MeanGreen2019

This right here. Supporting the athletic programs is a must. Idk about $1000, but giving any extra cash would be great if we want to continue and eventually ascend to the next level

Ruder will be here for summer camp ball. It will be between Aune and Ruder for the starting role unless Martin catches fire during camp. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Aune and Ruder split the first game of the season since Ruder arrives so late.

I’m not going to lie, when Coach Mac said we weren’t a basketball school that certainly stung. It felt like a poke or jab at the fanbase and I understand why.

No way Javion stays. He needs to go and take his shot at the league. Selfishly I would love for him to stay, but he put himself on the radar and has a chance to be a good player. I think Simmons will leave for international ball. Not sure about Reese and Bell. I hope they stay another year.

I just read Brune’s breakdown on our game. The more I read about Nova, the more nervous I get. This will be a tough challenge for sure.

Grant isn’t going anywhere.

Welcome to the board and thanks for the insight, it was definitely a fun read. Here is a run down of the team from my perspective. Starters: Javion Hamlet- 6’4” 193 ilbs starting guard and our best player. He is the engine that makes our offense run. He averaged something like 19/7/7 in the conference tourney and averaged 15/4/3 in the regular season. He also has range and can shoot pretty well from 3 at 36.2%. You will see a lot high screens so Javion can get in the paint and either create an open opportunity (he is an excellent passer and has great vision) or finish at the rim. He has a great floater and has integrated his step-back jump shot into the mix this season. He is truly a tremendous finisher and will find ways to contort his body to finish at the rim. When Javion stalls or gets tired, our offense is not the same and can struggle like it did for 8 minutes on Saturday. If we win on Friday, Javion will be a major reason why. James Reese- 6’ 4” 167 ilbs guard. He complements Javion really well with his ability to spot up and shoot. He’s currently averaging 10.8 ppg and 4.5 rpg. You’ll see some sets called where he gets open off some off-ball screens. I think where he’s most valuable is his perimeter defense. He brings a high level of intensity and devotion to the defensive side of the ball. His help defense and rotations are quick and top notch. He has the quickness to cut off ball handlers to prevent them from driving and creating. He can be very streaky at times on offense and weirdly misses more open shots than contested shots. Mardrez McBride- 6’ 2” 178 ilbs guard. He plays a lot like Reese and complements Javion well. He is a great spot up shooter and possesses the ability to finish at the rim when needed. He is shooting the three ball at a clip of 39.8% and is averaging 7.6 points a game. He isn’t as quick as Reese defensively on the perimeter, but he has active hands and will usually start some fast breaks with the steals he gets. He, like Reese, can be inconsistent from the field but he can also catch fire and completely change a game. He’ll be someone to watch in this game. Thomas Bell- 6’ 6” 190 ilbs forward. He is our glue guy, especially on defense. While he is only 6’ 6” he is really athletic and plays like he is 6’ 10”. He is currently averaging 10.3 ppg and 5.7 rebounds on 52.9% from the field with a 39.5% 3pt FG percentage. His energy and motor on defense is contagious and is evident with his 1.2 bpg. He usually takes it inside where he’s most comfortable, but will take what the defense gives him. Last game WKU made him shoot from 3 and he struggled mightily until OT where hit that big shot to put us up. Zach Simmons- 6’ 10” 239 ilbs Forward. This guy has been a foundation piece for the last four years. He was with us when we were awful and he has been instrumental in where we are today as a program. Simmons is averaging 10.5 ppg with 6.3 rpg on 64% from the field. He plays with his back to the basket and usually will get 5-10 plays a game where we throw him the ball down in the post and let him work. He is somewhat inconsistent on defense, but has improved in this area over the years to where he can hold his own against almost anybody. He did a great job containing a 5 star recruit and a hell of a player in Charles Bassey on Saturday. His matchup with Trevion Williams/ Edey will be the key matchup to watch for NT. Bench: JJ Murray- 6’ 1” 179 ilbs guard. He doesn’t show up on the stat sheet very much with only 2.7 ppg