Gomez

[LLCoolCY]

Honestly, where does the bolded even come from? We literally have not seen any of the people you are talking about play one second of Big 12 basketball.

Our recruiting class is pretty good, but lets be a bit realistic. Only one of those guys is on the Rivals Top 150. And Javan Johnson may wind up good, but he averages 10 PPG at Troy. Let's just be a bit realistic.

It's just such typical fandom to say everyone who is gone was horrible and everyone who is coming in is awesome.

Truth as usual is somewhere in the middle. I do like this years recruiting class of Foster, Blackwell, Dubar and Walker better than last years of Jackson, Grill, Anderson and Leach just from a size and athleticism stand point day one which give me hope their learning curve will be shorter. Can't count on it but that is the case next years team will have a better baseline.

 

[Clonefan32]

Truth as usual is somewhere in the middle. I do like this years recruiting class of Foster, Blackwell, Dubar and Walker better than last years of Jackson, Grill, Anderson and Leach just from a size and athleticism stand point day one which give me hope their learning curve will be shorter. Can't count on it but that is the case next years team will have a better baseline.

I agree with all of this. I also just think the perception that this is some World-beater class is not reality. A good class? Sure. A class that will make some contributions? Sure. A class that can make up for the serious deficiencies we have on this roster? Not so sure.

 

[Statefan10]

Honestly, where does the bolded even come from? We literally have not seen any of the people you are talking about play one second of Big 12 basketball.

Our recruiting class is pretty good, but lets be a bit realistic. Only one of those guys is on the Rivals Top 150. And Javan Johnson may wind up good, but he averages 10 PPG at Troy. Let's just be a bit realistic.

It's just such typical fandom to say everyone who is gone was horrible and everyone who is coming in is awesome.

Because Lewis and Griffin were some of the worst players in the Big 12, and frankly, so was Grill. I'm sorry to say that, I'm happy they were Cyclones and wish them the best, but that's the truth.

Because of that, I have to only assume that this good recruiting class, all of which have pretty darn good offers, are going to be able to come in and be better than those guys. No they are absolutely not the fab 5 and aren't going to be unbelievable, but they all look like they're going to be able to do some things that we didn't have last year.

 

[moores2]

Because Lewis and Griffin were some of the worst players in the Big 12, and frankly, so was Grill. I'm sorry to say that, I'm happy they were Cyclones and wish them the best, but that's the truth.

Because of that, I have to only assume that this good recruiting class, all of which have pretty darn good offers, are going to be able to come in and be better than those guys. No they are absolutely not the fab 5 and aren't going to be unbelievable, but they all look like they're going to be able to do some things that we didn't have last year.

I think those are pretty big expectations. I have watched about all the games available on youtube of these guys. They are really good pieces, but there wasn't a ton of film of them taking over the game (they were playing at some really high level High Schools and AAU teams, but I was really hoping that something would jump off the film at some point.) There is a ton of athleticism there, but they will need some time to get up to speed in my opinion.

 

[Statefan10]

I think those are pretty big expectations. I have watched about all the games available on youtube of these guys. They are really good pieces, but there wasn't a ton of film of them taking over the game (they were playing at some really high level High Schools and AAU teams, but I was really hoping that something would jump off the film at some point.) There is a ton of athleticism there, but they will need some time to get up to speed in my opinion.

Yes they definitely will need to get acclimated. I don't expect any one of them to end up being a game changer next year, and that's why bringing in two experienced quality guys is important.

We have some decent pieces already on the roster in Conditt, Solo, Bolton, and Jackson. Those 4 are pretty solid all things considered. From what I heard, Johnson is pretty talented. I read there's NBA potential with him. That's all speculation, but good to hear. You throw in 2 quality transfers and those freshman aren't going to have to be all-world to make this team good.

 

[Clonefan32]

Yes they definitely will need to get acclimated. I don't expect any one of them to end up being a game changer next year, and that's why bringing in two experienced quality guys is important.

