Off-season Canada trip

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by waterhead

I would agree about Jenifer and Brooks...but I disagree on Williams. He has the potential to be the 2nd or 3rd best player on this team if he can get that outside shot going and maintain 100% intensity on defense and rebounding.

He is the guy I want to see the biggest improvement from if we are going to be legit this year. We will only have 3 or 4 guys who actually WANT to shoot the ball or score and he is one of them. He has the potential to be a lock down defender as well.

We have Cumberland who will get his shots off and Broome. Those are two things we can probably count on. Williams wants to get shots off and so does Diara. The rest of the guys are players I would file under the category of getting shots off in the flow of the game when they present themselves. We can't put pressure on defenses if we build around guys who just take shots in the flow of the game. We need players who can put pressure on the D.

I am not sure how many minutes Diara will get...still too many questions about him at this point. The Canada trip suggests Cronin wants to see Williams in the game a lot (and he should). The only question will be...can he rely on him to play smart (smart shots/low turnovers) and do all the effort related things Cronins loves to see like D and rebounding.

If Williams is 100% "bought in"...he will be extremely valuable...provided he can get in that 30% plus range from outside.

[GarradJ21]

Originally Posted by waterhead

I would agree about Jenifer and Brooks...but I disagree on Williams. He has the potential to be the 2nd or 3rd best player on this team if he can get that outside shot going and maintain 100% intensity on defense and rebounding.

He is the guy I want to see the biggest improvement from if we are going to be legit this year. We will only have 3 or 4 guys who actually WANT to shoot the ball or score and he is one of them. He has the potential to be a lock down defender as well.

Agreed. We should be optimistic on KW

[david aka the TYZ]

Williams was completely lost in Cronin's defense last year. That has to change for him to see significant playing time. Not saying he can't or won't learn, but our coach simply doesn't tolerate missing assignments, switches, etc on defense. I like Williams game a lot. He's fearless and has a nose for the ball and knows how to finish in traffic. That said, if he misses a guy on defense and that guy gets an easy bucket, he will see extended periods on the bench. Kyle Washington is exhibit A on this. Let's not pretend this will ever change under Cronin.

Per the discussion, I'm intrigued by what Fredericks will bring to the table. I know zero about him, but just have a feeling he'll be a bigger part of things than some are speculating. Maybe it's just that I hope he does because losing Evans hurts. But I think it's clear that this year will be the Jarron Cumberland show. Mick likes to center around one player and without a legitimate inside scoring presence I really think Cronin leans on Cumberland like he leaned on SK his senior year.

[justinhub2003]

Originally Posted by david aka the TYZ

Williams was completely lost in Cronin's defense last year. That has to change for him to see significant playing time. Not saying he can't or won't learn, but our coach simply doesn't tolerate missing assignments, switches, etc on defense. I like Williams game a lot. He's fearless and has a nose for the ball and knows how to finish in traffic. That said, if he misses a guy on defense and that guy gets an easy bucket, he will see extended periods on the bench. Kyle Washington is exhibit A on this. Let's not pretend this will ever change under Cronin.

Per the discussion, I'm intrigued by what Fredericks will bring to the table. I know zero about him, but just have a feeling he'll be a bigger part of things than some are speculating. Maybe it's just that I hope he does because losing Evans hurts. But I think it's clear that this year will be the Jarron Cumberland show. Mick likes to center around one player and without a legitimate inside scoring presence I really think Cronin leans on Cumberland like he leaned on SK his senior year.

I think Keith will defend just fine and mick needs his offense.

Very few guys come into mick’s system defensively and do well right away, but I trust Cronin when it comes to defense.

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by david aka the TYZ

Williams was completely lost in Cronin's defense last year. That has to change for him to see significant playing time. Not saying he can't or won't learn, but our coach simply doesn't tolerate missing assignments, switches, etc on defense. I like Williams game a lot. He's fearless and has a nose for the ball and knows how to finish in traffic. That said, if he misses a guy on defense and that guy gets an easy bucket, he will see extended periods on the bench. Kyle Washington is exhibit A on this. Let's not pretend this will ever change under Cronin.

