A coaches 4th year cant be a PIG finish. If we project to be ranked 6th - 11th, he should be gone now instead of waiting for him to lead us to another PIG. Another PIG sets the program back further - give someone else a shot.
Going into next year, I feel comfortable with only two spots PG and SF.
KJ has shown that he can do the most difficult and most important part of his position -- run a team, make good decision and protect the ball. He needs to become an effective shooter and a much, much better free throw shooter, we know. That's his off-season mission. But you can't dismiss the huge growth he's had this season. And note that he can defend, post up and hit the boards. Joey D has been high on him for more than a month. He feels that KJ is the real deal.
KJ isn't quick enough - that's real hard to improve upon. His upside is solid starter. There were numerous guards on the All-Rookie team - some of their upsides is star player. At the end of regulation when SPC was at the line down one, SJ took KJ out of the game. SPC hits one of 2 to tie it at 58. MB brought the ball up to half court for a time out. That's odd/tell tale of the coaches opinion on him - with the game on the line, SJ didn't have him in for a crucial possession.
Everyone in Rockland County loves Kevin Degnan. He made it to a few games this year. He has big upside for us and was recruited by A10 schools. He looks like a scoring 4 more than a rebounder but we'll see. The Boston Herald wonders why Tyler Nelson didn't get recruited higher -- had a GW offer-- and maybe he would have after this strong senior season. His Dad's an NBA scout so I'm expecting him -- even though he's not a strong kid now -- to come as ready as he can be for the physical jump to D1. Jerome also is highly regarded, he looks quick and strong, and that speed can only help us. By all accounts, Lakoju is a couple seasons away but he has the size and strength for what we need on the interior.
79 - Rose colored glasses on our recruits:
Degnan's schools per ESPN - Nelson's schools per ESPN - FU, GW Dartmouth, Holy Cross, Jacksonville, Quinnipiac Segura's schools per scout - Fairfield, Abilene Christian, Liberty, New Hampshire, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State, Santa Clara, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas-San Antonio, Tulane Lakoju's schools per -
Other than a youtube video, nobody has seen Segura play. Our competition for him wasn't exactly who's who. I'm not knocking him but I (and you) have nothing to really to go on. He was a fall back - we wanted the kid from Don Bosco who went to GW.
Outside of doing something outlandish like breaking a law or doing something against the tenets of his contract, Sydney WILL be back for next year, whether you or I like it or not. Next year, same type of season, maybe a different tune. But you can take it to the bank, he is not going anywhere for now!
Stagmaster and stag79, Degnan is not that good, despite what rockland county says. His stats are good, but bilt playing a bunch ofnobodys. He is not a program changer. A-10 offers or not. I saw him play three times this year and I was only marginally impressed. A good recruit yes, a difference maker,no.
My mistake if that is true. However I would think Colemen would be back for sure. Although he didn't have a great year Colemen did have a few bright spots in some games near the end. And of course in losing Mo there will be opportunity for him to get more minutes up front if he works hard. In fact this may be the classic case where as the upperclassman he has the chance to up his game as the incumbent who has to prove himself against the freshman Degnan, a player who while basically playing the same position, definitely brings some different things to the table with his style as a "stretch 4."
Stagmaster and stag79, Degnan is not that good, despite what rockland county says. His stats are good, but bilt playing a bunch ofnobodys. He is not a program changer. A-10 offers or not. I saw him play three times this year and I was only marginally impressed. A good recruit yes, a difference maker,no.
74, I believe he was offered by URI and Duquense as well. Had read that in several places.
Quinny, Iona and Manhattan also wanted him and offered him.
Hey 74 not saying Degnan is a difference maker as a frosh, but he is a good recruit for us. That's not rose-colored glasses. Please. Glad you saw him two games. Lots of folks have seen him over dozens of games and gave him A10 offers. What kind of player he becomes will be up to him and his talent level. But let's not dismiss him. We never get blue chip, we know now, difference maker recruits. We have to find them, just saying he might become one of them.
I understand why there is some level of optimism among some for next year. I think it is generally true the Canisius, Manhatten and Quinnipiac, even if they reload, will not be as good as this year. Our team has the chance to be better than this year. While we lose our top player, we have many players that hold the promise to improve during the offseason. The team played better toward the end of the season. We lost a lot of close games and could easily win many of those next year. So there is reason for optimism.
There is also reason for pessimism. Despite some teams being down, I would say Massiello, and Moore have shown an ability to judge and recruit talent. I would expect they will have good players coming in. Regarding player improvement, while most players do get better over their college careers, its hard to point to a lot of players that showed significant development under Sydney. And we do lose our top player in barrow. So I understand why some don't feel good about next season.
I think rather than talking about what we have, thoughts and focus should be on what we don't have. First, we still don't have a highly efficient offensive player, something that is absolutely critical if the team is going to win with Sydney's style offense. Secondly, we don't have anyone who can drive the ball inside and consistently score. Barrow the one player who had some of those skills is gone. Third we really don't have any inside scoring presence at all. Gilbert and Sidibe, have shown very limited offensive games. Gilbert and Johnson, have shown offense but Gilbert's offense has primarily come from beyond the arc,. and Johnson's from long range jumpers. So we have no inside scoring at all. We don't have an experienced ball-handler to play when Rose is out or to run alongside rose. Chappell, Johnston and Jenkins will all have to improve in the offseason, and the freshman will need to come ready to play. We don't have a player that can create they own offensive. We don't have a go to guy that is willing to take and can make the big shot. We don't have a returning all Maac player. We don't have anyone that made the all rookie team. We in fact, don't even know which players are coming back as rumors persist regarding as many as 5 players that may not return. I don't want to fuel rumors by placing names on players that may not come back, but without question there are players that won't return because otherwise Sydney could not continue to be offering so many recruits scholarships. For players to improve and contribute they of course need to come back.
So my friends while I like many things about what we have, it is what is missing that causes me concern. Some feel that we will fill many holes with this years recruiting class. I haven't seen any evidence that we have a coaching staff that is a good judge of talent, so while I admit it is possible that we have two all maac players among the recruits, I think that idea is more unlikely than likely. I also have not seen a coaching staff that is willing to change what they do to capitalize on the strengths of the players they have.
Its for these reasons that I personally am less optimistic than I have been in some time about the direction of the program. I hope my concerns prove to be misplaced and we have a great season next year.
Lets be realistic---SJ is and will always be a bad coach, most of us seem to concur with this. He just does not know how to make game adjustments, he can't read the flow of the game and who should be out there. I look at our players and there is essentially a nickel worth of difference between players who play the same position--so you have to be able to read the game, game by game and play the best player at that time for that game--SJ does not know how to do that--EX. You have to play JJ the majority of minutes the last 7 or so minutes over Rose because he was playing better last game----Sidebe or Malcolm?--you can't play them both at the same time, probably never can--who gets the majority of PT? the player with the hot hand and who is playing better at that particular game----He completely abused Malcolm, who if given the chance to develop this year in this conference would have been a force at the end of the year; Yes Rose did improve but he seems at best a mediocre part time player like Wade should have been--SJ totally abused his other guards by not giving them extended chances in games when they were playing well--so he demoralized Davis and Grennan even JJ--SJ was going to stick with Rose, and they knew it--just like he stuck with Wade so Fields and Crawford knew it so they left-------our school will occasionally get a real blue chipper, but we won't get many for a variety of reasons especially with a poor Administration which over the years has thumbed its nose at the commitment to our BB programs. Yes we can win with these players in this league but you have to have the right COACH, BUT SADLY WE DO NOT AND THIS ADMINISTRATION DOES NOT CARE AND WILL KEEP HIM---and that is the plain truth, and NO SPIN--If the Administration truly cared and would listen to the passion of its alumni on this proboard they would do something about this situation, but sadly they don't care what we think and we will continue to be frustrated and dismayed year after year
Let's also be realistic, Bob is and will always be unhappy with someone in this program. I can only hope Syndey will hire Dez Wade as an assistant coach to see Bob write a 5,000 word post on how the apocalypse is upon us.