A Comment on Point Guards

[Cappy3]

I keep reading posts about how Red should have known Carlos couldn’t cut it in the ACC, and questioning his talent appraisal skills. Well it’s not that easy. For example, look at UConn. Hurley has been pretty successful at talent evaluation, and went all in on Aidan Mahaney from St Marys who was generally considered the best available point guard in the portal. So far, he’s been a huge flop. He’s lost the starting role, is averaging 5 pts per, and playing less and less time. so it’s not as easy to project a guy’s success as guys here seem to think.

 

[jdubs30]

From Reds mouth last night (because of an injury to JJ) - “Carlos is our only ball handler” …
Hmmm sounds like terrible roster construction to me .

UConn also has Diarra who is a very solid PG as their 6th man and they signed a 4/5star PG from Philly who’s starting to play more now since Mahoney has struggled.

Hurley did not go “all in” on Mahoney and has 2 other PGs on the roster who are capable.

Mahoney minutes have gone way down since the Memphis game. Hurley realized his mistake.

Red is doubling down on Carlos then saying we lack ball handlers


It’s a terrible look

 

[M2MPrinciples]

The difference is that Hurley has a capable backup in Hassan Diarra who has experience as a high-major contributor and knows what he is being asked to do. They also have Ahmad Nowell who has been decent as a freshman.

I also don't get the "all-in" comment. They also spent big on Liam McNeely and Tarris Reed.

It's not so much that Red whiffed on JC, it's that he's not holding him accountable and the lack of PG depth was exposed even before JJ got hurt.

 

[Nicknack]

You said something here that is key regarding the portal PG at UConn... "he's lost the starting role".

While I'm disappointed and surprised that Red thought Carlos was the answer, what is beyond frustrating is sticking with him when it's clear as day he should be sitting on the bench. The portal PG at UConn is now sitting. He's only logging about 16 min a game. Carlos played 37 min last night, more than anyone else on the team! He's averaging 26 min a game this season. It's one thing to swing and miss on a transfer or recruit (that happens). Sticking with them regardless is the sin.

 

[DomeHolmes]

I keep reading posts about how Red should have known Carlos couldn’t cut it in the ACC, and questioning his talent appraisal skills. Well it’s not that easy. For example, look at UConn. Hurley has been pretty successful at talent evaluation, and went all in on Aidan Mahaney from St Marys who was generally considered the best available point guard in the portal. So far, he’s been a huge flop. He’s lost the starting role, is averaging 5 pts per, and playing less and less time. so it’s not as easy to project a guy’s success as guys here seem to think.

Agree. Pre season, after scrimmages, EVERYONE thought what Red thought too. lol. As I said in a previous post today MONEY is the biggest factor. Period.

We have skilled players but just one “dog” in Choppa. Maybe Davis, but undersized for his position. Need more guys with an “edge”

Last night I watched Scheiffelin for Clemson, (a guy who looks like a mid major 10th man) “ball” for 40 minutes. He wanted it more than Kentucky. We need a few like him too. Red needs to find them, (but boeheim was not finding them either).

plenty of skill, not enough energy, IQ, or “want to” from our team

 

[two3zone]

I keep reading posts about how Red should have known Carlos couldn’t cut it in the ACC, and questioning his talent appraisal skills. Well it’s not that easy. For example, look at UConn. Hurley has been pretty successful at talent evaluation, and went all in on Aidan Mahaney from St Marys who was generally considered the best available point guard in the portal. So far, he’s been a huge flop. He’s lost the starting role, is averaging 5 pts per, and playing less and less time. so it’s not as easy to project a guy’s success as guys here seem to think.

How are the two the same? You even said Mahaney lost the starting job, Carlos played 38 minutes and wasn't taken out until the end of the bench was on the floor.

 

[Cappy3]

The difference is that Hurley has a capable backup in Hassan Diarra who has experience as a high-major contributor and knows what he is being asked to do. They also have Ahmad Nowell who has been decent as a freshman.

I also don't get the "all-in" comment. They also spent big on Liam McNeely and Tarris Reed.

It's not so much that Red whiffed on JC, it's that he's not holding him accountable and the lack of PG depth was exposed even before JJ got hurt.

All in as Mahaney was the first and only point guard Hurley pursued in the portal.

