I'm feeling really good about Tulsa's roster also. I think many forget we had a great start to the conference season last year and had Cincinnati on the ropes before Copain's last minute shot. That loss after looking like a big win seemed to deflate the team and started a tailspin. Even with that we still had a shot at finishing as high as 5th on the last day of the season with 9 newcomers.
Returning players:
Sterling Taplin - (Jr) starting PG, good handle, good outside shot, just needs to shoot more often.
Corey Henderson- (Sr) PG/SG second year out of Juco, struggled early but became a clutch shooter late.
Junior Etou - (Sr) probably our best all-around player last season. He can score on the drive or sink it from deep. He'll have 10 boards before you notice. He can also pass well.
Martins Igbanu - (So) the player I think improved the most as the season progressed. Good footwork inside both offensively and defensively, late in the season displayed a deadly outside shot. Rebounds well but not a shot blocker...yet.
Will Magnay - (So) good shot blocker, nice hook, good footwork and positioning inside. Needs to work on hand strength, he got a lot of boards last year but would often have them ripped away. Had a nagging injury last season. If he's healthy I expect him to be a force inside.
Gino Artison - (Jr) Juco transfer that came in hobbled. He has a very good outside stroke but at 6'9" needs to add some bulk and mix it up a little inside to get significant playing time.
Lawson Korita - (So) excellent court vision and an above average passer. He has a good stroke from deep but most of his shots were an inch short or an inch long. If he can zero in he will be a major contributor at wing.
Jaleel Wheeler - (Sr) good defender, drives the lane well, streaky outside shooter. Starter last season that I expect to see more spot duty this season.
New Players
Curran Scott - (So) transfer from Charlotte who sat out last season. Averaged 10+ points per game as a freshman at Charlotte and shot around 40% from deep.
Daquan Jeffries - (Jr) Juco transfer who played for ORU as a freshman. Hard worker and athletic. I expect him to make an impact on defense and rebounding on offense. Not expecting a big shot but should drive well and be a garbage man.
Elijah Joiner - (Fr) from Chicago Curie he has a very good outside shot, a good handle and very athletic. Spent some of last year in the Rivals top 150 but finished just outside.
Darien Jackson - (Fr) from KC he is an athletic driver who, like Joiner, spent time in the Rivals top 150 before finishing just outside.
We also have Jeriah Horne on the roster sitting out this season after transferring from Nebraska. He'll be a sophomore in '18-'19.
(06-26-2017 09:42 PM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ] (06-26-2017 08:55 PM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ]UH's roster is set... i really like our team. we have zero media hype. thats fine i get it, we havent been great in a while, and have no media flashy players..although we came with a deep class none are touted by recruiting sites..but i think we are ncaa caliber next year
we havent made a too early bracketology and most projections have us 6 or lower in league play
but we finished last year 3rd, barely missed the tourney and all but 1 key player returns..on a not too deep team with a ton of depth coming in
retuneers
32 Rob Gray G 6-2 185 RS SR (AAC leading scorer)
25 Galen Robinson Jr. G 6-1 190 JR (2nd in the AAC is assists per/2yr starter)
12 Wes VanBeck G 6-2 190 SR (arguable the best spot shooter in the league)
15 Devin Davis F 6-7 230 RS SR (injured half of last year/ best returning big)
3 Armoni Brooks G 6-4 180 SO (great shooter)
20 Valentine Sangoyomi C 6-9 250 JR (injured all last year)
New Player
Fabian White- (espn 4star PF)
Corey Davis (1st all american juco PG, on the nations best juco)
Cedrick Alley Jr. (the recipient of Texas's Mr Basketball..PF/SF)
Nura Zanna- (Grad transfer.. 9.2 rbs a game, second only to tacko in the AAC/ PF)
Gabe Grant- juco all american honoree SF
Chris Harris- 2015 espn 4star C..had grad issues 2 years ago
Mike Adewunmi- Texas top 25/ 6-5 Combo guard
Breaon Brady- top 100 juco PF
in te first team work out video Sampson says its the best team he's had since coming here ..you can see he is kinda excited about the team in the video
https://www.facebook.com/UHCougarMBK/vid...753325229/
its basketball so preseason hype isnt as important...so im fine being overlooked preseason
The Coogs are an interesting team for next year to me. Think y'all could be a Tourney team or be same as the past two years. Losing Dotson is a big loss, he could do everything. Him, Gray, and Davis were the only 3 that I thought were dangerous. Always was way more nervous of Dotson that Gray. Rob Gray is obviously an elite scorer and I think Devin Davis is a real solid big man. Robinson seems to have somewhat of a ceiling as does Van Beck. Really like the additions of Davis and Fabian White.
My takes: I think it comes down to 1) if Grant or Brooks can bring near the impact of Dotson; 2) how the JuCo and the Grad-Transfer guys transition to playing major college basketball from JuCo and Small level D1.
