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Post by shooting the J on Oct 17, 2015 13:23:12 GMT -6
Phoenix Phrenzy tips off today at 5. Click here for details. Includes a dunk contest and scrimmage. I don't expect many people there today as the new marketing and sports information hires haven't seem to have started doing their jobs yet. This program already misses Andrew Gavin severely. With a number of new faces and an entirely new system being installed, could be an interesting day. The event was well ran the last 2 years, we'll see if the momentum the program had will continue.
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Post by shooting the J on Oct 18, 2015 8:27:49 GMT -6
The event was well attended. It ran at a quick pace. It had some awkward moments. Kevin Borseth kept referring to his gals as "the guys". Despite that, they're super deep and will dominate their competition. Should be the best team in the history of their program. The other awkward moment was when introduced, the men each walked out slowly. Not exactly the way to sell rp40.
Not having the concession stand open like years past was a missed opportunity.
The men's dunk contest fizzled. Lowe tried a nearly impossible dunk, Kanter seemed too shy to show off, and Cooper just didn't show much lift. Hurdle can get up and is a real athlete.
The men showed off their transition offense. Everyone knew where to be and how to move the ball quickly and crisply. It's all about post ups and 3s. They'll chuck a ton of 3's in transition. The half court offense is lacking, and the defense was fundamentally poor.
After a lot of speculation in the offseason about Fouse playing the 4, that idea can be put to bed. It's good that they're not going to minimize his strengths, and he really shot the 3 well too. Look for a monster season from Fouse.
Love, Small, and Lowe stand out as the other 3 starters. Small is going to jack up a lot of shots. The final starting spot will be between Hurdle and Kanter. They'd be a nice player if we could combine the 2.
Very little depth. Anthony Brown could be a real nice player in time, but he's way too weak for now, although he'll be the backup PG. The coaching change hasn't unlocked anything new in Findlay or Botz. Cooper lacks touch. Walter Jones will be a very nice addition next year if he's able and willing to stay in the program.
The programs biggest ongoing problem for the past 20 years looks like it will continue. The strength program is non-existent. The team has been bullied in conference tourney and post season losses forever, and any change there doesn't look to be on the Horizon. Uwadiae looks like the only player to have bulked up. Small is still huge, so that helps.
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Post by thetulsawarrior on Oct 18, 2015 15:58:32 GMT -6
Not to be a Kool-Aid drinker but it's hard to believe Cooper is the bust you suggest. It's about seven months since Darner was hired. This season all we can fairly expect are glimpses of what he is capable of building.
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Post by shooting the J on Oct 18, 2015 16:23:03 GMT -6
Not to be a Kool-Aid drinker but it's hard to believe Cooper is the bust you suggest. It's about seven months since Darner was hired. This season all we can fairly expect are glimpses of what he is capable of building. I'm not sure what you think I'm suggesting or what your expectations for Cooper were, but he's about what you'd expect from a player with his stat line at a D2 juco. He was lightly recruited and available for a reason. He'll be able to bull his way to the basket some, but he isn't a shooter, and isn't real fundamental. Likely the 1st backup wing.
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Oct 18, 2015 21:23:00 GMT -6
I agree with J the dunk contest was a fizzle. Hurdle does look effortless dunking the ball.
I would say the guys seemed to play hard and have active defensive hands even if they didn't have a great defense.
If that is how Jordan Fouse plays all year then he will be a contender for the HL POY. His 2 three pointers looked smooth and he just did a little bit of everything to help his team to an easy win. Love was crafty and did some scoring, he looked about how I would have expected.
Small was good, he made a three and was at the rim a few times. I agree he is a starter at this time.
Hurdle, Kanter and Lowe really didn't do anything that stood out. I would agree with J, two of these three will start. I was hoping for more from Hurdle and I don't have a good read on the other two.
Cooper looks super athletic on some plays and less so on others. I was expecting to be more impressed by him but he looks like a rotation player who probably goes in streaks of hot and cold.
Tevin may get minutes as a backup PG, he looked confident but he just may not be very good. The same could be said for Botz.
I was actually impressed with Hendo. He made a strong and coordinated post move on Jesperson which he was fouled on. He converted his free throw. He was mixing it up in the paint without fouling too much and he is a giant muscle. I don't expect much but with his size he is a wild card.
The Brown twins are interesting. They are skinny for sure. The one with the longer hair (Avery?) stood out more to me. He made some jumpers and had some hops. The other looked decent with the ball. I see the kid with the longer hair playing in the guard rotation now and the other battling Tevin for the backup PG spot.
Jones was in playground mode on some of his shots but he was able to take a make a few difficult shots. Given the concern about offense for this program I can see why he is here, there is no doubt he will get some points on the board.
Jesperson was probably the least impressive player, a red shirt transfer year is a good thing to hopefully improve his impact potential.