on 34.5% from the field, but this guy on defense is a pure dog. He isn’t the best defender, but he is a constant nuisance. Always in the face of his guy and is always contesting shots. He averages 1.2 steals a game so occasionally he’ll start a fast break and finish at the rim. He plays a significant amount averaging about 19.2 mpg. Rubin Jones- He is out for the tourney I believe, but he played a massive role for us this season. Won’t get into detail here but he is someone we will be building our program around in the next couple of years. Abou Ousmane- 6’ 10” 250 ilbs forward. If Simmons gets in trouble, you’ll see him pop in the game. He averaged 8 minutes a game and 3ppg on 55% from the field. He’s a freshman, so he is really raw but he has already come a long way from the beginning of the season. I don’t like him on Trevion on at all so if Zach gets in foul trouble we could be in major trouble. Offense: We like to wind the clock down and look for the extra pass. We unfortunately don’t run a motion, our system consists of on-ball and off-ball screens to get Javion the ability to create and allow our shooters to get open from three. We like to work inside-out as well when Javion is not creating. We’ll throw the ball down to Simmons to see if he can get a bucket or kick out for an easy three. Getting easy buckets at the rim first is our priority so we can open up the 3pt game. We did the opposite against WKU and we’ll have to do the same against Purdue. Our pace is glacial and we like it that way. Defense: We run straight man regardless of who we play. We hedge hard on PnR and do a great job of limiting free trips to the basket. This team is known for taking charges to shift the momentum and create turnovers. Our energy is relentless and we crash the boards hard to make up for our lack of size. We didn’t double Bassey that much last game, but we’ve doubled post players before. It’ll be interesting to see how we handle Trevion. Our defense really starts by limiting drive and kick outs and forcing contested shots. Our defense has been the backbone of our entire team this year. The one thing we struggled with when playing Arkansas was limiting points in the paint by their bigs. On another note, our team is not afraid of the big stage. We traveled to West Virginia on something like two days notice to play them. Coach Mac and the team aren’t scared of competition and actually thrive on it. We were leading WVU at half, were within a bucket or two of Loyola Chicago the entire time, and played just awful against Miss St. We were pretty even with Arkansas statistically, but we shot 15% from three and that buried us. We haven’t finished the big dog yet, but I don’t think it really matters to them. Our team will come out excited to play with tons of energy, the question is will the offense be able to contribute consistently throughout the entire game. I’m sure the rest of the board will agree or disagree with some, all, or none of my post, but this is my perspective of our squad this year. I look forward to the game on Friday and hopefully we can pull off the upset!

When watching Eden play, he is really really slow. We might need to push the pace when he is in the game. This will be a tough game, but the one thing they don’t have that we do is Coach Mac. Let’s go!!

Something is definitely not right here

They looked incredibly slow last year. Not just the secondary, but also the linebackers too.

When will they announce?

I was talking about the defense

Good. Now they need to go get someone with legitimate experience and results. Just to play devils advocate, I wonder if changing to a 3rd defensive coordinator in as many years is something that we should think more about. I guess it couldn’t get much worse though.

Just saying

Jesus. Really?? Can we please get some damn transfers in here. So in year 3 of his program, Dykes has recruited two stud Qb’s from big time programs. This sucks.

Lol.

It’s 100% due to contact tracing/COVID or transferring out. The other reasons don’t make much sense

When is the big announcement going to happen? Also do you see any of our commits flipping today? What do you think @TheReal_jayD

Why. Why run it three times in a row up the middle when you’re down by 2 scores and your defense is bad. FEED THE BALL TO DARDEN.

Turn. Your. Damn. Head.

For real. These announcers believe we are lucky to to be in the same building

This game and these announcers are nauseating

I miss Mason

Defense needs to make a stop now if we want any chance at this game.

Why is this defense such garbage