im not too worried about losing dotson..because we have players to replace what he did for us and we have a committee to do it..we dont need 1 player to replace his production
we added 5 bigmen to make up his rebounding numbers, and the 2 injured from last year return..the fact a SG was our top rebounder could be argued as part of our problem last year (nura had a double double vs minn, he put nice numbers on some good teams)
as far as his shooting..vanbeck technically shot at a higher percentage than dotson, ..and brooks, gabe, davis are all elite from the 3 aswell
but i disagree with your assessment on galen, galen doesnt have a ceiling..i see ceilings as something you cant break..galen is arguably one the fastest player on the dripple and supper athletic and an amazing assist to turnover ratio..his glaring weakness is that for a pg his shot is horrible..you can learn how to shoot
and im not worried about kids flopping because we have SO many players with potential ..we have a 15 team roster..we only need about 9 to be very good
(06-27-2017 12:14 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ] (06-26-2017 09:42 PM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ] (06-26-2017 08:55 PM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ]UH's roster is set... i really like our team. we have zero media hype. thats fine i get it, we havent been great in a while, and have no media flashy players..although we came with a deep class none are touted by recruiting sites..but i think we are ncaa caliber next year
we havent made a too early bracketology and most projections have us 6 or lower in league play
but we finished last year 3rd, barely missed the tourney and all but 1 key player returns..on a not too deep team with a ton of depth coming in
retuneers
32 Rob Gray G 6-2 185 RS SR (AAC leading scorer)
25 Galen Robinson Jr. G 6-1 190 JR (2nd in the AAC is assists per/2yr starter)
12 Wes VanBeck G 6-2 190 SR (arguable the best spot shooter in the league)
15 Devin Davis F 6-7 230 RS SR (injured half of last year/ best returning big)
3 Armoni Brooks G 6-4 180 SO (great shooter)
20 Valentine Sangoyomi C 6-9 250 JR (injured all last year)
New Player
Fabian White- (espn 4star PF)
Corey Davis (1st all american juco PG, on the nations best juco)
Cedrick Alley Jr. (the recipient of Texas's Mr Basketball..PF/SF)
Nura Zanna- (Grad transfer.. 9.2 rbs a game, second only to tacko in the AAC/ PF)
Gabe Grant- juco all american honoree SF
Chris Harris- 2015 espn 4star C..had grad issues 2 years ago
Mike Adewunmi- Texas top 25/ 6-5 Combo guard
Breaon Brady- top 100 juco PF
in te first team work out video Sampson says its the best team he's had since coming here ..you can see he is kinda excited about the team in the video
https://www.facebook.com/UHCougarMBK/vid...753325229/
its basketball so preseason hype isnt as important...so im fine being overlooked preseason
The Coogs are an interesting team for next year to me. Think y'all could be a Tourney team or be same as the past two years. Losing Dotson is a big loss, he could do everything. Him, Gray, and Davis were the only 3 that I thought were dangerous. Always was way more nervous of Dotson that Gray. Rob Gray is obviously an elite scorer and I think Devin Davis is a real solid big man. Robinson seems to have somewhat of a ceiling as does Van Beck. Really like the additions of Davis and Fabian White.
My takes: I think it comes down to 1) if Grant or Brooks can bring near the impact of Dotson; 2) how the JuCo and the Grad-Transfer guys transition to playing major college basketball from JuCo and Small level D1.
im not too worried about losing dotson..because we have players to replace what he did for us and we have a committee to do it..we dont need 1 player to replace his production
we added 5 bigmen to make up his rebounding numbers, and the 2 injured from last year return..the fact a SG was our top rebounder could be argued as part of our problem last year (nura had a double double vs minn, he put nice numbers on some good teams)
as far as his shooting..vanbeck technically shot at a higher percentage than dotson, ..and brooks, gabe, davis are all elite from the 3 aswell
but i disagree with your assessment on galen, galen doesnt have a ceiling..i see ceilings as something you cant break..galen is arguably one the fastest player on the dripple and supper athletic and an amazing assist to turnover ratio..his glaring weakness is that for a pg his shot is horrible..you can learn how to shoot
and im not worried about kids flopping because we have SO many players with potential ..we have a 15 team roster..we only need about 9 to be very good
Hope you are right. I like it when UH is real competitive. Shocked you are not too worried about losing the first guy you've had drafted in like 15 years who was first team all-conference, and Mr. Everything for you guys. That is like me saying not worried about losing Semi, because 3 freshman can replicate his stats/shooting/rebounding. As I said in the previous message its not about replicating numbers and what they did with 2-3 people, it is about impact. Semi was a big impact player. Dotson was a big impact player. Someone needs to fill that void.
Like the Tulsa guy who posted and likes his team. Tulsa has a pretty solid squad that is deep and has potential players on it, but lack impact guys outside of Etou. Hopefully for them Igbanu or Taplin take the next step, but they need more true firepower to be a tourney team.
I am just going off what I have seen and read. I have followed your roster/recruiting have several UH friends. You are entitled to your own opinions. I always love hearing everyone opinions.
Was just throwing in my 2 cents, because JuCo's always respond differently to D1. Look at 2015 JuCo list some became good other busts including ones in the top 15. You never know how they translate. They are usually at a JuCo for a reason and why many don't have tons of high major offers. I am sure the Grad-Transfer big will do a solid job alongside D. Davis. It just depends on if you have enough impact to put you over the hump.
I don't doubt UH will have a good team, like they did last year, the question just is will it be good enough to make y'all a tourney team?? Will be fun to watch.
(06-27-2017 12:32 AM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ]Hope you are right. I like it when UH is real competitive. Shocked you are not too worried about losing the first guy you've had drafted in like 15 years who was first team all-conference, and Mr. Everything for you guys. That is like me saying not worried about losing Semi, because 3 freshman can replicate his stats/shooting/rebounding. As I said in the previous message its not about replicating numbers and what they did with 2-3 people, it is about impact. Semi was a big impact player. Dotson was a big impact player. Someone needs to fill that void.
Like the Tulsa guy who posted and likes his team. Tulsa has a pretty solid squad that is deep and has potential players on it, but lack impact guys outside of Etou. Hopefully for them Igbanu or Taplin take the next step, but they need more true firepower to be a tourney team.
I am just going off what I have seen and read. I have followed your roster/recruiting have several UH friends. You are entitled to your own opinions. I always love hearing everyone opinions.
