Position by Position Team Grading

[justducky]

This is a good organizational process to concentrate our thoughts and comments towards what has worked best or worst for the 15-16 season. For no particular reason I will start with the 5 (center) position and work down.

Center (5)---As good a defender as Vashil is he carries some obvious limitations (offense and defending on the perimeter). Jubril is a much smaller but solid defender whose versatility is an asset. Had Smits been healthy he could have filled some of these situational gaps.
Overall Grade 3 1/2 Stars  With Smits it might have been 4.

The (4)---- Starting with Alec and a host of solid replacements it doesn't get much better.
Overall Grade 4 1/2 Stars

The (3)--- By my count we had 5 players who could adequately play the 3 but none were reliably consistent 3 point shooters.
Overall Grade 3 3/4 Stars

The (2)--- When healthy Tevonn he is a great defender and opens up the offense for the drive. Who exactly is his backup? There seems to be no defined pecking order so his replacement minutes are assigned based mostly on defensive match ups. The fact that we had no traditional backup 2 stood out like a sore thumb vs GB.
Overall Grade 4 1/4 Stars with Tevonn maybe 3 Stars without. There are just times that you need controlled, smaller, quicker people on the floor.

The (1)---Keith is fantastic and when we only need 8 backup minutes from Shane, EVN or others we are in great shape. With Carter injured (@ WSU) or in foul trouble things go downhill in a hurry.
Overall Grade 4 1/2 Stars but without Keith it drops to 3 Stars or less.

The decision by Bryce to go with taller backup guards didn't work out badly and could have worked out great. The fatal flaw looks to be our over reliance on Tevonn and Keith being available.     Thoughts?

[Vale O. Paradise]

Center (5): 3.5. Vashil is a game changer on defense. Cleaned the offensive glass better than last year. Not necessarily lost on offense, but I still hold my breath on every entry pass. Jubril has flashes of being a 25-minute contributor, but I question his decision making on offense.

The (4): 4. Alec's rebounding stood out as his biggest improvement over last year. Struggled in multiple games to get his offense going in the first half. Needs to learn to overcome double teams and the extra attention that comes with being a star. Great clutch-time performances on many occasions. Adequate defensive ability paired with above-average hustle.

The (3): 3.25. Shane put together a really good year after a year on the bench. His ability to drive really fills in a huge need. Never stood out on defense, but with his length and speed could be a force on both ends. Potential to be an all-league second teamer if he works at it and is given the minutes. Skara needs 10-15 more pounds of muscle to compensate for his scrappy, fearless play.

The (2): 3. The Walkers both lost some confidence after last season. Tevonn can play through rough shooting spells with his defense, and his ability to keep the offense flowing is evident whenever he's out. D Walker seemed to find his shot toward the end of the season, but he still takes two or three too many ill-advised shots per game. Let's hope they rediscover their moxie in the next 6 months.

The (1): 3.75. Keith was the most reliable player on the roster. Alec had higher peaks, but nobody can string together a full game like Keith. Showed great poise and leadership throughout the year. He really embraced the role Bryce gave him. You can tell players look to him to set the direction. Too bad we didn't get 4 full years with him. EVN struggled throughout the year: The point guard experiment that seemed to have some legs at the end of last year never really got off the ground this year.


My scale:
1: I trust them to lose their matchups at any given HL game.
2: I trust them to be on par with their matchups at any given HL game.
3: I trust them to win their matchups at any given HL game.
4: I trust them to be notably excellent on any given night.
5: I can't imagine them getting any better.

[FWalum]

The (1): 3.75. Keith was the most reliable player on the roster. Alec had higher peaks, but nobody can string together a full game like Keith. Showed great poise and leadership throughout the year. He really embraced the role Bryce gave him. You can tell players look to him to set the direction. Too bad we didn't get 4 full years with him. EVN struggled throughout the year: The point guard experiment that seemed to have some legs at the end of last year never really got off the ground this year.

Just wanted to remind everyone that Keith is asking for a fifth year from the NCAA as discussed earlier and published by Paul Oren I believe.

[valpotx]

Right, so if Bryce ends up leaving, he can take both Peters and Carter with him.  What a disaster that would be!

[vu72]

In looking at this year versus last year, the far best change came from Alec. Scoring average up to 18 v. 16.8 and most importantly, rebounds up to 8.4 v. 6.7. All the while shooting 50% up from 48.9.  Maybe not huge changes but the added pressure from team's defenses made accomplishing these stats all the more impressive. Clearly his adding the post up game really helped.

Keith also really stepped up his game. Not so much in scoring or rebounds (9.9 ppg v. 8.4) but in assists, where the number increased by 48 and his Asst/TO ratio improved from 2.07 to 3.04.

David and Jabril both improved in scoring while Vshil, D Walker and E slid from last years numbers.  I actually think Vashil did not improve although he did add the hook shot.  His scoring average declined to 5.7 v. 6.9 last year but his rebounding did improve to 7.4 v. 5.9.  At the same time he had 41 turnovers versus only 32 last year. Blocks improved this year with a total of 96 versus 98 last year with 2 more games.  With a run in the NIT he should easily set a new season record.

I'd give this year's team a close victory over last year's team.  The difference is Shane and the improvement of Alec and Keith.

[historyman]

Right, so if Bryce ends up leaving, he can take both Peters and Carter with him.  What a disaster that would be!

I don't think Carter gets a 5th year anywhere but Valpo.