Sanders, Baker and Williams; unless you count Thiam in the guard rotation and to me he's really a borderline small forward. I never thought there were any pending issues with Souf and I'm not saying he's the savior but Dadika is limited as to what he can do. I'm not even mentioning Bullock as I never considered him in the real rotation. Hopefully he can do something. I guess we can always pick up a back-up PG between now and the start of the season but it's getting late.
Could be rough if Souf does not make it here?
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Which is?If necessary, Pikiell and Co. have a back-up plan.
We don't need to get into a panic. I trust in Steve Pikliell. I would be very surprised if Souf is not on our roster in September.
Freeman, Johnson, Doorson, and Sa have to cover two positions, 40 minutes. One injury (and remember Shaq is in a cast right now) and next season will be just like Jordan's last year where we are playing small forwards and guards under the basket.
I thought the latest consensus was that we'd be better off without Souf, now we're in dire shape without him?
It's like a soap opera in here.
It's like a soap opera in here.
Souf is not a deal breaker at all....Baker, Williams, Sanders are more than enough to handle those minutes....if Souf happens to not make it, I'm confident we'll land a better player IMO....
You can't ( No team on any level) go into any season with 3 guards. Counting Thiam is 4. Even that is really slim. If Bullock slims down, he could be 5.
The only good news with those 4 is that Thiam has proven that he can guard at the SG position.
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I am inferring that there is either a backup plan in place, or that we are working on another signing. Any info here?
That was my only point. It's not a crisis but it's annoying. I'm assuming souf is better than dadicka and we could use him
Actually ...we played all of last year with three
Guards
And it was a miracle we made it work
Guards
And it was a miracle we made it work
Plus some Dadika.
No disrespect to him, but, the only time I wanna see Dadika is garbage time in the last 2 minutes.
Also, Thiam played some at the 2.
Agree...I think Eugene will Freeman's backup this year.
Every game he plays north of 10 minutes at PF is a game we lose
Where did it say that we would only have 3 guards....I said we would land a better player, if Souf doesn't qualify.....
Is that based on blind hope or some real knowledge? No one ever knows with you.
Just common sense that the staff knows better than any of us on what should happen and they obviously know that having 2 open ships would not make sense to start next season........common sense would indicate that if you have been recruiting 100+ kids over the last year or so, and you have 5 months before the season actually starts, that they would find a better replacement for the likely 4th guard on the roster/rotation, if he doesn't make it to RU.
If you are asking for names of players, nothing more than anyone else that scans the internet or websites on what 5th year guards and still unsigned improving 2017 recruits are still uncommitted......the staffs at Western Kentucky, Georgia Tech and RU got a closer look at Myles Johnson within the last month at an AAU event. He's a likely starting caliber player or at worse in the Top 8 rotation this year....if you can find a talented big man that late in the process, I'm certain a backup level guard can be found somewhere right now.
Twitter has dozens of names of kids that were probably missed in the evaluation process etc....we have guards that were unranked at this time out of HS that landed at places like Mount St. Mary's and one season later as a freshman transfer, are getting battled for in recruiting by ACC schools like Virginia and Virginia Tech.....that tells me that the ranking system is as weak as it's ever been because playing good basketball at Mount St. Mary's does translate to a Power 5 league, if the system fit is correct.....same concept of Peter Kiss, another kid that other Power 5 and Big East schools wanted as well.....
So my guess is there are more than enough guards that can play at this level that are still unsigned or more talented than Souf....if Souf makes it, great....if not, I'm 100% certain they will have a better longer term solution OR can potentially add a better player than what we have in place.
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I just don't think it's that easy to upgrade your team, especially this late in the process. If this were the case, every team in the country would be awesome.
Souf was not some last minute pickup. He was the PG "targeted" after the first target selected Ga Tech. If Pikiell had someone else in mind before he targeted Souf he would have gone after them instead of taking Souf. Pikiell wanted a mature, physically ready, pass first PG.....there are not a ton of them out there in late May.
