This is an average team. Earlier in the year I thought the Bucs might finish as high as 3rd in the conference, but the preseason pick of 6 is beginning to look realistic.

This team is as thin at guard as last years team was at post. Right now teams are shutting down the inside and Buc guards can't penetrate or get the ball inside. The guards aren't shooting at a clip that is of any note. Other teams shut down the inside and dare the guards to beat them, and so far the guards can't. Tipler can penetrate but isn't getting the fouls called, King is not shooting well, and Smith is inconsistent. Taller defenders seem to bother both King and Tipler.

Inside is better than last year but still has weaknesses. Jancek is horribly slow. Taylor a bit inconsistent offensively and Haynes is solid. Seymour doesn't seem comfortable at the 3 as of late.

The day of "point guards and shooting guards" has past. Combo guards are the rage.

I know this is a Captain Obvious posting but...

Can/Will this year's Bucs team finish better than 6th in the conference?

What say ye?

(12-16-2022 01:25 PM)BucDoctor Wrote:  This is an average team. Earlier in the year I thought the Bucs might finish as high as 3rd in the conference, but the preseason pick of 6 is beginning to look realistic.

This team is as thin at guard as last years team was at post. Right now teams are shutting down the inside and Buc guards can't penetrate or get the ball inside. The guards aren't shooting at a clip that is of any note. Other teams shut down the inside and dare the guards to beat them, and so far the guards can't. Tipler can penetrate but isn't getting the fouls called, King is not shooting well, and Smith is inconsistent. Taller defenders seem to bother both King and Tipler.

Inside is better than last year but still has weaknesses. Jancek is horribly slow. Taylor a bit inconsistent offensively and Haynes is solid. Seymour doesn't seem comfortable at the 3 as of late.

The day of "point guards and shooting guards" has past. Combo guards are the rage.

I know this is a Captain Obvious posting but...

Can/Will this year's Bucs team finish better than 6th in the conference?

What say ye?

This is very interesting. Every time I look at our players and see Jalen and Josh I think we have a front court that could be in the top three in the conference. But every time I watch a game like we played Wednesday I think we will be lucky to place sixth. Right now I am hoping that the guards come around. I think Justice may be the catalyst to get it started. But we still do not how good our coaching is versus the SoCon teams. So I have to place myself in the "hoping" category just wait and see if we come around.

oh btw, with conference play right around the corner, ETSU is in DEAD LAST for out of conference win/loss record…gulp

Non-conference play is such a wild card portion of the season. It's different than conference play, which is different than the conference tournament, which is different than post season tournament play.

Since you're asking whether we'll be better than 6th, I'll say yes. Where they land at the end of the conference season is largely dependent on coaching. The players are there to do well; coaching is my question mark.

Looking at the overall conference, it seems no one wants to be the stand out team this year. Bad year for the SoCon, but at least we all still have a chance to win the conference tourney. Are there any key players injured or anything that could help bolster ETSU in the 2nd half of the season? Mercer has been without 2 starters due to injury, and one just returned (Glisson).

(12-20-2022 04:16 PM)MercerFan Wrote:  Looking at the overall conference, it seems no one wants to be the stand out team this year. Bad year for the SoCon, but at least we all still have a chance to win the conference tourney. Are there any key players injured or anything that could help bolster ETSU in the 2nd half of the season? Mercer has been without 2 starters due to injury, and one just returned (Glisson).

Somewhat of a down year for the SoCon indeed.

After the close loss to Louisiana, we haven't been fully healthy until the last game against UNC Asheville.

Jaden Seymour, Brock Jancek, Deanthony Tipler, and Jamarius Hairston (less of a contributor than the previous 3) have all been injured and missed games.

I don't know if anyone else listened to the Sports Monster radio show yesterday afternoon. But they spent the first part of the program talking about Ben Thompson from Emory & Henry. If we make a change at Head Coach, he is an intriguing name that should get a call. I was really impressed with his team when they came to Freedom; their team played incredibly hard and were very young. He is a local product and apparently was a former ball boy at ETSU, according to the radio show. We could probably get him cheaper than other candidates, which would help offset Oliver's contract. I wouldn't imagine E&H is resourced very well and they were picked 13th in their first year of D2/SAC this season; I believe they are 6th or 7th and Bruce said that he is the front runner for Coach of the Year in that conference.

Not really a good place to put this, as nobody started a general SoCon thread, but........

The Catamounts went scoreless the last 5:35 of their UNC-G loss last night, and only scored 17 points the entire second half. Only hitting 4 of 12 FTs in part of that, but still....... Let's hope UNC-G's D isn't dialed in to that extent.

(02-16-2023 06:19 AM)bailey472 Wrote:  I don't know if anyone else listened to the Sports Monster radio show yesterday afternoon. But they spent the first part of the program talking about Ben Thompson from Emory & Henry. If we make a change at Head Coach, he is an intriguing name that should get a call. I was really impressed with his team when they came to Freedom; their team played incredibly hard and were very young. He is a local product and apparently was a former ball boy at ETSU, according to the radio show. We could probably get him cheaper than other candidates, which would help offset Oliver's contract. I wouldn't imagine E&H is resourced very well and they were picked 13th in their first year of D2/SAC this season; I believe they are 6th or 7th and Bruce said that he is the front runner for Coach of the Year in that conference.

https://www.gowasps.com/sports/mbkb/coac...ompson_Ben