2!!!!

3/21/2007 11:05:16 AM

Prawn Star be sure to keep being a jackass. What's it to you if we get our hopes up. We had a better than expected season, we only had one senior, and while he was our only pt guard, we are getting 3 guys that might be able to play the position (like others have said Sid & Co. will make at least one of them a good pt guard) and a top 20 recruiting class

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 11:06 AM. Reason : duh]

3/21/2007 11:05:49 AM

Quote :

"Sidney's not going to go that deep. He's like valvano -- starters get a lot of minutes. He values experience and continuity. We will play 8, at most. All the people expecting Fells and Grant to be bumped out of starting spots will be disappointed."

The amount he played Justin Clark disproves that... I think he will play who is producing.

3/21/2007 11:06:30 AM

yeah, and he didn't play anyone else, because... well, look at who was available.

3/21/2007 11:09:39 AM

I expect at least 8 players to get significant minutes, and 10 to get at least a few.

And I don't expect to see Hickson start any next season, except in the case of injury or punishment for breaking a team rule. He will probably get around 20 minutes a game though by the end of the year.

3/21/2007 11:15:09 AM

So tell me, how many Mc D AA's that go to NIT teams in the past didn't start from day one??? I look forward to the answer

3/21/2007 11:23:32 AM

Quote :

"i think gonzo, johnny thomas, and tracy smith will redshirt."

the only reason we recruited gonzalez was to have a true point next year, why would he redshirt? did you just make those up?

3/21/2007 11:25:09 AM

^^ Who is he going to start over?

And Scooter Sherril could be an answer to your question, I wasn't around his whole 4 years, so don't know if he started as a freshman, but I know he wasn't great his first couple years.

3/21/2007 11:27:41 AM

i'd say it's a good bet that hickson doesn't start in the beginning of the season. by the end, who knows.

3/21/2007 11:36:29 AM

barring injury, i don't think there's any way that our starting lineup to begin the year won't be:

PG Degand (Gonzalez, Fells)
SG Fells (Grant, Gonzalez, Thomas)
SF Grant (Horner, Thomas, Costner)
PF Costner (McCauley, Hickson, Smith, Horner)
C McCauley (Hickson)

Johnson may get some minutes at PG/SG after december, but he'll only get a few chances to earn more playing time. i think it will depend a lot on how well degand/gonzalez have performed and what they all look like in practice. johnson has a good chance to steal minutes from javy when he becomes eligible with the additional experience he'll have from practicing with us this season.

nobody is going to redshirt for non-medical reasons. if someone gets pissed that they didn't get enough PT they will transfer, but i don't forsee that happening. hickson most definitely is not going to start going into the season. he will most likely be able to be the first man off the bench from the beginning, or at least early in the season. if he shows to be a significant improvement over mccauley in most areas then sidney MAY swap him into the starting spot. i think it'd be much more likely for sid to just leave ben as the starter and give hickson more of his minutes. hickson has not earned the right to start over anyone we currently have, and i'm not in the least convinced he'll even be ready to by the beginning of the season. we didn't lose games because of lack of talent in our starting 5. our starters this season are REALLY solid players. we've just lacked the ability to go to our bench when we need to. i think hickson will prove to be an excellent spark off the bench for us and will earn plenty of minutes.

i think the players that will have the hardest time seeing the court are going to be ferguson, thomas, johnson or gonzalez, and lew. assuming smith qualifies, i think he'll earn playing time through his play and improve at least as much as horner did by the end of the season. i think it will be very likely that costner leaves after next season unless he thinks we have a really good shot at a title and elects to come back one more year. if he does decide to go, smith will be a key factor in replacing him. it will take a combination of horner and smith to account for what we'll lose. smith will have to make up for the lost post presence, and horner for the solid outside shooting. neither one of them will have the deadly combination of both strengths, but they should be solid.

if everything progresses like i think it may, my prediction for the starting 5 for the 2008/2009 season would be:

PG Degand/Gonzalez/Johnson (will be decided by 2007/2008 play. 2 non-starters and mays will sub)
SG Fells (gonzalez, mays)
SF Horner (thomas, williams)
PF McCauley (smith, horner)
C Hickson (mccauley, smith)

i see sidney sticking with an 8 man rotation, maybe 9 if the situation calls for it. the guys that dont make the rotation will be there when we need them. and we will need them.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 12:08 PM. Reason : ]

3/21/2007 12:05:26 PM

We will be stacked!

