Does Thomas, a high 4 star guy, want to redshirst his Soph year? Guessing the answer to that is definitely not. Plus that would be a negative recruiting hammer other coaches would weild against us to future recruits.
FREDDY - Meet Byron Wesley...
- Thread starter KMAC_ATTACK
- Start date
Even if Fred is interested, it would be a hard sell, given we just signed BDJ. We already have three shooting guards that are going to play. Not that many more minuets to go around there, especially for a fifth year senior who wants to go out with a splash.
That would be Thomas and Naz's problem, not Wesley's.
Did we have too many guards "that are going to play" when we went after Kane last year? You get talent like Wesley and BDJ, and Thomas and Naz are not going to play. I like our young guys, but Wesley and BDJ are not going to lose PT to Thomas or Naz. Morris, BDJ, and Wesley in the starting role with Naz filling the sharp-shooter off the bench like McGee. Besides Year 1, Fred has played 4 guards major minutes.
With BDJ it is probably a harder sell than some, but a lot of places are going to have even more established competition.
If this were to play out, and none of these players explode this next summer....Edozie, Thomas, SDW and Custer would be the players getting the fewest minutes. Because Wesley and Morris would handle the top just like Kane and Morris did. BDJ and Naz would be the 2......Nadar, Hogue, Niang and McKay would take the 3-5 positions. However as we all know....you can throw postitions out the window in this system. Anyway, there you have it....an 8 man rotation with some really good subs in the above mentioned four players. You can never, ever have enough talent. So if Wesley is interested......by all means welcome aboard. Then fill the other ships with transfers who have to sit out a year to replace the seniors we will lose this coming years and Boom..................winning!!
One of the reasons we were good last season was not because we had the most talent. Kansas and Baylor had way more talent than us last year and I think at the end of the year we were better than both of them. We have to be smart about who we pick up. We already have a stacked roster and if you start ******* guys off that are a big piece of that locker room then you jeopardize our chemistry. I say leave this guy alone.
If he was interested, Fred would be crazy not to sign him up. Some of you guys need to think back a little. What if someone breaks a foot or gets in trouble with the law, or decides that they want to play closer to home over the summer? Just because it looks like there are going to be lots of guards next year at this point in time, doesn't mean it will turn out that way.
I like all of the guys on the team right now, and they look like they will all contribute next year, but I don't think you can pass on a 6' 5" guard that can handle the ball and rebound. That is a pretty good combination, as we all saw this year.
I like all of the guys on the team right now, and they look like they will all contribute next year, but I don't think you can pass on a 6' 5" guard that can handle the ball and rebound. That is a pretty good combination, as we all saw this year.
We had 2 All-Americans and 3 All-Big 12 players.
But to your point- it supports that taking a guy like Wesley. If you think we lacked talent, you are not talking about Kane and Ejim, and now next year we have a stacked roster? If we lacked talent last year, you should be all for Wesley next year.
Last edited:
Did you really just try comparing this to last year?
We had ZERO guard experience when before Kane got here. Now we have BDJ, Morris, Thomas, and Naz who have significant experience, and a young talent like Custer who WILL see the floor. Hell with all the work SDW is putting in it's still possible he sneaks into the rotation as well.
We already have a log jam of players. Bringing in transfers who have to sit out would be more likely than another senior who plays right away. Unless maybe it's a post.
I'd like to find another high upside project like SDW, because we are pretty set and we can't play every eligible player. Well we could, but smart coaches don't.
Preseason rankings are one indicator of pure talent. Where were we? And make a list of how many stars our players had compared to Baylor as recruits. Also, make a list of NBA players on our roster vs Kansas and Baylor. If you look at the talent on paper they win. Yes at the end of the year we had more players winning awards but part of that is attributed to our system, our coach, and our chemistry. Do you think Ejim would have won that same award on Baylor's team? Do you think Kane would have won those awards on Pitt?
I'm just saying that talent isn't everything. Sometimes you take chemistry over talent. The pieces have to fit together. If Fred gets this guy I'll trust Fred... he obviously knows what our playing time should look like, how players are improving, where we need help, how the locker room will respond, etc. But my opinion is that this guy doesn't fit.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Chemistry without talent is a futile exercise of its own.
The talent wasn't well recognized before the season, but we had plenty of talent on the team.
Banking the scholarship for a Jameel McKay-type situation is silly. The likelihood of that happening again is fairly low.
We've got the open scholarship (thanks Darien, for the shoulder surgery thing), Wesley's got the profile. The chemistry concern begs the question, who's going to be the whiner? I don't see any of our returning players being the type to get pissy if somebody comes in that makes us more likely to win. The only reason to pass on Wesley would be if he has a particular personality issue that makes him incompatible. We play the style of ball he seems to want to play and he has the skills to contribute for us, it's a no brainer to at least make a couple calls. No, we don't need him to win a title but wouldn't it be nice to have more talent than we need?
Not only is it silly, Fred's already shown a willingness to make the tough calls about personnel. Wasn't it Fowler or Okoro just this last summer that we cut loose right before we signed McKay?
Neither. Bluford left but it was just coincidence since McKay couldn't use his scholarship anyway.
