What SJU Must Do to Become Top 25 Team

[MBaldi]

Along those lines, I may have been asleep for the past 10+ years, but have the rules concerning a team’s ability to practice in the “off-season” changed. I was always under the impression that a school couldn’t practice until a certain date, which was the whole basis for midnight madness.  Now, however, it appears that school’s are permitted to have practices — with both coaches and players in attendance — throughout the summer months? On one hand, it would appear to give school’s a head start (which could be huge for building chemistry).  On the other hand, I would think it could lead to some of these kids (especially freshmen) burning out early.  

 

[SJU85]

1. Player Retention - Check. We lost a lot of players, but not the two most important ones, Posh and Julian. Of the players we did lose, could make the argument we upgraded almost every replacement we brought in.
2. Add Size - Check. This will team will have the most depth I can remember up front in a long time.
3. Replace Dunn - (Probably) Check. I think between Coburn, Mathis, Smith, Pinzon someone will emerge as a primary ballhandler to slot behind Posh.
4 (Bonus) Build for the Future - Check. Mentioned this in another thread, but for the first time in decades, we are optimistic about the upcoming season AND the future. The two recruits in the '22 class are case in point. We are finally building a sustainable program.






 

Excellent post.

However the bottom line is:  Consistently win games.

And don’t dig yourself into a big hole early across the tough OOC games and first third or so of BE schedule. In recent history this has been a problem for most part. Yes, team will have to develop chemistry early, but still have to win the games they should to establish positive momentum in period noted.


Absolutely true, Paultzman. This has been an issue in each of CMA's first two seasons. The problem is the huge roster turnover taking place each season and trying to blend so many new players together into a cohesive group in such a short amount of time. We only have three players back from last season so we're looking at integrating nine (or so) new players into the system. Not an easy task to achieve. It takes time to build team chemistry and not easy to do when you are playing 2-3 games each week.


 

Hopefully the learning curve will be shorter with this group as you have five of the new players (Coburn, Mathis, Smith, Soriano and Wheeler) coming in with D1 experience and having played major roles in the the teams they left (so hopefully the experience factor will help them adjust to the new system); you have another new player (Nyiwe) who practiced with the team in the second semester of last year and; you have been able to hold workouts with most of the team (Pinzone missing the the ones last semester due to him playing in the U19 FIBA Tourny with Puerto Rico and I believe Mathis missed a few and one other was hurt for a spell), something last year's team was unable to do.

 

[Ray Morgan]

A successful season will not be likely unless:
1. Posh stays healthy all season and plays 30-35 minutes a game. He is our disrupter on the defensive end the team goes as he goes.
2. The new players mesh early. A nice conference start would be a welcome change. The non con schedule has some tough games on it, but it may prepare our guys better for the conference season than the past 2 years.

I am confident that the transfers, although it includes 3 from mid majors, will give us more production and especially more maturity than the J.C. transfers we lost. Also sad to see G Will leave, but he was inconsistent and often banged up. Smith brings a lot of experience at the 2, which should translate to consistent production

The biggest mystery is how a wide body like Soriano fits in. We have not had a big man with back to the basket skills in a long time. I would gather that he will need to be in the best cardio shape of his life to be effective in the CMA program.

The most difficult loss to replace will be Moore. There aren't that many 6'10 players will his kind of speed and explosiveness around the basket. If Wheeler is the athlete I expect him to be, he will fill the Moore role nicely.

I don't think that any of the freshman will have to be big producers for the team to succeed. However, CMA does not bury his recruits on the bench, and all 3 will likely see the court and need to give good minutes. The best news is that CMA's teams overachieve. The fact that the team is talented and deep already should make all of us fans confident that this will be our best season in a while.