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My evaluation of our current roster in regards to players who are slated to return next year. Feel free to chime in but please keep it limited to the players, on the court. This topic has nothing to do with how anyone feels about the coaches.
Point Guard
Hannah - Good but streaky shooter. Shows flashes of being a good point guard but struggles to understand his role from game to game. Slow to make adjustments. After 2.5 years of playing some form of college ball I can't help but think he lacks the bball IQ to be a consistently effective PG. He's servicable, but a stop-gap until Manigault takes over as a sophomore.
Shooting Guard
Murry - He has all the skills and confidence to become all-league. And he's just a freshman. Building-block for the future.
Chamberlain - He's not a PG. He's a shooter who can handle the ball in a pinch. If used that way he will be an effective backup to Murry.
Hatch - He may be 6'4", but he's not a Div-1 SF except when absolutely necessary. His effort can be a spark but if we're depending on that, we're in deep doo-doo.
Kyles - I don't really know where he fits. Not a good enough shooter to be a SG. Lacks the size, but has the athleticism to be a SF. Has the tools to develop into a nice combo player if, and that's a BIG if, he can demonstrate some bball IQ. I fear he will continually struggle in this area.
Small Forward
Hawkins - Another guy with all the tools but has no idea how to effectively use them. Seems like he should be a leader on the court but won't assert himself.
Power Forward
Ellis - SF mentality and build but with PF height. Foul and turnover prone, seems to lack confidence and bball IQ. I hate to say it but Ellis needs to either accept that at this level he's a role player or transfer to a smaller school to play against others with similar deficiencies.
Center
Durley - At his size he should be playing PF. But until EO or another center gets here, he's a center. He's frustrating because you can see him teetering on the edge of "getting it". He needs to be pushed until he does. When that happens, he could be an all-Valley player.
Stutz - His offensive skills haven't translated to D1 production as well as we hoped. His mind needs to catch up with the speed of the game. A little further behind defensively than I thought. Missing some fundamentals in this area but clearly has upside and is another building-block.
Position Analysis
PG - We're not as deep here as once thought. That one open scholarship (assuming EO comes) for next year's class may need to go to a PG.
SG - Solid for the next two years if Chamberlain is utilized properly.
SF - Thank goodness for Mr. Coy! If that one open scholly for the 2010 class doesn't go to a PG, it may need to be used to get a SF. Kyles/Hatch/Ellis will have to suffice for SF depth.
PF - We better hope Blair is the man. Otherwise, we may see Durley slide over to PF and our quality post depth will be poor. I'm not expecting that but I can't rule it out. If Blair can give us decent production here, Hamilton can get the time he needs to develop and we'll be set.
C - In the MVC you're either going to have a true center (6'9"+) who lacks skills or an undersized guy with center skills/athleticism. Next year may still be a work-in-progress, but I think we'll be fine after that, especially if EO arrives.
Next year
Now that we know what we have I'm not expecting a jump into the upper half of the Valley unless these things happen: Hawkins learns how to assert himself (or Coy is the real deal), Manigault brings tremendous bball IQ to the PG position, Blair gives us real production out of the PF spot, and either Durley turns the corner or Stutz makes great strides in the off-season.
In looking at the boxscores for the better games this season I've tried to find a trend for what makes this team successful on offense. Not surprising, we need to have inside-outside balance. If we are relying on our guards to do all the scoring we will fall short. In the Siena game we got 37 from Hannah/Murry, but also got 25 from Clemente/Durley/Ellis. Versus Michigan St. we got 19 from Hannah and 24 from Durley/Hawkins/Stutz. Against TexTech we got 24 from Hannah but very little post scoring. Hawkins' 18 was enough to have us in the game.
The missing piece, IMO, is consistent production from the SF position. That's what makes Hawkins (and now Coy) so crucial. Look how much better we were with Cooz there. Having him on the court made everyone else better. Defenders couldn't sag off, double-down or help. I'm hoping Coy can have the same effect.
Point Guard
Hannah - Good but streaky shooter. Shows flashes of being a good point guard but struggles to understand his role from game to game. Slow to make adjustments. After 2.5 years of playing some form of college ball I can't help but think he lacks the bball IQ to be a consistently effective PG. He's servicable, but a stop-gap until Manigault takes over as a sophomore.
Shooting Guard
Murry - He has all the skills and confidence to become all-league. And he's just a freshman. Building-block for the future.
Chamberlain - He's not a PG. He's a shooter who can handle the ball in a pinch. If used that way he will be an effective backup to Murry.
Hatch - He may be 6'4", but he's not a Div-1 SF except when absolutely necessary. His effort can be a spark but if we're depending on that, we're in deep doo-doo.
Kyles - I don't really know where he fits. Not a good enough shooter to be a SG. Lacks the size, but has the athleticism to be a SF. Has the tools to develop into a nice combo player if, and that's a BIG if, he can demonstrate some bball IQ. I fear he will continually struggle in this area.
Small Forward
Hawkins - Another guy with all the tools but has no idea how to effectively use them. Seems like he should be a leader on the court but won't assert himself.
Power Forward
Ellis - SF mentality and build but with PF height. Foul and turnover prone, seems to lack confidence and bball IQ. I hate to say it but Ellis needs to either accept that at this level he's a role player or transfer to a smaller school to play against others with similar deficiencies.
Center
Durley - At his size he should be playing PF. But until EO or another center gets here, he's a center. He's frustrating because you can see him teetering on the edge of "getting it". He needs to be pushed until he does. When that happens, he could be an all-Valley player.
Stutz - His offensive skills haven't translated to D1 production as well as we hoped. His mind needs to catch up with the speed of the game. A little further behind defensively than I thought. Missing some fundamentals in this area but clearly has upside and is another building-block.
Position Analysis
PG - We're not as deep here as once thought. That one open scholarship (assuming EO comes) for next year's class may need to go to a PG.
SG - Solid for the next two years if Chamberlain is utilized properly.
SF - Thank goodness for Mr. Coy! If that one open scholly for the 2010 class doesn't go to a PG, it may need to be used to get a SF. Kyles/Hatch/Ellis will have to suffice for SF depth.
PF - We better hope Blair is the man. Otherwise, we may see Durley slide over to PF and our quality post depth will be poor. I'm not expecting that but I can't rule it out. If Blair can give us decent production here, Hamilton can get the time he needs to develop and we'll be set.
C - In the MVC you're either going to have a true center (6'9"+) who lacks skills or an undersized guy with center skills/athleticism. Next year may still be a work-in-progress, but I think we'll be fine after that, especially if EO arrives.
Next year
Now that we know what we have I'm not expecting a jump into the upper half of the Valley unless these things happen: Hawkins learns how to assert himself (or Coy is the real deal), Manigault brings tremendous bball IQ to the PG position, Blair gives us real production out of the PF spot, and either Durley turns the corner or Stutz makes great strides in the off-season.
In looking at the boxscores for the better games this season I've tried to find a trend for what makes this team successful on offense. Not surprising, we need to have inside-outside balance. If we are relying on our guards to do all the scoring we will fall short. In the Siena game we got 37 from Hannah/Murry, but also got 25 from Clemente/Durley/Ellis. Versus Michigan St. we got 19 from Hannah and 24 from Durley/Hawkins/Stutz. Against TexTech we got 24 from Hannah but very little post scoring. Hawkins' 18 was enough to have us in the game.
The missing piece, IMO, is consistent production from the SF position. That's what makes Hawkins (and now Coy) so crucial. Look how much better we were with Cooz there. Having him on the court made everyone else better. Defenders couldn't sag off, double-down or help. I'm hoping Coy can have the same effect.
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