and depaul will get us to 20+ wins. that still means no noise in the ncaa tournament in the foreseeable future.

you can't win without rebounding. maybe it's time to get jayson williams/mel davis/billy paultz to volunteer to show these guys how to do it. i'd even take on dennis rodman after he finishes solving the european economic problem or whatever he's working on these days. bad shooting and dumb point guard play leads to plenty of rebounds. we should get more than the other guys. if not, it's bubble time this time next year.

at least we won't have to hear any more of that "youngest team in the country" mantra lavin fed everyone all season. i can't believe he was saying it in game 31 last night. i remember when a season was no more than 26 games. considering the minutes our overworked team played last year...combined with 31 this year would make our guys mid-season juniors experiencewise back in the day. at some points during last night's game, they looked as if they were playing game one in their freshman season. enough with the crutches. if lavin isn't confident, the team isn't. if anyone saw confidence during most of last night's game, they weren't watching.
 
Next year hinges on Harrison.
Our backcourt is our Achilles heel, as evidenced by the fact that our first guard off the bench is now a walk-on.
An entire season of a Branch/Greene pairing is a formula for disaster.
Click to expand...

The inability of Norm Roberts to recruit an elite backcourt is what brought him down and it will do the same with Lav unless he pulls a rabbit out of the hat for next year. Having a walk-on coming in off the bench, like last night, in the Big East Tourney is comical in year THREE! WTF was that about? He plays Greene all year at PG and last night Lav has an epiphany !!!! Everything we did last night left me scratching my head!
 
it seems like every year Redmen.comers pin their hopes on an in coming player they have never seen. Many posts have been written canonizing Hooper as a great player. Hooper was a 2** recruit out of High School and as Sims pointed out Hooper did not get time at Harvard so I am at a loss to understand why anyone would believe he will be a difference maker in the Big East. I will be happy if Hooper is a contributor.

This current team will have sufficient talent with the addition of Sanchez to qualify for the NCAA. IMO the required improvement for next season must come from better coaching and more focused players.
Click to expand...

Exactly my point. Anybody who watched the games this year understands that the problem with this team is they cannot shoot the basketball. Even yesterday ... if Branch, Greene, Bourgault, or Sampson had knocked down a few more jump shots, the game goes down to the wire. But they didn't and that's what has plagued this team the whole year.

What scares me is fans are talking about Hooper in the exact same way that they talked about Branch and Bourgault. "Once he gets on the court, things will be different." Listen, I have nothing against the kid. I hope he comes in and becomes a superstar. But the odds are against him because I figure if he was a superstar he would've been recruited by a lot more high majors.

The #1 priority this season has to be finding an assistant coach who can help Lavin install an offensive system. Because what we watched this past year can't happen again. The disorganization on the court game after game is not going to do.
 
Time to start looking forward to next year boys. I think the team played hard this year, but we all will be wanting some improved results next season. Here are some of my thoughts on the team and off-season improvement needs.

What does each player do well and what does each player need to improve on?

Overall team improvement needs:
1) better shooting
2) better shooting
3) better shooting

Overall coaching improvement needs:
1) Need to develop a better half court offense, creating easier shots for certain players.
2) Need to teach better defensive rebounding.
3) Need to figure out if Branch is the answer at PG. Do we need a back-up PG if we can’t land Rysheed Jordan, or is Phil Greene the answer?
4) Need to figure out if Harrison can fit in.
5) Need to continue to recruit like crazy.
Player by player analysis:

Jakarr Sampson:
Does well: Elite athlete, good midrange game. Developing into a leader.
Need to Improve on: Put on a touch of weight, get stronger. Needs to improve his dribbling in close-quarter situations, especially his ‘spin’ move – it often turns into a turnover. He needs to extend his shooting range. I know this would be hard to do in one off-season and I doubt it happens, but: if he were somehow able to get rid of his hitch in his jump-shot that would do wonders for his NBA potential. If he has a normal jump shot, I think he can get himself drafted high next year. If he doesn’t….I don’t know what his NBA potential is. He is hard to figure out.

