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Post by aggie2ru on Apr 21, 2013 22:40:26 GMT -5
There is a lot to work on and it will come but give it most of the season before we see the fruits of our labor come to what we have been looking for after many years of lack of productivity.
Personally, I think we will do fine but...................................WARNING: We will not become national champions next year. In otherwords, we are looking better but we still have a way to go!
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Post by durhamgsoaggie on Apr 22, 2013 5:57:43 GMT -5
Good Post, I'm glad percentages were brought up. Regardless of Louisme's percentage he was considered a shooter by the opposing teams scouting report. Underwood is a decent shooter but doesn't have a scorers mentality which doesn't make him such a threat from three. It's hard to say look at this HS kids highlights and say he'll be a knock down shooter at this level. Lousime averaged 19 ppg at his JUCO in Florida before coming to NC A&T with a reputation as major shooter. Witter had a reputation as a major shooter in HS. I just don't trust Freshman, especially 8-9 of them. I think any one that saw A&T play last year would say that Lamont Middleton is a threat going to the basketball not a 3 point threat though he's a decent shooter. I also hope Beckford will room to work down there. Remember, He played in the post with Witter who was hovering around the 3 pt line alot on offense which gave Beckford the room to go work. I just don't see a player on the roster were the scouting report would be "watch him, he's a shooter". I respectfully disagree with you on Underwood. He's actually a 2 stuck in a 1's body who was asked to make the transition to 1 this year. Middleton was in the same situation. That was a big adjustment for both players. It was Underwood who hit the game-winning 3 against Coppin St. and the game-clinching shot against FAMU when we were struggling to close out both games. I give all the credit world to Powell for leading the team in scoring and having one of the greatest MEAC tournament performances ever, but Powell was not a clutch shooter in late-game situations. The only Aggie who produced in those situations was Underwood. Combine that with the big games he had against Delaware St. in the MEAC and against Liberty in the NCAAs with the whole nation watching (19 pts, Powell only had 8), and I think there's enough evidence that Jeremy can take his shots when he needs to. But his key role will be orchestrating the offense, which I believe he will be better prepared to do after this off-season of summer school and hard work. Middleton definitely has some work to do on his outside shooting, but playing the point with the back injury he dealt with all year took a toll on him, and I could see how that could affect his long-range shot. I noticed that he would never jump up like the other guys during the introduction of starters, and I'm pretty sure it was due to the lingering back injury. I believe he'll be a better shooter in general as a full-time 2. That said, he still led the MEAC in free-throw attempts. But teams will definitely will be more concerned about Middleton at the 2 than Louisme, bank on that. I don't want to dish too much on Coach Eaves, but it was Coach Eaves who called Louisme a "big-time" shooter and felt that Witter's reputation as a shooter matched the talent. That's not on the player, but the coach. There's a definite difference between how Coach Cy evaluates talent versus Coach Eaves. I'll leave it at that. We jacked up an average of 20 3-pt shots a game this season and hit 6 (30%). I'd anticipate that number to be reduced to 15 this year with us hitting an average of 5-5.5 (33%-37%) through better offense and spacing. We should be much more of an attack-the-rim squad next year. Beckford should make both of those guys better shooters because we'll probably run a significant number of offensive sets through him. I feel what you're saying about freshmen, you never really know what you're going to get until they show up. But they don't have to carry the full load right away. I'm anticipating that our Big 3 (Middleton, Beckford, and Underwood) will average close to 40 ppg based on their experience and skill level. We just need 30 ppg and some tough defensive effort from the rest of the young squad to really make some noise in the MEAC. That's not a stretch at all. But it will take some time for the freshmen to fully adjust, that is true. |
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Post by numberonebrave on Apr 22, 2013 18:41:35 GMT -5
(This squad has the potential to go 9-10 deep like Louisville to apply major pressure on defense without a fall-off on offense. ...............2.) No depth in the backcourt, out side of Underwood and Middleton there are no other guards on the .....) UNDERWOOD WILL BE ASKED TO DO AN AWFUL LOT
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Post by BOWIEAGGIE on Apr 23, 2013 6:59:55 GMT -5
Aren't Keyes and Whitaker guards? Maybe not PG's but guards. They may have played frontcourt in HS, but 6'4'' HS forwards does not automatically transfer to college forwards.Size wise they are tweeners more suited to the guard position,even though @ HBCU's there are a lot of 6'4 forwards. I've read a lot about growth spurts, but for the most part these guys are done except maybe an inch or so.
