Next year's team will be without Battey. I'm going to assume for the sake of argument that Walker stays. What needs to happen for this team to reach the next echelon?
I do use tourney games as indicators of what we could be seeing the next season. In 2019, we went to the NIT, won 2 games and then lost at Texas in a super short turnaround. Team was competitive and you could tell was a team that should make the tourney, but did worry about the 2 guard position. The next year, the team was probably tourney or bubble tourney with a lot of struggle at the 2 spot before the pandemic ended the season.
This year's NIT was a microcosm of the season and not much of a preview for next year. Much like the issues we saw in the paradise jam, we cannot defend from the perimeter. We don't play the high screen well at all. We can't get precious stops down the stretch when we need them. Struggled to finish at the basket. Shooting can be sporadic if not erratic.
Unlike 2019, harder for me to see how this team moves up an echelon. The guards, in general, don't like to defend. How is that going to change in a season? Teams came into the Events Center like never before and lit us up. Kansas would have added to the misery. Even with the added benefit of altitude, we could not run teams off the court. Just not geared to do that and don't run our half court sets well enough to get easy buckets. We don't get a lot of stops at the rim either. Can Lovering change that next year? Can he get physical enough to ward teams away from driving to the bucket with success? I think we really need that next year and I don't know that he will bring that. If he can, maybe we can convince guards to play a little tighter on the edge.
Shooting wise, do Allen and Ruffin give us enough help there to improve our shooting? That could be an extra win or 2 if they can. To get to the dance though, I still think defense will have to improve. I'm skeptical I admit. I didn't see a ton of improvement there this season. If defense doesn't improve, we'll still have teams that drop into the Events Center and bomb us out. I think the Pac will be better next year so we won't be able to walk through the league as easy as we did this past year. The bottom teams will move up a bit even if we see a minor drop off of the top teams. The middle teams are sure to be more competitive.
Tad has a final scholarship to give assuming Jabari returns. If you're Tad, who do you give it to? A freshman point guard? A freshman big? A freshman wing? A transfer big? A transfer wing? A transfer shooting guard or a transfer point guard? What player do we need to get us over the top?
I do use tourney games as indicators of what we could be seeing the next season. In 2019, we went to the NIT, won 2 games and then lost at Texas in a super short turnaround. Team was competitive and you could tell was a team that should make the tourney, but did worry about the 2 guard position. The next year, the team was probably tourney or bubble tourney with a lot of struggle at the 2 spot before the pandemic ended the season.
This year's NIT was a microcosm of the season and not much of a preview for next year. Much like the issues we saw in the paradise jam, we cannot defend from the perimeter. We don't play the high screen well at all. We can't get precious stops down the stretch when we need them. Struggled to finish at the basket. Shooting can be sporadic if not erratic.
Unlike 2019, harder for me to see how this team moves up an echelon. The guards, in general, don't like to defend. How is that going to change in a season? Teams came into the Events Center like never before and lit us up. Kansas would have added to the misery. Even with the added benefit of altitude, we could not run teams off the court. Just not geared to do that and don't run our half court sets well enough to get easy buckets. We don't get a lot of stops at the rim either. Can Lovering change that next year? Can he get physical enough to ward teams away from driving to the bucket with success? I think we really need that next year and I don't know that he will bring that. If he can, maybe we can convince guards to play a little tighter on the edge.
Shooting wise, do Allen and Ruffin give us enough help there to improve our shooting? That could be an extra win or 2 if they can. To get to the dance though, I still think defense will have to improve. I'm skeptical I admit. I didn't see a ton of improvement there this season. If defense doesn't improve, we'll still have teams that drop into the Events Center and bomb us out. I think the Pac will be better next year so we won't be able to walk through the league as easy as we did this past year. The bottom teams will move up a bit even if we see a minor drop off of the top teams. The middle teams are sure to be more competitive.
Tad has a final scholarship to give assuming Jabari returns. If you're Tad, who do you give it to? A freshman point guard? A freshman big? A freshman wing? A transfer big? A transfer wing? A transfer shooting guard or a transfer point guard? What player do we need to get us over the top?
