Post by ctghostman on Mar 27, 2024 13:34:36 GMT -5
Rave - i think you're off on this one - Beechmore was more than adequate at the 4 - he's probably a more natural 3. He was generally the 4th option (center position was the 5th) - that speaks the skills of Leach, Fields, Goodine & Floyd as opposed to a knock on LB . He beat out JJ Jr. for playing time at those positions this year. I don't think he's all league but he's a quality starter for us. Good kid too.
Why not reindeer? They would push Fairfield out the door if they could. All you do gooders who think either of these two will improve, one is a post grad who we owe nothing to and the other is a senior. Maybe you keep the senior to let him graduate, but Bleechmore, who is graduating in May, no way Jose! AS I stated earlier, If these guys play any minutes next year, Casey did not do his job recruiting. We need people who can rebound and defend. These two do neither.
Rave: My view is Bleechmore played an important role on this team. You need players to play roles. There can only be one leading scorer. You certainly need players to defer to the higher percentage shooters but who can also take the open shot. Louie did this, Johns did not. We weren't really asking Louie to be the top scorer. He was there first to defend, second to rebound and third to hit shots when he was open. Fields, Goodine and Leach were the primary scorers.
Even so, Bleechmore averaged more points per 40 than Floyd. Bleechmore did not play nearly as many minutes as some of the other players. If he had played more he would have scored more. He had an important role on this team and he did what we needed him to do.
While players are no longer loyal to institutions, it doesn't mean that the school should develop a track record of releasing players. That further breeds the disloyalty. I have very little turnover at my business because I have kept my employees through difficult times. I think at least some people are staying at Fairfield because of trust in Casey, and in loyalty to him, the institution and their teammates. Letting a bunch of players go disrupts that.
That's not to say you should never let anyone go. Christian Chevis, needed to move on. He didn't have the skills needed to play at this level. I don't think its fair to say that about many people currently on scholarship.
We have at least 5 scholarships for next year. Yetna's, Fields, Leach's, Goodine's and JJJ's. We can add 5 quality players and perhaps upgrade at every single position without needing to disrupt the players we have. Further if I was going to release players, something I would not do, would Bleechmore really be the first one to drop? I propose that likely the first out would be someone other than Louie. And while it would be great if we could get someone significantly better at every spot there is no guarantee of finding such a player. For all these reasons and many others, I am in the camp of keeping the core we have and building off of it rather than the disruption that comes from releasing guys that were solid contributors......
Last Edit: Mar 27, 2024 14:32:32 GMT -5 by reindeerfan
Reindeer we disagree on his value to the team. So be it.
You don't want to have a raging debate like we used to have 15 years ago? Your not as much fun as you used to be Dave
I do understand your perspective, you want to see us upgrade the personal. I do understand and I know that you are not wrong in this. I think we have the scholarship room to do that and I am hoping we are able to add to talent to the core nucleus we have in place. The next few weeks will be interesting and will answer the key questions many have about Casey. Can he evaluate talent? Can he recruit?
Post by nashvillestag on Mar 28, 2024 0:06:06 GMT -5
I have no comment on what next year will bring other than you always want to upgrade your talent and get stronger, but regarding the season that just ended, I think the reason the Stags were able to win 24 games was the fact that Casey was able to get his pieces to fit together in a way that was hardly ever duplicated in the history of the program. And in that regard, while he was not a big scorer nor did his history suggest he would be, Bleechmore certainly played an important part as did all the other regulars. If ANY of the players who saw decent playing time were stiffs, it wouldn't have turned out so well IMO.
Stag 79, our 4/5 return means nothing. Who was our leading rebounder? Jasper Floyd a 6' 2" guard. That's how good our guards were and how bad our forwards were.
Post by alsostagparty on Mar 28, 2024 10:08:04 GMT -5
I think Bleechmore is very athletic and he had flourishes mid season with some dunks but he tailed off later on and got a liitle too aggressive defending which led to fouls. I just wish he had a move to the hoop like AJR. Matty was not shy on offense but Curtis, Floyd, Fields was just not enough firepower in this last tournament. I look forward to Moumine and Rogan but I hope Rogan is mobile enough to get open.
Post by reindeerfan on Mar 28, 2024 11:17:51 GMT -5
I think our rebounding is a big issue. In that regard another big man is a priority. Seck is decent at positioning himself for the rebound but he needs to work on his hand strength and get a little heavier as big players can push him around. I love Smith but in the off season he also needs to work on his rebounding skills as they are not yet where they need to be. My observation is that he doesn't seem to have the rebounding instincts to get into position and to attack the boards. Rebounding is about many things including anticipating where the ball is going to come off the rim, in addition to boxing out and battling for the ball. The good rebounds do all these things well. If you look at Floyd anticipates exceptionally well, always seems to be standing near where the ball ends up. Despites his lack of size this ability he has makes him an outstanding rebounder. We need to be getting upwards of 10 rebounds per 40 from the Center position. Preferably 11 to 12. (By way of comparison, former Stag Darren Phillip averaged 18.1 p40) Only one person delivered on those metrics this season that was Lex(11.2). From the forward position, I'd like to see players around 8 p40m. Louie and Johns both came short of that. Here are the team totals per 40
1 Alexis Yetna 11.2 2 Birima Seck 8.0 3 Jasper Floyd 7.3 4 Peyton Smith 7.0 5 James Johns 6.5 6 Louis Bleechmore6.5 7 Anthony Davis 5.7 8 Jack Brown 5.3 9 Jalen Leach 5.0 10 Brycen Goodine4.4.6 11 Caleb Fields 4.6 12 Ryan McPartlan 4.4 13 Michael Rogan 4.4 14 Matt Curtis 3.5 15 Luke Davidson 3.1
Getting a strong rebounder / defender is a priority. That would allow Smith to play some at the forward spot, if were able to another another big man.