Was just throwing in my 2 cents, because JuCo's always respond differently to D1. Look at 2015 JuCo list some became good other busts including ones in the top 15. You never know how they translate. They are usually at a JuCo for a reason and why many don't have tons of high major offers. I am sure the Grad-Transfer big will do a solid job alongside D. Davis. It just depends on if you have enough impact to put you over the hump.
I don't doubt UH will have a good team, like they did last year, the question just is will it be good enough to make y'all a tourney team?? Will be fun to watch.
if we are being technical we've had other picks recently, they just didn't finish at UH (joe young for example), and other nba players like simmons and daniel house
and id be more worried if we had lost gray and not dotson..gray did everything himself..dotson had set plays for him (93% of his 3s came from assists)..like i noted we have 2 other 6-4 elite shooters on roster (vanbecks listed size isn't updated, he's 6'4....& brooks)..we have another 40% 6'7 shooter in gabe grant coming in ..we can run dotsons plays with them...
and last year galen was a 26% from 3s and barely any points...corey is 46% from 3..we now have a shooter at point
we don't need "someone" to fill the void..we have a way deeper "team"..we don't need guards to be our top re-bounder anymore or 80% of our scoring to come from just 2 people .
and i won't argue all-conference type players but how don't you see
impact guys...we had a player who almost averaged 10rbs a game in D1 (which is insane), a point guard who led his team to 30-2 with tons of major offers, fabian had a few 40 point games in HS, cedrick was Mr Basketball in texas..harris isn't a scorer but his blocking stats are crazy.
we can do what we did last year, but now we can score at the point, can rebound (everyone badly out rebounded us, a few teams almost doubled us), we have rim protectors and we can score in the paint..unlike last year
im not saying super stars but they help fill the gaps we were missing last year
Not that I disagree, but how do you uconn folks feel when Paul Weir > Ollie?
I think Houston's problem (heh) the last few years against the top teams in conference is that they only had a few guys that could hurt you offensively. Even with losing Dotson, they could be better if they get contributions from more spots even if the individual impact isn't as great as Dotson's.
(06-27-2017 08:12 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ][quote='PonyExpressHoops' pid='14418438' dateline='1498541540']
and id be more worried if we had lost gray and not dotson..gray did everything himself..dotson had set plays for him (93% of his 3s came from assists)..like i noted we have 2 other 6-4 elite shooters on roster (vanbecks listed size isn't updated, he's 6'4....& brooks)..we have another 40% 6'7 shooter in gabe grant coming in ..we can run dotsons plays with them...
and last year galen was a 26% from 3s and barely any points...corey is 46% from 3..we now have a shooter at point
we don't need "someone" to fill the void..we have a way deeper "team"..we don't need guards to be our top re-bounder anymore or 80% of our scoring to come from just 2 people .
and i won't argue all-conference type players but how don't you see impact guys...we had a player who almost averaged 10rbs a game in D1 (which is insane), a point guard who led his team to 30-2 with tons of major offers, fabian had a few 40 point games in HS, cedrick was Mr Basketball in texas..harris isn't a scorer but his blocking stats are crazy.
we can do what we did last year, but now we can score at the point, can rebound (everyone badly out rebounded us, a few teams almost doubled us), we have rim protectors and we can score in the paint..unlike last year
im not saying super stars but they help fill the gaps we were missing last year
Dotson had an offensive rating of a 125.7 and made 103 3-pointers. Thats a lot of ground to make up. VanBeck can shoot 3's but thats not going make up for all the things that Dotson did for UH.
I think defense is going to be Houston's issue. They always score. When they matchup against UC though, I just don't understand how they stop Jarron Cumberland, or Jacob evans. And thats not even talking about in the post.
IMO Houstons tourney chances rest on how good they can be defensively. Some of Houston's best scorers are its worst defenders. But I don't expect many freshman or JUCO (from any team in the league) to come in and be able to hang with some the experienced players on UC, WSU,SMU, & even UCONN's roster
I know Rob Gray is an elite scorer but from what I have seen of Houston he is not a good defender at all. That is just one example but I agree with justinhub2003, Houston needs to improve their defense more than their offense from what I have seen.
The good thing is, players can learn how to defend much more easily than they can learn to shoot.
(06-27-2017 10:30 AM)justinhub2003 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 08:12 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ][quote='PonyExpressHoops' pid='14418438' dateline='1498541540']
and id be more worried if we had lost gray and not dotson..gray did everything himself..dotson had set plays for him (93% of his 3s came from assists)..like i noted we have 2 other 6-4 elite shooters on roster (vanbecks listed size isn't updated, he's 6'4....& brooks)..we have another 40% 6'7 shooter in gabe grant coming in ..we can run dotsons plays with them...
and last year galen was a 26% from 3s and barely any points...corey is 46% from 3..we now have a shooter at point
we don't need "someone" to fill the void..we have a way deeper "team"..we don't need guards to be our top re-bounder anymore or 80% of our scoring to come from just 2 people .
and i won't argue all-conference type players but how don't you see impact guys...we had a player who almost averaged 10rbs a game in D1 (which is insane), a point guard who led his team to 30-2 with tons of major offers, fabian had a few 40 point games in HS, cedrick was Mr Basketball in texas..harris isn't a scorer but his blocking stats are crazy.
we can do what we did last year, but now we can score at the point, can rebound (everyone badly out rebounded us, a few teams almost doubled us), we have rim protectors and we can score in the paint..unlike last year
im not saying super stars but they help fill the gaps we were missing last year
Dotson had an offensive rating of a 125.7 and made 103 3-pointers. Thats a lot of ground to make up. VanBeck can shoot 3's but thats not going make up for all the things that Dotson did for UH.
I think defense is going to be Houston's issue. They always score. When they matchup against UC though, I just don't understand how they stop Jarron Cumberland, or Jacob evans. And thats not even talking about in the post.