Per the discussion, I'm intrigued by what Fredericks will bring to the table. I know zero about him, but just have a feeling he'll be a bigger part of things than some are speculating. Maybe it's just that I hope he does because losing Evans hurts. But I think it's clear that this year will be the Jarron Cumberland show. Mick likes to center around one player and without a legitimate inside scoring presence I really think Cronin leans on Cumberland like he leaned on SK his senior year.

Interesting to see Williams and Fredericks leading the minutes in Canada. I would have to assume Williams has done something to squelch the concerns of Cronin to some degree. Fredericks must be a perfect fit for the system to get shoved in there right away. He seems like more of a dirty work guy which is what Cronin likes. I think he can put up 8 ppg to help.

I agree we will center around Cumberland but we need someone to take some of the pressure off. We can't just assume Cumberland will be ready for SK senior year type production. SK didn't need a lot of help or even a little...he was capable of taking most of the load right on his shoulders without a huge drop in efficiency. I am not sure Cumberland is there yet. SK was a red shirt senior when all of that was put on his shoulders...and he did an amazing job.

[david aka the TYZ]

I don't mean to suggest Williams defense won't improve, I just know based on where he left off last year and being a young sophomore, the trust factor for Cronin and his propensity to pull players for inevitable mistakes make me leery Williams gets a ton of minutes right away.

Also don't mean to suggest Cumberland is primed for SK numbers. I just mean I think he's the only offensive guy Mick might trust on this team and I think he'll be the focus for the offense. Broome obviously is a much bigger offensive weapon than SK had, but his game doesn't suit Mickball, so it's hard to assume he'll throw caution to the wind and let Broome fully do his thing.

[cincycpaw]

Originally Posted by waterhead

I would agree about Jenifer and Brooks...but I disagree on Williams. He has the potential to be the 2nd or 3rd best player on this team if he can get that outside shot going and maintain 100% intensity on defense and rebounding.

He is the guy I want to see the biggest improvement from if we are going to be legit this year. We will only have 3 or 4 guys who actually WANT to shoot the ball or score and he is one of them. He has the potential to be a lock down defender as well.

So you think Williams should/will get 20 min/game? Seems high to me

[GarradJ21]

Originally Posted by cincycpaw

So you think Williams should/will get 20 min/game? Seems high to me

I do, yes

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by cincycpaw

So you think Williams should/will get 20 min/game? Seems high to me

Whether he should or will is up to Cronin but I am definitely hoping for that. His upside is really high. He is aggressive, ultra athletic, has the potential to be a defensive stopper, and he can get to the rack. If he doesn't get lazy or lost on the court he would easily be in line for more than 20 mpg. Getting to 30% plus from 3 would just be a bonus at that point making it hard to keep him off the court.

From the Canada trip (the two games I could find minutes for) he and Fredericks lead the team in mpg. That says a lot in terms of what Cronin would prefer to have out there on the court. However he won't put up with too many mistakes or a lack of effort. We will see how much Williams has learned about how to get on the floor.

[justinhub2003]

If I had to re-guess minutes after seeing them play this off seaso, I'd go something like this:

Cumberland: 32 (+3)
Broome: 28 (+7)
Scott: 25 (+12)
Fredericks: 25 (N/A)
Williams: 23 (+13)
Moore: 18 (+6)
Jenifer: 18 (-2)
Diarra:12 (+5)
Brooks: 15 (+6)
Nsesome: 15 (+9)
Johnson: 13 (N/A)
Harnett: RedShirt

I'd probably change my mind on this if I re-did it tomorrow. Scott and Williams will be taking on the biggest workload from last year. Trevon and Nas both going to have to adjust to life with more minutes and preserving their fouls