Don’t get me wrong, I still think and hope we’ll beat the shit out of Nevada, but I’m being patient.

Seriously though uguak doesn’t seem athletic to me at all other than being tall and being able to jump somewhat high. To me that doesn’t equate to athleticism. Also his vertical doesn’t seem very impressive for his height and “athletic” hype I’ve been hearing about. The multiple failed dunks.... that doesn’t occur when you’re genetically athletic and 6’7”. Just saying guys, who started throwing this term around? The kid hasn’t grown into his body yet, he looks awkward all of the time. I can see the potential for this hype but it’s definitely not here now. Im done throwing hate on him, I’m just tired of the unearned praise and I don’t think it should be ignored.

I think the kid has serious potential, but still has some sharpening to do in terms of his potential. We shouldn’t forget that he’s a sophomore in terms of eligibility.

At this point with uguak and all of the other new guys It really seems to come down to confidence. I see the potential in all of them, that’s why I’m hoping this all gets worked out in the beginning of the season. They just don’t look comfortable now and I think it can only go up from here. Yeah it might take some time and it might not be pretty but I’ve got hope in them and the final four stigma and expectations should be washed away somewhat now. I’m hoping that helps them relax and realize it’s not expected out of them.

Good lord. The players and coaches called him athletic. Carson shanks on Twitter and Ben Richardson on the blers madness podcast, Moser and Custer talked about him in countless interviews; one where moser said we haven’t had an athlete like him before. Aka the people who practice him for an entire season. Some of the skills may be raw but anyone doubting his speed/jumping ability/length etc are crazy and clearly blinded by their expectations not being met.

His finish at the rim through contact tonight wasn’t a clean dunk but it took an insane amount of body control. His dunk through contact against Niagra was a dunk no one on our team would have been able to make (maybe Avery could have). But if y’all want a player who subtweets the team and throws fits/eggs on young players to complain on the bench like some perceived from Avery last year then be my guest. I’ll take the young kid working to find his niche on a team with absurd expectations who doesn’t pout anytime something doesn’t go his way.

Ditto!!!!

Thank you! Exactly how I’ve been feeling. He hasn’t been great yet but you can’t deny his gifts. Also liked what another poster said, Moser is known for yanking people for mistakes. He doesn’t do that with Aher, he trusts him, and if Moser does that’s good enough for me.

My comment about preferring to have Avery still was more about being frusterated that in Clay & Townes senior seasons 40% of the rotation is 1st year players for us. I think all the freshmen will be good one day. But it is sad that we may not capitalize on having those two for one last season. I understand the season is long and that the guys will develop. I dont think the worlds ending. But i also don't think we have enough, at the moment, to make is to Valley tournament final.

I've seen a few people mention defense as an issue, but that is by far our stronger end right now. Our rebounding has been phenomenal--we are 3rd in the country in defensive rebounding % per Kenpom. We are doing a good job keeping teams off the free throw line. Yes, there are occasions where the other team gets an easy basket, but in general they are few and far between. Quite honestly, I don't have a lot of concerns about our defense. It will get stronger as the new players integrate.

Offense is another story. We are passing up good shots, but not getting great shots in return. That is our signature when we are going well. Right now, somebody who doesn't have confidence in his shot passes up an open look, and we end up in scramble mode. Other than gaining the confidence to take and make open shots, I think the biggest improvement we can make is what someone said recently in this thread: Krutwig has to get strong position inside and demand the ball.

In the second half last night there was an instance where Kaifes came in and on one play hit a three, and then found Krutwig inside for a bucket. Frankly on that play, Krutwig wasn't any more or less open than he normally is, but Kaifes got him the ball. Townes finally made a three when the ball went inside out: Krutwig drew the defense and found Townes open. We need more inside play to get easier shots. By the way, we are 7th in the country in 2-point percentage. We are struggling to find those shots against teams that are on the longer/bigger side.

P.S. How good has Lucas been this year? We would have lost the Richmond game without him, and he held Bowman in check last night and still found a way to be arguably our best offensive player, too.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Lots of stuff
1. Still wishing we had picked up a 5th yr grad transfer....saw where Connor Cashaw is getting minimal minutes with Creighton
2. Ben Richardson and all of his intangibles will be hard to replace with newbies. I think his on ball defense was worth the price of admission and sparked our team defense and the transition offense. Lucas may get there....
3. Coach likes to make his players fit the system rather than the system fit the players. At this point does not look like we have the players to fit the system. Donte Ingram was the key for the offensive system in that he was an inside/outside guy and basically was our 4 power forward, Small forward, off guard, point guard. the one player that at this point fits the profile but not the skill set is Uguak. Negron seems like a power forward, maybe small forward but not the ball handling skills to run the system?
4. Options are to go smaller with 4 true guards...which means Bujdoso or Kaifes or switch offensive systems with a true center and power forward
5. Coach has seen a lot of these guys,,,,He must have seen something in Uguak during practice that made him think he was the guy,,,,so maybe it just is a getting feet wet kind of thing.
6. No one teaches or plays defense in AAU ball....These guys come in not playing great defense,,,takes time for Coach to drill it in to them. I truly believe a lot of our success last year is that a lot of the better players we faced had not had anyone play defense against them like we did.
7. Krutwig had 0 assists against BC....tells me he did not get enough touches...If we do not start hitting 3s...then teams will be able to keep the ball out of his hands.
8.So last year the goal from fairly early on was how far can we go....this year as a Rambler fan the fun might be to see how much we improve...Hope everyone embraces that and we continue to get good crowds.