IMO Houstons tourney chances rest on how good they can be defensively. Some of Houston's best scorers are its worst defenders. But I don't expect many freshman or JUCO (from any team in the league) to come in and be able to hang with some the experienced players on UC, WSU,SMU, & even UCONN's roster
but gray, dotson and pollard..all all-conference were all technically juco
and semi dominated the league and was far bench at duke..the year before
and we can out shoot most teams in the league, we dont need elite defense..we didn't lose games last year becuase of defense..the vast majority of our loses was because of rebounding..look at the game stats there was always 1 major disparity..we lost to lsu they out rebounded us by 20, almost doubling us..same with every UC game ..we get our 2 bigs from injury back from last season, and we added 5 extremely good rebounders ..we lost to any team with a remotely decent big man with size (but ill note harris was 3rd in all of juco is blocks per game, and only played 17 mins a game)
gray carried us last year, he is back but has a ton more weapons around him...
(06-27-2017 10:42 AM)shocks21 Wrote: [ -> ]I know Rob Gray is an elite scorer but from what I have seen of Houston he is not a good defender at all. That is just one example but I agree with justinhub2003, Houston needs to improve their defense more than their offense from what I have seen.
why are we acting like teams we were blowing us out and we couldnt stop them...the problem was rebounding...
almost all our losses, the teams that won scored in the 60s...low 70s' ..its just that we were kept way blow our average of 80s when we played them (because teams were getting multiple possesions on us, ridiculously out rebounding us)
(06-27-2017 11:03 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 10:30 AM)justinhub2003 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 08:12 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ][quote='PonyExpressHoops' pid='14418438' dateline='1498541540']
and id be more worried if we had lost gray and not dotson..gray did everything himself..dotson had set plays for him (93% of his 3s came from assists)..like i noted we have 2 other 6-4 elite shooters on roster (vanbecks listed size isn't updated, he's 6'4....& brooks)..we have another 40% 6'7 shooter in gabe grant coming in ..we can run dotsons plays with them...
and last year galen was a 26% from 3s and barely any points...corey is 46% from 3..we now have a shooter at point
we don't need "someone" to fill the void..we have a way deeper "team"..we don't need guards to be our top re-bounder anymore or 80% of our scoring to come from just 2 people .
and i won't argue all-conference type players but how don't you see impact guys...we had a player who almost averaged 10rbs a game in D1 (which is insane), a point guard who led his team to 30-2 with tons of major offers, fabian had a few 40 point games in HS, cedrick was Mr Basketball in texas..harris isn't a scorer but his blocking stats are crazy.
we can do what we did last year, but now we can score at the point, can rebound (everyone badly out rebounded us, a few teams almost doubled us), we have rim protectors and we can score in the paint..unlike last year
im not saying super stars but they help fill the gaps we were missing last year
Dotson had an offensive rating of a 125.7 and made 103 3-pointers. Thats a lot of ground to make up. VanBeck can shoot 3's but thats not going make up for all the things that Dotson did for UH.
I think defense is going to be Houston's issue. They always score. When they matchup against UC though, I just don't understand how they stop Jarron Cumberland, or Jacob evans. And thats not even talking about in the post.
IMO Houstons tourney chances rest on how good they can be defensively. Some of Houston's best scorers are its worst defenders. But I don't expect many freshman or JUCO (from any team in the league) to come in and be able to hang with some the experienced players on UC, WSU,SMU, & even UCONN's roster
but gray, dotson and pollard..all all-conference were all technically juco
and semi dominated the league and was far bench at duke..the year before
and we can out shoot most teams in the league, we dont need elite defense..we didn't lose games last year becuase of defense..the vast majority of our loses was because of rebounding..look at the game stats there was always 1 major disparity..we lost to lsu they out rebounded us by 20, almost doubling us..same with every UC game ..we get our 2 bigs from injury back from last season, and we added 5 extremely good rebounders ..we lost to any team with a remotely decent big man with size (but ill note harris was 3rd in all of juco is blocks per game, and only played 17 mins a game)
gray carried us last year, he is back but has a ton more weapons around him...
Agree with the Cincy fan. Y'all need better rebounding (which y'all should have) and better defense. The games y'all lost are when you couldn't break 70 because SMU, Cincy held you under 70. Gray and Van Beck are liabilities on D. Even most UH fans I know would agree with that.
Also, agree that you guy added some quality gap fillers in the big grad transfer. Davis is a nice looking player. White could really help next year if he can play physical. SHould be much better on the glass. Impact players, yet to be seen.
Dotson and Semi were big time prospects. Went to Duke and Oregon. That's isn't the same. Can basically consider both transfers (Semi was). I didn't say JuCo's suck, just said they all take differently. All I have said in each thread is: It may translate, but it may not. JuCo doesn't always translate to D-1 success.
I get you're pumped about you recruiting class, but there is reason it wasn't top 2 or 3 in AAC. That is who you are competing with ofr Tourney spots. Everyone at the top brought in good guys too. Question is who brought in or has elite guys. Fabian White should be a nice player. Was a 4-Star on 1 service. Alley (good for him for being Mr. B) he was a 3-star with some nice offers, Mike A was Top 25 in TX. And got some good JuCO prospects (Big fan of Davis, seen him play), and a guy who averaged 9Rebounds at a small school that is all good. But I can pretty much match that with every recruit SMU got (as can likely Cincy, and Temple) we have a (Grad-Transfer big who had multiple double digit rebounding games in Big East in limited minutes, a Guard who averaged almost a double-double with almost 30PPG in HS who is a 4-star on ESPN(FYI ESPN terrible hoops rankings outside top 100 rivals and 247 much better), etc). Memphis has the same type of class as y'all, except ranked higher. SMU class is ranked higher. So is Temple and Cincy. Doesn't mean their class will be better, but naming off new 3-star recruits and stats of HS kids and JuCo's doesnt scream impact player, maybe they all contribute, but impact player is a different thing. Every high major D-1 recruit has accolades and stats, that is why they were recruited. Unless you are a top 50-100 kid out of HS you are gonna have to show something before being considered an impact guy.
