Offseason Thread: 2015 Edition

[Aargh]

I always approach Fr and transfers as "show me something before I believe". Sometimes I've been known to believe before I've seen.

Last time I believed before I actually saw it on a WSU team was Baker and FVV's Fr year. I had seen FVV against every top PG in the nation in AAU ball. He owned every one of them. The reports on Baker convinced me.

Here's my current take on a few key newcomers and underclss returners

Grady - Somewhere between Carter and Early - closer to Carter.
Kelly - Was sped up on O last year. Worked on that. Potential for major breakout year.
Brown - Stud! PG for Linsted in an O similar to WSU's. Won't make us forget Baker. Won't let us EVER forget him.
McDuffie - Appears REALLY strong for his weight. Demonstrated work ethic by his cut physique. NBA after 3 or 4 years.
Shamet - Will get the minutes to have a 3-year run on ESPN SCT10.

Frankamp - Either 1) struggled with his shooting at KU while attempting to convert from SG to PG, 2) struggled with his shot playing against college competition, 3) struggled with his shot with irregular use. If he's going to be used as a SG (Marshall: "Baker is going to have a much easier year"), can he defend taller SG's?

Taylor - As I recall, early reports were that he was a PG. Then, did he get used as a SG on an AAU team and got evaluated that way? Then, someone from the KC area who watched him reported we got a steal with the best PG that guy had seen in the KC area in a long, long time. Marshall indicating Frankamp will be spelling Baker seems to indicate that he might use Taylor at PG as a Fr. Can't quite put all the pieces together yet, but Marshall always wants 3 PG's on the roster. If Taylor, as a Fr isthe guy behind Baker and VanVleet,, we might have what the KC fan told us we were getting.

[wusphlash]

We used to wonder which of our freshmen players would develop into D1 players. Now we simply wonder which ones will develop the fastest and fit Gregg's system.

[MTXE31]

I always approach Fr and transfers as "show me something before I believe". Sometimes I've been known to believe before I've seen.

Last time I believed before I actually saw it on a WSU team was Baker and FVV's Fr year. I had seen FVV against every top PG in the nation in AAU ball. He owned every one of them. The reports on Baker convinced me.

Here's my current take on a few key newcomers and underclss returners

Grady - Somewhere between Carter and Early - closer to Carter.
Kelly - Was sped up on O last year. Worked on that. Potential for major breakout year.
Brown - Stud! PG for Linsted in an O similar to WSU's. Won't make us forget Baker. Won't let us EVER forget him.
McDuffie - Appears REALLY strong for his weight. Demonstrated work ethic by his cut physique. NBA after 3 or 4 years.
Shamet - Will get the minutes to have a 3-year run on ESPN SCT10.

Frankamp - Either 1) struggled with his shooting at KU while attempting to convert from SG to PG, 2) struggled with his shot playing against college competition, 3) struggled with his shot with irregular use. If he's going to be used as a SG (Marshall: "Baker is going to have a much easier year"), can he defend taller SG's?

Taylor - As I recall, early reports were that he was a PG. Then, did he get used as a SG on an AAU team and got evaluated that way? Then, someone from the KC area who watched him reported we got a steal with the best PG that guy had seen in the KC area in a long, long time. Marshall indicating Frankamp will be spelling Baker seems to indicate that he might use Taylor at PG as a Fr. Can't quite put all the pieces together yet, but Marshall always wants 3 PG's on the roster. If Taylor, as a Fr isthe guy behind Baker and VanVleet,, we might have what the KC fan told us we were getting.

I feel like there's going to be games were Conner starts in MVC play and Zach Brown might come off the bench, or vice versa. Then come tournament time (and hopefully both are more than ready by then) the best thing for the team would be if the 6'7 Zach Brown started at that 3rd guard position. His height would obviously give fits to anyone trying to score on him and as we all had seen in bits and pieces is that Brown is also an athletic scorer/finisher.
Frankamp's best impact on the team this season , at least as far as an NCAA tournament is concerned, is probably to be the 6th man. He could come in for Fred or Ron if they need rest or are in foul trouble. He could come in for Brown if the team needs an elite outside threat (which is what Conner's specialty is after all). He can play along side all these players and be the first man up in place for them. I feel like he got a good grasp by the end of his run at KU of how to run the point since they had him bringing the ball up to keep turnovers down.
I don't know that either Brown or Frankamp is ready to average 30 minutes every game so it's likely that both will play 22-27 a game this season

[shoxilla]

So, how many SHOX on MVC first team?
2,3,4,5,6,7 ????

[Dave Stalwart]

So, how many SHOX on MVC first team?
2,3,4,5,6,7 ????

It will be like the good old days when the team was so deep that all the minutes were shared and stat averages didn't jump off the page so no one makes the first team... But the team is destroying everyone.

[wufan]

This is the off season discussion I like! Shreds of evidence expounded upon in hyperbole! I absolutely LOVE the potential of our underclassmen. I think we will run 10 or 11 guys out there every game with Fred and Ron leading the pack with 30 mpg +\- 5. Conner is my main guard off the bench come conference play. Hopefully Zach and Evan play the 3 and not the 4, but that leaves little time for Markis. Hopefully Grady plays the 4 and not the 5. Odd men out in the rotation are probably Hamilton, Nurger, and either Taylor or Shamet.