We have some decent pieces already on the roster in Conditt, Solo, Bolton, and Jackson. Those 4 are pretty solid all things considered. From what I heard, Johnson is pretty talented. I read there's NBA potential with him. That's all speculation, but good to hear. You throw in 2 quality transfers and those freshman aren't going to have to be all-world to make this team good.

Conditt, Solo, Bolton and Jackson were essentially our core after Haliburton's injury. We went 2-9 during that period.

So basically to turn us from that type of team into a "good" team you are counting on a guy who averaged 10 PPG at Troy and 4 guys who have never played a minute of college basketball, 3 of which aren't even Top 150 recruits.

I'm hoping they can come in and surprise, but let's be honest, they will have to pretty much all exceed expectations to give us anys hot.

 

[Statefan10]

Conditt, Solo, Bolton and Jackson were essentially our core after Haliburton's injury. We went 2-9 during that period.

So basically to turn us from that type of team into a "good" team you are counting on a guy who averaged 10 PPG at Troy and 4 guys who have never played a minute of college basketball, 3 of which aren't even Top 150 recruits.

I'm hoping they can come in and surprise, but let's be honest, they will have to pretty much all exceed expectations to give us anys hot.

You're right, I'm sure Solomon, Bolton, Jackson, and Conditt will not have improved at all come next season. Johnson probably hasn't been in the gym at all either and is going to be the exact same player that he was two years ago at Troy. Also, Blackwell and Foster are both top 150 players.

 

[Clonefan32]

You're right, I'm sure Solomon, Bolton, Jackson, and Conditt will not have improved at all come next season. Johnson probably hasn't been in the gym at all either and is going to be the exact same player that he was two years ago at Troy. Also, Blackwell and Foster are both top 150 players.

Hey, I hope you're right.

But other teams are getting better as well. I just don't see the pieces there to make any real jump, and I don't see the Big 12 getting any worse.

 

[AuH2O]

I agree with all of this. I also just think the perception that this is some World-beater class is not reality. A good class? Sure. A class that will make some contributions? Sure. A class that can make up for the serious deficiencies we have on this roster? Not so sure.

Agreed - this is a good class, not a great one. I'm excited to see these guys play, but my expectations are not high for this season. I think Foster will need lots of time to be a complete, high impact player. I expect Blackwell to play lots of minutes and be an impact guy, and I think Dubar will get plenty of minutes and be what you typically see out of a decent P6 recruit.

We need some serious shooting help. I'm not going to say it's an automatic that the team is going to be really bad, but every "IF" has to pretty much happen.

-I do believe Bolton the type of guy that you can absolutely build a great offense around. He's basically right handed only, and we had terrible shooting around him so people could just leave guys to help and not worry about having to close out, and he still got into the lane at will. Now, can he develop his game to A) be decent getting to the lane to his left and B) making better decisions when to dish vs. try to finish. While these are certainly likely to get better, he needs to make a big jump.

- Jackson HAS to be a consistent, high percentage shooter from 3. He can't disappear offensively for entire games, and he can't have multi-game shooting slumps. He's got to be great in a 3/D role, and it has to happen from game 1.
- Conditt has to make a big jump. His big games last year have to be the baseline
- Young has to be more consistent
- Foster has to be ready to play solid minutes
- One of these bigs is going to have to be able to play alongside another big and be effective on both ends of the court. When Conditt and Young were good, they typically were the bench guy playing with the small lineup. Both struggled playing alongside another big.
- Out of Johnson, Blackwell, Dubar and Walker we need at least one Big 12 quality starter and two Big 12 quality rotation guys. I'm banking on Johnson and Blackwell being ready to start/play starter type minutes.

So lots of big ifs there. Usually you might go into the season and outline five or six things like this and say, well, if two or three of these things happen, we'll be in good shape. Unfortunately, short of a surprise transfer (at least going by how things look now) we need returners to all make pretty significant jumps and the newcomers to exceed expectation. Not impossible, but highly unlikely all those happen.

 

[Halincandenza]

Honestly, where does the bolded even come from? We literally have not seen any of the people you are talking about play one second of Big 12 basketball.