UH is gonna be good all I am saying is will it put them over the top. Everyone always loves their recruiting classes, talk to a Temple fan sometime, but got to look objectively at who you added that will put you over everyone else, outside of stats. McDowell for SMU last year averaged 29PPG, 8RPG 6APG in HS and couldn't play more than 8 minutes on a team with a 6 man rotation..he wasn't a impact guy.
(06-27-2017 11:21 AM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 11:03 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 10:30 AM)justinhub2003 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 08:12 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ][quote='PonyExpressHoops' pid='14418438' dateline='1498541540']
and id be more worried if we had lost gray and not dotson..gray did everything himself..dotson had set plays for him (93% of his 3s came from assists)..like i noted we have 2 other 6-4 elite shooters on roster (vanbecks listed size isn't updated, he's 6'4....& brooks)..we have another 40% 6'7 shooter in gabe grant coming in ..we can run dotsons plays with them...
and last year galen was a 26% from 3s and barely any points...corey is 46% from 3..we now have a shooter at point
we don't need "someone" to fill the void..we have a way deeper "team"..we don't need guards to be our top re-bounder anymore or 80% of our scoring to come from just 2 people .
and i won't argue all-conference type players but how don't you see impact guys...we had a player who almost averaged 10rbs a game in D1 (which is insane), a point guard who led his team to 30-2 with tons of major offers, fabian had a few 40 point games in HS, cedrick was Mr Basketball in texas..harris isn't a scorer but his blocking stats are crazy.
we can do what we did last year, but now we can score at the point, can rebound (everyone badly out rebounded us, a few teams almost doubled us), we have rim protectors and we can score in the paint..unlike last year
im not saying super stars but they help fill the gaps we were missing last year
Dotson had an offensive rating of a 125.7 and made 103 3-pointers. Thats a lot of ground to make up. VanBeck can shoot 3's but thats not going make up for all the things that Dotson did for UH.
I think defense is going to be Houston's issue. They always score. When they matchup against UC though, I just don't understand how they stop Jarron Cumberland, or Jacob evans. And thats not even talking about in the post.
IMO Houstons tourney chances rest on how good they can be defensively. Some of Houston's best scorers are its worst defenders. But I don't expect many freshman or JUCO (from any team in the league) to come in and be able to hang with some the experienced players on UC, WSU,SMU, & even UCONN's roster
but gray, dotson and pollard..all all-conference were all technically juco
and semi dominated the league and was far bench at duke..the year before
and we can out shoot most teams in the league, we dont need elite defense..we didn't lose games last year becuase of defense..the vast majority of our loses was because of rebounding..look at the game stats there was always 1 major disparity..we lost to lsu they out rebounded us by 20, almost doubling us..same with every UC game ..we get our 2 bigs from injury back from last season, and we added 5 extremely good rebounders ..we lost to any team with a remotely decent big man with size (but ill note harris was 3rd in all of juco is blocks per game, and only played 17 mins a game)
gray carried us last year, he is back but has a ton more weapons around him...
Agree with the Cincy fan. Y'all need better rebounding (which y'all should have) and better defense. The games y'all lost are when you couldn't break 70 because SMU, Cincy held you under 70. Gray and Van Beck are liabilities on D. Even most UH fans I know would agree with that.
Dotson and Semi were big time prospects. Went to Duke and Oregon. That's isn't the same. I didn't say JuCo's suck, just said they all take differently. I can name drop 2-stars out of HS that were all-stars doesn't mean they all work. Memphis is jam packed with some quality JuCO's on next year and there is a reason there fans still think they team is gonna be real average. All the JuCo top 100 had awesome stats, but it is like having awesome stats at a 3A HS in TX. All I have said in each thread is: It may translate, but it may not.
because memphis is building from scratch.....we have the core of what made us #3 in the league last year minus dotson (and barely missed the tourney) and then added 8 quality additions
and i wouldnt call gray or vanbeck liabilities..they arent great but both hustle hard on every play..especially vanbeck, every lose ball he is on the ground fighting for it....there wasnt a game last year were guards were just shaming us....it was the post that teams were taking advantage
im most excited about next year because of samspon: he is very honest and candid and doesn't sugar coat things
year 1- he said he just wanted to build culture preseason- after the season said he was surprised we upset so many good team as a lot our guys werent d1 caliber players (won 17 games, 2 top 25 wins)
year 2- said he didnt expect tourney but expected us to be way more competitive ..went to the nit
year 3- said he expected us to win a lot of games , but noted he expected devin davis to have a huge year (davis gets injured game 1 misses half the season and comes back rusty) still make the nit as a higher seed
this year- this our best team yet...is extremely genuinely excited about this team (you can see it in the video i posted early)..says we havent had depth like this
(note he said our nit last year was a disappointment..so i doubt nit calibur teams excite him)
but like i said i dont mind not having pre-season hype you dont need it it basketball, im fine with e 6 or lower projections...but i cant wait for the season to start
(06-27-2017 11:42 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 11:21 AM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 11:03 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 10:30 AM)justinhub2003 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 08:12 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ][quote='PonyExpressHoops' pid='14418438' dateline='1498541540']
and id be more worried if we had lost gray and not dotson..gray did everything himself..dotson had set plays for him (93% of his 3s came from assists)..like i noted we have 2 other 6-4 elite shooters on roster (vanbecks listed size isn't updated, he's 6'4....& brooks)..we have another 40% 6'7 shooter in gabe grant coming in ..we can run dotsons plays with them...
