Next years team

[ElComanche]

The recruiting wars for this years PAC 12 teams are over. The PAC 12 will be a very good league next year. The past year's teams were much better than people initially gave them credit for. There has been much written and speculation that the cougs will not do as well,given the recruiting successes of the PAC 12 teams.I believe that the cougs will surpass the wins of last year. The team will be much improved with the addition of Callison,
Clifford,Izundu,King, and Sugg.The loss of the graduated seniors will not have the negative effect like many people are saying. The team will be better balanced ,deeper and bigger.I believe that the defense shows a vast improvement with the new players. Hopefully Ike and Hawkinson continue to improve and ,if so, the cougs will go to a post season tournament.It will be an interesting season and the coug faithful should get behind the team.

 

[bogusto]

The recruiting wars for this years PAC 12 teams are over. The PAC 12 will be a very good league next year. The past year's teams were much better than people initially gave them credit for. There has been much written and speculation that the cougs will not do as well,given the recruiting successes of the PAC 12 teams.I believe that the cougs will surpass the wins of last year. The team will be much improved with the addition of Callison,
Clifford,Izundu,King, and Sugg.The loss of the graduated seniors will not have the negative effect like many people are saying. The team will be better balanced ,deeper and bigger.I believe that the defense shows a vast improvement with the new players. Hopefully Ike and Hawkinson continue to improve and ,if so, the cougs will go to a post season tournament.It will be an interesting season and the coug faithful should get behind the team.

And I am hoping your belief in the defense's "vast improvement with the new players" is more than idle speculation and is couched in insider knowledge of their legitimate potential and development. Nothing would be nicer to witness than that.

 

[gazooks2]

I am sure that their are other "expert" opinions out there. Many posters think that the loss of Lacy will be too much to overcome. Others believe that Que is the answer with a large reservoir of untapped talent. I am somewhat dubious of that and i hope that i am wrong. One never really knows about new players until they hit the practice court and real games. Actually most posters see a backslide in terms of victories.I am optimistic and believe that this year will be better than last year. One thing for certain ,there seems to be more interest in coug hoops now..

 

[jourdand]

IMO Kent did an excellent job in the second cycle of recruiting! I think Callison and Clifford are huge additions that will play significant minutes. They are more along the lines of what I thought our recruiting would be under Coach Kent and I hope it keeps trending up. I also think the freshmen Daniels will be a sleeper that could surprise in a year or two.
Before those additions I thought this recruiting class was kind of week. Suggs imo is the best of the early recruits and I think he will be solid. King seems to have many of the qualities you would want from an incoming player, but he had average at best numbers for his JC which worries me. King is also coming off a broken leg which had to have slowed his progression somewhat. I talked to several coaches at the Washington State Tournament and everyone expressed surprise that WSU recruited Franks. In one comparison Franks was put substantially behind Patrick Simons at the same point in their careers. Take that for what ever its worth but I don't think we get much from him this year.
Wins losses???? I'm going to take the easy way out and postpone an opinion until school starts and reports start filtering in.

 

[ElComanche]

I agree with your player analysis. However,i believe that Franks has a much higher ceiling than Simon. He has a good outside shot but is way more athletic. He can get the tough rebound in traffic and just needs to keep improving his game ,especially on defense.

 

[jourdand]

My understanding is he is an excellent shooter but lacks the athleticism to create his own shot. Not sure why you think he is more athletic, that has always been the knock on him. He has more of an inside game than Simon but at this point doesn't move as well and apparently has trouble with ball handling on the perimeter. With proper conditioning and a coach holding him more accountable he could develope into a serviceable stretch four but I doubt it will be this year. I rarely expect much from freshmen bigs anyway.

 

[ElComanche]

He can rebound in rebound in traffic and seems to move well He has long arms and that may help him defensively. It was my understanding that he is a hard worker who is rapidly improving But i really have not seen enough tape to vouch for the kid. Kent must see something in him

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

The recruiting wars for this years PAC 12 teams are over. The PAC 12 will be a very good league next year. The past year's teams were much better than people initially gave them credit for. There has been much written and speculation that the cougs will not do as well,given the recruiting successes of the PAC 12 teams.I believe that the cougs will surpass the wins of last year. The team will be much improved with the addition of Callison,
Clifford,Izundu,King, and Sugg.The loss of the graduated seniors will not have the negative effect like many people are saying. The team will be better balanced ,deeper and bigger.I believe that the defense shows a vast improvement with the new players. Hopefully Ike and Hawkinson continue to improve and ,if so, the cougs will go to a post season tournament.It will be an interesting season and the coug faithful should get behind the team.

ElC, you still believe this?

I never did. Was struggling to find how we'd win more than a couple of games before the season started.

 

[avabob11]

I stayed away from making any predictions about how this team would perform, because of the reliance on so many JC players. While we upgraded the athleticism a lot, Callison Suggs and King have not adjusted well to high D-1 ball.

 

[YakiCoug]

I stayed away from making any predictions about how this team would perform, because of the reliance on so many JC players. While we upgraded the athleticism a lot, Callison Suggs and King have not adjusted well to high D-1 ball.

After I watched other Pac-12 teams play early, I suspected they had boosted their athleticism and shooting ability beyond what I saw from the Cougs. A repeat of 7-11 looked like a tough deal. Just as Bone failed miserably in recruiting a game-breaking point guard, Kent also has struggled. Callison has had moments, but I'm not seeing him coming close to others in the conference. Add that to a weak half-court offensive scheme, and you have a last-place team.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

After I watched other Pac-12 teams play early, I suspected they had boosted their athleticism and shooting ability beyond what I saw from the Cougs. A repeat of 7-11 looked like a tough deal. Just as Bone failed miserably in recruiting a game-breaking point guard, Kent also has struggled. Callison has had moments, but I'm not seeing him coming close to others in the conference. Add that to a weak half-court offensive scheme, and you have a last-place team.

Well, at least we can solace in the fact that we can tell most of the Pac-12 basketball opponents that we kicked their butts in the sport that really counts....football.

Take that Arizona...and Oregon...and ASU...