Looking Ahead

hotshot

Sophomore
Joined
Nov 30, 2011
Messages
10,781
Off this squad, we'll have four returnees (hopefully). My thoughts on them moving forward.

Lykes: As a DC guy, I was hyping Chris when he was a Junior at Gonzaga HS. Gotta say, though, that as many good moments as he has had, he must improve his three point shooting. 32% for a guard whose main weapon is that step-back 3 ball doesn't cut it. I'd like to see that pct up around 37% at a minimum. A 76% Free Throw shooter is fine but ... like to see that pct up in the mid 80s.

Waardenburg: I'd like to see him add 15-20 pounds and work on his overall strength. That may, however, be wishful thinking and we may have already seen his ceiling, i.e. a pretty good outside touch but not much more.

Vasiljevic: I have no reason to think he won't be back (does Australia have a pro league option for him?). No advice or hopes for him beyond what we've seen, which I happen to appreciate a lot. Keep firing those threes.

Mack: Not expecting much but hoping that a year in the program/ACC will make him more comfortable and confident.
 
Advertisement
Don't forget Gak coming back from injury and Rodney Miller coming off a redshirt. I'm not saying either guy will be world-beaters, but they both have tools - even if one of those tools is 5 big-man fouls to give off the bench. I have hopes that Miller has made strides as a big man, but I'm not holding my breath. Gak has skill, he just needs more size and more experience.

From your list though - I agree with your assessments of Lykes/DJ. The only things I will add is that Lykes needs to find the happy medium between gas and brakes, and DJ is better when he's not settling for threes exclusively - but he needs to be smarter when he drives inside the arc.

Waardenburg needs to work on his overall skill, period. He's only okay from deep, and he's just a body defensively. Regardless of weight gain, he needs to become stronger/tougher. I'd be tickled if he found the toughest SOB's he could play with/against in the offseason and work hard on that. Too much finesse in his game.

I'm higher on Mack than most on here have been. I think he has a high ceiling, just has to continue to develop. He can do a little bit of everything - he just has to take the next step mentally and work on finishing offensively. His length/size at the 2/3 is pretty good. Remember, he's only a RS Freshman. Plenty of time to develop his game.
 
BWCD, appreciate you weighing in. I only addressed the returnees who played this season so no Gak or Miller. Nothing really to say.

On Mack, I vacillate between thinking he shouldn't even be on the roster to actually seeing some promise there. He's not afraid of the competition and level of play, so that's a plus. I wish I knew exactly what Coach L (or whoever scouted him at Wyoming) saw, and what they think of his first season here. Don't think anyone posting here has that particular insight. You'd like to think they saw maybe more than he was able to give us this year.
 
A lot of even highly touted frosh have trouble adjusting, especially in ACC play. Never know with Mack, I think he will be a contributor for sure down the road. How much and how far down the road remains to be seen. I just hope if he is contributing it is because he is playing well, not because we don't have anybody else to play.
 
Agreed on Mack. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned into a solid contributor / role player over the course of his career. I also wouldn't be surprised if what we saw this year is as good as it's going to get. He's a depth piece though, which I can appreciate.

I'd add Gak and McGusty to the list of Lykes / DJ / Sam, to give us five guys that will be competitive. I'm not saying all five are top-of-the-rotation ACC guys, but they can at least be competitive with others in the conference. Unfortunately for us, since we only have five, they have to be top-of-the-rotation guys. That will make it another potentially long season.

I'll always hold out hope for Rodney (especially because he went to the school I teach at when he was in 7-8 grade), but I'm not sure he'll ever be athletic enough. I'd love for him to prove me wrong. A couple talented freshmen coming in too, but I'm not counting on them to be immediately ready either. It'd be nice if there were a couple grad transfers we can snag to give us a legit 7-man rotation, before having to count on Miller and the frosh.
 
Advertisement
And that's a VERY good thing. We've had our greatest recruiting success over the years there!

Wouldn't that strategy be best suited for a year in which we felt like we could make a decent run? Baseball blew two years by trying to patch things with transfers instead of starting over with young players.
 
Advertisement
The most frustrating thing about this season is knowing how bad of a year it's been and how we are losing 3 starters from a team that struggles because of lack of depth. We have a couple promising freshmen coming in along with McGusty. Dak looked like he has a ton of potential but seemed very raw and him tearing his ACL mid season really hurts his development and health for next year. I think we'll have enough in the back court to get by next year but I have no idea what we will do in the front court. We will have a less than 100% Dak, Rodney Miller, and Sam who is barely a stretch 4. They must get some big men to come in here. Yes, Coach L has done a great job with transfers but we need grad transfers this year because we can't afford for any of them to sit out a year.
 
Wouldn't that strategy be best suited for a year in which we felt like we could make a decent run? Baseball blew two years by trying to patch things with transfers instead of starting over with young players.

We lose 3 and bring in 2 two freshmen. Add McGusty, Miller and Gak. We need 2 more kids that can play immediately at this level.
 
Hopefully McGutsy will be a Sheldon Mac clone.
If McGusty even comes close to Sheldon Mac, that'll be great. Based on their play at Texas and OU, respectively, - before transferring to UM - I don't think McGusty is in Mac's class as a player.
 
Advertisement
If McGusty even comes close to Sheldon Mac, that'll be great. Based on their play at Texas and OU, respectively, - before transferring to UM - I don't think McGusty is in Mac's class as a player.
Mac was a freak man, nobody, and I mean nobody has irritated me more as a player than he did. He could be unstoppable. Unstoppable. Doesn't have that killer instinct.
 
I agree but ... you've either got that leadership/killer instinct gene or you don't. I'd still take a player of Mac's ability any day!
 
I agree but ... you've either got that leadership/killer instinct gene or you don't. I'd still take a player of Mac's ability any day!
He was solid still but I see more potential than he does apparently. Few guys like that. Rashad McCants was the same way at UNC. I watched that dude in summer camps probably his junior year of high school, going one on one against all the top bigs and nobody could stop his post move. I have never seen anything like it. Mark Jackson and him the best post up guards I have ever seen. I only ramble on about that because I think Sheldon had that inside game that he didn't use enough. He was amazing around the basket.
 
Advertisement
IIRC, Rick Barnes, Sheldon's coach at Texas, didn't like a number of things about him. One of them was his issue with Mac being too selfish. That may have played into his head at UM, where he was anything but selfish.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top