Looking Ahead to 2020-2021 season

[triplec2195]

Thanks Wags.


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[HofstraMathew]

So now with the JUCO commit Cowart does he pencil in as the starting PG? I know it is still early but what is everyone thinking as the potential first game starting lineup?

I will take a guess at it:
1 - Stowart - I'd assume you bring in a JUCO to start right away. Even Wormley started over Buie at the beginning.
2 - Ray - I think this can be set in stone
3 - Coburn - He will definitely start as well; just depends on the 3 or the 4 spot
4 - Cramer - I am ready for the hype to turn to reality
5 - Kante - Another one to set in stone

[HUSID74]

Looks good to me!

[Captain]

I am excited to see the next edition of HU basketball in action. As discussed the pg position will be the key to the whole season. Buie made everybody better last season. He got the ball to Jalen, Tareq and Isaac where they want it. On their own, none of these guys appear to create their own shot so well. Jalen and Tareq take it to the hoop and can make free throws but their handles can improve. (Players can improve season to season...I think Eli's left hand got much more confident between his junior and senior season.) Buie got the ball to Isaac on the money. Whomever runs the point has big shoes to fill. As for the new guys, I like the potential I see. Hoping that success breeds more success.
Can't wait for the next season to start!

[triplec2195]

I am excited to see the next edition of HU basketball in action. As discussed the pg position will be the key to the whole season. Buie made everybody better last season. He got the ball to Jalen, Tareq and Isaac where they want it. On their own, none of these guys appear to create their own shot so well. Jalen and Tareq take it to the hoop and can make free throws but their handles can improve. (Players can improve season to season...I think Eli's left hand got much more confident between his junior and senior season.) Buie got the ball to Isaac on the money. Whomever runs the point has big shoes to fill. As for the new guys, I like the potential I see. Hoping that success breeds more success.
Can't wait for the next season to start!

It can't be overstated about the PG position well stated here and whoever plays the point has to score as well and penetrate. I like Green coming in for Cramer and or Coburn. It will be nice to have a guy of his size that can shoot from the perimeter. Of course Stafford waiting in the wings(don't attempt any three's)too. It appears that it will be an interesting year in which we won't be picked for first but probably in the top three. Does anyone have feelings about this? Of course all contingent on even being able to play the season.

[cactus]

The team looks to be deep next year. Hopefully they will not bury guys like Silverio, Burgess, Masic, Bethea, and Green on the bench.

[triplec2195]

The team looks to be deep next year. Hopefully they will not bury guys like Silverio, Burgess, Masic, Bethea, and Green on the bench.

Yeah you're right and being one of Silverio's biggest proponents I hope he steps up this year. He would fill a major void left by Eli.

[HU87]

I think that's the right starting 5, with the only other possibility being Trueheart starting at the 4 over Cramer.

It's a good roster, but how is it relative to the rest of the league? Who (besides Delaware) will be bringing in a top 4 roster next season?

[cactus]

I think that's the right starting 5, with the only other possibility being Trueheart starting at the 4 over Cramer.

It's a good roster, but how is it relative to the rest of the league? Who (besides Delaware) will be bringing in a top 4 roster next season?

Delaware has to be the favorite. Obviously depends on the new guys but Hofstra should be right near the top. No big transfers yet, but a lot of good seniors graduating, so the league does seem to be continuing the trend overall of decreasing in talent year over year.

[EvanJ]

No big transfers yet, but a lot of good seniors graduating, so the league does seem to be continuing the trend overall of decreasing in talent year over year.

A link to https://247sports.com/college/james-mad ... ferPortal/ and pages for other teams was posted in this topic. Northeastern had Maxime Boursiquot and Tomas Murphy leave. JMU graduated one sub and no starters, but their second through fourth leading scorers are leaving. I already posted about Darius Banks and Dwight Wilson, and Deshon Parker is now listed also. They won't return much other than Matt Lewis. If Lewis stays, it will be similar to W&M last season where they didn't lose much to graduation but had many players from their second leading scorer down to others transfer. Lewis has 1,574 points, and it could help his total if he doesn't have teammates who can score. We couldn't have expected Buie to be this good, and other teams have to hope guys like Tyson Walker, Luke Loewe, Camren Wynter, Jaylen Sims, Hunter McIntosh, and Brevin Galloway can go from the 10 to 15 range to score 15+. UNCW and Elon both have the possibility of not having a star but having eight guys who could be one of their team's top two players in at least five games. Other than Delaware and us:

Northeastern's only players who averaged more than 3.5 and could return are Tyson Walker and Shaquille Walters.

