William & Mary, Sat., Nov. 15, 6p, TruTV / 1050 AM

Sunday morning takeaways, also informed by Rick's press conference (though you also have to proceed with caution when working with anything that comes out of Rick's mouth):

Zuby and Hopkins will be starting. So will Sellers.

Against teams he is concerned will press us or play with pace, Darling will start and he will try to figure out how to hide him on defense. Makes sense because without question Darling is his best ball handler.

I think he will use games against other teams to find starts for Sanon or Jackson at the 2 with Sellers at the 1.

Not sure what he will do with Mitchell. Likely depend on matchup and practice whether he starts Mitchell or Sanon.

I remain convinced that he is trying to bring along Pohto to see if he can play point so he can get Sellers off the ball more. And Pohto started to show some potentially very nice point guard traits last night. There may be something there.

Ruben Prey does all the dirty work but I never want to see him put the ball on the floor.

Rick still has a TON of work to do with this team and it's going to get late early - given the weakness of the BE if they drop too many of the good out of conference games they can forget about getting a top 3 seed in the NCAAT.

On to Bucknell
 
Forget about stats for a second.

Darling is a pest on defense. Constantly in motion, doubles down more than any one of our guys to create pressure and turnovers in the paint including on transition when defenders rebound. Whetger he gets the stat steal or not, he's the main agitator.

He pushes the ball with purpose on offense and can thread the need on short passes when he drives seep and dishes. Seems at times to make something out of nothing. Compared to some of our unnamed guys last season who took it to the hole and threw up low % shots where best outcone was to get fouled or an offensive rebound, this sort of play by Darling will keep hom on the court.


Throw in that with a cast of super talented gazelles who love to run, if they fill lanes Darling will getthem the ball. I'm firmly in his corner. (Hopkins at this point looks to be halfcourt solid offense)

As to the cast - Ian, Sanon, Oziah, Zubs, Mitchell- they will all figure it out and will each have their big moments.

Enjoy the progress. It's going to get there.
 
Beasts of the East said:
Forget about stats for a second.

Darling is a pest on defense. Constantly in motion, doubles down more than any one of our guys to create pressure and turnovers in the paint including on transition when defenders rebound. Whetger he gets the stat steal or not, he's the main agitator.

He pushes the ball with purpose on offense and can thread the need on short passes when he drives seep and dishes. Seems at times to make something out of nothing. Compared to some of our unnamed guys last season who took it to the hole and threw up low % shots where best outcone was to get fouled or an offensive rebound, this sort of play by Darling will keep hom on the court.


Throw in that with a cast of super talented gazelles who love to run, if they fill lanes Darling will getthem the ball. I'm firmly in his corner. (Hopkins at this point looks to be halfcourt solid offense)

As to the cast - Ian, Sanon, Oziah, Zubs, Mitchell- they will all figure it out and will each have their big moments.

Enjoy the progress. It's going to get there.
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He played against William and Mary. I am sure he will shine against Bucknell also. Let's pump the brakes on "more than a role player" until Las Vegas.
 
lawmanfan said:
He played against William and Mary. I am sure he will shine against Bucknell also. Let's pump the brakes on "more than a role player" until Las Vegas.
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In agreement. My old rule was to not make judgments until 5 or 6 BE games, but that was in the days of a soft OOC schedule. 6 games vs top caliber competition will tell a lot, but for every one of them you csn discount bad performances early vs good teams.

I don't judge a player at his best (Amar vs Syracuse) or his worst (too many to name) because basketball is mostly a game of highs and lows.


I'm content to wait and see but I like what I see so far. Agree totally with your point. We had a kid under Mullin who sat at center, Anderson started him and in OOC killed it, then wilted in the BE season. When he left did well at Manhattan vs mid major competition.
 
K
lawmanfan said:
He played against William and Mary. I am sure he will shine against Bucknell also. Let's pump the brakes on "more than a role player" until Las Vegas.
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To be objective, the “Mug” test awaits in remaining challenging ooc games. Those contests will help define the role Darling will play in conference play. I like Darling’s grit, but want to see him attack on ball pressure on offense and stay in front of fast, aggressive and talented guards on D.
 
Beasts of the East said:
In agreement. My old rule was to not make judgments until 5 or 6 BE games, but that was in the days of a soft OOC schedule. 6 games vs top caliber competition will tell a lot, but for every one of them you csn discount bad performances early vs good teams.

I don't judge a player at his best (Amar vs Syracuse) or his worst (too many to name) because basketball is mostly a game of highs and lows.


I'm content to wait and see but I like what I see so far. Agree totally with your point. We had a kid under Mullin who sat at center, Anderson started him and in OOC killed it, then wilted in the BE season. When he left did well at Manhattan vs mid major competition.
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I use the Santa Claus test

After Santa leaves all mjmaherjr's presents under the tree then the wait is over time to see what the team looks like at that point and after

Lavins first team took longer to develop Ricks first team took a little but too long to develop

Last years team was I guess sometime right after the Bahamas thing maybe the K State game because the only game I think we lost for awhile was the bs away game at Creighton

But these early huge games are going to give us a ton to work on let's hope we take the Vegas games ( 2 out of 3 I'd be happy ) and Ole Miss and have a chance to steal the Kentucky game
 
As the first half was winding down and WM were making a comeback Grant Hill mentioned that StJ looked winded by the fast pace of WM. I wonder how winded he thought we looked mid way through the second half? :rolleyes:
 
Darling works hard and will win minutes because of that. I think he has the mindset to succeed and as long as his size doesn't hold him back he should be fine. When he first committed I thought he would be a solid role player as long as he didn't turn out to be another Mahaney (spelling) from Pukon. That guy was a deer in headlights every time he hit the court. Darling won't be that.
 
lawmanfan said:
He played against William and Mary. I am sure he will shine against Bucknell also. Let's pump the brakes on "more than a role player" until Las Vegas.
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Seconded. For all his grittiness, craftiness and whatever else, he had three assists in 31 minutes. I know we all root for the undersized guy who plays hard but lets not go overboard here.
 
Ian’s playing timeI was limited in yesterdays game. He still scored nine points. I think he probably has a healthy NIL.
If he does not play well this year will his NIL be in jeopardy? I think he is under pressure to perform.
 
rehobie said:
Ian’s playing timeI was limited in yesterdays game. He still scored nine points. I think he probably has a healthy NIL.
If he does not play well this year will his NIL be in jeopardy? I think he is under pressure to perform.
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Maybe a way to look at this after OOC schedule is complete is if Ian’s NIL reflects a good return on investment for SJU.
 
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