1st Semester Rotation:

1: Farnold Degand (20 min)
....Javier Gonzalez (20 min)
2: Courtney Fells (30 min)
....Farnold Degand (10 min)
3: Gavin Grant (30 min)
....Dennis Horner (10 min)
4: Brandon Costner (30 min)
....Ben McCauley (10 min)
5: JJ Hickson (25 min)
....Ben McCauley (15 min)



2nd Semester Rotation:

1: Farnold Degand (30 min)
....Javier Gonzalez (10 min)
2: Courtney Fells (30 min)
....Marques Johnson (10 min)
3: Gavin Grant (30 min)
....Dennis Horner (10 min)
4: Brandon Costner (30 min)
....Ben McCauley (10 min)
5: JJ Hickson (25 min)
....Ben McCauley (15 min)

Lowe said he wants the starters to average about 30 min in an 8/9 man rotation. The rest get minutes due to foul trouble, injuries, big leads, etc.


[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 12:32 PM. Reason : .]

3/21/2007 12:22:15 PM

Quote :

"the only reason we recruited gonzalez was to have a true point next year, why would he redshirt? did you just make those up?"

because we have 2 other guys (4 if you include fells and grant) who can play point guard next season. both of them will be sophmores (degand a redshirt) next season, and they'll have had nearly 2 years of tutelage in the program. there's no need to rush, and start a true freshman point guard who isn't a blue-chipper or anything. it serve him and us best for him to sit and learn for a year. needless to say, it'll also free up the bottle neck we have at the guard positions.

and we recruited him, because he was holding out from committing with a mid-major, lsu, or washington state in hopes of signing with a bigger program. he was a target of opportunity.


why are some of you so down on marques johnson? the kid is a very solid recruit (4* and #21 sg). i only projected degand starting over johnson, because degand has one more year of experience. i fully expect johnson to be starting as a junior or senior. i doubt gonzo will ever start.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 12:44 PM. Reason : ]

3/21/2007 12:37:01 PM

nobody will redshirt for any reason other than a season-ending injury that happens either before or right at the beginning of the season.

nobody is going to redshirt.

3/21/2007 12:40:10 PM

Quote :

"I doubt that Degand or Johnson will be ready next year"

Degand has been practicing with the team this year IIRC

3/21/2007 12:42:00 PM

Quote :

"because we have 2 other guys (4 if you include fells and grant) who can play point guard next season."

Why the hell would you include Grant?

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 12:44 PM. Reason : []

3/21/2007 12:43:26 PM

i hope our team next year doesn't look too much like Maryland did this year

3/21/2007 12:43:32 PM

Fells and Grant are NOT point guards, and we recruited this kid to avoid puting them in positions where they are uncomfortable. YOu can bet that unless we have 2 guards hurt next year you wont see Grant or Fells at the 1 anymore.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 12:46 PM. Reason : ]

3/21/2007 12:45:42 PM

i said he could play point guard. as in, if for some unforeseeable chain of tragedies, we had no other options. i know he hated playing the point, but he is still an option if something happens with degand, johnson, gonzo, ferg, and fells.

i forgot about ferg, so that's actually 3 guys (or 5) who could play the point while gonzo redshirts.

3/21/2007 12:48:53 PM

Quote :

"Degand has been practicing with the team this year IIRC"

You are correct, sir.

3/21/2007 12:49:48 PM

You're kidding yourself if you think Grant "can" play the point. He tried this year, and its clear that he can NOT play the point.

3/21/2007 12:50:21 PM

fucking jesus christ...

3/21/2007 12:51:06 PM

I think that the PG has yet to be determined and probably won't be determined to the week before each game. Obviously McCauley is going to start over Hickson in the beginning, I don't think that there are that many reasonable people out there denying that. However, I do believe that Hickson will get significant minutes. I also hope to God that Grant nor Fells handles the point. They aren't quick, they're in a hurry! I think Costner will start the 4 position and depending on Hicksons PT and the game situation (foul trouble, lead, etc...) McCauley or Hickson should get PT at the 4 as well. We basically now have 3 big men to split 2 positions, which is a great thing. We also now have ~7 (fells, grant, ferg, horner, gonzo, johnson, degand) people to split PT at 3 positions; although, I think Fells and Horner will play the 3.

Sid has plenty of options next year and I trust his ability to utilize each individuals talent for teams best interest. It will be interesting to see who get the start at the start of the ACC, when we should have a starting 5 picked out, and then to see who gets significant minutes and who doesn't.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 12:53 PM. Reason : .]