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Post by durhamgsoaggie on Apr 23, 2013 7:12:03 GMT -5
(This squad has the potential to go 9-10 deep like Louisville to apply major pressure on defense without a fall-off on offense. ...............2.) No depth in the backcourt, out side of Underwood and Middleton there are no other guards on the .....) UNDERWOOD WILL BE ASKED TO DO AN AWFUL LOT Underwood's a senior leader. We're supposed to expect a lot from him. Most critically, though.... I believe he wants that level of responsibility. I was actually sitting at a table with Underwood's family during the Athletics banquet, in addition to an Aggie alumn from 1970. That was real cool. Underwood's uncle gave me a lot of insight into Jeremy personally, as well as some internal issues that were going on, but the bottom line was that he overcome those in the 2nd half of the season, gained the trust of the coaching staff, and made himself a really big piece of this special season. Nobody on our team likes losing, but Jeremy is one of the few on this past year's squad who really HATES losing. Internal motivation like that is something that a coach can't teach. That is one of those things that really drives self-improvement, and I believe we should expect a high level of leadership and performance from Jeremy once November rolls around, especially now that he will get starter's minutes. |
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Post by durhamgsoaggie on Apr 23, 2013 7:36:23 GMT -5
Aren't Keyes and Whitaker guards? Maybe not PG's but guards. They may have played frontcourt in HS, but 6'4'' HS forwards does not automatically transfer to college forwards.Size wise they are tweeners more suited to the guard position,even though @ HBCU's there are a lot of 6'4 forwards. I've read a lot about growth spurts, but for the most part these guys are done except maybe an inch or so. Whitaker probably played 3 in HS because of his size, but I'm pretty sure he's projected as a 2 in college. At 6'5", that is a really good height from someone with his ball-handling ability. I'm not sure about Keyes. It would surprise me a bit to see him in the rotation this year with him being a freshman in football as well. I hear he's a exceptional athlete, so with his strength level as a football player, I would expect to see him as a 3. We also haven't talked about Khary Doby as much. At 6'7", Coach Cy likes his shooting ability, so if he's on, it will be tough to keep him off the floor. We also can't forget about Reese, the 6'7" forward from LA who took his team to the state championship and made 1st-Team All-City putting up 14 and 11. This is why I said it would surprise me a bit if Keyes is in the rotation. Competition brings out the best in everybody. Even though this squad will be young, Cy has set up a competitive situation for minutes in his rotation with a lot of talent on the wings for next year. I don't know that the talent level on this year's bench was high enough to do that in practice this year. The best basketball played in this upcoming season might be in these practice sessions. If that is the case, expect some of that to carry over into the games by the 2nd half of the season. |
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DECKS
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Post by DECKS on Apr 23, 2013 9:35:54 GMT -5
Aren't Keyes and Whitaker guards? Maybe not PG's but guards. They may have played frontcourt in HS, but 6'4'' HS forwards does not automatically transfer to college forwards.Size wise they are tweeners more suited to the guard position,even though @ HBCU's there are a lot of 6'4 forwards. I've read a lot about growth spurts, but for the most part these guys are done except maybe an inch or so. Whitaker probably played 3 in HS because of his size, but I'm pretty sure he's projected as a 2 in college. At 6'5", that is a really good height from someone with his ball-handling ability. I'm not sure about Keyes. It would surprise me a bit to see him in the rotation this year with him being a freshman in football as well. I hear he's a exceptional athlete, so with his strength level as a football player, I would expect to see him as a 3. We also haven't talked about Khary Doby as much. At 6'7", Coach Cy likes his shooting ability, so if he's on, it will be tough to keep him off the floor. We also can't forget about Reese, the 6'7" forward from LA who took his team to the state championship and made 1st-Team All-City putting up 14 and 11. This is why I said it would surprise me a bit if Keyes is in the rotation. Competition brings out the best in everybody. Even though this squad will be young, Cy has set up a competitive situation for minutes in his rotation with a lot of talent on the wings for next year. I don't know that the talent level on this year's bench was high enough to do that in practice this year. The best basketball played in this upcoming season might be in these practice sessions. If that is the case, expect some of that to carry over into the games by the 2nd half of the season. It's still hard for me to imagine Keyes playing two sports and majoring in engineering. If he's able to pull it off I can see him at the two or three position. I see him coming off the bench in a relief role. He's very quick, handles the ball ok and shoots the 3 pointer at a 38% clip. Because of his quickness I imagine he's going to be used primarily as a defensive specialist. |
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Apr 23, 2013 10:05:13 GMT -5
yeah, i agree its gonna be tough academically for keyes because of his major. he’s gonna have to really load up credit hours during summer school so that he can take minimum credit hours in the fall and spring semesters. i think he can manage his academics pretty well that way though. but the physical part of playing two sports will not be a major challenge for him. 18 and 19 year olders can certainly handle the physical demands of playing 2 sports. but majoring in engineering plus playing 2 sports? that’s where the challenge is. he’ll probably need to attend both summer school sessions if he wants to lighten his load during the fall and spring semesters. if it were me, that’s what i’d do...
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Post by Bigboy on Apr 23, 2013 10:07:13 GMT -5
I know this has nothing to do with this thread but what ever happened to C. Henry 6"9" big man?
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Post by Aggie One on Apr 23, 2013 10:54:34 GMT -5
Graduated. Never played again after he got reinstated from the suspension.
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Post by Bigboy on Apr 23, 2013 11:59:20 GMT -5
Thanks! That kid had a lot of potential. Too bad it did not work out for him in BB, but at least he graduated.
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Post by pj on May 12, 2013 20:29:45 GMT -5
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Post by pj on May 12, 2013 20:31:13 GMT -5
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Post by pj on May 14, 2013 12:55:34 GMT -5
Cy likes that All City' Kid from LA, Nicholas Reese.
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Post by cnixon79 on May 26, 2013 15:32:14 GMT -5
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