CSNbbs

The question that should have been asked: Are you using or banking the one scholarship you have available for next season?

I always appreciate K’s willingness to honestly assess players’ weak areas as well as strengths. As I read each name I did an assessment in my head and his matched mine almost without exception. I think we’ll be an excellent rebounding team and solid or better at the point. Not sure where the scoring will come from. The obvious choices-Knapke, Littleson and M Jackson- haven’t shown the consistency you want to see, but any of them might blossom with no Sanford or Navi on the floor. Most excited to see Sanders of the newcomers, as well as anyone pono thinks will be good. Potentially a VERY good year with depth and size if we can find some shooters.

Kowalczyk seems excited about Accunzo. He always mentions him first when talking about the freshman class. My early guess for starting 5 looks like:

PG - Marreon Jackson, if he is healthy, or Donavan Moore
SG - Spencer Littleson or Keshaun Saunders
Wing F - AJ Edu or Mattia Accunzo
PF - Willie Jackson
C - Luke Knapke

I'm still hoping for a grad transfer as a back up point guard but it is getting late for any immediate help to surface.

The UT site lists Accunzo at 6' 7" and 235 - as a guard. That should be fun to watch.

I have no idea what they will do next year, but I'm looking forward to it.

(05-27-2019 06:18 PM)Screwball Wrote: [ -> ]The UT site lists Accunzo at 6' 7" and 235 - as a guard. That should be fun to watch.

I have no idea what they will do next year, but I'm looking forward to it.

That’s PF territory in the MAC. Not even the guy from BSU approached that at his chubbiest.

It sounds like K plans to start Knapke, Edu, and W. Jackson, which will make for a big line-up. The weakness will be ball-handling, and Edu might get in trouble defensively with some of the smaller, quicker forwards that he will have to guard. Should be interesting, though. It doesn't look like there is any powerhouse team in the MAC this year.

(05-27-2019 11:24 AM)Sleepy Wrote: [ -> ]Kowalczyk seems excited about Accunzo. He always mentions him first when talking about the freshman class. My early guess for starting 5 looks like:

PG - Marreon Jackson, if he is healthy, or Donavan Moore
SG - Spencer Littleson or Keshaun Saunders
Wing F - AJ Edu or Mattia Accunzo
PF - Willie Jackson
C - Luke Knapke

I'm still hoping for a grad transfer as a back up point guard but it is getting late for any immediate help to surface.

somewhat agree with sleepy here. mattia acunzo has definitely got the staff's panties in a bunch. he's gonna be a fun rocket to cheer for. good sized baller whose confidence is easy to notice on tape and, it seems, in person. he's not gonna wow you in layup line or with his body fat mass index or whatever, but he plays quick and has that mix of size, passing, ballhandling and shooting that coach k looks for in recruiting. I can't say what role or minutes he plays, but he should be in the rotation and make plays.

I thought the main takeaway from the piece w coach was that he is committed to playing Edu and Luke together. that was my main question and it shows how coach is maturing and learning to adapt better in recent years. i thought he did a very good job of making us into a largely pick n roll, houston rockets type offense when we had fletcher, and then locking in on our defensive potential last year. i think since both luke and aj are pretty versatile big men on offense we won't have spacing issues. i like that the staff is already researching plays and schemes to utilize 2 bigs together.

really hope marreon is 100%. he's a big key. we need his best play. if he's healthy and continues to improve we should be good. if we end up with moore at the point it could be tough. he's a talented recruit but his defense and rebounding is ahead of his offense so we don't want him running the show now.

it's kind of a make or break year for littleson and alderson. while guys usually improve the most from year 1 to year 2, the junior year is often guys best year. we'll see if either of them finds a comfort level on offense and i'm hoping both are ready to be lockdown defenders because they have the ability.

shooting and scoring are a bit of a concern because that's what we lost. i'd like to see willie be a better iso guy when he has a good matchup he can drive on or post up.

there's still a ton of grad transfers in the portal so who knows if we sign one. it sure makes sense to grab a 1 year guard who is either a solid distributor or reliable shooter because we are a little thin in those places.

and, of course, i'm always most excited about AJ Edu. he's gonna be a transformative player at UT, imo. i'm hoping to see him with another 10 pounds and an expanded game. he learns quick.

(05-27-2019 06:31 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-27-2019 06:18 PM)Screwball Wrote: [ -> ]The UT site lists Accunzo at 6' 7" and 235 - as a guard. That should be fun to watch.

I have no idea what they will do next year, but I'm looking forward to it.

That’s PF territory in the MAC. Not even the guy from BSU approached that at his chubbiest.

No kidding.

Maybe it's just me but I "think" the talent level is going up at the U of T.

Not to throw summer away, but I'm pumped for next year.

(05-27-2019 06:47 PM)pono Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-27-2019 11:24 AM)Sleepy Wrote: [ -> ]Kowalczyk seems excited about Accunzo. He always mentions him first when talking about the freshman class. My early guess for starting 5 looks like:

PG - Marreon Jackson, if he is healthy, or Donavan Moore
SG - Spencer Littleson or Keshaun Saunders
Wing F - AJ Edu or Mattia Accunzo
PF - Willie Jackson
C - Luke Knapke

I'm still hoping for a grad transfer as a back up point guard but it is getting late for any immediate help to surface.

somewhat agree with sleepy here. mattia acunzo has definitely got the staff's panties in a bunch. he's gonna be a fun rocket to cheer for. good sized baller whose confidence is easy to notice on tape and, it seems, in person. he's not gonna wow you in layup line or with his body fat mass index or whatever, but he plays quick and has that mix of size, passing, ballhandling and shooting that coach k looks for in recruiting. I can't say what role or minutes he plays, but he should be in the rotation and make plays.