and last year galen was a 26% from 3s and barely any points...corey is 46% from 3..we now have a shooter at point
we don't need "someone" to fill the void..we have a way deeper "team"..we don't need guards to be our top re-bounder anymore or 80% of our scoring to come from just 2 people .
and i won't argue all-conference type players but how don't you see impact guys...we had a player who almost averaged 10rbs a game in D1 (which is insane), a point guard who led his team to 30-2 with tons of major offers, fabian had a few 40 point games in HS, cedrick was Mr Basketball in texas..harris isn't a scorer but his blocking stats are crazy.
we can do what we did last year, but now we can score at the point, can rebound (everyone badly out rebounded us, a few teams almost doubled us), we have rim protectors and we can score in the paint..unlike last year
im not saying super stars but they help fill the gaps we were missing last year
Dotson had an offensive rating of a 125.7 and made 103 3-pointers. Thats a lot of ground to make up. VanBeck can shoot 3's but thats not going make up for all the things that Dotson did for UH.
I think defense is going to be Houston's issue. They always score. When they matchup against UC though, I just don't understand how they stop Jarron Cumberland, or Jacob evans. And thats not even talking about in the post.
IMO Houstons tourney chances rest on how good they can be defensively. Some of Houston's best scorers are its worst defenders. But I don't expect many freshman or JUCO (from any team in the league) to come in and be able to hang with some the experienced players on UC, WSU,SMU, & even UCONN's roster
but gray, dotson and pollard..all all-conference were all technically juco
and semi dominated the league and was far bench at duke..the year before
and we can out shoot most teams in the league, we dont need elite defense..we didn't lose games last year becuase of defense..the vast majority of our loses was because of rebounding..look at the game stats there was always 1 major disparity..we lost to lsu they out rebounded us by 20, almost doubling us..same with every UC game ..we get our 2 bigs from injury back from last season, and we added 5 extremely good rebounders ..we lost to any team with a remotely decent big man with size (but ill note harris was 3rd in all of juco is blocks per game, and only played 17 mins a game)
gray carried us last year, he is back but has a ton more weapons around him...
Agree with the Cincy fan. Y'all need better rebounding (which y'all should have) and better defense. The games y'all lost are when you couldn't break 70 because SMU, Cincy held you under 70. Gray and Van Beck are liabilities on D. Even most UH fans I know would agree with that.
Dotson and Semi were big time prospects. Went to Duke and Oregon. That's isn't the same. I didn't say JuCo's suck, just said they all take differently. I can name drop 2-stars out of HS that were all-stars doesn't mean they all work. Memphis is jam packed with some quality JuCO's on next year and there is a reason there fans still think they team is gonna be real average. All the JuCo top 100 had awesome stats, but it is like having awesome stats at a 3A HS in TX. All I have said in each thread is: It may translate, but it may not.
because memphis is building from scratch.....we have the core of what made us #3 in the league last year minus dotson (and barely missed the tourney) and then added 8 quality additions
and i wouldnt call gray or vanbeck liabilities..they arent great but both hustle hard on every play..especially vanbeck, every lose ball he is on the ground fighting for it....there wasnt a game last year were guards were just shaming us....it was the post that teams were taking advantage
im most excited about next year because of samspon: he is very honest and candid and doesn't sugar coat things
year 1- he said he just wanted to build culture preseason- after the season said he was surprised we upset so many good team as a lot our guys werent d1 caliber players (won 17 games, 2 top 25 wins)
year 2- said he didnt expect tourney but expected us to be way more competitive ..went to the nit
year 3- said he expected us to win a lot of games , but noted he expected devin davis to have a huge year (davis gets injured game 1 misses half the season and comes back rusty) still make the nit as a higher seed
this year- this our best team yet...is extremely genuinely excited about this team (you can see it in the video i posted early)..says we havent had depth like this
(note he said our nit last year was a disappointment..so i doubt nit calibur teams excite him)
but like i said i dont mind not having pre-season hype you dont need it it basketball, im fine with e 6 or lower projections...but i cant wait for the season to start
Agreed, can't wait for the season to start. I hope UH has a solid season and the AAC gets 5 bids or so to the NCAA tourney.
(06-27-2017 11:21 AM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ]I get you're pumped about you recruiting class, but there is reason it wasn't top 2 or 3 in AAC. That is who you are competing with ofr Tourney spots. Everyone at the top brought in good guys to. Question is who brought in or has elite guys. Fabian White should be a nice player. Was a 4-Star on 1 service. Alley (good for him for being Mr. B) he was a 3-star with some nice offers, Mike A was Top 25 in TX. And got some good JuCO prospects (Big fan of Davis, seen him play) a guy who average 9Rebounds and a small school that is all good. But I can match that with every recruit SMU has (Grad-Transfer big who had multiple double digit rebounding games in Big East, Guard who averaged almost a double-double with almost 30PPG, etc). Memphis has the same type of class as y'all, except ranked higher. SMU class is ranked higher. So is Temple and Cincy. Doesn't mean their class will be better, but naming off new 3-star recruits and stats of HS kids and JuCo's doesnt scream impact player, maybe they all contribute, but impact player is a different thing. Every high major D-1 recruit has accolades and stats, that is why they were recruited. Unless you are a top 50-100 kid out of HS you are gonna have to show something before being considered an impact guy.
