Pack Man

[xtrawildcat]

mak had three fouls in the first half v. isu, weber pulled him. a couple minutes later mak runs up to check-in the game and sits on the floor. it was a surreal moment. never seen it happen before. weber's pulling him up trying to get him back to the bench. mak refused the pulls. very odd. and i thought at that moment, maybe mak is just light bulb off a full string.

anyway, regarding next season, it won't be like barry, dean, and kam's first because there's more talent around these incoming five if carti stays. but if they make the tournament, it will be a surprise to me. relying on pure freshmen to carry a team is fraught with danger and disappointment.

I think you are right. But should be lots of fun to watch. If you are totally hung up on wins to enjoy the game, might not be as much fun for you.

We have a bunch of new players I can't wait to watch.
Ezeagu- Started last 7 games for Utep. Now a year of red shirting. Has size and strength. How does his game work in the Big 12. Maybe provides some rim protection? Can he rebound equal to Mak?

Bradford - Legitimate 7 footer and big. Knows his way around the rim. Will have lots of work to do to become a big contributor but has upside potential.

A Gordon and Murphy. What will they do with another year of physical development. Can one or both be a consistent shot maker. Can both become even better rebounders.

D Gordon Showed his quickness on D in the last two games. Can he develop a consistent outside shot and get stronger to help his finishes at the rim. I expect to see a lot more from him next year.

Miguel. Looks like a strong physical guard with high level skills. Will he put it together as a freshmen.

Pack Has more skills than Sloan. Can he win the starting job and be the guy who runs the team. Maybe he splits that job with other guys like Miguel, Carti if back and Sloan.

Kabsuke Can he play defense and rebound at a level to get playing time. Can he make shots.

[Piedmontcat]

This year, and particularly our last few games, reminded me a something I used to talk about, but had kind of forgotten: To get over the hump, we've always needed a "special" player - Pullen, Rodney, Wes (at the end of his sr. year), Dean & Barry. We just don't trot out a whole team of above average B12 players every year who can win by each one doing what they do. We need a difference maker to be different from everyone else. We didn't have one this year, but when X stepped up and was special last week, what a difference! Next year will be more of the same. This year's 3 freshmen will be better and that will help, but I don't see one of them being ready to be "that guy" yet. Its asking too much of a freshman - Beasley and Foster kind of did it, but I wouldn't count on it again from one of our newcomers. So who of our upper classmen can do it? I like Mike and Sloan as role players and think they can be part of a winning team, but I don't see them filing the needed role. Stockard? - he's not the guy. That leaves Carti. He has the physical tools, does he have the will, the skill, and the intangibles to lead a team? Will he even hang around for his senior year? Can we get a grad transfer like Iowa State and Tech seem to get? I'm not hopeful for any of these scenarios.

My prediction is that we struggle to get to the tournament again next year because we will lack the person who can get us over the top. I think we will be better - Under Weber, a year, especially on the defensive end, makes a big difference and I think we will see better all around play from Sloan, the Gordons and Murphy. I think we will be better at playing D without fouling and not turning the ball over, thus not giving away as many easy points. But, when crunch times comes, or when some one needs to stop a run, who is going to do it? I see good things for the program in the near future. I talked with a former player who had practiced/scrimmaged/played pick-up, with this year's freshmen and his opinion was they were "future studs" and the "real deal". I assume he knows better than most what those guys are capable of - so I'm hopeful. But I just don't see it next year.

[learnin]

It comes down to this. Can we find 4 guys who can average double figures? Can next year's team shoot 40-45% from the field and over 70% from the line? If they do, then, they should have a successful season and a tournament birth. This year's team, IMHO, spent way too much time trying to squeeze points out of Carti, Sneed and Mak. This year's team did not demand more offense from D. Gordon, Mike McGuirl and Montavious. Early in the year, when Mike took a shot, and missed, he seldom put up another. Same with D. Gordon and Montavious. Yet, D. Gordon and Mike were our best shooters. If I read correctly, D. Gordon had one of the best shooting percentages of conference freshmen....he simply didn't shoot enough.