3/21/2007 12:51:54 PM

^^haha i didnt read this in your post

Quote :

"he is still an option if something happens with degand, johnson, gonzo, ferg, and fells"

ok so we can end this argument cause thats not going to happen.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 12:52 PM. Reason : ]

3/21/2007 12:52:42 PM

yeah, it's very unlikely, but he's there if we need him. of course, if it ever got to that point, we'd be fucked anways, so it wouldn't matter if bartosz was playing point.

^^ fells is a guard. horner is a g/f tweener.

3/21/2007 12:55:59 PM

Well the reason I said that is because in the ACC the 3 has to be relatively quick and Costner just isn't right now. So I didn't see any other players on the roster with experienced PT that could step into that position from the get go.

3/21/2007 12:59:45 PM

gavin grant. i agree with you though. fells could play the three. guys like him and grant are tall enough and athletic enough to play sg and sf. it depends on coaching philosophy and in-game matchups.

i think costner and mccauley will split time at the 4, and relieve hickson when necessary (assuming bartosz doesn't pan out).

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 1:05 PM. Reason : ]

3/21/2007 1:03:39 PM

PG DYLAN
SG DYLAN
SF DYLAN
PF DYLAN
C DYLAN

season over...38-0 natl champs

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 1:43 PM. Reason : SSS]

3/21/2007 1:42:35 PM

Quote :

"because we have 2 other guys (4 if you include fells and grant) who can play point guard next season."

you are so wrong right now. firstly, degand can't play until december. secondly if fells and grant could play the point, then we wouldn't have had any problems this year, would we have?

and ^ LOL

3/21/2007 1:52:26 PM

^Umm, I was pretty sure that Degand CAN play at the beginning of next season.

It was Marques Johnson who can't play until second semester, right?

3/21/2007 1:56:26 PM

^^Actually, you're wrong. It's Johnson who can't play until December.

Fells and Grant may have to play PG by necassity, not by choice. It's not likely that Degand, Johnson or Gonzalez will be ready to start next year.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 1:56 PM. Reason : 2]

3/21/2007 1:56:29 PM

^^^ Exactly, leave the point for degand, johnson, or gonzo. Fells and grant can move to a 2, or possibly the 3.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 1:58 PM. Reason : ^]

3/21/2007 1:56:34 PM

Quote :

"Exactly, leave the point for degand, johnson, or gonzo."

I hope that works out, but I don't see it happening.

My prediction for the starting lineup early next year:

Grant
Fells
Horner
Costner
McCauley

In which case we'll average about 20 turnovers per game

By the end of the year, Hickson and/or one of the 3 new guards will be getting a lot of time.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 2:01 PM. Reason : 2]

3/21/2007 2:00:23 PM

^^^ I disagree. Degand has been practicing with the team all year. He won't be an Atsur, but he'll be a more reliable point guard than Fells or Grant and will be ready to start out of the gate.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 2:00 PM. Reason : ]

3/21/2007 2:00:27 PM

He's never played any college ball in his life. Why will he be ready to start out of the gate?

Because he practiced with the team?

Ferguson practiced with the team, but it didn't seem to help him too much.



[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 2:02 PM. Reason : 2]

3/21/2007 2:01:58 PM

Speaking of J.J. Hickson here's some videos for you guys that would like to see him in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--bpMTcaPFs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97U89TFbRy0


I think one advantage that Degand will have in playing in his first year over Ferguson playing in his first year is that Degand will have a year under his belt learning Lowe's system before he starts. Ferguson had a lot of factors going against him by the time he was eligible. Overcoming broken wrists, transferring to a new school and learning a new system during that year, then having the coach leave and having to learn a new system in just a couple of months. If Herb would have been here, I think he may have looked more comfortable out there since he would have been more acclimated to the system. We're all speculating here, so what we think won't mean shit until we actually see them play next year.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 2:11 PM. Reason : ]

3/21/2007 2:05:34 PM

Marques Johnson seems to be forgotten or not known on this board.

He is a baller and will play over Degand and Gonzalez. Javi should probably redshirt for next year IMHO.

Plus we don't know how much any of these guys we already have will improve and how well the freshmen actually pan out. So this thread is really pointless right now.

3/21/2007 2:40:19 PM

Quote :

"^Umm, I was pretty sure that Degand CAN play at the beginning of next season. It was Marques Johnson who can't play until second semester, right?"

fuck, what i meant.