UH is gonna be good all I am saying is will it put them over the top. Everyone always loves their recruiting classes, talk to a Temple fan sometime, but got to look objectively at who you added that will put you over everyone else, outside of stats. McDowell for SMU last year averaged 29PPG, 8RPG 6APG in HS and couldn't play more than 8 minutes on a team with a 6 man rotation..he wasn't a impact guy.
smu is projected good though and a tourney team...memphis is starting from scratch
and the grad transfer had double doubles vs like 8 power conference teams..and jucos barely get recruit rankings...but davis had offers from lsu, okstate, wku, coloardo and if he had waited a few powerhouses like arizona were waiting on the announcements of some 5 star before offering him
if their was an in depth jc recruiting service he'd have been touted..247 doesnt even have a page for him.....
thejucorecruiting site has him and gabe grant as top 20 juco recruits
and harris was also 4star out of high school as well before that...and mr B is given to 1 player in the entire state..not everyone in d1 can get it ..and texas has elite bball players
and again no one is saying all conference..we are saying great additions to an already nice barn
(06-27-2017 12:32 AM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 12:14 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ] (06-26-2017 09:42 PM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ] (06-26-2017 08:55 PM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ]UH's roster is set... i really like our team. we have zero media hype. thats fine i get it, we havent been great in a while, and have no media flashy players..although we came with a deep class none are touted by recruiting sites..but i think we are ncaa caliber next year
we havent made a too early bracketology and most projections have us 6 or lower in league play
but we finished last year 3rd, barely missed the tourney and all but 1 key player returns..on a not too deep team with a ton of depth coming in
retuneers
32 Rob Gray G 6-2 185 RS SR (AAC leading scorer)
25 Galen Robinson Jr. G 6-1 190 JR (2nd in the AAC is assists per/2yr starter)
12 Wes VanBeck G 6-2 190 SR (arguable the best spot shooter in the league)
15 Devin Davis F 6-7 230 RS SR (injured half of last year/ best returning big)
3 Armoni Brooks G 6-4 180 SO (great shooter)
20 Valentine Sangoyomi C 6-9 250 JR (injured all last year)
New Player
Fabian White- (espn 4star PF)
Corey Davis (1st all american juco PG, on the nations best juco)
Cedrick Alley Jr. (the recipient of Texas's Mr Basketball..PF/SF)
Nura Zanna- (Grad transfer.. 9.2 rbs a game, second only to tacko in the AAC/ PF)
Gabe Grant- juco all american honoree SF
Chris Harris- 2015 espn 4star C..had grad issues 2 years ago
Mike Adewunmi- Texas top 25/ 6-5 Combo guard
Breaon Brady- top 100 juco PF
in te first team work out video Sampson says its the best team he's had since coming here ..you can see he is kinda excited about the team in the video
https://www.facebook.com/UHCougarMBK/vid...753325229/
its basketball so preseason hype isnt as important...so im fine being overlooked preseason
The Coogs are an interesting team for next year to me. Think y'all could be a Tourney team or be same as the past two years. Losing Dotson is a big loss, he could do everything. Him, Gray, and Davis were the only 3 that I thought were dangerous. Always was way more nervous of Dotson that Gray. Rob Gray is obviously an elite scorer and I think Devin Davis is a real solid big man. Robinson seems to have somewhat of a ceiling as does Van Beck. Really like the additions of Davis and Fabian White.
My takes: I think it comes down to 1) if Grant or Brooks can bring near the impact of Dotson; 2) how the JuCo and the Grad-Transfer guys transition to playing major college basketball from JuCo and Small level D1.
im not too worried about losing dotson..because we have players to replace what he did for us and we have a committee to do it..we dont need 1 player to replace his production
we added 5 bigmen to make up his rebounding numbers, and the 2 injured from last year return..the fact a SG was our top rebounder could be argued as part of our problem last year (nura had a double double vs minn, he put nice numbers on some good teams)
as far as his shooting..vanbeck technically shot at a higher percentage than dotson, ..and brooks, gabe, davis are all elite from the 3 aswell
but i disagree with your assessment on galen, galen doesnt have a ceiling..i see ceilings as something you cant break..galen is arguably one the fastest player on the dripple and supper athletic and an amazing assist to turnover ratio..his glaring weakness is that for a pg his shot is horrible..you can learn how to shoot
and im not worried about kids flopping because we have SO many players with potential ..we have a 15 team roster..we only need about 9 to be very good
Hope you are right. I like it when UH is real competitive. Shocked you are not too worried about losing the first guy you've had drafted in like 15 years who was first team all-conference, and Mr. Everything for you guys. That is like me saying not worried about losing Semi, because 3 freshman can replicate his stats/shooting/rebounding. As I said in the previous message its not about replicating numbers and what they did with 2-3 people, it is about impact. Semi was a big impact player. Dotson was a big impact player. Someone needs to fill that void.
Like the Tulsa guy who posted and likes his team. Tulsa has a pretty solid squad that is deep and has potential players on it, but lack impact guys outside of Etou. Hopefully for them Igbanu or Taplin take the next step, but they need more true firepower to be a tourney team.
I am just going off what I have seen and read. I have followed your roster/recruiting have several UH friends. You are entitled to your own opinions. I always love hearing everyone opinions.
Was just throwing in my 2 cents, because JuCo's always respond differently to D1. Look at 2015 JuCo list some became good other busts including ones in the top 15. You never know how they translate. They are usually at a JuCo for a reason and why many don't have tons of high major offers. I am sure the Grad-Transfer big will do a solid job alongside D. Davis. It just depends on if you have enough impact to put you over the hump.
I don't doubt UH will have a good team, like they did last year, the question just is will it be good enough to make y'all a tourney team?? Will be fun to watch.
I'm not sure about that. I think Jeffries could be the biggest sleeper pick up in the league. He's already got D-1 experience, and he's rated as the best JUCO recruit in the entire conference by multiple sites. (He's the #7 ranked JUCO with a .91 rating on 247, and the #7 ranked JUCO on the top 100) Our three newcomers at guard should help a lot as well. We desperately needed someone to contribute at PG last season when Taplin went out. We should have that guy this year, plus some more efficient scoring to replace what we lost from Birt.