I don't think we'll be faced with this dilemma next year in that the newcomers are going to have the green light by necessity.

[pulitzerdave]

This year, and particularly our last few games, reminded me a something I used to talk about, but had kind of forgotten: To get over the hump, we've always needed a "special" player - Pullen, Rodney, Wes (at the end of his sr. year), Dean & Barry. We just don't trot out a whole team of above average B12 players every year who can win by each one doing what they do. We need a difference maker to be different from everyone else. We didn't have one this year, but when X stepped up and was special last week, what a difference! Next year will be more of the same. This year's 3 freshmen will be better and that will help, but I don't see one of them being ready to be "that guy" yet. Its asking too much of a freshman - Beasley and Foster kind of did it, but I wouldn't count on it again from one of our newcomers. So who of our upper classmen can do it? I like Mike and Sloan as role players and think they can be part of a winning team, but I don't see them filing the needed role. Stockard? - he's not the guy. That leaves Carti. He has the physical tools, does he have the will, the skill, and the intangibles to lead a team? Will he even hang around for his senior year? Can we get a grad transfer like Iowa State and Tech seem to get? I'm not hopeful for any of these scenarios.

My prediction is that we struggle to get to the tournament again next year because we will lack the person who can get us over the top. I think we will be better - Under Weber, a year, especially on the defensive end, makes a big difference and I think we will see better all around play from Sloan, the Gordons and Murphy. I think we will be better at playing D without fouling and not turning the ball over, thus not giving away as many easy points. But, when crunch times comes, or when some one needs to stop a run, who is going to do it? I see good things for the program in the near future. I talked with a former player who had practiced/scrimmaged/played pick-up, with this year's freshmen and his opinion was they were "future studs" and the "real deal". I assume he knows better than most what those guys are capable of - so I'm hopeful. But I just don't see it next year.

You are right learnin. SOMEBODY will score, otherwise we'll be averaging about 35-40 points per game. Shots will go up. Some will be made, some will be missed. We'll probably take about the same number of shots per game as we've been taking. But here's the deal. Who will make those shots when we really need them? Who will step up when we're in a scoring drought? Who will even WANT to take this on? This season we had no answer to any of these questions. I see two freshman next season averaging over 10 points per game ... perhaps even 12-14 ppg. It has to happen, if even by default. Because I don't see anyone else except Diarra on this current roster who we can really count on to do this - based on what we've seen. And if Diarra leaves, then it's almost a certainty that a couple of freshmen will have to shoulder much of the scoring load. Mostly because this incoming class is better than the freshman class we have now.

[Gorhoops]

This year, and particularly our last few games, reminded me a something I used to talk about, but had kind of forgotten: To get over the hump, we've always needed a "special" player - Pullen, Rodney, Wes (at the end of his sr. year), Dean & Barry. We just don't trot out a whole team of above average B12 players every year who can win by each one doing what they do. We need a difference maker to be different from everyone else. We didn't have one this year, but when X stepped up and was special last week, what a difference! Next year will be more of the same. This year's 3 freshmen will be better and that will help, but I don't see one of them being ready to be "that guy" yet. Its asking too much of a freshman - Beasley and Foster kind of did it, but I wouldn't count on it again from one of our newcomers. So who of our upper classmen can do it? I like Mike and Sloan as role players and think they can be part of a winning team, but I don't see them filing the needed role. Stockard? - he's not the guy. That leaves Carti. He has the physical tools, does he have the will, the skill, and the intangibles to lead a team? Will he even hang around for his senior year? Can we get a grad transfer like Iowa State and Tech seem to get? I'm not hopeful for any of these scenarios.

My prediction is that we struggle to get to the tournament again next year because we will lack the person who can get us over the top. I think we will be better - Under Weber, a year, especially on the defensive end, makes a big difference and I think we will see better all around play from Sloan, the Gordons and Murphy. I think we will be better at playing D without fouling and not turning the ball over, thus not giving away as many easy points. But, when crunch times comes, or when some one needs to stop a run, who is going to do it? I see good things for the program in the near future. I talked with a former player who had practiced/scrimmaged/played pick-up, with this year's freshmen and his opinion was they were "future studs" and the "real deal". I assume he knows better than most what those guys are capable of - so I'm hopeful. But I just don't see it next year.

