Miami-Georgia Southern

[joshdacane]

Imagine being Angel Rodriguez or Sheldon McClellan on the bench having to watch this 30+ times this year?

They're probably not terribly worried about their minutes next year.

 

[Consigliere]

Imagine being Angel Rodriguez or Sheldon McClellan on the bench having to watch this 30+ times this year?

They're probably not terribly worried about their minutes next year.

I think what he is saying is they can help now and its hard for them to sit on the bench and watch.

 

[joshdacane]

Imagine being Angel Rodriguez or Sheldon McClellan on the bench having to watch this 30+ times this year?

They're probably not terribly worried about their minutes next year.

I think what he is saying is they can help now and its hard for them to sit on the bench and watch.

I'm sure that's the case as well.

 

[chipbrierre]

Lots of blind optimism IMO, seems like you think this is last year's team.

Rion Brown came in with a lot of potential, borderline top 100 recruit. Never has even come close to living up to it.

Rion Brown was not a success last year, other than Reggie, he was the biggest disappointment. Went off against Tech in the middle of year, another game against BC and may have won us the game in the tournament against the Illini. He finished the year 29% from downtown, albeit one of the worst shooting starts to a season I have ever seen. I don't think he is that good of a shooter. His athleticism is best asset, but a good team will simply deny him the opportunity to drive and create. Bottom line, very inconsistent player, never lived up to his hype and now all of a sudden he has to be our best player. Would he even get minutes in a rotation for a serious team? How about even a top 25 team?

I just will never be able to root for Erik Swoope to get more playing time, regardless of our bench and depth. Now if the sport were football this may be a different story.

o and Garrius Adams blows. 0-13 from beyond the arc and most of them do not even land within the cylinder. Garrius Adams is awful. What happens when we play a team that knows how to play defense? Not Duke or 'cuse, but even a ****ty Wake or BC? It's going to be really ugly.

Georgia Southern and St. Francis did not have anyone on their roster above 6'8? Will Kirk be able to do anything against 7 footers? What about talented, athletic 7 footers?

And o boy has Tonye been disappointing to start the year. Wow, a lot of people had high hopes for him....

Well you're right on all of those stats. And you're on point with your reasoning. I agree that all of these players are not who they lived up to be. But when you lose your entire starting lineup, plus have the two best players sitting out due to NCAA rules for transferring, this team and its fan base will have to just suck it up and look for some positives. I am and always be an optimist and hopeful. I know this team is going to be really really bad going into ACC play unless this team just out of the blue starts clicking offensively, but I'm still going to try and give the players some credit and give them a chance to play before I write them completely off.

Brown isn't great, sure. Will he be able to have the same impact he did last year? Probably not, even as a starter. Should Swoope be a relied upon player coming off the bench? Doubtful but his athleticism can help in playing defense. Garrius Adams I think needs to get a couple of games under him before we can fully judge what his ceiling is. Remember he was out all last season and hasn't played a real college basketball game in over a year. He still needs to adjust to that. I give him 2-3 games before we know what he's got. Tonye Jekiri, yea disappointing.. But he's a tall body and he rebounds. Kelly will most likely take over some of his minutes with his offense, but Jekiri needs to play within Coach L's system to experience success.

All I'm saying is, you have every right to believe this team is a lost cause and will be terrible. I think they very well might crap out and be horrendous. But these guys still have a great coach, they love playing for him, they love playing with each other and they understand that they aren't going to be as good as last season. They are just gradually looking to find some form of identity before they get into ACC play. If they can't by then.... I'd say there's no chance of competing for a upper halve spot in ACC.

Realistically I believe they are at the 9-13 spot in the ACC standings if I were to make a prediction for finish in the ACC. Still only been 2 games, so there's more that needs seeing.

 

[joshdacane]

I'm going to hold off on my overall thoughts until after the first three games, since then we transition from low-majors to mid-majors (College of Charleston, UCF, etc.), but I have an awful feeling about Thursday. Texas Southern is actually supposed to win their conference and they have a former WVU grad transfer at center (also, he was kicked off of a team by Bob Huggins...which says something), and some good guards. It's going to be another dogfight.