Quote :

"My prediction for the starting lineup early next year: Grant Fells Horner Costner McCauley"

lowe went out and recruited 3 point guards. why would none of them play the point next year?

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 2:45 PM. Reason : it's not impossible for a freshman to start, especially when he's the only true point on a team.]

3/21/2007 2:42:17 PM

^^ is it not clear that he can't play untill the end of fall symester? We're going to have more than one pt guard anyway, after this season everyone should know why

3/21/2007 2:47:03 PM

Quote :

"He is a baller and will play over Degand and Gonzalez. Javi should probably redshirt for next year IMHO. "

I seriously doubt that he will be playing the same position as Degand and Gonzalez. Johnson is 6'5" and rated as a SG coming out of high school. IMO he's going to split time with Fells, maybe even play over Fells if his D is as good as they say it is.


Most importantly, We HAVE ENOUGH PLAYERS TO GET OUT AND RUN NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!! This could be fun. w00t.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 3:04 PM. Reason : ]

3/21/2007 3:02:53 PM

This is one of the better threads in sports talk as of late.

3/21/2007 3:09:23 PM

it is a good thread, but there are several people who don't seem to understand that bigs can't guard shooting guards......height isn't as important as speed. Size only matters in basketball when a team doesn't have it.

PS. stop making 9-10 man rotation predictions

3/21/2007 3:26:20 PM

^

3/21/2007 3:28:43 PM

i skipped over a lot of page 2 but page 1 had a lot of "Degand and Johnson and Gonzo won't pan out blah blah as a PG"

but guys, it's really ONLY important that they can handle the ball and run the offense, they basically dont even need to know how to take a jump shot... all the scoring..... "I FEEL".... is gonna be focused around McC, Grant, Fells, Hickson, Smith, maybe even Horner too... but a guy to handle a pressure guard defender and handle the ball and make crisp passing to the wings is all that he needs to do in his role... IF he can take his man with, and/or off the dribble, that is just a HUGE bonus to the team

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 3:29 PM. Reason : offense]

3/21/2007 3:28:56 PM

read this

http://www.statefansnation.com/index.php/archives/2007/03/21/what-player-rotation-do-you-wantexpect-next-year/

3/21/2007 3:29:23 PM

WOW, no grant to start^

3/21/2007 3:30:31 PM

Degand will start at PG next year.

He can play, I've seen him.


I'm not saying he'll be 10 ppg or anything but the kid can play and after running all season without a PG, it'll be great to actually see one on the court next year.

3/21/2007 3:40:00 PM

Ya guys, saw the red and white game and degand will be a solid pg. He couldn't finish in traffic or hit 3s but he is very quick and can penetrate. Degand can also defend and steal. Think Ishmael Smith. It's not going to take a chris paul to effectively run the point for us because everybody else being so talented will take pressure off. Degand has been witht he team for a year and will be a more comfortable point than even engin. he won't be an offensive threat but he will be able to run the offense after working with sid for a year.

Also, don't be surprised to see furg get a lot of minutes. He used to be a great shooter (korver style) and that could come back any day. With the add post presence and pg he could easily become the shooter that brings balance to our offense and hit alot of wide open shots. (since we have so many guys that need to be doubled) Most teams will probably play zone against us.

Sid will RUN RUN RUN thats his philosophy and if guys are tired they will come out so we may use only 7 or 8 but we may use 9 10 or even 11 depending on conditioning and development of freshmen and furguson. Horner and Hickson will get big minutes for sure though.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 4:21 PM. Reason : Ish Smith is the best comparison]

3/21/2007 4:17:29 PM

^ are you really a dook fan? you're more in tune with our program than some of the others posting here.

Quote :

"you are so wrong right now. firstly, degand can't play until december. secondly if fells and grant could play the point, then we wouldn't have had any problems this year, would we have?"

you were already corrected on the degand thing. regarding fells and grant, did you actually bother to read the rest of the thread before you posted? i'm sure you must've. did you just feel like postpadding? i already elaborated on that point when Prawn Star questioned it just a couple of posts prior to yours.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 4:21 PM. Reason : ]

3/21/2007 4:19:26 PM

Well call me crazy but I just happen to be a DIE HARD fan of both teams and its 100% genuine

3/21/2007 4:50:25 PM

^^ i just said the wrong name, i know who can play next year. and i said it again b/c your statement was so increidbly ridiculous.

3/21/2007 4:58:26 PM