You are right learnin. SOMEBODY will score, otherwise we'll be averaging about 35-40 points per game. Shots will go up. Some will be made, some will be missed. We'll probably take about the same number of shots per game as we've been taking. But here's the deal. Who will make those shots when we really need them? Who will step up when we're in a scoring drought? Who will even WANT to take this on? This season we had no answer to any of these questions. I see two freshman next season averaging over 10 points per game ... perhaps even 12-14 ppg. It has to happen, if even by default. Because I don't see anyone else except Diarra on this current roster who we can really count on to do this - based on what we've seen. And if Diarra leaves, then it's almost a certainty that a couple of freshmen will have to shoulder much of the scoring load. Mostly because this incoming class is better than the freshman class we have now.

dave your last sentence got me in interested in a silly hypothetical. What if the two classes played right now, today, March 11th, who would win. Now I have to cheat a bit because you said freshman class but we have to fill in guys to get 5 on 5, but if we had a team of Sloan, Gordon, Gordon, Murphy (its a hypothetical so he is healthy), and heck I will add Petrakis as their 5th. That's a weird mix because A Gordon will have to play the 3 in that group, but we'll go with it. The other team is Pack, Kasubke, Miquel, Bradford and Ezeagu, which would also be weird because I doubt Bradford and Ezeagu will play much together, but again, hypothetical.

Who wins that match-up today, if we just bring them in, go shirts and skins, and play??
Who wins that match-up on July 1st? Sept. 1st? etc.

Just kind of interesting to think about, at least for me when I don't have much else to think about KSU basketball related.

[Puffdad]

I'll take the new group because I think being able to score is involved!!

[xtrawildcat]

I would take the older group due to match ups. By the middle of next year I would take the new guys. But really, its the mix of the two groups that will be the best team.

[pulitzerdave]

You are right learnin. SOMEBODY will score, otherwise we'll be averaging about 35-40 points per game. Shots will go up. Some will be made, some will be missed. We'll probably take about the same number of shots per game as we've been taking. But here's the deal. Who will make those shots when we really need them? Who will step up when we're in a scoring drought? Who will even WANT to take this on? This season we had no answer to any of these questions. I see two freshman next season averaging over 10 points per game ... perhaps even 12-14 ppg. It has to happen, if even by default. Because I don't see anyone else except Diarra on this current roster who we can really count on to do this - based on what we've seen. And if Diarra leaves, then it's almost a certainty that a couple of freshmen will have to shoulder much of the scoring load. Mostly because this incoming class is better than the freshman class we have now.

dave your last sentence got me in interested in a silly hypothetical. What if the two classes played right now, today, March 11th, who would win. Now I have to cheat a bit because you said freshman class but we have to fill in guys to get 5 on 5, but if we had a team of Sloan, Gordon, Gordon, Murphy (its a hypothetical so he is healthy), and heck I will add Petrakis as their 5th. That's a weird mix because A Gordon will have to play the 3 in that group, but we'll go with it. The other team is Pack, Kasubke, Miquel, Bradford and Ezeagu, which would also be weird because I doubt Bradford and Ezeagu will play much together, but again, hypothetical.

Who wins that match-up today, if we just bring them in, go shirts and skins, and play??
Who wins that match-up on July 1st? Sept. 1st? etc.

Just kind of interesting to think about, at least for me when I don't have much else to think about KSU basketball related.

I'd pay to see that scrimmage. Maybe the best scenario would be for them to play a close game. Would that mean we've undervalued this freshman class, or overrvalued the one coming in? To settle it, I'd like to see a 3-game series.

[Gorhoops]

Actually, 4 on 4 might be better with Pack, Miquel, Kasubke and Bradford against Sloan, Gordon, Gordon and Murphy.

That might be a fun game to see.

[learnin]

It would be very interesting to see. For one thing, it would mean we get to see Gordon’s, McGuirl and Montavious putting up some shots on a consistent basis