Saratoga2
03-15-2007, 10:41 PM
At the onset of the season some of the expectations for this team included second place in the ACC and a run into the NCAAs to the sweet 16. That sounded plausible, since the talent level on the team was solid although quite young. There were other reasons for optimism including the return of a healthy Demarcus Nelson and Greg Paulus along with the unknown of getting David McClure back. Also several players had a year of Div 1 experience.
Others cautioned that with 4 seniors leaving including the majority of the scoring, that we could do substantially worse. Doing well required that the freshmen would come though and make contributions early on. In reality, it was a lack of composure handling the ball resulting in numerous turnovers, lack of a go to player for scoring and worse than average foul shooting that lead to losses in close games. Also, the team speed and discipline on defense was insufficient to stop really quick aggressive teams from cutting leads and/or pulling away.
It was an interesting season to watch and several players made strides forward in their play. Paulus came back from a dreadful start of the season to be a major contributor. McRoberts was good all year and may make further strides next year if he stays. Better shooting touch, a mid range jumper need to be added to his arsenal of moves. Nelson's skills are probably close to the maximum for him. He is good, but has issues with ball handling, shooting form and foul shooting. He is really more of a power forward in a strong guard's body. McClure really played well this year and contributed. Perhaps he can develop offensively, but the VCU game showed him to be a step slow to guard really quick players. Pocius has shown qualities that will make him valuable for the next couple of years. I hope coach K uses him more next year.
With the freshmen, I thought Henderson developed into a scoring threat and is a fine young player with a lot of upside potential. Scheyer also impressed, but to me deferred too often, when he should have been more aggressive. Maybe he will come along next year to be an efficient 15 ppg guy. Thomas also showed flashes of ability and has a lot of upside. He needed to learn to control his aggression to stay in games and needs to develop his offensive moves. I was disappointed that Zoubek didn't develop more quickly and give Duke that huge body inside. The kind of player that Pittsburgh has in Aaron Gray.
The season is over and I stilll enjoyed watching the team throughout the trials and tribulations of it all. Next year we have at least three good freshmen joining. Nolan Smith appears to be a scoring guard with a handle and he reminds me of Ewing. He should provide another source of quickness at the guard spot. Taylor King sounds like a hard working kid with the ability to put up points. He is not going to make the team quicker though. Finally, we have Singler coming with great versatility. Couple him with McRoberts and you have a formadible front court. Of course, if Patterson did come, we would gain a quick and tough front court player with scoring ability.
I tend to agree with those that feel that we need to get one or more truly quick and slick guards to help against the truly quick teams. Don't see that happening in the near term though.
Others cautioned that with 4 seniors leaving including the majority of the scoring, that we could do substantially worse. Doing well required that the freshmen would come though and make contributions early on. In reality, it was a lack of composure handling the ball resulting in numerous turnovers, lack of a go to player for scoring and worse than average foul shooting that lead to losses in close games. Also, the team speed and discipline on defense was insufficient to stop really quick aggressive teams from cutting leads and/or pulling away.
It was an interesting season to watch and several players made strides forward in their play. Paulus came back from a dreadful start of the season to be a major contributor. McRoberts was good all year and may make further strides next year if he stays. Better shooting touch, a mid range jumper need to be added to his arsenal of moves. Nelson's skills are probably close to the maximum for him. He is good, but has issues with ball handling, shooting form and foul shooting. He is really more of a power forward in a strong guard's body. McClure really played well this year and contributed. Perhaps he can develop offensively, but the VCU game showed him to be a step slow to guard really quick players. Pocius has shown qualities that will make him valuable for the next couple of years. I hope coach K uses him more next year.
With the freshmen, I thought Henderson developed into a scoring threat and is a fine young player with a lot of upside potential. Scheyer also impressed, but to me deferred too often, when he should have been more aggressive. Maybe he will come along next year to be an efficient 15 ppg guy. Thomas also showed flashes of ability and has a lot of upside. He needed to learn to control his aggression to stay in games and needs to develop his offensive moves. I was disappointed that Zoubek didn't develop more quickly and give Duke that huge body inside. The kind of player that Pittsburgh has in Aaron Gray.
The season is over and I stilll enjoyed watching the team throughout the trials and tribulations of it all. Next year we have at least three good freshmen joining. Nolan Smith appears to be a scoring guard with a handle and he reminds me of Ewing. He should provide another source of quickness at the guard spot. Taylor King sounds like a hard working kid with the ability to put up points. He is not going to make the team quicker though. Finally, we have Singler coming with great versatility. Couple him with McRoberts and you have a formadible front court. Of course, if Patterson did come, we would gain a quick and tough front court player with scoring ability.
I tend to agree with those that feel that we need to get one or more truly quick and slick guards to help against the truly quick teams. Don't see that happening in the near term though.