 

[OHIORANGES]

I keep reading posts about how Red should have known Carlos couldn’t cut it in the ACC, and questioning his talent appraisal skills. Well it’s not that easy. For example, look at UConn. Hurley has been pretty successful at talent evaluation, and went all in on Aidan Mahaney from St Marys who was generally considered the best available point guard in the portal. So far, he’s been a huge flop. He’s lost the starting role, is averaging 5 pts per, and playing less and less time. so it’s not as easy to project a guy’s success as guys here seem to think.

Well at least he “lost his starting role”

 

[MikeSU02]

Agree. Pre season, after scrimmages, EVERYONE thought what Red thought too. lol. As I said in a previous post today MONEY is the biggest factor. Period.

We have skilled players but just one “dog” in Choppa. Maybe Davis, but undersized for his position. Need more guys with an “edge”

Last night I watched Scheiffelin for Clemson, (a guy who looks like a mid major 10th man) “ball” for 40 minutes. He wanted it more than Kentucky. We need a few like him too. Red needs to find them, (but boeheim was not finding them either).

plenty of skill, not enough energy, IQ, or “want to” from our team

Everyone?

 

[Sherman20]

I keep reading posts about how Red should have known Carlos couldn’t cut it in the ACC, and questioning his talent appraisal skills. Well it’s not that easy. For example, look at UConn. Hurley has been pretty successful at talent evaluation, and went all in on Aidan Mahaney from St Marys who was generally considered the best available point guard in the portal. So far, he’s been a huge flop. He’s lost the starting role, is averaging 5 pts per, and playing less and less time. so it’s not as easy to project a guy’s success as guys here seem to think.

Glad you brought this up. I’m not saying that Red and the staff don’t deserve criticism, but coaching and evaluation is more complex and tricky than fans want to admit. We’re also behind the ball with NIL funds.

 

[Cappy3]

You said something here that is key regarding the portal PG at UConn... "he's lost the starting role".

While I'm disappointed and surprised that Red thought Carlos was the answer, what is beyond frustrating is sticking with him when it's clear as day he should be sitting on the bench. The portal PG at UConn is now sitting. He's only logging about 16 min a game. Carlos played 37 min last night, more than anyone else on the team! He's averaging 26 min a game this season. It's one thing to swing and miss on a transfer or recruit (that happens). Sticking with them regardless is the sin.

I totally agree with one caveat. Who would take minutes at point? Before Starling was injured, I was advocating to move him to point, even tho he’s not a true point, and has terrible career assist/turnover ratios, in order to get more time for Moore. But now I don’t see an answer. Cuffe, in his career, has 16 assists and 17 turnovers. Doesn’t seem like an answer. Westry, from what I saw is at least a month away from being ready, if he still possesses the ability to play point. Moore is a shooting guard, period. I get complaining about the roster makeup, but you go to war with the army you have, and frankly I’m not sure we have a viable alternative.

 

[littlereg]

Mahaney was like the 12 ranked point guard, 100+ ranked in tranfers portal he was not anywhere close to considered the “best portal pg” the kid averaged 2-2.5 assist at st Mary’s and as someone who watched the kid play live 3 times prior to this season, I said from the get go mahaney was going to struggle playing up. He was TERRIBLE against Uconn in the tourny in Albany two years ago. Sometimes the best talent evaluators miss, the problem is red isn’t even HITTING at all, it’s all misses.

247, which had him with his highest ranking had mahaney as a combo guard as well not even a pg lol.

 

[Cappy3]

How are the two the same? You even said Mahaney lost the starting job, Carlos played 38 minutes and wasn't taken out until the end of the bench was on the floor.

i’m responding to all the posts I’ve read saying Autry can’t evaluate talent because he signed Carlos and not a “top point guard”.

 

[Sherman20]

From Reds mouth last night (because of an injury to JJ) - “Carlos is our only ball handler” …
Hmmm sounds like terrible roster construction to me .

UConn also has Diarra who is a very solid PG as their 6th man and they signed a 4/5star PG from Philly who’s starting to play more now since Mahoney has struggled.

Hurley did not go “all in” on Mahoney and has 2 other PGs on the roster who are capable.

Mahoney minutes have gone way down since the Memphis game. Hurley realized his mistake.

