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Post by thebsukid on Sept 6, 2021 12:18:18 GMT -6
Okay, I’m not sure I even know all the players but as I look at our depth and incoming players we may be better than I thought. Here is my idea of starters and depth:
PG Bum, Soukas
2 Cochran, Windham, Sellers, Jacobs
3 Pearson, Acree, Jones
4. Thomas, Jihad
5. Sparks, Huggins, Hendriks
There potentially is a lot of scoring in this first 5 with the biggest question marks being Bum’s ability to transition to PG and Sparks ability to play as a Freshman? I believe Bum will have a strong Jr year and I believe Sparks has come to play!
I believe Cardfan and I could win 20 with these guys!!
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Post by 00hmh on Sept 6, 2021 12:53:13 GMT -6
I like the guys who are listed low on your depth chart but could make a difference. Potentially quite a lot of bench, but we have not seen Whitford really play a pace where depth makes a difference.
We lack proven size. If your choice of Sparks is on the money that would sure help. Sparks is reportedly in the mix. I'll wait on that until I see it. Could be playing smaller than we like.
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Post by sweep on Sept 6, 2021 13:41:24 GMT -6
Every year the kid and 00 talk about how deep we are, and every year they are wrong. This isn't a deep roster, it's a roster without any obvious starters, and that isn't the same thing as deep.
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Post by thebsukid on Sept 6, 2021 14:04:59 GMT -6
It’s true I talk about depth but no obvious starters is a bit strong given Thomas, and Bum have a significant number of starts! Also, the Cochran kid was a starter and leading scorer for NIU before being hurt and I clearly see the Pearson kid fighting for a start!
I’ll give you that the 5 position is a crap shoot.
I’m simply saying we may be better on paper than I thought but you are right I tend to be optimistic without the results to support.
I believe the best team we’ve had in Whits tenure was the last Teague team that never got to play in Cleveland albeit we’ll never know. The oddsmakers did have that team as the second favorite to win it.
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Post by sweep on Sept 6, 2021 14:19:18 GMT -6
It’s true I talk about depth but no obvious starters is a bit strong given Thomas, and Bum have a significant number of starts! Also, the Cochran kid was a starter and leading scorer for NIU before being hurt and I clearly see the Pearson kid fighting for a start! I’ll give you that the 5 position is a crap shoot. I’m simply saying we may be better on paper than I thought but you are right I tend to be optimistic without the results to support. I believe the best team we’ve had in Whits tenure was the last Teague team that never got to play in Cleveland albeit we’ll never know. The oddsmakers did have that team as the second favorite to win it. It's going to be a tough sell convincing me Bum is suddenly a D-1 quality point guard. I haven't seen anything to indicate he can handle that position. |
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Post by thebsukid on Sept 6, 2021 14:40:06 GMT -6
Fair point on Bum but I’m sure hoping he can play this position but it will push his skill set for sure! I do like his shot from the top.
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Post by 00hmh on Sept 6, 2021 15:09:36 GMT -6
Fair to say Bumb is not proven.
kid has a point, though. He's deserving of a starter's role. Whether Tsoukas is for real is a second chance.
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Post by sweep on Sept 6, 2021 15:28:40 GMT -6
He's deserving of a starter's role. Why ? |
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Post by rmcalhoun on Sept 6, 2021 16:54:53 GMT -6
He's deserving of a starter's role. Why ? cause we have no one else. Would he start on another Mac team |
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Post by 00hmh on Sept 6, 2021 17:31:34 GMT -6
cause we have no one else. But we'd not start on another mac Hard to tell without seeing him play... |
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Post by williamtsherman on Sept 6, 2021 19:10:55 GMT -6
Every year the kid and 00 talk about how deep we are, and every year they are wrong. This isn't a deep roster, it's a roster without any obvious starters, and that isn't the same thing as deep. This is often true across all CBB message boards, not just this one. Fans go into a season not knowing from among 9 or 11 players who will start and/or play significant minutes, and so fans being fans, they jump to the wished-for conclusion that they are "deep" and all those players will play important roles. Then 19 times out of 20 the coach is playing 7 or 8 guys by mid-January like everyone else. There really does seem to be some sort of difficulty associated with playing 10 guys significant, game-on-the-line minutes Maybe it's as simple as the fact that a minute given to your 10th best player is a minute not given to your top 7 players...and your 10th best player (by definition) is not as good as your top 7 players. Playing 7 or 8 seems to be enough to keep your best players relatively fresh in games....or at least fresh enough that they are still better than your 10th best player. Anyway, if you went on a pre-season tour of CBB message boards, you would see "we are deep" thread or threads on almost all of them...especially this year when there has been so much roster movement. You will also see most all coaches are playing around 8 players...like always. Majerus (while here anyways) was an exception to this, but exceptions are exceptions because they are exceptional. |
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Post by realitycheck on Sept 6, 2021 20:41:51 GMT -6
So you're saying that all we need to do is take 7 guys who have never stepped on the court before at BSU combined with a returning group whose two most experienced players are an undersized guard who has struggled mightily to prove he's a D1 player and a transfer head case who yo yos every other game? And they'll be led by the same motivational genius that has captured and inspired our fan base? How soon can we get started!!
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Post by nazcard on Sept 6, 2021 23:51:18 GMT -6
A question I have to ask is how many mediocre mid-major programs {i.e. Ball State) have lost their four most productive players thru graduation/transfer and actually became better the following year? Granted, on paper there is some incoming talent but how will it fit together, etc. Maybe Whitford can 'coach them up' so to speak, or maybe Darner will be a coaching change maker. Bottom line for me is that it would appear that all the conference programs have improved; the recent perennially weak former MAC west programs have all made upgrades, if thru no other reason than HC changes. Incoming conference talent and coaching will probably be more important/evident than in the last few years. Just my uneducated assessment from following other MAC message boards, etc.
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Post by 00hmh on Sept 7, 2021 4:52:25 GMT -6
All good points.
There is talent on the roster. By any standard too many newcomers to be very optimistic. Too much unknown to say much. Looks better than it did right after losing our best players, some hope. ..
It is probably equally an issue of getting the talent put together as a team. Hard to imagine that happening quickly if freshmen are expected to play much and need time to adjust to college ball.
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Post by williamtsherman on Sept 7, 2021 6:06:09 GMT -6
Of course the key thing for BSU about all this roster turnover and player movement is that it immediately suggests itself as The Official James Whitford Excuse for 2021-22.
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