What will this year's team look like?
- Thread starter billsin01
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Niastri
Two Time Iggy Award Winner: Edwards for Three!
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Considering your point about where our transfers came from... I agree it was exciting when Fran Brown pulled starters from other power conference teams.
Red did that with Lampkin, btw... Other than that, consider this question:
Would you rather your depth be recruited from upperclassmen from lower levels of division one hairball, or from lower levels of high school recruits?
Last year, we had a stacked bench off guys that couldn't play behind the Highlander. Injury stopped Hima from contributing, but Carey and Patterson just weren't ready to play at all.
If we had the center equivalent of Davis, Lucas Taylor and Carlos last season instead of lightly recruited freshman backups, we make the tournament last year.
Once I started looking at our transfers through that lens, it makes a lot of sense.
Especially when you consider the fact that Red struck out on the various PGs he wanted.
We would be looking great on paper is we had gotten a bona fide starter at PG.
I think as a fanbase we also forget just how much went against Red last year:
- Starting PF and expected big contributor kicked off the team mid-season
- SG/SF placed into starting PF role while also losing all confidence in shooting ability
- Undersized 5 with no back-up forced to play all game (obviously Maliq was great, but out of position nonetheless)
- Lack of shooting and ball movement team-wide
Not to mention all the off-the-court immaturity, which manifested itself on the court in multiple blowouts.
This is part of the gig, of course, for Red. But looking at the offseason additions, many of those holes have been addressed, and I'm excited to see what Red can do with his guys.
- Starting PF and expected big contributor kicked off the team mid-season
- SG/SF placed into starting PF role while also losing all confidence in shooting ability
- Undersized 5 with no back-up forced to play all game (obviously Maliq was great, but out of position nonetheless)
- Lack of shooting and ball movement team-wide
Not to mention all the off-the-court immaturity, which manifested itself on the court in multiple blowouts.
This is part of the gig, of course, for Red. But looking at the offseason additions, many of those holes have been addressed, and I'm excited to see what Red can do with his guys.
DoctahLexus
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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My worry is that despite all of the mentioned setbacks we put the ball in the hoop at a respectable rate last year. It was our defense that was a bigger issue. We were 6th in the ACC in ppg. With all the talk of no ball movement and guys who can't shoot, whatever we were doing was getting passable results. But we were 13th of 16 teams in points allowed. Our 2 best defenders in Mintz and Maliq are gone now, but our two main defensive problem children remain (JJ and Bell). Then we add Lampkin who has some serious game on the offensive end and is strong on the boards, but struggles as a rim protector on defense.
Yes players can always improve in any area at any stage of their career, but we are really not setting ourselves up for a turnaround on the defensive end if we have Starling Bell and Lampkin out there for 30 plus minutes a game. I feel like using some of our depth pieces for more than just spot minutes could be crucial to turning things around on defense. Taylor Davis and a healthy McLeod all have potential to be strong on defense. If they are indeed the backups to Starling Bell and Lampkin, I hope the amount of run they get is at 15 mpg or higher. We cannot win giving up 80 plus against any team with a pulse this season.
The silver lining is that we will actually have a 4 playing the 4 and a 5 playing the 5. That could go a long way on the boards, especially if Freeman shows some promise there. Lampkin has a weak vertical but he can box out anyone. A good deal of our given up points last year could be attributed to our undersized/out of position front court. It sure seemed like teams had a zillion second chance points on us last year. Think there is still reason for some optimism.
Yes players can always improve in any area at any stage of their career, but we are really not setting ourselves up for a turnaround on the defensive end if we have Starling Bell and Lampkin out there for 30 plus minutes a game. I feel like using some of our depth pieces for more than just spot minutes could be crucial to turning things around on defense. Taylor Davis and a healthy McLeod all have potential to be strong on defense. If they are indeed the backups to Starling Bell and Lampkin, I hope the amount of run they get is at 15 mpg or higher. We cannot win giving up 80 plus against any team with a pulse this season.
The silver lining is that we will actually have a 4 playing the 4 and a 5 playing the 5. That could go a long way on the boards, especially if Freeman shows some promise there. Lampkin has a weak vertical but he can box out anyone. A good deal of our given up points last year could be attributed to our undersized/out of position front court. It sure seemed like teams had a zillion second chance points on us last year. Think there is still reason for some optimism.
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