Drexel will have three players who averaged 15.7, 13.2, and 12.2 return if Camren Wynter and James Butler stay and Zach Walton wins an appeal for another season of eligibility and stays.

Towson could return four of six players who averaged at least 6.1.

In addition to Lewis, JMU could return players who averaged 6.6, 5.9, and 5.0.

W&M could return four players who averaged over 4.0, with Luke Loewe as the only one who averaged double-digits at 10.7. Thornton Scott averaged 7.3 but didn't play in three-fourths of the games to qualify. They could return guys who averaged 4.8 and 4.6

Elon could return two double-digit scorers and six who averaged at least 4.7.

UNCW could return more than they had this season if everybody stays and Ty Gadsden (17 games) and Jay Estime' (5 games) are healthy. Their five players who attempted over 1 three per game shot threes .351, .350, .345, .345, and .344, and Estime' shot threes .346 with 26 attempts in 5 games. Forwards Marten Linssen and Imajae Dodd who didn't attempt any threes both shot twos well, but their guards shot twos poorly.

Charleston needs Brevin Galloway to sep up. He averaged 11.4, made a lot of threes, and led the CAA in steals per game, but didn't get many rebounds or assists. Zep Jasper averaged 7.6, and their third leading scorer who could return averaged 3.6. They had eleven regulars and have to hope some players who averaged 7.0 to 12.8 minutes can become starters.

[Polito]

That starting 5 makes sense to me as well, and looks to be darn good on paper - I'd say that puts HU in the top 3-4 group again, provided the PG spot produces what it should/needs to, and Cramer is ready to make his presence known - I see no clear favorite in the league frankly.

[EvanJ]

For the second consecutive season, UNCW had a forward transfer. Marten Linssen was third on the team with 10.5 points and third on the team with 4.6 rebounds. His .596 field goal percentage was second in the CAA behind Kante's .655. Of the top six in field goal percentage, none graduated, but Linssen is the third one after Dwight Wilson and Maxime Boursiquot to transfer. UNCW will have to rely on Imajae Dodd, who as a freshman averaged 4.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in 15.9 points while shooting .574. With Linssen gone, Delaware and Drexel are the only two teams who could return their top two scorers. From 2018-2019 to 2019-2020, no team returned their top two scorers. Other than Kante, Delaware's Justyn Mutts and Dylan Painter, Drexel's James Butler, and Elon's Hunter Woods i(f you count him as a forward) are the best forwards who could return. Woods is a guard/forward according to Elon's roster. He averaged 10.1 points and 6.6 rebounds, but 55.8 percent of his attempts were threes, and he shot twos and threes poorly, so he's not the same type of player. Kante didn't make any threes, Mutts and Painter made 2, and Butler made 3. Woods attempted over six times as many threes as the other four combined.

We normally rely on guards, but it's possible that Kante will give us a big edge over other CAA forwards. With two seasons left each, Kante and Mutts could battle for the best forward in the CAA, with Painter and Butler having one season left. Of course a freshmen or transfers can turn out to be the best forward like Towson's Jerrelle Benimon who won POY in both of his seasons in the CAA. Of the nine players with at least two POYs (GMU's George Evans is the only one with three), Benimon and JMU's Steve Hood are the only ones to win POY in every season they were in the CAA.

[Mikey77]

Where does Charles Jenkins fit in the CAA POY category?

[triplec2195]

Quote; We normally rely on guards, but it's possible that Kante will give us a big edge over other CAA forwards. With two seasons left each, Kante and Mutts could battle for the best forward in the CAA, with Painter and Butler having one season left. Of course a freshmen or transfers can turn out to be the best forward like Towson's Jerrelle Benimon who won POY in both of his seasons in the CAA. Of the nine players with at least two POYs (GMU's George Evans is the only one with three), Benimon and JMU's Steve Hood are the only ones to win POY in every season they were in the CAA.

