Ah, what the hell

[unl]

23 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

A year ago, while we were all gushing about the job Hoiberg had done in bringing in, what, 11? recruits in 30 days around April-May, this pundit guy on Twitter was panning him. I kind of challenged the guy at the time because it seemed pretty impressive work to me for Hoiberg to completely fill a roster with what seemed to be a decent mix of players in a very short period of time. And the guy's response, which I couldn't really argue with, was yeah but there are no stars in that group.

 

A 7-win season later, and I'm looking at the roster for next year asking myself, ok, where are the stars?  Are there dudes in that group who are better than the players they'll face on other teams? Do we have any position advantages compared to teams in the top half of the conference?

 

How much better is Year 2 really likely to be compared with Year 1?

 

I think we'll be better. I think we'll be a lot better. But we were so bad this last year that we could improve a ton and still not be very good. So, do we have stars in this group? Do we have enough firepower to compete in this league?

 

I honestly don't know and, until I see them play some games, I'm going to withhold judgment.

 

The thing I've thought about is, we brought in talent last year and it failed partly because they didn't know each other. That was the narrative. Does that change this year because the players are different? Because Fred's had a year to work on this as opposed to putting together a roster at the last second?

 

I'm not asking to be cynical. I'm asking because we're probably going to have 8 new bodies out there again this year, and this team doesn't have the overseas trip to learn about each other, and they can't even play together if they wanted to.

[REDitus]

I get what you are saying but I think the new body narrative has changed at least some because at this particular time they have 7 returning players.  Yes some were sitting out but Banton,Stevenson and Walker played a lot of ball together on scout and with the other returners when they didn't have to run scout.   Thor,Yvan,Cross all got significant time in the rotation.  Arop also returns and was mixed in scout with a splash of playing time.   We are adding 5 players maybe 6.   So I wouldn't necessarily say they will have 8 'new' bodies if you consider experience in practice with the new system and teammates.    So I am saying at most you could have 6 but right now it's 5.  Guess it just depends on how you look at it.  Practice is not game experience but it's not 'new' stage either.   Just my humble opinion.    It's a good question.   

Edited April 19, 2020 by REDitus

[jayschool]

2 hours ago, unl said:

 

The thing I've thought about is, we brought in talent last year and it failed partly because they didn't know each other. That was the narrative. Does that change this year because the players are different? Because Fred's had a year to work on this as opposed to putting together a roster at the last second?

 

I'm not asking to be cynical. I'm asking because we're probably going to have 8 new bodies out there again this year, and this team doesn't have the overseas trip to learn about each other, and they can't even play together if they wanted to.

Yes, they'll need to learn to play together, and it might be January before they gel, but experience for this year's club is much greater than last year's. And without Mack in Italy, the team wasn't playing with the PG it would have for most of the year, so the Italy experience was bonding off the court maybe more than on the court.

2019-2020 Years Power Six experience = 4

Years in Hoiberg's system = 0

Mack = 0 

Burke = 0

Green = 0

Cheatham = 2

Thor = 2

Kavas = 0

Cross = 0

Yvan =0

Easley = 0

Arop = 0

Curtis = 0

 

2020-2021 Years Power Six experience = 16

Years in Hoiberg's system (includes redshirts) = 7

Webster = 0

King = 2.5

Allen = 1

Mayen = 1

Banton = 0

Stevenson = 1.5

Walker = 2

Yvan = 1

Cross = 1

Thor = 3

McGowan = 2

Arop = 1

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by jayschool