Mills Announces 10-Day Greek Exhibition Tour

[BostonWu]

I don’t understand the enjoyment around Bell. Call me ignorant maybe, but I was *super* unimpressed with him during the season. Granted I didn’t watch as many games as I normally do due to being in the UK, but I had him pegged as a transfer, or hoped we would upgrade at the very least.

Am I wrong?

Granted he improved down the stretch but at one point in the season I made the comment that he might be the worst player on a bad team. I didn't feel that way at the end. I think he can be a serviceable role player.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

Even with the two open scholarships, I'm curious to know if anyone believes this year's roster is better than last? By my estimation this team is likely worse on paper (ignoring possible player development and coaching impact). I don't think the roster is bad per se, I just believe that a lot needs to go right for this team to have a shot at postseason play. There are many, many question marks.

WSU 2022-23 Roster

PG - Porter Jr., Scott, Flanagan (WO)

SG - Pierre, Bell

SF - Walton, Ricks

PF - Rojas, Okafor, Abidde

C - Pohto, Poor-Bear Chandler (WO), Ballard


WSU 2023-24 Roster

PG - Cortes, Ighovodja

SG - Rogers, Bell

SF - Beverly, Ricks

PF - Pohto, DeGray III (pending waiver), Abidde

C - Germany, Ballard

[Dan]

1 - likely downgrade, although Cortes is too early to judge. Porter was a much better PG than he was given credit for, possible NBA player.
2 - upgrade from Pierre to Rogers I think
3 - question mark, but Beverly has a huge upside. Both Beverly and Walton came in as question marks with possible high upside. I'd call it even in the long run.
4 - Upgrade over Rojas/Okafor. Okafor was supposed to be a stud and Rojas really came on to be a real dog, but I think we're better off this year.
5 - Upgrade, I think Germany will be really solid and we know Pohto will be in the mix as well. Hopefully Ballard can get healthy and start contributing.

[Stickboy46]

Even with the two open scholarships, I'm curious to know if anyone believes this year's roster is better than last? By my estimation this team is likely worse on paper (ignoring possible player development and coaching impact). I don't think the roster is bad per se, I just believe that a lot needs to go right for this team to have a shot at postseason play. There are many, many question marks.

WSU 2022-23 Roster

PG - Porter Jr., Scott, Flanagan (WO)

SG - Pierre, Bell

SF - Walton, Ricks

PF - Rojas, Okafor, Abidde

C - Pohto, Poor-Bear Chandler (WO), Ballard


WSU 2023-24 Roster

PG - Cortes, Ighovodja

SG - Rogers, Bell

SF - Beverly, Ricks

PF - Pohto, DeGray III (pending waiver), Abidde

C - Germany, Ballard

By position

PG - Massive downgrade. Going from a fringe NBA player, to two players with next to no D1 experience

SG - Potential for an upgrade if Rogers is as advertised.

SF - Walton was good, but Beverly might have a higher ceiling. Definitely will be better from a mental standpoint

PF - Downgrade if DeGray doesn't get a waiver, which is the most likely scenario. Rojas turned into a hell of a player by end of year.

C - Upgrade. Germany is probably a better overall CENTER than any player on the roster last year. Pohto is probably the higher ceiling player overall.

I think on paper its hard to argue we went up in talent. Obviously coaching will the be the largest potential upgrade. So we will see. We weren't close to the postseason this year .. so it needs to be a drastic coaching improvement or players to show us something they haven't shown at any point in their career for us to be in consideration. Having a massive unknown at the most critical position (PG) isn't going to help.

[Aargh]

1 - Downgrade. Potential for LARGE downgrade. I still think Bell is the likely backup at PG. Unless the guy from Africa turns out to be massively and incredibly better than expectations. An international Fr at PG for even minimal minutes seems like a formula for a significant disaster in a very short period of time.

2 - Upgrade

3 - Wash

4 - Upgrade if you look at the entire season. Rojas finished strong, but for the first half (or more) of the season, nobody wanted to see him on the floor. I think Pohto will have a more consistent season, although Pohto seems far behind on motor, energy, and tenacity.. I'm still hopeful for Abidde. Perhaps he can do better under a different system.

5 - Wash. Upgrade if Abidde can eat some minutes and Pohto can back Germany. Upgrade if DeGray can get a waiver (lol). Upgrade if Ballard is healthy and shows incredible progress. Poor Bear wasn't that bad as a backup Not that good either, but Ballard didn't show anything resembling an offensive game.

[AZ Shocker]

Besides Pohto and Bell...really a whole new roster here. A couple other guys returning but we didn't really get to see a lot of them last year. It'll be interesting to see it develop that's fer sure.

[asiseeit]

Right now KP is the lone player I feel really good about. My gut tells me Beverly will be good. Other than that the roster appears much weaker than last year. The walk ons could see some PT.

[WstateU]

Right now KP is the lone player I feel really good about. My gut tells me Beverly will be good. Other than that the roster appears much weaker than last year. The walk ons could see some PT.

You're not buying any Rogers stock?

[asiseeit]

Why would I ? I've heard he can shoot but like so many others that have been hyped he hasn't shown it an AAC game yet. Can he defend, take care of the ball, see the court, create and dish? Remains to be seen. KP is the only proven AAC talent so far. Thank goodness he returned. I have a hunch Thengvall could contribute. Looks like he added some weight and muscle. Also has shown he can shoot. Two scholarships left so maybe we will put them to good use. All in all I am not optimistic right now.

[pinstripers]

I would be pleasantly surprised if Ballard gives us 6 good minutes a game.

[shoxlax]

Trevor McBride is of now the #2 PG

[Dan]

I’m also expecting a better version of Abbide and Bell this year.

[AZ Shocker]

I have a hunch Thengvall could contribute. Looks like he added some weight and muscle. Also has shown he can shoot.

I had forgotten about this young man. Wouldn't it be sumthing if he wound up turning into our Evan Wessel type of "dude". Straight outta Wichita...playa.

[Aargh]

Trevor McBride is of now the #2 PG

A walkon who hasn't played a minute of college ball and was "Honorable mention" at the state level in class 5A? On paper, his being the backup at PG doesn't seem likely.

[Aargh]

3G and IB both emphasized D and spent early practices working on D - to the detriment of working on offense. I'm reminded of the SIU teams when SIU was good. They could D but they couldn't shoot at all.

Considering that players who transferred here could shoot before they got here and couldn't shoot when they were here; and that players who couldn't shoot when they were here, but could after they left - I've got to suspect that working so hard on D hurt their shootng. Pohto was a perimeter post and a 3-point shooter at Sunrise. He won the 3-point shooting contest early in his Fr year, but then lost the ability to hit from deep.

There's only so much practice time and if defense is the focal point, then offensive execution and shooting is going to suffer. Dexter Dennis' shooting stats seem to have gone down every year he was here. Then they went way up when he left - now he's getting NBA tryouts. . Midtgaard led D1 in shooting % after he left. Udeze's shooting went up after he left.

I think a coaching style change could improve the shooting of guys like Ricks and not effect guys like Rogers.

On another subject, Germany was the guy opponents keyed on at UTSA. He was their offense, so he got a lot of defensive attention. He's less likely to be the focus of defenses here. Even though he will be facing much better defenders in the AAC, opponents won't be able to throw everything at him. That could give him the potential to have similar numbers here that he had at UTSA.