22-23 Team Discussion

[sedziobs]

Originally Posted by sedziobs

Bearcat eyes are out

6-1 PG, #53 in the 247 composite rankings. PG was definitely our biggest need going into 2023-24. Huge get.

[sirthought]

Really nice recruit.

I'm seeing talk that a big man was on campus today for an official visit.

Hoping this staff has really been able to sell going to the Big 12 and the competition players can face there. We know there will be minutes available.

[sirthought]

I wonder if Collier is waiting to see who else signs? I really don't understand the need to wait as long as November. Anyway, I'm glad the team got a decent PG prospect. Hopefully he'll have some reliable scorers to dish to.

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by sedziobs

6-1 PG, #53 in the 247 composite rankings. PG was definitely our biggest need going into 2023-24. Huge get.

Yah great pickup! He is on the rise as well could be a 3-4 program guy. We can add additional help here with a transfer or a guy like Collier assuming Jizzle is not ready to lead the program in year 1. Love it. Good to great defender as well. Bearcat type of player.

[sedziobs]

Wes talked a lot about Ezikpe at today's press conference. Said he's more of a forward than a center, but the team will be more positionless this season. Said Kalu has perimeter skills with good ball handling and passing.

Another topic was replacing interior shot blocking with more length on the peritmeter allowing double teams and closing passing lanes. Also said Ody worked on his defense a lot in the offseason.

DDJ was also on talking about how he will continue to be a combo guard this year, so I guess we'll be seeing a lot of undersized guard lineups.

Link

[sirthought]

Originally Posted by sedziobs

Wes talked a lot about Ezikpe at today's press conference. Said he's more of a forward than a center, but the team will be more positionless this season. Said Kalu has perimeter skills with good ball handling and passing.

Another topic was replacing interior shot blocking with more length on the peritmeter allowing double teams and closing passing lanes. Also said Ody worked on his defense a lot in the offseason.

DDJ was also on talking about how he will continue to be a combo guard this year, so I guess we'll be seeing a lot of undersized guard lineups.

Link

It was great to hear this press conference. Thanks.

I saw earlier on Twitter about DDJ doing the book program. That's awesome.

I'm really nervous for this season for some reason, but the more I hear them talking the more pumped I get.

[skyblade]

The BCJ podcast had Zach Tobler on last night and some good info. The essential take away is that Wes is going to have to find the right balance between offense and defense.

We will have less rim protection and it sounds like none of the our potential best offensive players (DDJ, Nolley, Davenport, Ezikpe) are looking great on defense. Chad dropped a hint that probably referred to Nolley struggling (something like "you can say you can play the 2/3, but if you can't defend at the 2, how much does that really mean?")

It comes back to the thing I've been thinking will be an issue, we've got good/great offensive players and good/great defenders, but nobody who is good/great on both ends. Unless somebody improves on one end or the other, Wes is probably going to be doing a lot of early mixing and matching trying to find a lineup that defends well and can score on offense.

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by skyblade

The BCJ podcast had Zach Tobler on last night and some good info. The essential take away is that Wes is going to have to find the right balance between offense and defense.

We will have less rim protection and it sounds like none of the our potential best offensive players (DDJ, Nolley, Davenport, Ezikpe) are looking great on defense. Chad dropped a hint that probably referred to Nolley struggling (something like "you can say you can play the 2/3, but if you can't defend at the 2, how much does that really mean?")

It comes back to the thing I've been thinking will be an issue, we've got good/great offensive players and good/great defenders, but nobody who is good/great on both ends. Unless somebody improves on one end or the other, Wes is probably going to be doing a lot of early mixing and matching trying to find a lineup that defends well and can score on offense.

I agree we have a problem on D with the projected starters. The only way I see that getting better is getting Newman on the floor and taking one guard out. Nolley doesn't have to guard the best perimeter player if Newman is out there. And Newman can provide just as much offense as MAW or ROB if not more. DDJ must move to the 1 for significant stretches of the game if we want to put a decent defense on the floor and use our length. We have enough versatility at the 5 to put traditional guys out there or guys with mobility. We can matchup with the opponent if we need to. Getting Newman on the floor for D is key for me

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by sedziobs

Wes talked a lot about Ezikpe at today's press conference. Said he's more of a forward than a center, but the team will be more positionless this season. Said Kalu has perimeter skills with good ball handling and passing.

Another topic was replacing interior shot blocking with more length on the peritmeter allowing double teams and closing passing lanes. Also said Ody worked on his defense a lot in the offseason.

DDJ was also on talking about how he will continue to be a combo guard this year, so I guess we'll be seeing a lot of undersized guard lineups.

Link

Like his comments on Kalu. He did talk about length on the wing...but you can't get much of that if DDJ spends too much time at the 2. But I was happy to hear that DDJ doesn't see himself as a 2 only but is willing to play the 1 and I think that is exactly what we need him to do.

[skyblade]

Originally Posted by waterhead

I agree we have a problem on D with the projected starters. The only way I see that getting better is getting Newman on the floor and taking one guard out. Nolley doesn't have to guard the best perimeter player if Newman is out there. And Newman can provide just as much offense as MAW or ROB if not more. DDJ must move to the 1 for significant stretches of the game if we want to put a decent defense on the floor and use our length. We have enough versatility at the 5 to put traditional guys out there or guys with mobility. We can matchup with the opponent if we need to. Getting Newman on the floor for D is key for me

How much defense do we need though, that's the question. Is just Newman enough? Even with Newman on the floor, we'd be getting worse on defense at both center and PG compared to last yeah with DDJ/whoever plays center unless one of the centers shows a lot of improvement.

There is a lot of room for matchups, but there's also a lot of room for the other team to exploit mismatches, especially if we switch a lot (which the hints are that we will). Ezikpe struggles at the 4, no way he's defending a 2/3, same with Davenport. Nolley will struggle with smaller guards, DDJ with bigger wings.

I wouldn't be surprised to see us start MAW (or Phinisee) and Newman, bringing Ezikpe and either Nolley or Davenport off the bench. If the 4 of Ezikpe, Nolley, Davenport and DDJ are as bad on defense as I think they've been historically, it's going to be hard to play 3 of them at the same time, much less all 4. But if no one else steps up on offense, we're going to need at least 2 of those 4 on the court at all times. It will be interesting to see how Wes finds the balance.