post mortem

[SisyphusMiner]

With a few days distance I have been thinking a bit more about this team and CRT.  I basically agree with Kyy.  I liked this team.  I feel they did hustle, they had each other's backs, and they played D hard. 

The defense was good enough to win most of the games if the offense wasn't so awful.  CRT is clearly a D first guy, and we can all appreciate that.  If he doesn't trust you on D it really doesn't matter what you can do offensively, you won't be out there.  The opposite is also true.  If he likes your D, you can be pretty awful offensively and get play time.

For CRT's offense to work, you need guys that can shoot the 3 at a very high percentage when open, and an acceptable percentage when covered, which they will be a lot because we don't run plays to generate open looks.  We don't actually have any plays as far as I can tell.  We have an offensive set and that's it.

The issue is that players that are great shooters usually don't like playing defense.  At our level -- which let's be honest with ourselves is currently low mid-major -- players that can shoot the 3 and play D are simply not available out of high school to us.  They are going high mid or better.

CRT cannot get the athletes he needs to play his game, except by transfer.  He is absolutely not going to modify what he is doing to match the skills of the athletes he has.  Nor is he going to modify what he is doing based on who we are playing.  But if we were at the level to get those players we would still lose because he'd be out-coached.

FWIW, I have been watching the UNT coach for a while now and I knew he was much much better than CRT.  If we could throw enough money at him to come here, we should do it in a heartbeat.  He would beat us with our players.

[kyyote]

I think that I grew to like the team kind of as the team started coming together. Williams and Boum just aren?t quite enough offense. The team needs a third scorer. When Verhoeven was offensive and contributing a third option it took pressure off of Williams. I said I think that the team was playing about as good as they could. The question I have is can the team get better. I think that they can. Verhoeven will become a stud with time in a weight room. Remember that. Efe is getting better. And we have a giant that we haven?t been able to take out of his cage much yet because he is like King Kong but. Ed?s to be taught to put the little orange ball in the hoop. So Verhoeven is going to be our next big thing.  But we still need a sweet shooter. Remember that we have that guy already. And he was really learning this year. Next year he is going to break out. We have a young team but they came together as a team. The first couple of years players were coming and going where we were a collection of players but of a team. They have become a team. Players are learning their roles leaders are emerging and the glue is starting to set up. I think Beinemy (so) has been a key here. If he can find his shot it may be all we need.

[SisyphusMiner]

And we have a giant that we haven?t been able to take out of his cage much yet because he is like King Kong but. Ed?s to be taught to put the little orange ball in the hoop

Which guy is this?  Onyema?

But we still need a sweet shooter. Remember that we have that guy already. And he was really learning this year. Next year he is going to break out

And which guy is this?  Sorry, it's just not clear to me who you're talking about in either case.  Coffee hasn't hit the brain cells yet.
I do think Sjolund could be that guy.  It's weird to me that Vila got so much play time and couldn't hit the ocean from a boat but Sjolund got so much less.

What is the lineup and rotations for next yar?

[kyyote]

Yes on both counts. I think that the team has finally gotten a foundation built and there is a lot of potential to get better with what we already have and a year to get better. Kennedy and Agnew may be the real keys. They have to work on making shots. We have to have some dependable offense from them. Like I said I think we have the potential to be very good.
As for lineups and rotations that all depends on off season growth. Kennedy becomes a dependable option to hit his shots and the inside opens up like a can of tuna. Sjoland has the shot  it finding his spot is what he needs to do. He has a very different challenge in the off season. He is having to learn a whole lot of what he never needed to know before. Agnew is probably the skeleton key. How does he grow in the next six months?

[Chanson]

So, next year looks to be completely different than previous years. We will be playing with a team that is used to playing with each other. Previous years everyone was new to the program. All that being said, I'm still "glass half empty" under this coach. He has players who can run, but not gun. We are stuck with this guy for a few more years, so I am going to try and make the best of it.
Boum- kid will be our best player again.
Agnew- great D, horrible O. Needs to shoot around every day
Bieniemy- good ball handler, but needs work on jumper
Kennedy- must learn to score. Needs to avg dbl figures.
Vuk- good ball handler, but needs better D & jumper
Sjoland- best shooter we've had in a while, but needs better footwork for D. He tries to use his height to compensate for bad D.
Vila- good footwork, needs to be better on D & short jumper
Odigie- decent jumper, not so much on D. Needs to dunk balls to make statements.
Onyema- get to positioning quicker on D. Needs to play more
Verho- I think he'll come around on O like Ced Lang did.

The team is actually good. Let's see if CRT plays to strengths or will he stick with run & gun.

[kyyote]

The 800 pound gorilla in the room is whether or not Williams leaves. I think he will. And go to a big 5 team as a grad student. It doubles his money value. If he?s stayed it would be great for UTEP but that isn?t how shit works anymore. We are now the El Paso Single A minor league team and Williams is going to get called up to the Triple A team.
With that, Verhoeven probably becomes the go to guy inside but he doesn?t have the next level talent. He needs lots of help. He needs a monster forward. Can it be Efe or Onyema?  Kennedy? Sjoland? 
And so it goes, like sands in an hourglass these are the days of our lives.

[SisyphusMiner]

I think BW should just go to Europe and start earning money.  If he dominates there he can have a shot.  I don't know if he gets the pt as a grad transfer to a big 5 to offset the risk of injury.  No matter what I think he's gone.

I've written Efe off.  He's gotten stronger but he's still slow and kinda lazy.  Onyema has the athleticism.  Is he ready?  Sjolund and Kennedy are SF, not PF.  With their length, Onyema and Verhoeven  could make the paint a difficult place to be.

In Kennedy's favor, Boum shot an awful percentage last year and an acceptable percentage this year from 3.  If Kennedy can replicate then we might have something.

[kyyote]

Sjoland is 6? 8? and listed at 205. He is a big boy and 20-25 pounds of weight room muscle would make him a hybrid right?  Dangerous beyond the arc and strong enough to get in there and mix it up, which it seemed to me that he kind of liked. A lot. Kennedy is only 6?5? and 180. But he plays much taller and stronger than that, plus he?s quicker than many bigger men and gets his position because of it. Sjoland will make tremendous progress on what he is now being asked to do. As a matter of fact if Sjoland does what I hope and think he will he will improve his game considerably.

[Chanson]

I wouldn't count on BW. He needs to start making $$ & start making a career now.
Omyema will be called up to play. He should be here another 4yrs. I look forward to it. I think we should be OK with shooters. We need help in the paint to open up the jumpers. I hope it takes CRT 4yrs like it did Shaka Smart. Even if CRT has 1 good year, no school will pick him up. As a matter of a fact, both football & basketball are coming up on 4yrs. Senter better be ready to give walking papers.