26-27 Roster

[MrTbone]

I hear u. I just don't think a lot of teams have 2 big types that play together and pound u inside anymore. I totally agree we want a versatile wing who can guard and grab some boards, but I am fine with anyone here in the 6'5 or 6'6 range alongside Kaiser.

I think you’re mostly correct that the PF archetype has changed. That said, the last two years have shown us a couple things which frankly I think have existed way longer than the last two years.

Offensively, when we are overly reliant on three point shooting we struggle badly, so it’s pretty important to have either someone who can penetrate or if not that, someone who can post up.

Defensively, we seem to be stuck on the switching man defense. If we’re going to play that way, you need more length I think. And white a smaller lineup may be ok on offense, it has not worked out well for us on defense.

 

[*23*]

I know its a different budget and different deal for p5, but in the NCAA tournament I heard a TON of talk how teams were playing two bigs and these teams were having the most success. Florida, Uconn, Michigan, Arizona, Iowa etc etc etc. I know, its a completely different comp, but it made a huge comeback this year. We signed a weakish center, and think we can get by with that, but as noted we had an un freaking believable shooting 3 point team coming into A10 play, and they were not athletic or tough and it showed. If we cant sign a legit PF, we need 2 to three 6'6 to 6'7 wings with athleticism.

And yes Kneepad, hoping J Rob can improve and be in the rotation. I think Mooney mostly used him as a center, and that did not help him. Still think we need a legit SG - either 6'2 or above or a dawg like DLO. Another athletic wing, and if can't land a good PF/Stretch 4, another athletic wing.

 

[Spide]

I think you’re mostly correct that the PF archetype has changed. That said, the last two years have shown us a couple things which frankly I think have existed way longer than the last two years.

Offensively, when we are overly reliant on three point shooting we struggle badly, so it’s pretty important to have either someone who can penetrate or if not that, someone who can post up.

Defensively, we seem to be stuck on the switching man defense. If we’re going to play that way, you need more length I think. And white a smaller lineup may be ok on offense, it has not worked out well for us on defense.

T, in general, I agree with your comment about small guys on defense. However, after watching Aiden Argabrite play defense, I feel some small guys are effective even against larger opponents, whether it be taking a charge or just being a nuisance. Adding to his Gatorade Player of the Year honor, think I read that Deuce Simmons was also defensive player of the year in the state. This might help explain has SEC offer from Tennessee.

 

[*23*]

Deuce Simmons was also defensive player of the year in the state. This might help explain has SEC offer from Tennessee

The Tennessee offer does bode well. They had recent very good success with Zakai Zeigler, so that probably paved the way for them to feel comfortable. I do think quickness can overcome a lot, especially at the guard position. But if we are going to have a liability at center defensively, and then roll out two 5'8 to 5'10 guards, and our switching defense - seems like a recipe for disaster.

 

[Long Time UR Fan]

T, in general, I agree with your comment about small guys on defense. However, after watching Aiden Argabrite play defense, I feel some small guys are effective even against larger opponents, whether it be taking a charge or just being a nuisance. Adding to his Gatorade Player of the Year honor, think I read that Deuce Simmons was also defensive player of the year in the state. This might help explain has SEC offer from Tennessee.

I don't think anyone can question that AA is a very good on-ball defender, and hopefully Deuce will be as good or better. The problem is that no 6 footer or under can effectively guard another team's center under the basket, and with the switch on everything defense that Mooney runs all it takes is a screen or 2 and we end up with our center defending a much quicker guard on the perimeter and our PG trying to stop an opposing much taller player inside. That formula just does not work, and unless Mooney changes the defense or starts recruiting athletic interchangeable players, like Gonzo, Butler, Kevin Smith, Martel, for example, we will never be good defensively.

 

[Rivercup]

Why don’t we send an assistant to Charlottesville and get Tony Bennett to teach us the « Packline » defense? Seemed
to work pretty well for UVA.

 

[*23*]

unless Mooney changes the defense or starts recruiting athletic interchangeable players, like Gonzo, Butler, Kevin Smith, Martel, for example, we will never be good defensively.

Yep. And this is why I keep pushing for loading up on athletic wings.

 

[*23*]

No matter who else we can land in the portal, we are going to need one of Harper, Richardson or Caldwell to be a legit player this year. Also Jrob. I think Jrob needs to either really up his perimeter skills and ability to play defense ins space, or become a Nate Cayo clone down low. With roster make up so far it is probably be a Cayo clone that would be most beneficial.

