With that many newcomers team will be a roller coaster, with potential.
Barefield will go back to PG with PVD starting at beginning of the year—-unless Doutrive is ready. How long until he or Jones takes over?
Interesting grouping of Tillman, Allen, Battin & Seeley—hard to predict mid-year starters. Might be ability to defend & rebound.
Lahat runs the floor well:
https://youtu.be/16xL8avi1yA
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Trib reported Naseem Gaskin recently set a school record by scoring 44 points in a game.
Timmy Allen had a 42 point game this year, Charles Jones II--who is playing again had a 42 point game earlier & Riley Battin who just went over 1,500 rebounds for his HS career had a 41 point game earlier.
Lahat may never need to take a shot.
I noticed those games. Have they officially signed yet or will some other school’s bagman swoop in at the last minute?
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Given the stellar class we are bringing in this year, what do you see happening with Jokl, Popoola and Caldwell? I had totally forgotten about Caldwell and Pop until I saw the wazzu game. Pop can’t even get in a game.
I have no inside info, but I'll be shocked if Jokl is still on the team next year. He was clearly a miss and just isn't a contributor at this level. I think he leaves and Thioune takes his spot.
I also think at least one of Caldwell and Pop will see the handwriting and look for more playing time elsewhere. I think Utah will then look for another grad transfer or maybe an overseas project to fill that scholarship.
This is all just pure, irresponsible speculation on my part.
Jokl is a nice young man, (had a chance to talk with him at length once), but just not hard nosed enough to play the 5 at this level. Might be OK in Europe.
Pop & Caldwell are both good athletes, but not very good basketball players---Pop can't go right (his off hand) & Caldwell has a horrible shot---that magically goes in some times.
Pop could use a year at a JC to get some playing time---Caldwell needs a shot doctor.
Larry stopped by to visit top 100 2018 point guard James akinjo today. He was committed to uconn but was recently released from his LOI.
I am not sure what to make of this latest news of Larry visiting Akinjo. We have Gaskin and Jones coming in already with Barefield slated to return at PG. I can understand if Larry doesn't feel completely confident in Barefield as the lead guard for next year but it seems like we have already recruited to that need. Am I missing something?
FWIW...it seems both Gaskin and Jones are classified as SG.
http://www.verbalcommits.com/schools/utah
The good thing is that Larry and company are essentially playing with house money here. If he commits, awesome. The talent level has been increased as has the competition for playing time. If he doesn't commit, you have a borderline top-75 prospect coming at that position in 2019 and you thrive next year with an already deep guard line.
As for positions, this staff has been successful with a pg/combo guard backcourt (Wright/Taylor 2013-2015), two combo guards (Taylor/Bonam 2015-2016, Bonam/PVD/Zamora/Barefield 2016-2017), and a pg/combo (Bibbins/Barefield/PVD 2017-2018).
Just looking at our rosters as a whole year to year, the staff has done a pretty good job of just taking what they have and playing to the players strengths as opposed to forcing them into a system. Basically, I don't know that it matters if Jones or Gaskin are true points or not. I think the coaches will put them where they need to be to win.
Great post. I think the general move toward "positionless basketball" applies. It's been some time in the making, from the days of GGFFC, or 12345. For the past 10-15 years we see lineups of GGGFF far more often, and when the game starts it's all about breaking down defenses and finding shots, and less about fitting into positions.
On offense this year, Rawson is more of a SG than PVD is... because the 3 game is his strength. (Just as he found the ball fake this year, I hope Rawson keeps working on this game, starts playing his size a little more, develops a back-to-the-basket game he can go to. Whether it's in Europe, or Latin America, or wherever, if he keeps developing, I wouldn't be surprised to see Rawson find the end of an NBA bench somewhere down the road.)
These incoming guards are athletic enough to play D1 ball, but who knows how well they can facilitate and shoot. Delon was a natural PG at 6-5, and Taylor played well off the ball at 5-10. But if need be Taylor could facilitate the offense and Delon could do everything (except the long game).
The extreme example of facilitators not fitting the mold is Joe Ingles. If he can handle the ball, Timmy Allen might be that kind of player. Who knows.
I'm a fan of LK, and like the old school fire he brings.
But watching Makol Mawien playing well in the Elite 8 for K-State makes me wince a little, hope we don't have an unanticipated transfer.
If Popoola transfers would you be upset? From a development standpoint, he’s probably about the same place Mawein was after his freshman year. Can't perform well enough to get on the court during the game, and some talent coming in at the same position that is anticipated to contribute right away.
