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(03-27-2018 07:15 PM)rtaylor Wrote:  

(03-27-2018 06:57 PM)skyblade Wrote:  

(03-27-2018 06:22 PM)rtaylor Wrote:  

(03-27-2018 04:33 PM)skyblade Wrote:  

(03-27-2018 02:21 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  Actually, I appear to be more optimistic than many here. I see Cronin slowly getting better as a coach and recruiter (which can't be easy at a non-power 5 school) every year. We took a shot in the NCAA's, but but could easily have a Final Four team this year and then everyone across the country would be singing Cronin's praises.

If Jacob Evans comes back next year, we have a team that is looking a single digit NCAA seed again with another chance to make an NCAA run. And if it happens, no one will be questioning Cronin.

I agree, I actually think we will be a better team next year if Evans comes back. Obviously losing Clark hurts (and losing Washington doesn't really hurt), but Scott is ready to be a starter and the year of development for all our players outweighs the losses of Clark/Washington.

Don't bet on no one questioning Cronin though. It seems like some people only care about NCAA tournament results and others only care about getting recruits who are 4* plus, regardless of how they play. Can't make everyone happy.

How in the heck can you say losing Washington will not hurt? I did not realize we had another big who can score 12 a game waiting in the wings. What team did you watch all year? Washington was extremely clutch, won us some games and was a leader. Not too many of those sitting on our bench.

He lost us some games too, he was a horrible passer and not a good one-on-one defender. The Nevada game he was the one they exposed on D down the stretch. His offensive rebounding was nothing close to our other bigs. Yes, he could shoot, but even then he took bad shots and didn't pass.

Per 40 minutes Washington averaged the fewest; Offensive rebounds, total rebounds, assists and steals of our 5 bigs who got significant playing time. Looking at advanced stats he didn't particularly seperate himself from Brooks or Nsoseme (and Scott was mostly better then him). Yes he made shots, but the bad shots he took, lack of passing and worse defense evened things out. Give Brooks/Nsoseme a year with significant playing time and they will be quite a bit superior to Washington.

The trio you mentioned is no where near the player Washington is. None of them can score outside of 3 feet. Washington was already a polished scorer when he got here. Enough with the defense crap. Even with Washington getting the majority of minutes we were one of the best defensive teams in the nation, and that got us bounced in the second round as usual. This is not the 1950s anymore. No clue where you get this nonsense. Do not give me the advanced stats either. None of those guys played major minutes so you have no clue what they will do when they get those minutes. Just ridiculous.

Scott/Brooks played a fair number of minutes and in big games. Nsoseme didn't play a ton of minutes, but he did play in important minutes. They are all superior defenders and rebounders to Washington and in some stats (especially offensive rebounds) it wasn't close. Cronin has also stated in interviews that they are all good enough to play at this level, it's just a matter of only having so many minutes to go around. I'm convinced that had Scott been in the game instead of Washington over the last 8 minutes, we would have beaten Nevada.

Scott showed the ability to create his own shot late in the season and also hit a couple jump shots. Brooks has a hook that he started hitting more late in the season. Nsoseme didn't really have an offensive game, but he was the best offensive rebounder on the team this year. They will score by getting the ball deeper in the post and getting put backs on offensive rebounds,

The big stat where the three were inferior was turnovers (especially Brooks) and Nsoseme/Brooks also commited a very high number of fouls. But those are both stats that significant playing time should bring down.

I get Washington was popular, but he wasn't that good. Look at the stats and the advanced stats and there wasn't much seperation between him and our other bigs. Clark was in a league of his own (best in the country in Box plus/minus, defensive rating, defensive win shares and win share/40 minutes) but Washington wasn't.