 

[PhillySpider]

I don't think anyone can question that AA is a very good on-ball defender, and hopefully Deuce will be as good or better.

Well, I can question that and I do! He is an adequate (average) defender, but a very long way from a "very good on ball defender". Being not as bad as some of the rest of what we ran out there doesn't translate to very good!

Agree that it doesn't matter how good he is or isn't if he gets stuck in the post on a switch. But we were bad defensively last year and he was part of the problem. Not the biggest part for sure, but a part. He needs to be surrounded with good defenders for us to be a good defensive team and so far, outside of Kaiser (who I haven't seen enough to have an opinion about his defense), we aren't loading up on defensive types at all. We need portal help on this front because while AA is probably ready to step up and be an offensive leader, he is going to be a "role player" as a defender I think.

 

[MrTbone]

T, in general, I agree with your comment about small guys on defense. However, after watching Aiden Argabrite play defense, I feel some small guys are effective even against larger opponents, whether it be taking a charge or just being a nuisance. Adding to his Gatorade Player of the Year honor, think I read that Deuce Simmons was also defensive player of the year in the state. This might help explain has SEC offer from Tennessee.

There’s nothing wrong with having a small player who is a great defender. You just can’t have 4 of them.

 

[MDSpider8]

With Ball onboard and 3 spots left, below is my current roster/needs breakdown:

Spot 1: Starting G - I think we still need someone to be a primary scorer on the perimeter to complement Dorries down low. As great as AA is, I think his best role is to be the main facilitator and secondary scorer in the offense, similar to the model that young Gilly followed. Ideally, this is someone who can create their own shot, has respectable size, and is not a total negative on defense. A Blake Francis type would be perfect here.

Spot 2: Starting PF - Definitely think we need a starting caliber PF to complement Dorries. Ideally, this is a athletic defense/rebounding focused F who can cover for some of Dorries deficiencies with rebounding and defense. Don't think he necessarily has to be a great 3-point shooter (considering my mock starting five would have four capable 3 point shooters) but that would be a huge bonus. A Bigelow/Cayo type athlete would fit well in this spot.

Spot 3: Bench wing/big - This is a much more open spot than the first two. I'd like to have a true backup 5 to Dorries which would allow us to stop playing JRob out of position at the 5. However, I'm expecting Dorries to play at least 30+ MPG, so we may try to get away without another true C and rotate JRob/Ball in that spot. If that's the case, maybe another versatile tall F or wing 3 and D guy? Don't think we'll need another G with AA, Transfer SG, Simmons, Harper, Tanner all there.

Projected Starting 5:
G - Argabright
G - Transfer SG/Scoring Guard
SF - Kaiser
PF - Transfer PF
C - Dorries

Projected Bench:
G/Wing - Harper, Simmons, Tanner
F/C - Ball, Robinson, Transfer

Not expecting to be in the rotation: Richardson, Homenick, Caldwell, Cook.

Based on the recent redshirt track record, I can't expect anything from either Richardson or Homenick this year. Caldwell is an intriguing prospect but definitely needs to bulk up to be an effective A10 wing/F and I'd think he's going to be the odd man out for minutes this year. I'm expecting Cook to redshirt since Mooney basically admitted he won't be ready for A10 play as a freshman.

Thoughts/disagreements? Overall, I'm still very pleased with the direction we've taken with the offseason, but in my eyes we still have two major starting positions to fill and with every passing day the options dwindle.

 

[fan2011]

Didn’t Mooney say he thinks Caldwell and Simmons are going to be ready for A10 level play as freshmen? Not sure where I heard that

 

[MDSpider8]

Didn’t Mooney say he thinks Caldwell and Simmons are going to be ready for A10 level play as freshmen? Not sure where I heard that

Yes, he said this in the AA returning press conference. I believe it with Simmons but still a bit skeptical with Caldwell. Would love to be proven wrong but think he may need to get stronger to be an A10-level wing/F. He definitely has the versatility to fit some needs we have though.

 

[MrTbone]

With Ball onboard and 3 spots left, below is my current roster/needs breakdown:

Spot 1: Starting G - I think we still need someone to be a primary scorer on the perimeter to complement Dorries down low. As great as AA is, I think his best role is to be the main facilitator and secondary scorer in the offense, similar to the model that young Gilly followed. Ideally, this is someone who can create their own shot, has respectable size, and is not a total negative on defense. A Blake Francis type would be perfect here.

