I am also cautiously optimistic. Why? Because this is a very experienced team who I believe knows what it takes to win. We have two seasoned guards , absolutely essential in the MAAC and a rapidly developing front court. Euphoria? Perhaps. Time will tell!!
Hopeful we will have a better overall season. I would like to see some much better flow from the offense and less of the 20-25 second weave at the top of the key.
My fear is the lack of natural scorers, I hope I am wrong.
It seems that a Green, Benning and Wojcik trio will be a lock at PG, 2G, and 3G (Leach Backup). And a center position will be shared by Maidoh, Supreme, Crisler, Edokpayi, and Willis.
The open position for backup PF will be Cruz, Chef, AJ Rose..... but Maidoh might be the surprise starter at PF.
It seems that a Green, Benning and Wojcik trio will be a lock at PG, 2G, and 3G (Leach Backup). And a center position will be shared by Maidoh, Supreme, Crisler, Edokpayi, and Willis.
The open position for backup PF will be Cruz, Chef, AJ Rose..... but Maidoh might be the surprise starter at PF.
Unless there are injuries, which is always a factor, I would suspect fewer minutes for Chef and AJ Rose this season. Looking forward to major contributions from Edokpai this year.
Post by nashvillestag on Aug 12, 2021 13:01:09 GMT -5
In summarizing some of the opinions that are being expressed above, I think it's quite clear that while Jay Young will have an abundance of pretty good players at his disposal at all of the positions, at the same time he will have a lot of work to do to sort out the rotations and chemistry of the group. Not a bad problem to have BTW, but OTOH considering the one thing that appears to be truly lacking in the make-up of the squad, I.E. a true dynamic scorer and finisher (such as Nelson, Needham, etc.), how he goes about coordinating everything in order to get max production will certainly illustrate how good he is at his job. I do think though as a general statement, many here are concentrating mostly on how they see the offense evolving, thereby leading to assumptions by some that might be a bit contrarian to the minutes Jay will give to the various players. Actually if you look closely on how the second half of last season played out with the 8-5 record and three tournament victories, the scoring numbers in most games picked up dramatically from the first half of the year. Therefore if the team itself can add about 4-5 points on average to the 62 they ended up with, combined with the expected continuation of the defensive effort the Stags managed on a night to night basis, that should be enough to insure quite an overall turnaround from the final 10-17 mark we went through a year ago. That BTW is kind of a blueprint as to how Cooley did it when he was here, although to be accurate, having Derek Needham around to execute big plays at the end of close ballgames certainly helped. But the possibilities are there for real improvement, something I don't think could have been a reasonable statement regarding the first two teams in the Jay Young era.
Wojcik showed he can score in a big way down the stretch of last season and Benning can give us 12-16pts from 3 and the foul line. They’ll play 35 minutes a game as we get into conference games. I think we can be very comfortable with both of them. Cruz will have his big games and should shoot better. But we need consistent scoring from Green and shooting from Crisler. Maidoh has to put it together and Cook should grow from the good place he finished at. Leach and Edokpayi hit reset. We do need Leach to give us another scorer at guard. Jason is a wild card. It will be interesting to see what he can do. Rose and Chef give us experienced depth. Barring injury, we’re not counting on any freshmen.
I think we will be good but if one of our bigs takes off and Leach is a player then we will be near the top in the MAAC.
Wojcik showed he can score in a big way down the stretch of last season and Benning can give us 12-16pts from 3 and the foul line. They’ll play 35 minutes a game as we get into conference games. I think we can be very comfortable with both of them. Cruz will have his big games and should shoot better. But we need consistent scoring from Green and shooting from Crisler. Maidoh has to put it together and Cook should grow from the good place he finished at. Leach and Edokpayi hit reset. We do need Leach to give us another scorer at guard. Jason is a wild card. It will be interesting to see what he can do. Rose and Chef give us experienced depth. Barring injury, we’re not counting on any freshmen.
I think we will be good but if one of our bigs takes off and Leach is a player then we will be near the top in the MAAC.
Regarding the freshmen, it's always interesting to speculate how good they may be and how immediate their contributions might be in their initial season. In other years I myself might have watched newly signed Stags in person as they played their final high school season and therefore formed what I would think would be a somewhat informed opinion of how they might help. Not so with our three new guys this season of course. But that said, after reading what Jay Young said regarding the possibility of maybe red-shirting a couple of guys, I would have to think those candidates would indeed be coming from those guys if indeed that is the way it plays out. And in that regard, my speculation (and that's all it is) would be that Cevis as the only TRUE point guard on the roster besides Green might be the player that Jay would NOT red-shirt. If he is good as we all hope, he could have a very important role to play right away as a back-up to Caleb. OTOH barring major injuries to the front-line players, Willis would seem to be way down in the depth chart. Same with Long as a wing player. But that said, as I expressed in a post a couple of days ago, I would not be in favor of Jay going this route because of the fact that unlike previous years that seem long ago now, roster turnover year to year is quite often a reality (this year an exception here), and therefore trying to be as loaded as possible for a great year means having all your weapons at your disposal. Worrying about NEXT season right now is not a priority is how I would put it. But that is just my opinion which may not necessarily be shared by Jay Young.
Last Edit: Aug 13, 2021 9:06:43 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
It seems that a Green, Benning and Wojcik trio will be a lock at PG, 2G, and 3G (Leach Backup). And a center position will be shared by Maidoh, Supreme, Crisler, Edokpayi, and Willis.
The open position for backup PF will be Cruz, Chef, AJ Rose..... but Maidoh might be the surprise starter at PF.
Well, Cruz will find his way into the line-up because he can put the ball in the net. If he shoots from deep during the season like he did in the MAAC tourney he'll be all conference. (5-11 in Maac Tourney and 7/53 for the season).
Hard to know who might elect a red shirt. Edokpayi showed us something when he got minutes, but he and willis might benefit from a year to develop. Rose could benefit from having more time to work on his outside show. Certainly for anyone to have a chance for another scholarship year is something worth considering, I too worry about losing players as 5th year seniors.
I would think there is a high probability that Green will leave the stags after this year and use his last year of eligibility somewhere else. He has already graduated ( high honors) and could finish his MBA at another institution. The new NCAA transfer rules makes it very easy for a player to move on. Also, he might try to play professionally overseas or work in the business world next year. So let’s hope he has a great year and leads the stags to post season appearance.
I would think a lot of roster decisions will just depend on what kind of progress has been made by each player. An example... if AJR has made progress (like a decent 3p shot and tightening up his 1 or 2 dribble drives) he could be a huge asset. If he's the same guy - he's probably a RS candidate. Is Edokpayi ready to contribute or does he need a year to hone a game that fits his tweener frame? Willis looks physically ready to go - but is he a tactical RS? How about the new guards?
Claver, You suffer from “ stag euphoria “ many of us, including me also suffer. Perhaps this year the disappointment will end?
From Webster's Dictionary:
Stag-Euphoria (n.) A chronic seasonal affliction which usually affects Fairfield University Men's basketball fans in mid-summer and quickly dissipates by mid to late December or early January. Symptoms are defined by unrealistic exuberance and enthusiasm. These early symptoms are followed by intense frustration and depression which usually ceases in March.
Clinical trials have sporadically appeared safe and effective, but there is no known cure at the present time.