Our recruiting class is pretty good, but lets be a bit realistic. Only one of those guys is on the Rivals Top 150. And Javan Johnson may wind up good, but he averages 10 PPG at Troy. Let's just be a bit realistic.

It's just such typical fandom to say everyone who is gone was horrible and everyone who is coming in is awesome.

There are two in the top 150. But your point still stands. One is barely in.

 

[Halincandenza]

You're right, I'm sure Solomon, Bolton, Jackson, and Conditt will not have improved at all come next season. Johnson probably hasn't been in the gym at all either and is going to be the exact same player that he was two years ago at Troy. Also, Blackwell and Foster are both top 150 players.

Blackwell isn’t a rivals top 150 player.

 

[Sigmapolis]

You're right, I'm sure Solomon, Bolton, Jackson, and Conditt will not have improved at all come next season. Johnson probably hasn't been in the gym at all either and is going to be the exact same player that he was two years ago at Troy. Also, Blackwell and Foster are both top 150 players.

I will add, and not to be mean to these guys and I thank them for their service, but "losing" Nixon, Jacobson, Lewis, and Griffin is a lot of addition by subtraction. The only one I really wish we still had was Grill, but he would be the last one on my "want to keep" list after the other guys you mentioned. The only thing we have lost that was undeniably worth keeping is Haliburton, who was/is obviously awesome even if not an alpha scorer, but every other is probably more productive than problematic for next year.

Of course, you still have to replace all that with something better. The four freshmen should help, but that is a work in progress this spring at the moment.

 

[WhoISthis]

We HAD an all american, that made everyone around him better and won 12 games. We got demolished with an all american on the floor. A player who undoubtedly made everyone around him better along with bringing the ability to score. Simply put TH is irreplaceable and we were bad WITH him...this team was not even close to being good. They got absolutely embarrassed throughout the whole season. This isn't a situation can be healed by one good player. We had a good (great) player and still stunk. Its a program wide talent gap.

Haliburton wasn’t an AA, and he wasn’t the college player that Kane was. Further he didn’t play the entire season, we were 9-12 with him, and to my knowledge hasn’t played on next year’s team!

Simply put, you have little logic in this post. We’re discussing what a player Ike Kane’s impact would be on next year’s team, not the impact of a lesser player over 22 games from last year.

 

[Cycl1]

We've lost 8 players in 1 year but all we need is 1 quality grad transfer and we go from 20 loses to an NCAA tournament team? Lol. LSU had Ben Simmons and didn't make the NCAA. We have 1 big 12 quality starter at the moment in Bolton, and 2 bigs who have at times been big 12 quality, but also at times haven't been good enough to even see the floor.

 

[Statefan10]

We've lost 8 players in 1 year but all we need is 1 quality grad transfer and we go from 20 loses to an NCAA tournament team? Lol. LSU had Ben Simmons and didn't make the NCAA. We have 1 big 12 quality starter at the moment in Bolton, and 2 bigs who have at times been big 12 quality, but also at times haven't been good enough to even see the floor.

Solomon was very good the back half of last year.. Jackson was a very good shooter the back half of last year. Bolton was honorable mention all big 12 as a sophomore.

 

[Statefan10]

Blackwell isn’t a rivals top 150 player.

He's rated in the top-150 per 247 though.

 

[RustShack]

Blackwell isn’t a rivals top 150 player.

Rivals. Lol

 

[Clonefan32]

Rivals. Lol

Ok fine, he's 142 on 247. I feel much better now.

 

[Halincandenza]

He's rated in the top-150 per 247 though.

Yeah I know his statement was about rivals though. And I like Blackwell but my guess is that He might drop out of the 150 on 247 as well.

 

[Clonefan32]

Solomon was very good the back half of last year.. Jackson was a very good shooter the back half of last year. Bolton was honorable mention all big 12 as a sophomore.

And we went 2-9 during that period. I think that's the point. Even these guys playing well wasn't enough to make us competitive, and thus we are to the point of having to rely completely on freshman and an unknown transfer.