Red is doubling down on Carlos then saying we lack ball handlers


It’s a terrible look

Starling just got injured! And Westry got mono and wasn’t available for practice this fall. How many PGs do you think we should have on the roster? The evaluation of Carlos seems like a fail right now, but it’s stupid to blame him for not having more PGs behind Carlos, JJ and others. That said, Taylor, Cuffe and even Moore can be ball handlers, so there are other guys available if Carlos isn’t cutting it. So I’m not sure why Red won’t give them a shot.

 

[two3zone]

Agree. Pre season, after scrimmages, EVERYONE thought what Red thought too. lol. As I said in a previous post today MONEY is the biggest factor. Period.

We have skilled players but just one “dog” in Choppa. Maybe Davis, but undersized for his position. Need more guys with an “edge”

Last night I watched Scheiffelin for Clemson, (a guy who looks like a mid major 10th man) “ball” for 40 minutes. He wanted it more than Kentucky. We need a few like him too. Red needs to find them, (but boeheim was not finding them either).

plenty of skill, not enough energy, IQ, or “want to” from our team

This is just wrong, there were about 10 people around here getting insulted because they were seeing a .500 team or slightly better while the rest of this board were talking tournament and how great we were and how Carlos was so good and a CAA defensive player of the year.

This team stunk since the signed the first transfer until they got heald up by Eddie and you all bought into it including the staff.

 

[Cappy3]

Starling just got injured! And Westry got mono and wasn’t available for practice this fall. How many PGs do you think we should have on the roster? The evaluation of Carlos seems like a fail right now, but it’s stupid to blame him for not having more PGs behind Carlos. That said, Taylor, Cuffe and even Moore can be ball handlers, so there are other guys available if Carlos isn’t cutting it. So I’m not sure why Red won’t give them a shot.

Agree with most of your post. But there’s a big difference in being able to handle the ball, and being able to run an offense. Any guard good enough to play D1 should be able to handle the ball. But having the instinct and ability to run an offense and get everyone involved is something else.

 

[kingtidge]

I keep reading posts about how Red should have known Carlos couldn’t cut it in the ACC, and questioning his talent appraisal skills. Well it’s not that easy. For example, look at UConn. Hurley has been pretty successful at talent evaluation, and went all in on Aidan Mahaney from St Marys who was generally considered the best available point guard in the portal. So far, he’s been a huge flop. He’s lost the starting role, is averaging 5 pts per, and playing less and less time. so it’s not as easy to project a guy’s success as guys here seem to think.

I'll say this... My nephew's comments when I was describing the issues with Carlos (he's also my nephew who was rightfully raised a Cuse fan but went to Northeastern for undergrad and was same league as Hofstra - Coastal/Colonial League...)

Paraphrasing...

"You do realize that the talent-level in that league is night and day compared to a P4 conference, yes? Believe me, I went to a bunch of the Northeastern games as an undergrad and it's a SIGNIFICANT step down."

 

[jdubs30]

I totally agree with one caveat. Who would take minutes at point? Before Starling was injured, I was advocating to move him to point, even tho he’s not a true point, and has terrible career assist/turnover ratios, in order to get more time for Moore. But now I don’t see an answer. Cuffe, in his career, has 16 assists and 17 turnovers. Doesn’t seem like an answer. Westry, from what I saw is at least a month away from being ready, if he still possesses the ability to play point. Moore is a shooting guard, period. I get complaining about the roster makeup, but you go to war with the army you have, and frankly I’m not sure we have a viable alternative.

Starling just got injured! And Westry got mono and wasn’t available for practice this fall. How many PGs do you think we should have on the roster? The evaluation of Carlos seems like a fail right now, but it’s stupid to blame him for not having more PGs behind Carlos. That said, Taylor, Cuffe and even Moore can be ball handlers, so there are other guys available if Carlos isn’t cutting it. So I’m not sure why Red won’t give them a shot.

Guys, Red literally said it himself - we have one guy who can dribble. Red chose to pursue Taylor instead of maybe a guard who was more of a combo. Red kept Cuffe and McLeod when maybe a better use of either of those scholarships was getting a guy who could dribble. You’re answering your own questions here. Red assembled this army. Injuries happen. But he knowingly came into the season with 1 low level PG on the roster. You can’t defend that. I promise it’s ok to blame him.

