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With Freeman and Sanders....

RUONTHERISE

Heisman Winner
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Jul 7, 2006
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is there anyway the team has a shot at a 5 game improvement over last year?
 
That is going to be really really hard to expect with the youth and inexperience i have been preaching

We were 8-5 out of confrence and 2-16 in big ten play

For a 5 game improvement...you would think that it would be mean 10-3 out of confrence and 5-13 in big ten play to be 15-16

Our OOC schedule has a lot of very solid opponents and 6 must win cupcakes without any sure fire top 20 teams that are losses. To go 4-3 against the top half of the OOC schedule, this team is going to have to come together quickly with then inexperience...and avoid the upset loss to the cupcakes

IMO...it's going to be a tall order. It will require keeping things really simple on the court vesuse the talent can get it done with simple X's and O's until things can come together with some on the court experience and cohesion

I won't dismiss anything...but this is going to be a coaching job this year





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I do. I think in order for that to happen the RAC need to become the RAC again. I don't think we are there yet that we are beating the best of the best but there is a huge middle tier in the Big Ten of teams that are about the same and a sold out an energetic RAC can get us a couple of upsets like it has so many times in the past (remember when that used to happen?)
 
Nothing's impossible, but have to keep in mind the youth/inexperience factor - there will be plenty of questionable decisions made by our players next year. We have 9 frosh/soph players, and two others who are JUCO guys. 7 guys will be seeing their first game action as Scarlet Knights, and there's only one guy on the court (Lewis) who has suited up for us for more than two seasons.

It will take a little time for them all to gel and to start playing smart/experienced ball. The best hope to speed the process along is some early success that drives interest and gets people back out to the RAC... but in reality I think that return to a home court advantage will be slow.
 
if all goes well this has the potential to be a 14 win team but there are no guarantees. Its still going to be incredible tough to win Big 10 games....a lot of youth and question marks for some players. Improving in competitiveness is main concern and that looks doable this year with Freeman and Sanders
 
To have a 5 win improvement over last year this team must first overcome the loss of at least 35 points from the departure of Mack,Jack and Etou and then improve the scoring average to over 65 points per game which will be hard to do.
 
Worry about win improvement in '16-'17....Let's do this the right way. It is possible trying to maximize Ws in the short term could be at odds with success in the long term.
 
I think it is going to be tough. I want to see siginficant impovement that may not show up in the win calendar. Need to see a better attitude/team chemistry and players working the plan Eddie has for a full game. As stated above, the real wins improvement will be in '16-'17.
 
The biggest improvement will be depth. We won't be throwing out walkons for significant minutes, we don't need to force freshmen big men to play a bunch of minutes, and we won't have a team who was just tired down the stretch.
 
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To have a 5 win improvement over last year this team must first overcome the loss of at least 35 points from the departure of Mack,Jack and Etou and then improve the scoring average to over 65 points per game which will be hard to do.

35 points from 3 players isn't that hard to overcome, in my opinion..
13+ from Mack (. FG % ./ 386 > .324 from 3 line))& Jack 13 ( .427> .313 from 3) with Etou's 7 and change (.391 > .311 from 3) shouldn't have anyone scared about them being replaced.
Mack's heart is the only thing that will be hard to replace, the other two underperformed last season.
 
Need to get some points off the bench. Thought the bench was horrible last year.
 
I think we can score 65 or more per game by pressing and running. Our depth and length I think should let us do that.
 
How much do you think the defense will benefit with some additional height/length on the floor?

Mack played 35.4 min/game at 5-10... and the shortest guard we'll have on the roster next year will be Sanders at 6-1.
Kone and Okoro combined for 18.9 min/game at 6-5, and we're adding Johnson/Johnson/Laurent at 6-6.
Freeman and Etou are both 6-7, so no additional height there.
Jack's 31.0 min at 6-9 may be replaced by Lewis (6-9), Diallo (6-10), and Doorson (6-11).
 
This all depends how the team gels. Even if we make a five game improvement, I would still set my sights on the following year. Next year's team will be very young as we all know. Someone here said that the RAC needs to become the RAC again. Because our team has been so abysmal, the only thing that will make the RAC the RAC again, is if we have a few upsets at home against some of the more high profile teams we play from the B1G.

As a long time frustrated fan, I'm willing to be patient next year, but I do want to see an improvement in the defense. I want to see more ball pressure on the perimeter and I want to see defenders going over the screen more and not under it like we did too many times this past season. That kind of piss poor play has to stop and it's up to EJ to show he knows how to coach at this level. So far I have not been impressed with his ability to coach at the college level.
 
Key for RU is not total wins next year...it will be conf win total.

RU obviously sent 2-16, losing their last 15 conf games (including loss on Day 1 of Big Ten Tourn)

Non-conf schedules don't really tell much of a team's strength (or weakness) as they vary from team to team with many not offering many challenges.

If RU can improve 4 games or more in CONF PLAY...that would be Step 1 in improving.

Judge yourself vs your peers (i.e. other conf teams).
 
Worry about win improvement in '16-'17....Let's do this the right way. It is possible trying to maximize Ws in the short term could be at odds with success in the long term.
Exactly right. Get them playing & learning as a team, not as a collection of individuals. It's possible Sanders could carry the team to some victories next year without involving too many of his teammates, but then you'll get a team looking for a player to do his thing instead of working together. The whole must learn to get better than the sum of its parts, otherwise they'll be only as good as their best players.
 
think we finally have a team that will be very fun to watch. very excited to see guys that athletic with good handle
 
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