(04-28-2022 04:47 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

(04-28-2022 11:18 AM)elw4796 Wrote:  Couple new names:

> John Stansbury. 6-3 sophomore out of Delaware State. Averaged 10.8 points, 3.5 rebounds (45/40/65 splits). Has only played 42 games in three years and plays for quite possibly the worst program in the country (they might've overtaken Chicago St this year).
> Tahj Small. 6-5 senior out of Tarleton State. Averaged 13.8 points, 5.6 rebounds (42/30/79 splits).

Not really thrilled with a lot of the names we've been in recent contact with. Small would be a fine addition, I guess, but we're in desperate need for a primary ball handler and Pera seems either reluctant or oblivious. Desperately hope Jones, Mason, Akuchie, and Perkins all turn out to be awesome because the roster's just not in good shape right now.

I don't think the roster is in awful shape for 2022-23 - now if you want to talk beyond that, then you might be right. And I'm assuming at this point that Olivari, Evee and Fiedler are returning (for one more year each would be my guess). We just have two more days to sweat out the portal.

Right now, this is how we shape up for 2022-23 (the guys in parentheses are walk-ons)

G - Evee, Olivari, Lieppert (Myers, Peakes)
G/F - Geron, Mason, Jones, Sheffield
F - Lewis, McDowell (Moffatt)
F/C - Fiedler, Akuchie, Perkins

1 'ship left to offer (hopefully to a playmaker as you say). I'd be surprised if we got someone as good as Pierre at this point, but I'd settle for another McBride type.

If that's how 2022-23 ends up looking, that's not a bad group if we stay healthy (which didn't happen in 2021-22). Evee, Olivari, Fiedler are surefire starters, with Lewis I believe (you and I differ on how good we think he will be), and then either a new transfer or possibly Geron or Mason. Maybe Lieppert instead, but that gives you zero scholarship true guards for the bench as of right now.

I just can't get myself to be optimistic, even though I think the incoming class will be surprisingly good. We were the 220th ranked KP team last year. We lost (ranked by on-off splits, min 100 possessions):

> Pierre (#1 offensive player, #2 defensive player)
> Poteat (#10 offensive player, #7 defensive player)
> Mullins (#5 offensive player, #5 defensive player)
> McBride (#9 offensive player, #8 defensive player)

Regardless of how you see defensive metrics (I don't think they're entirely reliable), I think we can all roughly agree that we lost our best offensive player (Pierre), our best guard defender (Mullins), and maybe our best wing defender (Pierre). A team ranked #300 on defense losing two of its better defenders is disastrous, especially because freshmen have a tendency to struggle more on the defensive end than offensive end (and because we know Pera and his staff have shown no ability to develop kids on that end). And it's hard to bet on us being better than 125 on the offensive end, considering how much of the offense ran through both Pierre and Poteat (and that's setting aside that Mullins and McBride were two of the guys who got the ball when we needed somebody to attack and/or late in the shot clock).

The way I see it is that it's going to take a lot for us just to get to the level we were at this year. Freshmen stepping up immediately, Lewis showing the P5 to MM improvement, Geron and McDowell developing, Olivari and Lieppert getting healthy, etc. When you need a lot to go right just to remain at your current level, the safe bet is always on a team getting worse rather than better. And even staying the same (in the 200-250 range) should be unacceptable at this stage.