The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(03-29-2017 07:10 AM)757ODU Wrote:  What baffles me is that people still are saying that these freshman and redshirt freshman are not going to contribute to this year's team. They have to be kidding....don't they?

Nobody is saying they won't contribute. They could play a role. The problem is you cannot expect them to step in and be a consistent game changer when they haven't seen a minute of D1 basketball action and have to start learning a brand new system that doesn't have any similarities to what they played for 4 years in high school. Also, to consistently thrive in our system, it takes a grown man's body to handle the physicality, which most freshmen have not developed into yet.

If you look at some of the more consistent top mid-major programs like St. Mary's, VCU, and the MVC and MWC powerhouses... they play in a similar system as their recruits already play, making the transition much more seemless. We do not. If VCU played the same system as St. Mary's, they would struggle with the same players. On the flip side, St. Mary's would get run off the court if they tried to play Havoc. They don't have the athletes for it. If any of our freshmen do step in and are a consistemt game changer on day 1, it will be a welcome surprise, but certainly not an expectation. Even some of our better freshmen of the last 10 years (Gerald Lee comes to mind) were either inconsistent or came on late in the year.

If we are going to make the tournament, it will be largely because Talley, Caver, and the Stiths are stars... like all 4 of them make one of the All-CUSA teams and 1 or 2 make 1st team.

The problem is the apologist fans play this game every year (the same ones that defended Blaine to the day he was fired even claiming that his drunk coaches show was due to being sick). They hype the newcomers and dismiss the veterans so that when we have a mediocre season, they can always claim it is a rebuilding year and next year will be the year with all the great newcomers. I'm just sick of the excuses.