Isn’t that the same group we finished with?
Isn’t that the same group we finished with?
I still think we are going to be pretty good. Wilson, Russell, Au is the best guard trio we have seen under Marlin. If Awkuba can just protect the rim, and Richards can spell him, we will be good defensively. And if Butts is the shooter that everyone expects him to be, he will be starting pretty quick.
I agree, the roster appears to be built to take this injury news better than last year, although a lot of those pieces still need to prove it on the court. Richards looks to have a ton of potential, if he can develop quickly a Akwuba,Gueye, Richards rotation at the 4/5 should be solid. Coach Marlin made it sound like there is still a chance Gordon could be ruled eligible, know it was a different situation but remember Calvin Temple wasn’t cleared until the morning of the first game last year. One other note I picked quickly thumbed through a Lindy’s preview on the newsstand the other day and noticed they had Au rated the #22 incoming JUCO player in D1 this year.
Actually sounds exactly like a Marlin led team. Place great faith in players who weren’t happy,or get playing time at their former div one school, and juco players who can compete with other conference front running schools like Ga State.
I hope I’m wrong but I’m feeling another mediocre year in a bottom dwelling conference under Bobby. Things may play out strangely due to the Wuhan format, but probably still not playing in the conference finals.
Yes, I know the injury issues with Gordon. They actually started in high school when he missed his entire senior year with a torn Achilles. I have stated before that no expectations should be placed on him but also that it was worth taking a chance on him as he was a top 50 recruit at one time. I was simply bringing him because it was mentioned in the Prather interview that they were still actively trying to get the waiver and he could possibly factor in with depth at forward with the Julien injury. I’m honestly not close enough to the program to know how he is currently health wise and if he is contributing in practice.
Not sure what that question means. However the group we plan to start the season with has 2 new guys in the starting rotation in JUCO swing man Au and the transfer Awkuba as an inside guy. You will likely see Trajan Wesley as the backup point guard, Miss. State transfer Butts as the backup swing guy and freshman Isaiah Richards as the third big. That means fully half of our 8 man rotation predicted to start the season were not here a year ago. Not predicting if they will do well or struggle. Just providing clarification on the change from the planned lineup vs what we finished with a year ago.
We won a conference regular season championship starting four transfers. Gant, Stroman, Marquetti, and Bartley. We sometimes forget Bartley was a transfer as well. Coming here was the best decision he ever made basketball wise. He went from scoring four points a game at BYU to being the Louisiana player of the year his senior campaign. He parlayed that to being an All Star in Canada one year and the player of the year in a top Spanish league. I won't come close to saying any of the current new guys will accomplish that but there is precedent for success using transfers.
. I cherry picked the good season because that is one we did well using transfers which is what you were questioning. We had four that year. We will be using two this year. I don’t put JUCO guys in the same category as four year school transfers as they all move on after 2 years. Our top 8 to start the year will have 2 transfers, 2 Juco guys, and 4 HS guys. Not sure how that compares to other programs but I would guess that is not unusual.
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