I thought the main takeaway from the piece w coach was that he is committed to playing Edu and Luke together. that was my main question and it shows how coach is maturing and learning to adapt better in recent years. i thought he did a very good job of making us into a largely pick n roll, houston rockets type offense when we had fletcher, and then locking in on our defensive potential last year. i think since both luke and aj are pretty versatile big men on offense we won't have spacing issues. i like that the staff is already researching plays and schemes to utilize 2 bigs together.

really hope marreon is 100%. he's a big key. we need his best play. if he's healthy and continues to improve we should be good. if we end up with moore at the point it could be tough. he's a talented recruit but his defense and rebounding is ahead of his offense so we don't want him running the show now.

it's kind of a make or break year for littleson and alderson. while guys usually improve the most from year 1 to year 2, the junior year is often guys best year. we'll see if either of them finds a comfort level on offense and i'm hoping both are ready to be lockdown defenders because they have the ability.

shooting and scoring are a bit of a concern because that's what we lost. i'd like to see willie be a better iso guy when he has a good matchup he can drive on or post up.

there's still a ton of grad transfers in the portal so who knows if we sign one. it sure makes sense to grab a 1 year guard who is either a solid distributor or reliable shooter because we are a little thin in those places.

and, of course, i'm always most excited about AJ Edu. he's gonna be a transformative player at UT, imo. i'm hoping to see him with another 10 pounds and an expanded game. he learns quick.

I'm sure one of our astute readers know about his injury (MJ) and the chance he's ready for the season. That is key, IMO. He's pretty good in the capacity we want from a TK team.

The development of AJ will be fun to watch. I think he could be the difference between a good MAC team and a great one; one that could win the MAC, and make a decent showing in the Big Dance.

The kid is talented, and it appears TK is obtaining a supporting cast.

I hope. I'm getting old. :-)

The most intriguing news to come out of Coach K’s interview as Pono mentions is the likelihood of Knapke and Edu playing together as they did in the post season NIT game at Xavier. It will be interesting to see how they utilize these big men as I think this “big” line up would impose matchup problems for most MAC teams who do not have this type of size and skill level at the 4 and 5 positions. However, their success will be predicated on how well our perimeter players like M Jackson, S. Littleson, D. Alderson and R. Saunders improve this offseason as they have big shoes to fill in replacing Sanford and Navigato. It should be a very interesting offseason to say the least!

The Toledo men’s basketball team has added Gavin Bizeau, a transfer from Duquesne. He is a 6-foot-11 center who will have to sit one year at UT before he has 3 more years of eligibility. @BrianBuckey


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I didn't know Alderson was injured at the end of last year. Many of us wondered why his PT was reduced. I think he could be a scoring filler.

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For what it's worth, Bizeau was a 4 star recruit coming out of high school.

https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2018/09/...-duquesne/

Ranked 18th in the nation coming out if HS.

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(05-28-2019 05:11 PM)emanoh Wrote: [ -> ]https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2018/09/...-duquesne/

Ranked 18th in the nation coming out if HS.

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that's a well researched and developed article. thanks for the link. my guess is that the infatuation with dambrot from afar wore off when he played for him up close. playing for dambrot also meant staying in the shadow of his father to an extent and he may have decided to grow away from that.

skilled player, not a lumbering project.

(05-29-2019 04:08 AM)pono Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-28-2019 05:11 PM)emanoh Wrote: [ -> ]https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2018/09/...-duquesne/

Ranked 18th in the nation coming out if HS.

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that's a well researched and developed article. thanks for the link. my guess is that the infatuation with dambrot from afar wore off when he played for him up close. playing for dambrot also meant staying in the shadow of his father to an extent and he may have decided to grow away from that.

skilled player, not a lumbering project.

From his Twitter feed it looks like one of his former coaches was Rocket guard Keith Wade
https://twitter.com/wadesworld32?ref_src...r%5Eauthor

(05-29-2019 11:26 AM)Sleepy Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-29-2019 04:08 AM)pono Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-28-2019 05:11 PM)emanoh Wrote: [ -> ]https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2018/09/...-duquesne/

Ranked 18th in the nation coming out if HS.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

that's a well researched and developed article. thanks for the link. my guess is that the infatuation with dambrot from afar wore off when he played for him up close. playing for dambrot also meant staying in the shadow of his father to an extent and he may have decided to grow away from that.

skilled player, not a lumbering project.

From his Twitter feed it looks like one of his former coaches was Rocket guard Keith Wade
https://twitter.com/wadesworld32?ref_src...r%5Eauthor

Keith Wade's son, Brandon was a Freshman Point Guard at Duquesne last season who has also announced he is transferring so that is where the familiarity between the two comes from.

Bonus points for the obscure Mount Union connection. Maybe Candle helped in the recruiting.

I like the fact that the coaching staff can possibly diversify the lineup with the talent/size/ and speed they will have at their disposable for next season. There will no doubt, be some growing pains and challenges, but the pieces are there...

- DEFINITELY EXCITED !!!