Just wanted to comment Evan that in reality Kante is a center and is listed as such a lot of the time he's playing with his back to the basket. Mutts is a 4 and he's 6'7 220 and doesn't really look that heavy Kante is 240 and he's muscular. I don't think we should be comparing the two as they really play different positions. Both very good players.

[EvanJ]

Where does Charles Jenkins fit in the CAA POY category?

I named the only two players who won POY in their only two seasons in the CAA and George Evans who won in three of four. David Robinson won in three of four, and I didn't say that yesterday. Jenkins won in two of four and was the fourth player to do that after ODU's Odell Hodge, UNCW's Brett Blizzard, and VCU's Eric Maynor. JWF was the fifth player to win two in four.

Just wanted to comment Evan that in reality Kante is a center and is listed as such a lot of the time he's playing with his back to the basket. Mutts is a 4 and he's 6'7 220 and doesn't really look that heavy Kante is 240 and he's muscular. I don't think we should be comparing the two as they really play different positions. Both very good players.

Center is used so rarely that I group forwards and centers together. There are some guys who shoot threes are listed as C, C/F, or F/C, and some guys who don't shoot any threes and are listed as F. When I categorize players I look at statistics, not height and weight. Painter could be more of a 5 than Mutts, but if you say that Mutts isn't a 5, you won't find a 5 on every team. In rebounds per game among players who could return, Butler is first, Mutts is second, and Kante is third.

[triplec2195]

Center is used so rarely that I group forwards and centers together. When I categorize players I look at statistics, not height and weight. Painter could be more of a 5 than Mutts, but if you say that Mutts isn't a 5, you won't find a 5 on every team.

Realistically not comparing apples to apples but I understand where you are coming from. The two positions are vastly different but lets leave it at that no huge deal.

[RollPride15]

Bumping this thread up to talk roster projections. I think we all know at this point Joe is only going to run 7 guys deep most of the time -- the starting 5, some 6th man and a backup big. I think this team has an unusual degree of depth (or looked at more pessimistically, a lot of question marks) and it's possible that we go deeper into the bench. But knowing Joe, the rotation will coalesce by conference play in that usual 7-man standard.

Here's my assumed depth chart:

1: Cowart/Burgess/Bethea/Masic
2: Ray/Silverio
3: Coburn/Green
4: Trueheart/Cramer
5: Kante/Schutte

A look at the roster (positions are pretty arbitrary but I think we can assume 2 guards/2 wings/1 big on court most of the time) really highlights the amount of guards on roster, it would make sense to redshirt one of Bethea or Masic because there's no way they'll all get time.

We'll need players who can shoot. Ray and Coburn are reliably strong from outside, but losing Buie and Pemberton is going to hurt that ability to just pour on points that we had last year. Cowart seems like a really competent floor manager with a lot of dribble-drive and kick to his game, so I wouldn't be shocked if we see the offense go to a poor man's Green-Gustys style pick and roll, with distribution to shooters on the wing. That said, his shooting seems questionable to me, about 2 attempts per game from 3, and mediocre free throw %. So who knows, maybe he can shoot from range, but I wouldn't count on it. Burgess is kind of in the same boat with shooting, we'll see how it shakes out, but he might take on more of a Malik Nichols type where he's subbing for Cowart/Ray, getting 15-20 mins a game and playing tough defense. Bethea and Masic I wouldn't expect to see time (I don't know much about either's game so I'm assuming they're behind Cowart/Burgess based on seniority).

Jalen, we know what we're getting, going to be hot and cold but net hit about about 40% from three, put in low teens in scoring every night. Silverio I'm not as high on as a lot of you, would love to be proven wrong but at the moment he seems like a chucker who hasn't gotten hot. I know he had a lot going on the past few years so I'm holding out hope, but I think we'll know very early in the season if Joe is phasing him in or out of the lineup.

Coburn is a great energy guy and floor spacer, happy to have him back. I think he's got the biggest change (alongside Kante) of being a known quantity who could make a big leap. Green looks great, natural shooter and scorer in a big frame. But who knows how he'll fit in the 3/4 jam and how polished he'll actually be.

