#3 - Little Rock

This is always the hardest pick, of course, because I know too much about the team. I know what they might do if everything goes right, and it is hard not to factor that into the equation.

WHAT I LIKE:
Sense of urgency in the program since Shields evidently is under real pressure from above. Very mature roster: only two underclassmen and one of them is a redshirt. Perhaps as much talent as Shields has had. Potentially a very good 3-point shooting team, from several different players. VERY deep at the guard positions. James White has POY-type talent if he can harness it.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:
This is not a tall team, which could be a real problem if we have injuries or get into foul trouble. There could be (should be) some pretty good players not getting much PT. Shields is under pressure for a reason, and unless he learns fast this year that reason will still be there. We had little shot discipline from the arc last year, and that has to be corrected. The right players have to be the ones shooting.

I feel good about this pick. We may not finish here, but logically I think it is right. The talent is there, if not the size, and we just have to get it done.

(08-05-2014 12:20 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  #3 - Little Rock

This is always the hardest pick, of course, because I know too much about the team. I know what they might do if everything goes right, and it is hard not to factor that into the equation.

WHAT I LIKE:
Sense of urgency in the program since Shields evidently is under real pressure from above. Very mature roster: only two underclassmen and one of them is a redshirt. Perhaps as much talent as Shields has had. Potentially a very good 3-point shooting team, from several different players. VERY deep at the guard positions. James White has POY-type talent if he can harness it.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:
This is not a tall team, which could be a real problem if we have injuries or get into foul trouble. There could be (should be) some pretty good players not getting much PT. Shields is under pressure for a reason, and unless he learns fast this year that reason will still be there. We had little shot discipline from the arc last year, and that has to be corrected. The right players have to be the ones shooting.

I feel good about this pick. We may not finish here, but logically I think it is right. The talent is there, if not the size, and we just have to get it done.

I can't argue with you on this one (I really have not disagreed with any of your picks). I think we have the returning players, talent, and coaching (I am sorry we lost Coach Lee) to finish this high. I don't think beating out ULL for second (I assume that is where you will place them) is out of the question, either. Somewhat unfortunately, we added a GaSt team that is at it's zenith as a basketball program.

Sorry to see that you have us at 3rd, like I said before we will win the conference. I'm a basketball junkie, we have 3 potential pro's on our team in James, Josh and Mareik. Now it's up to Shields to know what he have and stop playing so slow and use what he have to his advantage. We are not going to have to old school traditional post player, we have to adjust to how the game is played today. Lock down on defense and let them play. We will win the conference once he realize what we really have.

Obviously, I hope you are right and I am wrong. But I try to avoid being too much of a homer in these picks. I know how good we could be if everything breaks right, but the same thing could be said about every team and I do not know their players as well as I do ours.

I will always be a homer for my team, so if any of them was to see this blog are be on this blog they would know that they have fans that expect them to win it all and that along could be that extra push for them. But hey all I can say is we can suck like the Dallas Cowboys, but their fans think they will win the Super Bowl every year. IM ALL IN WITH THE TROJANS.

To the folks on the main SBC board: in defense of my picking us this high. We had the Belt leader in A/TO ratio, by a good bit, last year and he was not even the starter at the first of the year. We have what probably will be our career 3PT% leader, and he could well not have the most minutes at the 2 spot. We are very deep at the guard positions. We have a very mature team: every player on the roster except one is at least a 3rd year player.We have a budding star in James White who has an almost unlimited ceiling. We have some good jucos coming in. True, ASU's jucos might prove to be better than what we have, but they are an unknown quantity. I might miss this pick, but my conscience is clear about it being logical based upon the information to which I had access.