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Post by eagle87 on Feb 15, 2024 22:05:03 GMT -6
Even Stan called them out over us getting only 9 free throws. Martin shoots 30 free throws USI shoots 9 free throw we lose by 9……hmmmmm, looks like someone didn’t want us to prevail tonight. If we ever got 30 free throws to 9 at our place we would win almost every game. I went back and watched several fouls they called against us and more than a few were little to zero contact.
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Post by letsgoeagles on Feb 16, 2024 9:08:18 GMT -6
Hate losing, but as shorthaircut correctly stated the team with the most talent usually wins. USI struck out badly this past recruiting class....top two recruits (McCord and Tillmon) could have leveled the playing field, but that is water under the bridge. Still hoping USI can get in the tournament, but looking more forward to next recruiting class.
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Post by shorthaircut on Feb 16, 2024 9:17:06 GMT -6
Hate losing, but as shorthaircut correctly stated the team with the most talent usually wins. USI struck out badly this past recruiting class....top two recruits (McCord and Tidwell) could have leveled the playing field, but that is water under the bridge. Still hoping USI can get in the tournament, but looking more forward to next recruiting class. Tenn Tech has SIUE and EIU at home. They will need to win one of those as their last 2 games are on the road at UTM and UALR. Not sure what the tiebreaker is but it is very possible it comes into play. That’s assuming we sweep our final home stand, which nothing is a given with this team.
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Post by eagle87 on Feb 16, 2024 9:33:46 GMT -6
Hate losing, but as shorthaircut correctly stated the team with the most talent usually wins. USI struck out badly this past recruiting class....top two recruits (McCord and Tidwell) could have leveled the playing field, but that is water under the bridge. Still hoping USI can get in the tournament, but looking more forward to next recruiting class. Tillmon and McCord would have made this recruiting class decent…had both played all year imo. Obviously the others just didn’t add much if anything to the team. I will say that most of the guys playing now have elevated their games, but that’s not enough to get us over the hump most games. The effort is there and it’s good to see them improve so the question now is…who stays around next season? To be honest, my analysis of the roster has changed since the early part of the season. Here’s my guesstimate of who will be here next year and who will take off: AJ…I see him portaling out unfortunately. Hernandez…I see him going pro in Europe Hittle…I think he is back Campion…I think he is back Mielke…I think he is back Mervis…I think he is back Hall…I think he is back KP…I think he is questionable Moore…I think he hits the portal Causwell…he graduates Smith Jr…I think he hits portal Hason…I think he hits portal Mccord…I think he hits portal if this ends up being the case, we will have 5-6 back. This leaves us with about 8 scholarships to offer. That’s a good amount to have but we can’t swing and miss two years in a row. At least 3-4 need to be impact guys that can play on day one. Will be interesting to see who we can get. Of the guys coming back, all would be very solid role players that could give us 12-15 minutes. I could see a few starting and that would be ok if we can bring in 3-4 impact guys to add to them.
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Post by shorthaircut on Feb 16, 2024 10:28:53 GMT -6
Hate losing, but as shorthaircut correctly stated the team with the most talent usually wins. USI struck out badly this past recruiting class....top two recruits (McCord and Tidwell) could have leveled the playing field, but that is water under the bridge. Still hoping USI can get in the tournament, but looking more forward to next recruiting class. Tillmon and McCord would have made this recruiting class decent…had both played all year imo. Obviously the others just didn’t add much if anything to the team. I will say that most of the guys playing now have elevated their games, but that’s not enough to get us over the hump most games. The effort is there and it’s good to see them improve so the question now is…who stays around next season? To be honest, my analysis of the roster has changed since the early part of the season. Here’s my guesstimate of who will be here next year and who will take off: AJ…I see him portaling out unfortunately. Hernandez…I see him going pro in Europe Hittle…I think he is back Campion…I think he is back Mielke…I think he is back Mervis…I think he is back Hall…I think he is back KP…I think he is questionable Moore…I think he hits the portal Causwell…he graduates Smith Jr…I think he hits portal Hason…I think he hits portal Mccord…I think he hits portal if this ends up being the case, we will have 5-6 back. This leaves us with about 8 scholarships to offer. That’s a good amount to have but we can’t swing and miss two years in a row. At least 3-4 need to be impact guys that can play on day one. Will be interesting to see who we can get. Of the guys coming back, all would be very solid role players that could give us 12-15 minutes. I could see a few starting and that would be ok if we can bring in 3-4 impact guys to add to them. I think AJ will come back for one more year as right now his offensive game isn’t good enough for him to necessarily get 30 minutes a game for the better clubs at the next level up. One more year of improvement and big numbers as the primary guy will put him in a really good spot to get some NIL money his last year. Campion, Hall, Mielke, Mervis and Hittle will return. Hernandez I agree moves on and McCord is hitting that door with full eligibility left the minute he can. The rest I expect will be told to kindly find another place. Smith and Hasson aren’t D1 players. Moore will be a senior and he’s not good enough now to get minutes on what really is a bad D1 team. He needs to move on. I’ve said it once and I will say it again, if this staff can recruit better, we can be a middle of the pack team. But the staff needs to show it.