My wild guess on the starting lineup Love Small Fouse Kanter Lowe
Bench Findlay Avery Brown Cooper Hurdle
Play as needed Anthony Brown Botz Hendo
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Post by gbbrl97 on Oct 19, 2015 7:13:24 GMT -6
The programs biggest ongoing problem for the past 20 years looks like it will continue. The strength program is non-existent. The team has been bullied in conference tourney and post season losses forever, and any change there doesn't look to be on the Horizon. Uwadiae looks like the only player to have bulked up. Small is still huge, so that helps. My question is this.....Does GB athletics have a full-time Strength and Conditioning guru, or are we taking about one that is dedicated for Men's Basketball (I would even be willing to see GB hire one person for BOTH Men's and Women's BB, provided GB has the budget for one.....period)? Remember seeing the DB teams, they were smart, tough, and more athletic than people gave them credit for, but when they got to the NCAA's, if the matchup wasn't favorable enough, they would get pushed around a lot due to lack of size and strength, since tourney refs aren't as going to be as touchy as HL refs are on their calls. I remember 3 NCAA tourney games where GB got pushed out of the way: 1. 1994 2nd round tourney game versus Syracuse - They were not a tall, long team versus typical Jim Boeheim coached teams, but they had a lot of wide bodies up and down the roster (even some of their guards). GB had the shooters to beat that 2-3 zone, but they were often held to one shot since they did not have any wide bodies of their own (other than Jeff Zavada) to grab a rebound or two. 2. 1995 1st round game versus Purdue - If you don't have any wide bodies to match up against those classic Gene Keady coached teams, you will get worn down.....GB did all it could to put itself in a position to win that one (despite the severe lack of depth), but that team was unreal from 3-pt range. However, if they did not hit the 3, they were run out of the gym since they had NO size or strength whatsoever. I remember conference games that season against the long-armed athletes of UIC and the bulk of Xavier (who was in their last year of the HL), and they blew out GB. If you recall, both Xavier and UIC were upset in the conference tourney (at WSU) and we ended up playing against the home team who had one big Ukranian guy (Potapenko) who couldn't move well and a lot of D2 caliber perimeter players who could not defend GB shooters. If they would have drawn UIC or Xavier at some point it would have been the same result as the games before. 3. 1996 - 1st round NCAA game versus Va. Tech. A senior laden team should have had a little better performance than this one, but although Va Teach had once good wing player (Ace Custis) the rest of their lineup was not impressive offensively, but like Syracuse, they had a lot of wide bodies and GB was left with one-shot possessions. Although GB's roster had more height, they were young. I recall Mike Nabena (the only guy who could defend widebody) was slated to start, but injured his knee in the lead up to the game, and Matt Hill, despite being 6'11", was barely 200# as a freshman and was easily tossed aside. I also recall that season, in the conference tourney that UDM upset GB in the semis and the same was true as GB struggled from 3, couldn't get second chance points as they did not have any wide bodies to get a rebound, and lost close. Although BW's teams were more athletic, as they were near the top of the HL in rebounding, we still did not have much size and muscle and did get pushed aside by certain teams....aside from the lack of shooters the past few seasons. I know the DB teams did not have the Kress to recruit to, so we can lean on the lack of facilities argument, but the last time I was at the Kress, it is NICE versus what GB used to work with, so what's the problem here? We all know that GB isn't going to get a stocked roster of 4-star players, or even 3-star players.....We've been lucky the past few seasons that GB got Alec Brown and got a verbal from Joel Oakfor (before BW went to Bradley and followed him) who were 3-star guys, but weight room work should not be underestimated in turning an average player to good, or good to great. If GB can't get a bunch of 6'10"+ guys to come to GB, they sure as heck can get guys who are 6'6"-6'8" and put them in the weight room and make themselves into wide bodies up front. It doesn't hurt to have a little more muscle on those skinny 6'1"-6'2", 160-170# guards so they won't get pushed out of the lane when they are driving to the basket.
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Post by thetulsawarrior on Oct 19, 2015 8:20:01 GMT -6
To clarify -- I'm halfway across the country these days and have no first hand knowledge. My hope was that Cooper would be an impact player for the Nix. Like I said I have been known to drink Kool Aid or perhaps at this age I remain too much of an optimist. I thought the addition of the Kress Center would solve weight training concern. When Kowalcyzk came in the weight training issue was one of the first thing he commented on. It seems with the Packers in town there would be someone associated with the team who might be able to give pointers to GB.
Kanter, Uwadiae, Lowe, Cooper and Small are carrying some beef. What is their ceiling?
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Post by gbbrl97 on Oct 19, 2015 9:47:18 GMT -6
Or hire one of the assistant S&C gurus from the Packers and bring them in as a S&C Director for Mens and Womens BB (as GB has a small budget, I'll aim low and have one person for BOTH programs, but if they travel with the team to road games, then we will need to open up the wallet and hire one for each program)......
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Post by thetulsawarrior on Oct 20, 2015 18:20:10 GMT -6
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Post by FSCMocFan on Oct 20, 2015 19:39:28 GMT -6
I've got my fingers crossed on this player. If he has the goods he's going to flourish. I sincerely hope he does!
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