Baker will be a good player, but, I'm not sure he is ready from a physically standpoint or experienced enough to get the minutes that Nigel Johnson played last year.
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To be fair just about anybody and I mean anybody we bring in would be an upgrade I've souf
Here we go again.....lol
If that were the case, Pikiell would not have targeted him. He targeted exactly what he wanted in his backup PG....Fast, physical, strong tough defender at 210 lbs and a passer who focuses on maintaining ball movement in the offense......without the tendencies of Sanders or Johnson to hold onto the ball WAY too much.
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How do you know any of that? Maybe he struck out with everyone else and had to get whoever was left and would accept the offer. And now we find out he's an academic risk? Not good.
Panic City once again. I just come here sometimes for entertainment more than information. This team will win games equal to or greater than last season's team. Look for more polished basketball with higher FT% and shooting %, and lower TOs. Have a little faith in the coaching staff; I know I do. These coaches can bridge the talent gap that we currently have with smarter, efficient basketball. I would advise people to watch players WITHOUT the ball next time they watch a game. We were in most games this season with a talent differential, and losses were from key turnovers, VERY low FT%, missed baskets within 4ft of rim, and just, well, bone-headed plays, along with people wondering around on defense at times. Clean that up, and we may have had a few more wins.
All winnable games last season:
Seton Hall 72-61
Penn St 60-47
Iowa 68-62
NW 69-60
Wisc. 61-54
Ohio St 70-64
NW 69-65
Michigan 68-64
We're not that far off, and considering the type of players these programs have, quite an achievement. The coaches know what they are doing.
I look forward to much better, efficient basketball this season with the players we have, signed and one to two more additions.
As far as Souf goes, don't we have like three former PGs on the coaching staff? I think they have some thought as to what they're getting. We need someone who runs the offense smoothly, efficiently and quickly without hesitation. Which i saw pretty much the opposite at times last year from that position.
All winnable games last season:
Seton Hall 72-61
Penn St 60-47
Iowa 68-62
NW 69-60
Wisc. 61-54
Ohio St 70-64
NW 69-65
Michigan 68-64
We're not that far off, and considering the type of players these programs have, quite an achievement. The coaches know what they are doing.
I look forward to much better, efficient basketball this season with the players we have, signed and one to two more additions.
As far as Souf goes, don't we have like three former PGs on the coaching staff? I think they have some thought as to what they're getting. We need someone who runs the offense smoothly, efficiently and quickly without hesitation. Which i saw pretty much the opposite at times last year from that position.
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He was a fall commit , there was no reason to rush to get a body at that time as you suggest. He was not some last minute spring or summer pickup after everyone else was gone.
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He committed around December / January I believe. He also had no other offers as far as anyone could tell.
Don't assume anything because the verbal at the time was based on where we likely knew we would potentially be back in December....the staff was already likely dealing with Nigel's antics behind the scenes and Sanders, while talented, there was no way anyone could determine he would be here beyond this season....the staff probably played it safe and took Souf as a reliable backup plan and would have obviously taken another PG....during every Court Club meeting, even after Souf, the staff was on record as searching for PG's, which has nothing to do with Souf.....there are too many assumptions being made about Souf in both directions (some believe he will play 20 minutes a night, others are wondering can he contribute at all......at the time of the verbal, we would have been without either backcourt PG in Sanders or Nigel Johnson....
Fast forward 4-5 months and if Sanders were to not return, we would probably been left with no PG's on the roster other than Baker, who is more of a combo than true point and no Souf.
The staff has room for Souf as a two year back up plan, but nothing indicates that his verbal is somehow tied to the thought process that he is an immediate starter....not every recruit is designed to be and I would not want Souf taking any minutes away from Baker anyway.
Also fast forward from December to mid May and our recruiting foothold and work is much stronger now with 2018 recruits and how that roster may look, vs worrying about whether Souf factors in or not.....There are plenty of 1 year rental guys that many didn't realize would be factors on the open market now, vs a 2 year commitment to Mensah that takes a ship away from the 2018 pool.....a pool we are doing much better with now than 5 months ago.