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Post by eagle87 on Feb 16, 2024 10:34:00 GMT -6
I hope you are correct about AJ. I just thought he would be eager to move now so he has two years left at his new school. Stan has told me more than once that coaches have reached out to him all during this season and I think he will see some NIL money and a stronger team and bolt. Again,I hope not, but I think it’s very likely.
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Post by shorthaircut on Feb 16, 2024 10:42:25 GMT -6
I hope you are correct about AJ. I just thought he would be eager to move now so he has two years left at his new school. Stan has told me more than once that coaches have reached out to him all during this season and I think he will see some NIL money and a stronger team and bolt. Again,I hope not, but I think it’s very likely. With these kids today it’s really a crapshoot. But I look at someone like Stafford. Goes to USI, transfers to JUCO then ends up on a team equally as bad as USI playing in an absolute dump of a gym. Kids react out of emotion instead of looking at the big picture. AJ doesn’t shoot or dribble well enough right now to play in a league that offers real NIL money. Not some leased car shenanigans some of these schools use to entice kids. Hard cash is the only thing that matters. Now if he works hard on his game he does have a chance because of his god given abilities.
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Post by letsgoeagles on Feb 16, 2024 11:45:56 GMT -6
I think AJ might come back...might. He will know he will get beaucoup minutes and, as shorthaircut mentioned, another year to improve his shot. He has come along way in a short amount of time. Doubtful, IMO, any high mid major team will throw huge incentives his way. That said, I feel he has high aspirations for himself and may just want to go to a higher level school/conference if somebody will give him a scholarship. Hard to figure out.
Hernandez gone for sure. Doubtful team would want Moore to hang around, or that he would even want to. He could do well at a good D2 school. KP...not sure. Hope he stays because of how he alters shots, but he has a lot of holes in his game. I won't be terribly upset if he leaves.
I wonder how attractive we might be to potential freshman recruits? Can get your feet wet in D1 ball and then compete for NCAA bid by junior and senior year.
Obviously the team has many holes to fill and still has two more years of jail time left. Staff has to zero in on those kids who are ready to play and can make an immediate impact. Despite all the pluses for playing for USI we will still be a tough sell for many. My guess is that to get the type of recruit we want, he will be the guy who was waiting for the top offers to come, but got turned down. Then we nab them and he gets to come and play a major role for us. Recruiting is always an interesting process.
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Post by shorthaircut on Feb 16, 2024 12:15:48 GMT -6
I think AJ might come back...might. He will know he will get beaucoup minutes and, as shorthaircut mentioned, another year to improve his shot. He has come along way in a short amount of time. Doubtful, IMO, any high mid major team will throw huge incentives his way. That said, I feel he has high aspirations for himself and may just want to go to a higher level school/conference if somebody will give him a scholarship. Hard to figure out. Hernandez gone for sure. Doubtful team would want Moore to hang around, or that he would even want to. He could do well at a good D2 school. KP...not sure. Hope he stays because of how he alters shots, but he has a lot of holes in his game. I won't be terribly upset if he leaves. I wonder how attractive we might be to potential freshman recruits? Can get your feet wet in D1 ball and then compete for NCAA bid by junior and senior year. Obviously the team has many holes to fill and still has two more years of jail time left. Staff has to zero in on those kids who are ready to play and can make an immediate impact. Despite all the pluses for playing for USI we will still be a tough sell for many. My guess is that to get the type of recruit we want, he will be the guy who was waiting for the top offers to come, but got turned down. Then we nab them and he gets to come and play a major role for us. Recruiting is always an interesting process. Agree with Powell in that if he comes back, it’s always nice to have size. But right now as crazy as it sounds, Hittle is much more important.
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Post by eagle87 on Feb 16, 2024 12:23:22 GMT -6
Agree about KP. I love his shot blocking, but every other part of his games has holes. Plus his off court issues. I’m fine with him coming back but won’t cry if he doesn’t. Hittle has elevated his game and his 6-10 260 lb frame helps offset opposing bigs. If he can improve just a bit more in the off season he can be a really solid 25 minute guy for us.