Trueheart is either going to get full burn at the 4 or be a depth guy again, I don't know if I see an in-between. He's theoretically a shooter, based on the frequency of 3-point attempts. But he needs to really pick up his defensive awareness and actually show results as a floor spacer. I know there's also been some intrigue with him at the 5 for limited times, which is something that could be fun to explore if we ran more up-tempo, pick and pop with Cowart. Cramer is the guy I'm most excited to see, the sky is the limit with him. It will probably take a while for him to get up to speed, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him really in a groove by conference play.

Lastly are the bigs...Kante could be a menace if he continues to improve. Big if, and we've seen how the loss of a surehanded PG can lead to a regression with a center before. But i think there are some plays that should revolve around his finishing at the rim, and he's decent from the line (67%) as well. Schutte should provide that Dwyer-esque 8-10 minutes of competence as a backup, I don't believe he's got any offensive game but in the CAA if your backup center can hold his own on defense, you're in good shape.

So those are my topline thoughts, I guess my big thesis is that the rotation will hinge on which of these unknowns can actually shoot. I think Joe will crave additional shooting and whoever of Silverio/Green/Burgess that can find bottom will see a lot more minutes.

[Jojogunne]

Good analysis, RollPride. Let's hope we have a season.

[triplec2195]

Roll Pride15 just some of my thoughts and first off I don't believe that anybody redshirts you need to watch some film on Bethea he's a strong guard and was highly regarded coming out of Jersey. Getting him experience at the college level is important this year. He may play some backup at the 1 but will get some time at the 2. Granted there aren't a lot of minutes to be doled out here. Silverio will help to determine playing time for others as he should come in hungry. He plays D and he's a good rebounder and is a three point shooter. He hasn't proved that he can hit it with regularity yet. We have a virtual unknown with Masic but he could be a real dark horse here he has the size and international experience. I'm not sure the exact reason we recruited him so quickly but give the staff credit they're not fly by night and I'm sure they saw plenty of him since he was playing locally.

IDK if Trueheart starts been there done that and he's not a shooter the bulk of his shots are from the corner and he's an 13% three point shooter. His value is his size and wing span who can give us height against a bigger team. He'll block shots and rebound but can be lackadaisical on the floor. It may very well be that Cramer starts. He's been waiting a long time and looks to be in good shape and healthy finally. He's more athletic then Stafford and has a very high motor.

Kante will develop this year into a real force down low who will occasionally take the mid-range shot and hit it but when the opposition slacks off he will drive to the basket and get easy layups or get fouled. He's a beast down low and will only get better although he needs to improve defensively he gets beat off the dribble but I think he will block more shots this year. He gets most of the minutes here and again Schutte backs him up and improves himself as he proves that he's athletic and brings energy to the floor. I would like to see him finish in close to the basket better.

All and all a lot to ponder with plenty of kids that can shoot a real GOOD dilemma for this staff and what could go a long way in determining playing time is how well these kids coming in can play D and pick up the defensive scheme. The emphasis will be on D since this is what wins championships.

[HU87]

Love your depth chart RP-- putting below again for analysis.

1: Cowart/Burgess/Bethea/Masic
2: Ray/Silverio
3: Coburn/Green
4: Trueheart/Cramer
5: Kante/Schutte

I see Ray taking a huge jump this year-- it's his turn. I can see 18-20 points a game, if not more... along with all-CAA defensive team. Mark it down.

If one of our PGs can run the pick and roll, I think we'll see Kante have a great year too, but I don't think that's a sure thing at this point.

Whether we like it or not, Trueheart appears to be the key to our season. We need at least 3 high-quality shooters on the court with Kante to allow our offense to operate at the elite level we've seen the last two seasons. If Trueheart can be consistent in stretching the floor, I think we're looking at another top 3 finish. If not, I think we're a few shooters short of being effective this year.

Last interesting caveat-- we have this one scholarship that we're all excited about and, per the offer to the UPenn kid, look to be open to adding a one and done to help this year. Joe seems aligned with the above that we need a dependable long-range option... I would love it if it came as a stretch 4 so we could take Trueheart off the bench.