Spot 2: Starting PF - Definitely think we need a starting caliber PF to complement Dorries. Ideally, this is a athletic defense/rebounding focused F who can cover for some of Dorries deficiencies with rebounding and defense. Don't think he necessarily has to be a great 3-point shooter (considering my mock starting five would have four capable 3 point shooters) but that would be a huge bonus. A Bigelow/Cayo type athlete would fit well in this spot.

Spot 3: Bench wing/big - This is a much more open spot than the first two. I'd like to have a true backup 5 to Dorries which would allow us to stop playing JRob out of position at the 5. However, I'm expecting Dorries to play at least 30+ MPG, so we may try to get away without another true C and rotate JRob/Ball in that spot. If that's the case, maybe another versatile tall F or wing 3 and D guy? Don't think we'll need another G with AA, Transfer SG, Simmons, Harper, Tanner all there.

Projected Starting 5:
G - Argabright
G - Transfer SG/Scoring Guard
SF - Kaiser
PF - Transfer PF
C - Dorries

Projected Bench:
G/Wing - Harper, Simmons, Tanner
F/C - Ball, Robinson, Transfer

Not expecting to be in the rotation: Richardson, Homenick, Caldwell, Cook.

Based on the recent redshirt track record, I can't expect anything from either Richardson or Homenick this year. Caldwell is an intriguing prospect but definitely needs to bulk up to be an effective A10 wing/F and I'd think he's going to be the odd man out for minutes this year. I'm expecting Cook to redshirt since Mooney basically admitted he won't be ready for A10 play as a freshman.

Thoughts/disagreements? Overall, I'm still very pleased with the direction we've taken with the offseason, but in my eyes we still have two major starting positions to fill and with every passing day the options dwindle.

It sounded like CM thinks Caldwell will be ready, fwiw. It also sounded like Richardson often ran the scout team as the PG, so he may not be as far behind as you think, although admittedly the redshirt track record is not encouraging.

 

[*23*]

It sounded like CM thinks Caldwell will be ready, fwiw. It also sounded like Richardson often ran the scout team as the PG, so he may not be as far behind as you think, although admittedly the redshirt track record is not encouraging.

Hopefully Richardson just got stuck in the big redshirting push last season. Mooney seemed to have a lot of guard and wing positions slotted in between Tanner, AP and the guards. But yeah, based on lack of buzz from practice and recent RS success, who knows. It would be nice if he he can be an impact contributor at guard.

 

[Spider2020]

It sounded like CM thinks Caldwell will be ready, fwiw. It also sounded like Richardson often ran the scout team as the PG, so he may not be as far behind as you think, although admittedly the redshirt track record is not encouraging.

Mooney is on the record stating every guard who redshirts plays scout team PG and every forward who redshirts plays scout team C, regardless of their ideal position, to help them learn the offense. So wouldn’t read too much into that.

Until proven otherwise, I will assume every developmental redshirt is just a transfer in waiting (as has been the case for the last 5-10 years)

 

[vt4700]

Mooney is on the record stating every guard who redshirts plays scout team PG and every forward who redshirts plays scout team C, regardless of their ideal position, to help them learn the offense. So wouldn’t read too much into that.

Until proven otherwise, I will assume every developmental redshirt is just a transfer in waiting (as has been the case for the last 5-10 years)

Agree. It is so hard to have any confidence at all in our redshirts. Especially the last few years. We have had so many flaws and issues offensively and defensively that it seems like any decent player might have have been worth a look for a few games.

Bottom line is redshirting continues to make no sense. We need to recruit freshmen ready players, guys who are ready from day 1 to compete for spots in the rotation.

 

[Eight Legger]

Honestly, there should be some pretty good HS freshmen available every year. The P5s of the world are basically signing the can't-miss freshmen but filling in the rest of their rosters with transfers. So the 3-star (and maybe some 4-star) freshmen who used to sign with those teams are probably getting locked out a little bit and will need to take a year or two at an A10-type school. We need to have someone on staff who can identify those kinds of kids and sign them. It will suck to lose them after a year or two, but we probably wouldn't have gotten them before anyway, so make the most of it.

 

[*23*]

EL agree completely. It's a gold mine for mid majors now, and one other programs have taken advantage of. But even the last couple years in which mooniocrity stated his strategy was to build via HS recruiting, we could not land the high rated/impact hs recruits. I'll give him AA , that's about it. But we should be able to bring in one or two top 150 types in this current climate.

 

[*23*]

Feeling much better about the roster than I was 15 minutes ago.

Want to see that stud shooting guard and another athletic wing added to the mix.