Phil Greene:
Does well: Good on the tear-drop shot, doesn’t turn the ball over because he didn’t take risks with the ball. Good free throw shooter.
Needs to Improve on: His three point shooting is atrocious. He really needs to improve his jump shot. He also needs to get of the ball faster and not ‘circle-dribbble’. His shot selection needs some improvement a lot. I hope that if he gets playing time next year it’s because he’s improved his jump shot and not because we don’t have other back-court options. If he is getting major minutes next year, his jump shot, or lack thereof - maybe a huge swing factor in our wins total.

Dom Pointer:
Does well: Good defensively generally, improved his shot.
Needs to improve on: He improved moderately in all aspects of the game this year vs. last year. He needs to continue on this arc. His jump-shot needs improvement, his handle needs improvement. He needs to stop picking up ticky-tack fouls. Free throw shooting in general needs to improve.

Chris Obekpa
Does well: Tremendous shot-blocker, getting better at rebounding, even foul-shooting showing signs of life. Quietly, he is a pretty good passer.
Needs to improve on: Foul shooting – please get up to 60%+ next year! Needs better decision making on boxing-out vs. going for the block every time. If he could add one or two post moves, that would be huge. Needs to get a touch stronger, but without losing the quickness.

D’Angelo Harrison:
Does well: streaky shooter, surprisingly decent rebounder. Decent passer.
Needs to work on: Does Lavin even allow him to play next year? Can he get his head screwed on straight? He gets Kobe-itis too much, forcing too many shots (is that a product of bad alternative offensive options, or because he doesn’t want to play within whatever half court offense system we are operating?). His shooting percentage has to go up, whether by better pure shooting, or better shot selection. Can he control himself and be additive to team instead of a distraction? Improve his left-handle. He plays completely one-sided.

Jamal Branch:
Does well: Shows moments of being a good passer. His knee injury really de-railed his season and our ability to evaluate him if can be the answer for the next two years. He’s a pretty good free throw shooter.
Needs improvement. Way inconsistent as a passer. Needs to improve his shooting. More importantly he has to stop turning the ball over. He’ll make some sloppy passes as well and loose the ball in the open court. He needs to get to the rim stronger, and instead of ‘under-arming’ a prayer shot for the ball to go in and hope for a foul. Is his lack of explosiveness because of his injury or because he doesn’t have confidence? He needs to drive to the paint more often to create for others. Our season, if he’s our starter next season, hinges very much on him I think.

Marco Borgualt –
Does well – Overall, he really didn’t stand out this year. I think all the riding the pine-time took his confidence away. He does seem to have a sweet stroke, but his shooting percentage was poor.
Needs improvement - His shooting percentage. I think his three point shot was too ‘flat’ all season long. He needs to figure a way to get open for shots (not sure if its on him or his coaches). Somehow be able to win the confidence of your coach to stay in games.

Amir Garrett
Does well – only guy would consistently goes after it on the offense boards. He’s all hustle.
Needs improvement – for the little burn he gets, he needs to improve decision making, free throw shooting. He also really needs to decide this off-season if baseball would be a better use of his time to maximize his ability. I would be remiss if missed out on an MLB career because he was screwing around on the basketball court.

Christian Jones
Does well – He is strong, and a good, albeit slow, leaper. His jump shot seemed ok at the beginning of the year but that disappeared when he stopped getting playing time.
Needs to improve: Rebounding. He showed some flashes of toughness these last few games. Improve his confidence in a ability to hit the boards and ‘mix it up’ on the court. Learn to create havoc with his big body.

Orlando Sanchez
Does well - He’s hard to evaluate. Apparently he’s a good passer and a good shooter, also defensively at shooting bloacks.
Things to improve on: Even before he steps on the court, I hope he has some kind of sense of how to direct the offense – being a 2nd point guard – from the post. I pray he has some post moves.

Max Hooper
Does well – we don’t know. He is supposedly a good shooter.
Needs Improvement – we don’t know – Is he quick enough to get playing time?

Felix Balamou
Does well – Elite athlete, but doesn’t have elite height or basketball skills.
Needs Improvement – He’s a four-year project. Needs to work on all aspect of his game.

Overall the team: I think the team will have an amazing front-court defensively. I think our rebounding deficiencies will get better. Our biggest questions is in our back-court. Is Branch the answer? Does Harrison come back or does Rysheed come on board? Can Greene improve his shooting? I think we know what we are going to get next year from the front-court, despite not knowing much about Sanchez. I think our back-court makes or breaks us if we are going to be a good team.

Thoughts? Criticisms?
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Pretty much agree my take is
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Sampson Continue his improvement with his 15-18 ft range but needs to start attacking rim more Also if he wants to go to the next level needs to shoot better than 63% from the line Must look to dish more when he is attacking and to get out and pick and roll more with his team mates
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Greene Needs to take less shots, ..and score off the dribble and dish and pick That's his strength
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Pointer Has next level potential Needs to improve his shooting Forget about hitting 3s keep it from 18 and in Shot selection improve his picks and roll more

Obekpa Going to next level Needs to develop an offensive game That is to up to the coaches If that does not happen they did not do their job He has talent is a quick learner and could be a an offensive force
.
..
Jamal Lack of outside shot hurts him needs to penetrate more score off dribble and dish can be effective..

Garrett A good 6 or 7th man

Jones Did not show much at big east level If he improves his game can be a good bench player getting 10-15 mins pg

Sanchez Can be a team and game changer WE hope
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Hooper Could be a sleeper and potentially 20 mins pg player.

Felix AS he improves he will get more mons coach likes him could be a starter by his SR yr depending on our recruiting

WE need to recruit a.big body and a pg who can shoot well Team has to improve its foul shooting 70% would be great
 
read player eval....everyone does well...yet team was 16-15...not well enuf.....agree hooper with limited time playing at harvard and sanchez with 3 min garbage time with dominican nat team are long shots...there must be an out and out scorer,somewhere not yet recruited....a quincy doube( sj passed on).... when satan hall made ff in 89(and got screwed by john clougherty),they had 4 good forwards(the refs couldn't foul out all of them) and 3 great outside shots incl andrew gaze(billy packer wanted to ban hired guns,until acc did same thing) from aussi land...right now,sj struggles to reach 60 pts,redmen need to score 75 a game or they are deadmen...
 
Hooper will not play 20 min. a game -- he couldn't crack Harvard's lineup. He is here as a super specialist and a friend of Sampson.

Anyone who thinks he'll be a sleeper/savior/great white hope is only setting themselves up for disappointment.
 
Hooper will not play 20 min. a game -- he couldn't crack Harvard's lineup. He is here as a super specialist and a friend of Sampson.

Anyone who thinks he'll be a sleeper/savior/great white hope is only setting themselves up for disappointment.
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Agree!

He may get anywhere from 10-15 minutes a game, as a specialist. If he averages anymore than that, then we're in trouble or he's worked his butt off and became a much better, overall player.
 
Hooper will not play 20 min. a game -- he couldn't crack Harvard's lineup. He is here as a super specialist and a friend of Sampson.

Anyone who thinks he'll be a sleeper/savior/great white hope is only setting themselves up for disappointment.
Click to expand...

Agree!