(06-27-2017 11:53 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 11:21 AM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ]I get you're pumped about you recruiting class, but there is reason it wasn't top 2 or 3 in AAC. That is who you are competing with ofr Tourney spots. Everyone at the top brought in good guys to. Question is who brought in or has elite guys. Fabian White should be a nice player. Was a 4-Star on 1 service. Alley (good for him for being Mr. B) he was a 3-star with some nice offers, Mike A was Top 25 in TX. And got some good JuCO prospects (Big fan of Davis, seen him play) a guy who average 9Rebounds and a small school that is all good. But I can match that with every recruit SMU has (Grad-Transfer big who had multiple double digit rebounding games in Big East, Guard who averaged almost a double-double with almost 30PPG, etc). Memphis has the same type of class as y'all, except ranked higher. SMU class is ranked higher. So is Temple and Cincy. Doesn't mean their class will be better, but naming off new 3-star recruits and stats of HS kids and JuCo's doesnt scream impact player, maybe they all contribute, but impact player is a different thing. Every high major D-1 recruit has accolades and stats, that is why they were recruited. Unless you are a top 50-100 kid out of HS you are gonna have to show something before being considered an impact guy.
UH is gonna be good all I am saying is will it put them over the top. Everyone always loves their recruiting classes, talk to a Temple fan sometime, but got to look objectively at who you added that will put you over everyone else, outside of stats. McDowell for SMU last year averaged 29PPG, 8RPG 6APG in HS and couldn't play more than 8 minutes on a team with a 6 man rotation..he wasn't a impact guy.
smu is projected good though and a tourney team...memphis is starting from scratch
and the grad transfer had double doubles vs like 8 power conference teams..and jucos barely get recruit rankings...but davis had offers from lsu, okstate, wku, coloardo and if he had waited a few powerhouses like arizona were waiting on the announcements of some 5 star before offering him
if their was an in depth jc recruiting service he'd have been touted..247 doesnt even have a page for him.....
thejucorecruiting site has him and gabe grant as top 20 juco recruits
and harris was also 4star out of high school as well before that...and mr B is given to 1 player in the entire state..not everyone in d1 can get it ..and texas has elite bball players
and again no one is saying all conference..we are saying great additions to an already nice barn
Pesik, I can agree that you added some nice additions.
And Tulsa fan, I am sure y'all will be improved and yeah he looks like a nice addition, I don;t know much about him (Jefferies) outside of his ranking. He sounds like he could be a real nice player. I don't get how what I said wasn't true. Y'all need some more firepower to be competing for NCAA's. True for any team under .500 last season. Lots more.
(06-27-2017 12:00 PM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 11:53 AM)pesik Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017 11:21 AM)PonyExpressHoops Wrote: [ -> ]I get you're pumped about you recruiting class, but there is reason it wasn't top 2 or 3 in AAC. That is who you are competing with ofr Tourney spots. Everyone at the top brought in good guys to. Question is who brought in or has elite guys. Fabian White should be a nice player. Was a 4-Star on 1 service. Alley (good for him for being Mr. B) he was a 3-star with some nice offers, Mike A was Top 25 in TX. And got some good JuCO prospects (Big fan of Davis, seen him play) a guy who average 9Rebounds and a small school that is all good. But I can match that with every recruit SMU has (Grad-Transfer big who had multiple double digit rebounding games in Big East, Guard who averaged almost a double-double with almost 30PPG, etc). Memphis has the same type of class as y'all, except ranked higher. SMU class is ranked higher. So is Temple and Cincy. Doesn't mean their class will be better, but naming off new 3-star recruits and stats of HS kids and JuCo's doesnt scream impact player, maybe they all contribute, but impact player is a different thing. Every high major D-1 recruit has accolades and stats, that is why they were recruited. Unless you are a top 50-100 kid out of HS you are gonna have to show something before being considered an impact guy.
UH is gonna be good all I am saying is will it put them over the top. Everyone always loves their recruiting classes, talk to a Temple fan sometime, but got to look objectively at who you added that will put you over everyone else, outside of stats. McDowell for SMU last year averaged 29PPG, 8RPG 6APG in HS and couldn't play more than 8 minutes on a team with a 6 man rotation..he wasn't a impact guy.
smu is projected good though and a tourney team...memphis is starting from scratch
and the grad transfer had double doubles vs like 8 power conference teams..and jucos barely get recruit rankings...but davis had offers from lsu, okstate, wku, coloardo and if he had waited a few powerhouses like arizona were waiting on the announcements of some 5 star before offering him
if their was an in depth jc recruiting service he'd have been touted..247 doesnt even have a page for him.....
thejucorecruiting site has him and gabe grant as top 20 juco recruits
and harris was also 4star out of high school as well before that...and mr B is given to 1 player in the entire state..not everyone in d1 can get it ..and texas has elite bball players
and again no one is saying all conference..we are saying great additions to an already nice barn
Pesik, I can agree that you added some nice additions.
And Tulsa fan, I am sure y'all will be improved and yeah he looks like a nice addition, I don;t know much about him (Jefferies) outside of his ranking. He sounds like he could be a real nice player. I don't get how what I said wasn't true. Y'all need some more firepower to be competing for NCAA's. True for any team under .500 last season. Lots more.
I think we just needed better wing and perimeter play last season. We should have that this season.
SMU is gonna blow the doors off UH b/c Sampson puts a tiny line-up out there, 1-3. They cant see over our guys to shoot and we do whatever we want, when we want, on O. Length positively destroyed them last year, and we had no one over 6'8.