On3 ranked Carlos as the 255th transfer overall, the 50th PG. 50th! But Red was clearly confident he’s all we needed

You know what teams got better ranked PG transfers than us? Samford, UTEP, DePaul, McNeese (Quadir), TCU (they got 2), Providence, Vanderbilt (they got 2). That’s not even counting big time P5 schools.

We are rewriting history here saying Carlos was gonna be great and this a shocking development. The kid Shot 41% from the field at Hofstra.

By all means let’s go ahead and keep trying to defend this tho

 

[Sherman20]

i’m responding to all the posts I’ve read saying Autry can’t evaluate talent because he signed Carlos and not a “top point guard”.

And as they criticize his talent evaluation, then they fail to give him any credit for identifying and landing Elijah Moore early on. The kid has really come on these last few games, even though he’s only a freshman.

 

[M2MPrinciples]

That said, Taylor, Cuffe and even Moore can be ball handlers, so there are other guys available if Carlos isn’t cutting it. So I’m not sure why Red won’t give them a shot.

This is most of it, for me. Being able to play through Lampkin takes some pressure off the PG to be the main initiator/distributor.

I thought Red should've sent a message earlier in the second half once the game got out of hand rather than waiting until there were 3 minutes left to sub in Cuffe. I know it wouldn't have changed the outcome but if you're going to publicly state that guys who don't play hard aren't gonna play you can't give Carlos 37 minutes in the very next game and expect to be taken seriously as a coach even with JJ out.

 

[Sherman20]

Guys, Red literally said it himself - we have one guy who can dribble. Red chose to pursue Taylor instead of maybe a guard who was more of a combo. Red kept Cuffe and McLeod when maybe a better use of either of those scholarships was getting a guy who could dribble. You’re answering your own questions here. Red assembled this army. Injuries happen. But he knowingly came into the season with 1 low level PG on the roster. You can’t defend that. I promise it’s ok to blame him.

On3 ranked Carlos as the 255th transfer overall, the 50th PG. 50th! But Red was clearly confident he’s all we needed

You know what teams got better ranked PG transfers than us? Samford, UTEP, DePaul, McNeese (Quadir), TCU (they got 2), Providence, Vanderbilt (they got 2). That’s not even counting big time P5 schools.

We are rewriting history here saying Carlos was gonna be great and this a shocking development. The kid Shot 41% from the field at Hofstra.

By all means let’s go ahead and keep trying to defend this tho

Y’all just want to continue to pile on and prove your brilliance at scouting and evaluation. Have fun this season.

 

[jdubs30]

And as they criticize his talent evaluation, then they fail to give him any credit for identifying and landing Elijah Moore early on. The kid has really come on these last few games, even though he’s only a freshman.

And if JJ didn’t hurt how much do we see Moore last night? He was forced to use Moore especially because Taylor provide much outside of his defense

 

[PhatOrange]

The ball handler thing is ridiculous. Nothing is running through the point guard. we bring the ball up the court and pass it to the wing and get into a pick and weave set. The Hofstra kid doesn’t do anything other than bring the ball up over half court. Anyone can do that.

Without JJ, the lineup should be Taylor Moore Freeman Davis, Lampkin

 

[tptcuse]

And as they criticize his talent evaluation, then they fail to give him any credit for identifying and landing Elijah Moore early on. The kid has really come on these last few games, even though he’s only a freshman.

And yet he didn’t start the game yesterday or even the 2nd half.

 

[kingtidge]

This is most of it, for me. Being able to play through Lampkin takes some pressure off the PG to be the main initiator/distributor.

I thought Red should've sent a message earlier in the second half once the game got out of hand rather than waiting until there were 3 minutes left to sub in Cuffe. I know it wouldn't have changed the outcome but if you're going to publicly state that guys who don't play hard aren't gonna play you can't give Carlos 37 minutes in the very next game and expect to be taken seriously as a coach even with JJ out.

I think Red's in denial that Carlos is simply not talented enough to start at the P4 level.

I genuinely feel bad for the kid.

He looked absolutely terrified on the court last night.

It was a big swing and miss on the talent eval side that Red's obviously having a real hard time coming to grips with, hence why Carlos is still getting so many minutes.

It's time to get creative and try something else because it's clearly not working with him.