Shaq Carter has been named to the Pre-Season B1G MBBall All-Newcomer team by S&S yearbooks.
- Thread starter Tango Two
- Start date
This is so nice to see. I think a lot of people were not expecting so much from Shaq but I knew last year how high Coach Pikiell was on him.
Shaq is going to be a contributor. We have a lot to be excited about:
-Mathis: Can he live upto his rating, I believe he will.
-Eugene: I think his extended range and confidence will be a game changer
-Geo: Can he sustain and improve his efforts last year. I think so and he will be in much better shape.
-Kiss: a lot of hype behind him.
-Johnson/Doorson: Our big men seem in much better shape and i have high hopes of Johnson.
A lot to be excited about on the banks
-Mathis: Can he live upto his rating, I believe he will.
-Eugene: I think his extended range and confidence will be a game changer
-Geo: Can he sustain and improve his efforts last year. I think so and he will be in much better shape.
-Kiss: a lot of hype behind him.
-Johnson/Doorson: Our big men seem in much better shape and i have high hopes of Johnson.
A lot to be excited about on the banks
I think Thiam, Harper, McConnell and Doucoure will all be solid contributors as well. We cannot forget any of them. I think all 11 eligible scholarship players will contribute to our coming season.
We are going to need everyone to contribute at some point. It's a long and physical season in the B1G. As we saw with our injuries last year, you need depth to make it through. We're also not going to overwhelm teams with talent so we need to be disciplined, share the ball and get scoring from multiple sources.
The great news is that, if injuries do strike this year, we won't have to backfill with guys who don't belong on the floor, like Mensah, Bullock, or walkons Bhatie and Dadika -- four guys who actually played meaningful minutes last year out of necessity (read: desperation).
Our depth this year might be young and/or inexperienced at the B1G level, but they have B1G-level talent. Couldn't say that about our deep bench last year.
I agree. It may take some time to gel, but it should be fun watching this team develop. The one downside is that some fans may be so angry over the football season that they will want instant gratification with basketball. Need to preach patience. This team lost two starters and a VERY valuable 6th man.
This can't be overstated.
Close games last year:
Stony Brook, lost by 2 in OT, Mensah (4 min)
Hartford, lost by 2, Mensah (9 min)
@MSU, lost by 4 in OT, Mensah (7 min)
Nebraska, lost by 6, Mensah (7 min), Bullock (4), Dadika (3)
If our 4th guard last year was McConnell instead of Mensah - do we win those games?
Games with big reserve minutes:
Illinois, lost by 31, Mensah (17 min), Bullock (12), Dadika (3), Smith (1)
Indiana, lost by 12, Bullock (12 min), Dadika (9), Mensah (4), Nathan (2)
If our 4th guard was McConnell and our backup SF was Harper, do we have a shot in these games?
Even accounting for Omoruyi's injury sucking the air out of the team the Illinois game was inexcusable. The only good thing you can say about that game was the team bounced back next time out against Purdue.
The Indiana game got out of hand quickly and I think so many reserves played a lot of minutes out of necessity (Omoruyi and Williams were hurt) and to give the starters some rest. That game was only two days after the close loss to Purdue and Corey and Geo barely got a breather in that one.
Stony Brook and Hartford shouldn't have happened anyway. The Hartford one was the game Souf started over Corey, who eventually played really well. We probably win that one if Corey starts but then again who knows how much of his play was because Pikiell sent a message by benching him.
I'd throw in Florida State even though Souf hardly played. Geo was really struggling in his first game against a real opponent, and if we had better bench options we might have been able to hide it better.
Also Illinois on senior night, when Geo was sick and clearly should not have been playing (0-5 shooting and 5 turnovers). Even with that we were only down 3 with 10:00 left.
Having a deeper roster should help a lot. If a guy is clearly struggling, Pike will be able to sit him.
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