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Post by letsgoeagles on Feb 16, 2024 14:03:50 GMT -6
I think AJ might come back...might. He will know he will get beaucoup minutes and, as shorthaircut mentioned, another year to improve his shot. He has come along way in a short amount of time. Doubtful, IMO, any high mid major team will throw huge incentives his way. That said, I feel he has high aspirations for himself and may just want to go to a higher level school/conference if somebody will give him a scholarship. Hard to figure out. Hernandez gone for sure. Doubtful team would want Moore to hang around, or that he would even want to. He could do well at a good D2 school. KP...not sure. Hope he stays because of how he alters shots, but he has a lot of holes in his game. I won't be terribly upset if he leaves. I wonder how attractive we might be to potential freshman recruits? Can get your feet wet in D1 ball and then compete for NCAA bid by junior and senior year. Obviously the team has many holes to fill and still has two more years of jail time left. Staff has to zero in on those kids who are ready to play and can make an immediate impact. Despite all the pluses for playing for USI we will still be a tough sell for many. My guess is that to get the type of recruit we want, he will be the guy who was waiting for the top offers to come, but got turned down. Then we nab them and he gets to come and play a major role for us. Recruiting is always an interesting process. Agree with Powell in that if he comes back, it’s always nice to have size. But right now as crazy as it sounds, Hittle is much more important. Would we had even thought for a half a second that any of us would be agreeing with this statement even 3 months ago? It is just a classic example of how a kid with size can develop over time. You can tell Hittle put in the work. We all knew he had the size but little else. But his girth right now has pushed away KP, a former Houston recruit, and now appears to have developed a few moves around the basket. No one is suggesting he is a great player. But Hittle, God love him, is doing what we need right now and that it to bump heads with other players that both KP and Caswell are helpless against. As shorthaircut said a while back, the 5 position is not nearly the concern USI has right now than the other spots. That is completely true. I look for Hittle to even get better...not that I expect him to be a star...but a role player who knows what his job is and know what he can and cannot do.
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Post by letsgoeagles on Feb 17, 2024 7:28:32 GMT -6
Just want to ask other members here to get your take on recruiting freshmen for next season. Is it reasonable to think some might show more interest in USI knowing they can compete for NCAA bid by their junior year (in this age of instant gratification)? Is it even worth the gamble? My feeling is if a freshman is good enough NOW to make a contribution I say sign him. If their is a freshman who looks to have a fairly high ceiling but not ready to contribute may make the decision a little more complex. So much, I think, depends what impact players USI can attract right away. IMO, many of the impact players USI may desire we may have to wait for.
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Post by eagle87 on Feb 17, 2024 9:15:44 GMT -6
Just want to ask other members here to get your take on recruiting freshmen for next season. Is it reasonable to think some might show more interest in USI knowing they can compete for NCAA bid by their junior year (in this age of instant gratification)? Is it even worth the gamble? My feeling is if a freshman is good enough NOW to make a contribution I say sign him. If there is a freshman who looks to have a fairly high ceiling but not ready to contribute may make the decision a little more complex. So much, I think, depends what impact players USI can attract right away. IMO, many of the impact players USI may desire we may have to wait for. I would take a high school kid if he really wanted to come here and he is capable of contributing his freshman year. I understand the risk of taking high school kids in today’s environment because they could portal out after you develop them. But, the programs that can get 4 year players usually do well because they have guys that know the system and are usually loyal to making the team better…not just themselves. I think in our situation we could take 1-2 freshmen but ultimately we need impact guys to compete until we can draw a larger pool of candidates to choose from. There is a kid here named Dunham that will be a first team all state player this year,his senior year. He is a point guard that averages about 23 points per game and was a 4 year starter on a team ranked number 1 in their class. Someone like him I would take because he is a lot like Stein…just high basketball IQ and hard worker. Imo, he could play for us this year and be ok. But, I don’t want to recruit a kid that is a project because he wouldn’t help us for at least 2-3 years.
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Post by shorthaircut on Feb 17, 2024 9:18:23 GMT -6
Just want to ask other members here to get your take on recruiting freshmen for next season. Is it reasonable to think some might show more interest in USI knowing they can compete for NCAA bid by their junior year (in this age of instant gratification)? Is it even worth the gamble? My feeling is if a freshman is good enough NOW to make a contribution I say sign him. If their is a freshman who looks to have a fairly high ceiling but not ready to contribute may make the decision a little more complex. So much, I think, depends what impact players USI can attract right away. IMO, many of the impact players USI may desire we may have to wait for. If they can get minutes right away, absolutely. If not then just not worth the time and energy.
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Post by sandtiger on Feb 17, 2024 11:19:48 GMT -6
My thoughts are go after the players that will help us win now because while the diehard fans like us will still be there win or lose but the casual fans aren't going to make the effort to attend. We don't have the same facilities to give out tickets for pennies on the dollar that UE does to artificially inflate their attendance thus looking better to potential sponsors.
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