[Dan]

With the level of play in our conference, I'm hoping for plenty of opportunities to let the young guys play and for Fred, Ron and Evan to rest.

[ShockdaWorld]

With the level of play in our conference, I'm hoping for plenty of opportunities to let the young guys play and for Fred, Ron and Evan to rest.

I'm hoping Anton gets some rest too. I'm not "worried" about his knees as well as he's played since the last surgery, but a bit of extra rest can't hurt. Also, while I don't think there will be one team that is as close to the Shockers as UNI was last year, I think the Valley overall could be trending upward with two or three teams competing for that second place spot and a possible at-large bid. Several teams have really good non-conference opportunities to greatly improve the MVC RPI.

[60Shock]

It is going to be exciting to see how all this plays out, but anyway you cut it, our bench is going to allow FVV and Baker to get a lot more game rest that they rarely got last year.

[_kai_]

Frankamp - Either 1) struggled with his shooting at KU while attempting to convert from SG to PG, 2) struggled with his shot playing against college competition, 3) struggled with his shot with irregular use. If he's going to be used as a SG (Marshall: "Baker is going to have a much easier year"), can he defend taller SG's?

I prefer option 4) He signed to play at a university during the summer between his Sophomore and Junior years of highschool and then in the very late portion of his senior season in Highschool, the greatest basketball prospect since Lebron James reclassified to the previous recruiting class, and subsequently signed with Kansas. After riding the bench behind the #1 overall draft pick, he realizes he signed with a university that has a premium on one and done's and the writing was on the wall for his potential battle every single season with a new one and done coming in.

Or I guess you could say the kid who is one of the best pure shooters this city has ever seen all of a sudden developed a shooting problem. Yeah, that is definitely Frankamp's problem.

[Dave Stalwart]

I prefer option 4) He signed to play at a university during the summer between his Sophomore and Junior years of highschool and then in the very late portion of his senior season in Highschool, the greatest basketball prospect since Lebron James reclassified to the previous recruiting class, and subsequently signed with Kansas. After riding the bench behind the #1 overall draft pick, he realizes he signed with a university that has a premium on one and done's and the writing was on the wall for his potential battle every single season with a new one and done coming in.

Or I guess you could say the kid who is one of the best pure shooters this city has ever seen all of a sudden developed a shooting problem. Yeah, that is definitely Frankamp's problem.

Just by being who they are, KU took a kid who loved them his whole life and even earned a spot on the roster (a dream come true), and turned him into someone who gave up on them and transferred because in real life they weren't at all what he thought they were.

I just want to make it sound as horrible as possible because it's fun.

And I can't wait till he starts doing damage on the court because it will prove that HE wasn't the problem.

[ShockdaWorld]

I prefer option 4) He signed to play at a university during the summer between his Sophomore and Junior years of highschool and then in the very late portion of his senior season in Highschool, the greatest basketball prospect since Lebron James reclassified to the previous recruiting class, and subsequently signed with Kansas. After riding the bench behind the #1 overall draft pick, he realizes he signed with a university that has a premium on one and done's and the writing was on the wall for his potential battle every single season with a new one and done coming in.

Or I guess you could say the kid who is one of the best pure shooters this city has ever seen all of a sudden developed a shooting problem. Yeah, that is definitely Frankamp's problem.

Were you,or any of the other ShockerNetters for that matter able to attend any of Frankamp's games as a high schooler? I've only seen him play on highlight videos and the little bit of time he got at KU during the tourney. The highlight videos make him look incredible,and it's obvious the kid had unlimited range. I'm just wondering how surprising it was to see him actually miss a shot. Was it something that was assumed pretty much every time he shot the ball, it was probably going in?

[_kai_]

Were you,or any of the other ShockerNetters for that matter able to attend any of Frankamp's games as a high schooler? I've only seen him play on highlight videos and the little bit of time he got at KU during the tourney. The highlight videos make him look incredible,and it's obvious the kid had unlimited range. I'm just wondering how surprising it was to see him actually miss a shot. Was it something that was assumed pretty much every time he shot the ball, it was probably going in?

I saw him torch the nets once playing Heights.

He shot 51% from 3 his Junior year and 49% from 3 his Senior year. And he was prolific on attempts, so that puts things into perspective. He shot 93 of 189 from deep his senior year.

[Dave Stalwart]

I saw him torch the nets once playing Heights.

He shot 51% from 3 his Junior year and 49% from 3 his Senior year. And he was prolific on attempts, so that puts things into perspective. He shot 93 of 189 from deep his senior year.

It's going to get ugly this year for other teams. There is nothing more back breaking than having line 2 come into the game and shred you from 3 when you were already down by 15 points because of what line 1 did to your starters.

[im4wsu]

I don't know how many screens we would have to run him through to get his shot, but that could be a very good last 10 seconds play. He can come off a pick a la Dougie McD