Well, now that we have an open scholarship to fill, what direction do you guys think we should go. From my perspective, I think there are (2) potential types of players that we would be looking for"
1. Ball-handling guard - Maybe a traditional PG, maybe a combo guard, but somebody else that can handle ball pressure and attack the defense off the dribble. I think the current roster is a little too dependent upon Marcus Williams and if he is out for any reason that could pose a real issue.
2. Stretch Power Forward - A long, athletic 4 man that can defend and rebound but also stretch the floor to the 3-point line would be great...so, if any future NBA players would like to sign with the Pokes that would be great. I am joking, but this is a really tough player type to find because a lot of teams would love to have this type of player.
I say the above, because when I look at our team I see (4) guaranteed starters:
Ike
Maldo
Williams
DuSell
I would be very surprised if those four are not starting at the beginning of next year. They were clearly our top 4 players down the stretch and three of them were freshman who should continue to make strides. The challenge with that group though is that you really only have one plus shooter (DuSell) and one solid shooter (Williams) and you want Williams creating off of penetration. With that in mind, you really need another perimeter threat on the floor. As discussed in the Marble thread, I think Foster's shooting is the main reason he starts ahead of Kwane (Foster does a lot of other good things too of course). Jeffries certainly fits the bill, but he is pretty one-dimensional on offense (despite being a good athlete).
Between Wenzel and Oden we may have at least a couple of potential versions of the stretch PF that I mention above. Oden has a bright, bright future but did not hit at a high percentage from beyond the arc as a freshman and Wenzel is an unknown (but is expected to be a good shooter and has good size). This sort of highlights the interesting conundrum that Maldo presents. You have to have him on the floor for everything he does at both ends, but because he really struggles from the arc (and it's getting worse, not better) and Ike needs room to maneuver in the paint as well, the other 3 guys really need to be floor spacers. The way we dealt with that this past season was playing Maldo at the 4 with an additional shooting guard on the floor, but one alternate way is to play Maldo at the 3 but with a stretch 4 so that we won't be as undersized. Just hard to find that player.
Anyway, from my perspective if Linder feels pretty good above the development of Wenzel and Oden, then we need a ball handling guard.
I would expect that the staff will explore the transfer portal for that player, but I wonder if the timing is good to pick up a JUCO or High School player that might be a little bit under-recruited relative to their talent level due to extra year granted to current players due to COVID. I think there will be some pretty good JC players that won't get the offers they would in a normal year and I believe they will be positioned to get that extra year as well, so you might get a pretty good JC player for 3 years.
Will be interesting to see.
1. Ball-handling guard - Maybe a traditional PG, maybe a combo guard, but somebody else that can handle ball pressure and attack the defense off the dribble. I think the current roster is a little too dependent upon Marcus Williams and if he is out for any reason that could pose a real issue.
2. Stretch Power Forward - A long, athletic 4 man that can defend and rebound but also stretch the floor to the 3-point line would be great...so, if any future NBA players would like to sign with the Pokes that would be great. I am joking, but this is a really tough player type to find because a lot of teams would love to have this type of player.
I say the above, because when I look at our team I see (4) guaranteed starters:
Ike
Maldo
Williams
DuSell
I would be very surprised if those four are not starting at the beginning of next year. They were clearly our top 4 players down the stretch and three of them were freshman who should continue to make strides. The challenge with that group though is that you really only have one plus shooter (DuSell) and one solid shooter (Williams) and you want Williams creating off of penetration. With that in mind, you really need another perimeter threat on the floor. As discussed in the Marble thread, I think Foster's shooting is the main reason he starts ahead of Kwane (Foster does a lot of other good things too of course). Jeffries certainly fits the bill, but he is pretty one-dimensional on offense (despite being a good athlete).
Between Wenzel and Oden we may have at least a couple of potential versions of the stretch PF that I mention above. Oden has a bright, bright future but did not hit at a high percentage from beyond the arc as a freshman and Wenzel is an unknown (but is expected to be a good shooter and has good size). This sort of highlights the interesting conundrum that Maldo presents. You have to have him on the floor for everything he does at both ends, but because he really struggles from the arc (and it's getting worse, not better) and Ike needs room to maneuver in the paint as well, the other 3 guys really need to be floor spacers. The way we dealt with that this past season was playing Maldo at the 4 with an additional shooting guard on the floor, but one alternate way is to play Maldo at the 3 but with a stretch 4 so that we won't be as undersized. Just hard to find that player.
Anyway, from my perspective if Linder feels pretty good above the development of Wenzel and Oden, then we need a ball handling guard.
I would expect that the staff will explore the transfer portal for that player, but I wonder if the timing is good to pick up a JUCO or High School player that might be a little bit under-recruited relative to their talent level due to extra year granted to current players due to COVID. I think there will be some pretty good JC players that won't get the offers they would in a normal year and I believe they will be positioned to get that extra year as well, so you might get a pretty good JC player for 3 years.
Will be interesting to see.
