2022-23 Expectations for Shocker Basketball – “Fall-time Edition”

[Stickboy46]

So, what I took away from Taylor's article.

Xavier Bell - Had ok stats for an eh Drexel team. Should be consistent at what he is, but don't expect anything special. Solid bench piece.

Jalen Ricks - If he can defend, he should be able to stretch defenses as our best outside shooter. Could be a solid bench player to potential starter depending on his D.

Craig Porter - The most important piece of this team.

Colby Rogers - If eligible, could be a good starter or very good bench player depending on his defensive effort.

Jaron Pierre - Eh stats for a bad team. Has the shot discipline of last years Etienne without the history to back it up. But he's hard for defenses to stay in front. If he learns discipline, could be a solid get. If not, he could be the most hated player on the team by fans who get fed up with selfish play, especially when it's unproductive.

Jaykwon Walton - Possibly the most promising new guy that could be a game changer if he makes a quick adjustment from JUCO to D1. Should be a starter.

Kenny Pohto - Bulked up and working on his shot and post moves. Will finally get the PT he deserves and should be a solid and valuable starter.

Melvion Flanagan - Great walk-on. Possible emergency guard that may not kill a team.

Trevor McBride - Simple walk-on.

Quincy Ballard - All about potential. Has done nothing at the D1 level, but is uber athletic for a big guy. Should be a defensive presence when on the court. Anything offensively is a surprise.

Henry Thengvall - Simple walk-on that busts his ass.

Shammah Scott - OK stats as a backup PG on one of the best JUCOs in the country. Banking on him learning under Porter and being a solid part time player this year. Promising.

Gus Okafor - Undersized PF who plays hard at all times. Should be a fan favorite and probable starter. Seems to be solid at most everything, but not spectacular.

Isaac Abidde - Best athlete. Lots of potential. Unknown.

James Rojas - Very undersized center with nothing spectacular in his time on an OK Bama team. Hopefully a solid bench player

Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler - Walk-on. Effort has always been a question. But he gives a big practice squad body.


Time will tell how this all shakes out. I'm not expecting much. A lot of new guys and most were just OK at their previous stops.

Projected Starters by me:

PG - Porter
SG - Rogers (if eligible)/Ricks
SF - Walton
PF - Okafor
C - Pohto

I will say that the starters above wouldn't be horrible. It really depends on how Porter handles being a bigger focus of opposing teams and how the new guys adjust to D1 or a higher level. Lots of questions at SG too. Good potential there, but not a lot in the way of guarantees.

The bench has a lot of questions. Some possible potential, but there are a lot of guys who haven't really done a lot and mostly at lower levels. Sometimes a change of scenery works or a change in styles. I'm still not high on the leadership of the coaching staff right now so I'm not sure that's a good thing. If we had a proven coach who I felt could definitely get more out of people, maybe I'd feel better about this group, but IB hasn't done much to instill confidence.

Rogers' waiver is not going well and I would not expect him to be eligible this year.

[SubGod22]

I'm not expecting it either, but wanted to cover all angles as I do feel he's probably the best option at that spot, at least early on and if he could play. I thought about maybe squeezing Bell in there as the solid but not outstanding option. Though if he is that, I kind of think that may be more valuable coming off of the bench with a few more unknown types and allowing a guy like Ricks to excel and mix things up early in a game.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Rogers' waiver is not going well and I would not expect him to be eligible this year.

[Ashockalypse]

Meanwhile the cheating northerners’ case won’t be decided for another year…again. What is the NCAA?

[shoxlax]

Everybody in the history of college basketball gets their waivers approved except Teddy Allen and Colby Rogers.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

You would think with our coach being such a nice guy that he would be able to get these accomplished. At least that was the excuse before was that the NCAA didn't like Gregg.

[Kung Wu]

Everybody in the history of college basketball gets theirs waivers approved except Teddy Allen and Colby Rogers.

Do we use an attorney for this?

[Stickboy46]

It appears there is literally only one factor in deciding if they approve it. Not sure why we spend a bunch of time on them if it can be stopped by that.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

It appears there is literally only one factor in deciding if they approve it. Not sure why we spend a bunch of time on them if it can be stopped by that.

Is the factor whether or not the previous coach is feeling spiteful?

[WuShock16]

Is the factor whether or not the previous coach is feeling spiteful?

For all the crap 3G got, he was really an upstanding guy in these situations. He could have bitched to high heaven about Alex Lomax backing out (and I still think there were some shenanigans happening in Memphis to sway Alex), but he didn't. When Ricky Torres left and went to Illinois State, it was reported/rumored that WSU/Gregg went out of their way to help Illinois State get Ricky eligible...and it's not like Gregg and Dirty Dan exchange Christmas cards.

[ShoxFan7]

If we are going to compete in the NIL world that is colligate sports today then my minimal expectations for every year going forward are very simple. Top 4 in conference, in the convo for an at large bid going into the conference tourney should be the standard. Anything less than I expect actions to be taken. The action doesn’t have to firings because firing any coach that doesn’t meet those expectations any given year would be absurd because there can be mediated circumstances, like the ‘18-19 team for example - established coach tons of new faces but progress was undeniable, action could rally the alumni base to step up the recruitment budget, assist salary pool, or a potential upgrade in facilities or amities help keep players (short or long term). Help remove any barriers to your teams success and not achieving the standard.

This year’s big white elephant in room is overall lack of confidence that the right man is leading our team.

If he doesn’t reach this standard than my expectations move to Saal which I have much more confidence in than “I just work here” Boatright to do what is necessary to achieve this standard.

Just win! No excuses, no “yeah, buts.” This the way of college sports either embrace it or drop out of major colligate sports because putting up the illusion of trying is actually harder than actually trying.

[shocker43]

If we are going to compete in the NIL world that is colligate sports today then my minimal expectations for every year going forward are very simple. Top 4 in conference, in the convo for an at large bid going into the conference tourney should be the standard. Anything less than I expect actions to be taken. The action doesn’t have to firings because firing any coach that doesn’t meet those expectations any given year would be absurd because there can be mediated circumstances, like the ‘18-19 team for example - established coach tons of new faces but progress was undeniable, action could rally the alumni base to step up the recruitment budget, assist salary pool, or a potential upgrade in facilities or amities help keep players (short or long term). Help remove any barriers to your teams success and not achieving the standard.

This year’s big white elephant in room is overall lack of confidence that the right man is leading our team.

If he doesn’t reach this standard than my expectations move to Saal which I have much more confidence in than “I just work here” Boatright to do what is necessary to achieve this standard.

Just win! No excuses, no “yeah, buts.” This the way of college sports either embrace it or drop out of major colligate sports because putting up the illusion of trying is actually harder than actually trying.

One of my concerns with the trajectory of the program is that we seem to have a bunch of assistant coaches that can recruit, but I'm not sure if we have an assistant coach that we can trust to take on a scout and game plan. I remember during Marshall era he would often give props to our assistants (including IB) for their game plans. I'm not sure who we have to do that now. I know our assistants don't get paid well compared to P5 schools, but that should be a priority moving forward.