“To me there is no dishonor in being wrong and learning. There is dishonor in willful ignorance and there is dishonor in disrespect.” James Hatch, former Navy Seal and current Yale student.
First of all, Diehard's point about off-court issues with Mawein is well taken. Kids are kids, and we've been the beneficiaries of a TON of kids in football that needed new beginnings.
But there's a deeper concern going on, I think. Is LK's old school style leaving us with a more limited talent pool?
I've heard multiple perspectives on the Daniels-Jayce Johnson "altercation" that seem to be incompatible. The general explanation I've accepted is Daniels was a cancer who was bad enough he punched Jayce and after the season, LK told him to hit the road. More recently I heard a totally different perspective that Jayce is a major A-hole and Daniels finally put him in his place, and (ostensibly with the coaches deciding who was more important) now Daniels is waiting out his transfer year at NC State.
(Disclosure - I don't have insider sources, and know far, far less about the basketball team than I was able to observe about the football team, waaay back in the day during the Mac/Urban/early Whitt years.)
If Daniels goes on to be All-ACC, that would furrow my brow.
It's obvious that Popoola needs to improve his 3 game. But watching him on the bench, he's as animated and jubilant as anyone during this post-season run. He' not sulking, there doesn't appear to be any intra-team chemistry problem going on. I don't think we've seen a fraction of what Pop can bring - even with a limited 3 game, which on its own hasn't been a knock out blow for others (Delon, PVD). Hopefully, Pop is just absorbing our complex system and we'll start to see him come into his own next season as the newbies figure out this isn't as simple as AAU ball. That would make some sense.
if Pop transfers and does well, my brow would be furrowed more.
From my days of watching FB practice 3+ times a week, I learned there's always much more going on than we can see.
I *love* this run this team has made, how we were picked 7th and finished 3rd - against paid talent - and J-Bib was All-PAC12. But, there's also the gnawing issues with the size of LK's salary, and that while gymnastics is pulling 15,000, for basketball - the reason the building was built that size (in a different era, granted) - we saw a lot less than that for the big PAC-12 games, and had the drapes down for a couple of really good NIT games. Uncomfortable data points.
How much of us losing recruiting wars against U of Pay were because of money under the table, and how much was because word has gotten out that LK is tough to play for? Markennen's family in Finland probably didn't need money.
I read a whiff of a rumor that Tillman might be looking for another school. If *that* happens, it would suggest issues we really don't want to know about.
Every program is dealing with some doubts about their staffs that graduate transfers bring. Transfers of young players who bloom at other programs brings more scrutiny. Early in LK's tenure at Utah, we were just trying to upgrade talent. Sometimes off the court issues lurk, kids make errors in their original choices, etc.
Mawien is explained, wish the kid best, he definitely worked hard in the weight room. If Daniels *and* Popoola (theoretically) thrive at different schools, and we never get a serious shot at the PAC-12 championship, then questions arise.
(Fortunately I can share those concerns here, on a pretty modest stage.)
Last edited by Ma'ake; 03-25-2018 at 09:01 AM.
No, Daniels was a bad egg all the way around. He had altercations (and I mean physical altercations) with several people. There were plenty of other significant behavioral issues as well. Devon leaving was all about Devon making significant bad choices and then refusing to start making good choices, despite being given lots of chances to do so. If Daniels were back this year, there are several players who wouldn't be because they (legitimately) had no desire to play on the same team as Daniels.
Good info. No question the chemistry has been vastly improved this year. Have to give the credit to LK for cutting lose a talented player who had to go... and a big boost from Bibbins. When I heard this other viewpoint, it was so contrary to my understanding of things.
Everything I see from Popoola suggests he might amount to something, here. Definitely bought in, looks like a good teammate, working on his game, doesn't have much authority to really create... yet.
I haven't heard anything negative about PoPoola regarding attitude or behavior, nor have I heard anything specific about him transferring, but didn't he transfer and play for like 3 or 4 different high schools (transferred from Vegas to Lone Peak and then back to Vegas, and maybe played for another as well)? If that's true then I would be a little nervous about whether he sticks around.
From Jeff Goodman on the Twitter:
"Idaho State 7-foot grad transfer Novak Topalovic told ESPN he has heard from Utah, Oregon State, Colorado, USC, Nevada, Wake Forest, Santa Clara, Pepperdine, LMU, Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara."
“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”
Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell