After a lengthy discussion with a UL friend yesterday and coming into work today and finding my schedule completely dead....I've been really looking at this roster and debating about next year. Full disclosure.....I think Mitchell is gone; there's very little incentive for him to come back. He's another one of those Pitino players who are great college players but because of size or specific skill set isn't going to tear up the NBA and be an all-star or a lottery pick and there's no reason for him to come back.
This team/roster has done a 180 for me in the last 2-3 weeks. 2-3 weeks ago, I was more confident Mitchell was coming back and I had absolutely no idea Jaylen would leave the program to play ball overseas. 2-3 weeks ago I would have argued until I was blue in the face that UL should be the #1 team going into next season. Now, I'm not sure they deserve to be in the top 15.
Without Mitchell (and Mangok) we lose the heart and the leader of the team. Without Jaylen we lose really the only "tough" player willing to bang and "mess it up" down low. Ray and Anas are pillow soft and easily pushed around, Malik Williams seems to be a soft, perimeter stretch 4 and Lance Thomas doesn't appear to be close to ready to contribute meaningful minutes as a Freshman. (I do really like Perry though) Without Mangok, Jaylen and Mitchell we lose 3 of our top 4 rebounders as well. So....as of now without grad transfers our lineup is looking like:
PG - Snider/Perry/McMahon
SG - Adel/Sutton
SF - King/Nwora
PF - Ray/Malik
C - Anas/ ?
So, that roster doesn't fill me with a ton of optimism. Who steps up to lead? I mean it has to be Adel, right? Snider has proven to not be vocal enough and neither is Anas or Ray. Speaking of Ray...he's a Junior now, the time for him living strictly off of "potential" is over. He has to be a factor, I mean 6 ppg and 6 rpg is just not going to cut it. He needs to put up 10-12 ppg and 6-7 rpg at minimum this year. Sadly, I think we've seen peak Anas..He's a Senior and every year he’s been here we say he needs to add weight and every Fall he comes in still needing to add weight. So he's not getting any bigger or going to drastically alter his game over the Summer We have 1 true Center on the roster and a bunch of perimeter oriented forwards.
Now, because of all this I'm assuming Rick is going to be running a different system next year...he has to. His best players are all perimeter oriented and the size he does have is light and lanky. Bottom line...next year’s success is totally up in the air. I think, much like this past year when Nanu made the unwise decision to leave early and robbed us of what could have been an elite level season that we are going to see the same thing happen because of Mitchell and Jaylen’s departure. It’s going to be a season of “what could have been.” As of now, 2017-18 will be a season of hope. Hope that guys take the next step (Adel, King, Ray) and hope that newcomers are ready contribute (Sutton, Williams, Nwora, Perry). I think what you see is what you get from Anas and Q and while I think there’s potential for a great season I think odds are, it’s a season where guys take steps in the right direction but not to the level that will make UL a title threat.
Its early, a lot can change, I know. This is just where my head is at with this roster right now. Whatever I was bored and this wasted like 30 minutes of my day. Mission accomplished.
This team/roster has done a 180 for me in the last 2-3 weeks. 2-3 weeks ago, I was more confident Mitchell was coming back and I had absolutely no idea Jaylen would leave the program to play ball overseas. 2-3 weeks ago I would have argued until I was blue in the face that UL should be the #1 team going into next season. Now, I'm not sure they deserve to be in the top 15.
Without Mitchell (and Mangok) we lose the heart and the leader of the team. Without Jaylen we lose really the only "tough" player willing to bang and "mess it up" down low. Ray and Anas are pillow soft and easily pushed around, Malik Williams seems to be a soft, perimeter stretch 4 and Lance Thomas doesn't appear to be close to ready to contribute meaningful minutes as a Freshman. (I do really like Perry though) Without Mangok, Jaylen and Mitchell we lose 3 of our top 4 rebounders as well. So....as of now without grad transfers our lineup is looking like:
PG - Snider/Perry/McMahon
SG - Adel/Sutton
SF - King/Nwora
PF - Ray/Malik
C - Anas/ ?
So, that roster doesn't fill me with a ton of optimism. Who steps up to lead? I mean it has to be Adel, right? Snider has proven to not be vocal enough and neither is Anas or Ray. Speaking of Ray...he's a Junior now, the time for him living strictly off of "potential" is over. He has to be a factor, I mean 6 ppg and 6 rpg is just not going to cut it. He needs to put up 10-12 ppg and 6-7 rpg at minimum this year. Sadly, I think we've seen peak Anas..He's a Senior and every year he’s been here we say he needs to add weight and every Fall he comes in still needing to add weight. So he's not getting any bigger or going to drastically alter his game over the Summer We have 1 true Center on the roster and a bunch of perimeter oriented forwards.
Now, because of all this I'm assuming Rick is going to be running a different system next year...he has to. His best players are all perimeter oriented and the size he does have is light and lanky. Bottom line...next year’s success is totally up in the air. I think, much like this past year when Nanu made the unwise decision to leave early and robbed us of what could have been an elite level season that we are going to see the same thing happen because of Mitchell and Jaylen’s departure. It’s going to be a season of “what could have been.” As of now, 2017-18 will be a season of hope. Hope that guys take the next step (Adel, King, Ray) and hope that newcomers are ready contribute (Sutton, Williams, Nwora, Perry). I think what you see is what you get from Anas and Q and while I think there’s potential for a great season I think odds are, it’s a season where guys take steps in the right direction but not to the level that will make UL a title threat.
Its early, a lot can change, I know. This is just where my head is at with this roster right now. Whatever I was bored and this wasted like 30 minutes of my day. Mission accomplished.