He may get anywhere from 10-15 minutes a game, as a specialist. If he averages anymore than that, then we're in trouble or he's worked his butt off and became a much better, overall player.
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Only time will tell
 
Sanchez is not a Savior, but an excellent player. From what I understand Hooper is an outstanding 3 pt shootetr. He wont start but should provide an offensive spark off the bench.
 
if you look at the optimism of three years ago...this season has to be seen as a big disappointment. the rose colored glasses have to come off for a moment.

teams win with a superstar and four good players on the floor at one time. we need a player who can carry the team. there are none on the horizon. we have a dozen good to very good players with a major problem. they can't shoot. not threes...not free throws...not even in the paint. harrison would be a superstar possibility. so would sampson. neither can shoot. that's something the whole team can work on in the off season. they've been practicing their whole lives, so i can't say their percentages will improve enough to make us more than a 7-10 seed in the ncaa tournament next year.

even with a superstar, teams can't win without a top notch point guard. we don't have one. i get the sense that lavin is grooming greene for that role for the next two years. as you can't teach height..you can't teach basketball IQ. greene will never be on the level of calzonetti/barkley/jackson/cook/or even ingram. the greene/branch point guard combo make lavin look like norm roberts. maybe eliminating pitt/syracuse/uconn/cincinnati/notre dame and louisville from the schedule and adding dayton/butler and xavier with extra games against seton hall and depaul will get us to 20+ wins. that still means no noise in the ncaa tournament in the foreseeable future.

you can't win without rebounding. maybe it's time to get jayson williams/mel davis/billy paultz to volunteer to show these guys how to do it. i'd even take on dennis rodman after he finishes solving the european economic problem or whatever he's working on these days. bad shooting and dumb point guard play leads to plenty of rebounds. we should get more than the other guys. if not, it's bubble time this time next year.

at least we won't have to hear any more of that "youngest team in the country" mantra lavin fed everyone all season. i can't believe he was saying it in game 31 last night. i remember when a season was no more than 26 games. considering the minutes our overworked team played last year...combined with 31 this year would make our guys mid-season juniors experiencewise back in the day. at some points during last night's game, they looked as if they were playing game one in their freshman season. enough with the crutches. if lavin isn't confident, the team isn't. if anyone saw confidence during most of last night's game, they weren't watching.
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This sums it up. Poor PG play and rebounding, horrendous shooting from all over the court. It is like we are playing a different game. When you watch even the opening round of March Madness, it shows even more. No question the shine is off the supposed stellar recruiting class. I don't know how much Sanchez will help. We need a guy who makes things happen-a guy that opens up the floor and makes others around him better. As for a PG, I would also take Tommy Calabrese and also Alagia over Greene.
As for rebounding, Billy Paultz took some time to develop. The big guys often are like that. Mel Davis was a beast on the boards from day one. Jayson got better with time. However, with much of the team, their form is exposed. Teaching only helps to a point. Even the athleticism of the recruits was overrated. They can all jump through the roof, but one aspect of athletic ability is missing. Strength. We lose out on loose balls and contested rebounds because we lack it. As for coaching, its value is vastly overrated. Every great coach had great players. Lots of them. There are a few elite basketball minds out there. Lavin, although not one, can win with better overall talent. He has proven that. The college game is a guard oriented game. The good bigs either take time to figure it out, or are drafted on potential early on. If you don't have great guard play, teams collapse on them in the tourney.

People think next year will be much better. I'm not sold. Who knows if Harrison is really coming back. For those with short memories, the team looked like crap, as did he, hist last 5 games or so. Sanchez and Gift haven't touched a ball in a game situation in a year. We need a superstar. Otherwise, get ready to get dizzy watching Phil Greene dribbling until the clock runs down, and Sampson or Harrison forcing a jumper in traffic.
 
Was Gift left off this review list of "Thoughts on off season Improvement" by accident or are the rumors of him leaving ( mentioned on this site) have any truth. If not what about any recruits? Could Lavin redshirt anyone to free up a shooing guard to recruit?
 
Was Gift left off this review list of "Thoughts on off season Improvement" by accident or are the rumors of him leaving ( mentioned on this site) have any truth. If not what about any recruits? Could Lavin redshirt anyone to free up a shooing guard to recruit?
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no.
 
Was Gift left off this review list of "Thoughts on off season Improvement" by accident or are the rumors of him leaving ( mentioned on this site) have any truth. If not what about any recruits? Could Lavin redshirt anyone to free up a shooing guard to recruit?
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A redshirt doesnt take away a scholarship
 
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