What are the 2 or 3 X-Factors for the Crusader's to have a successful Season?

[VU2014]

I think the 1 and 5 positions will be the X-Factor's this season. The obvious one also being how far can Alec take us this season. Basketball is a team game but also having a special player like Alec makes world of impact on the game. Alec is one of the best players in the country this year and probably arguably a Top 3 or 5 mid-major player in the country this season. We have other very talented players on our team also but I don't think anyone would question that Alec will lead our team in play this year.

A couple of my thoughts:

Micah is very talented, but you never know how true freshman PG is going to handle the responsibility of making decisions in his first season. Micah has the speed and acceleration to create his own shot, but it may be an adjustment in the beginning for him because athletes at this level are bigger, faster, stronger. I really like his 3 point shot and its surprisingly smooth and think that will surprise some people, and could space the floor for the bigs and Alec if they are working post or need to open up driving lanes for Hammink. (side note: I'm curious as to how Hammink's mid-range game may have developed, because if he can keep his defender honest and make the defender come up on him then watch out. I hope we never need to force Hammink to play the 1 ever again, and we should only have to use him in a pinch. He's just not a natural ball handler.)

I think Lexus is going to be one of the X-Factors of this team. He was a huge surprise his freshman year and played a big role and step up on running the offense and he was a bull-dog defender who play great man to man, and was athletic enough to get to the rim when he needed to. Coming off that ACL knee injury, in the little amount of minutes he played he didn't look like he had that burst or confidence back yet last year. Which is understandable. It just didn't seem like Bryce or the coaching staff trusted him last year, when they gave Keith a breather. I'm hoping to see him get back to and improve on what he started his freshman season. As for Max, I just don't know. He has all the physical tools and athleticism to be a good player, but he just hasn't put it together yet and hasn't gotten the playing time to prove anything yet.

As for the Bigs: We all know what Jubril is. Not flashy but can eat minutes and surprise you once in a while. works his tail off often times against bigger guy on defense and he wins his match up on effort. He's sort of has improved his game little by little every year and is one the leaders on the team.

-Derrick: Is another x-factor for this season. Has he completely come back from that injury and moving around at full speed? Can he stay out of foul trouble? Can he hold his own on defense? The guy has the blood-lines and size to be a very good mid-major big man and play in Europe in my opinion. I've seen him busting his tail in the gym with his dad working on post on moves and post defense. Not a bad coach/training partner. It's sort of not fair for me to throw all these questions on him, but he is going to an important player this year and it will be interesting to see how fast he develops and plays in his red-shirt freshman season. I have a high hopes for Derrick's college playing career, especially as an offensive big man. How fast can he adjust to the collegiate level play? (side note: I know I've mentioned this before but I'm worried about Smits being a very early grad transfer down the road)

-Sorolla: To be honest I can't even give you an informed opinion on the guy because I've only watched the youtube videos of him play and heard some really good things from people who watched him in practice. He has good size and experience playing for the Spain's junior nationals team and played fairly well there. It looks like he runs the floor very well and is very agile for a big man. I'm curious as to whether the coaching staff will eventually play Sorolla at the 4 and Smits at the 5 down the road. I think Gore mentioned it in an interview as possibility in the Spring. A 6-11' and 7-2' front court could be really tough to defend if its possible to pair them together. Apparently Sorolla was fairly under recruited and around the committed to Valpo, large conference schools were taking a look. Sounds like a talented kid.

Just a few of my thoughts on some of the x-factor players for this season. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I think we are going to lean heavily on Peters this season, especially the first half the season while some of these key young players get their feet under them.

[hailcrusaders]

I think most of us agree that the PG and C positions are our biggest question marks position-wise. We're young and inexperienced at PG and if someone can step up to handle the basketball without an egregious number of turnovers, I'll be very confident in our offense. In the frontcourt, we'll be seeing if Smits is as good as advertised and if he's recovered from injury well. Jubril can certainly hold his own at the 5, although he's a bit undersized (at least compared to Vashil, Moussa, etc.). I wonder who will get the preponderance of the minutes down the stretch. I've heard good things about Sorolla, but we'll see when the time comes.

Two other X-factors: coaching and injuries. Bryce was a great recruiter, no one can deny. We questioned his X's and O's from time to time (what fan base doesn't?), but I'll be interested to see how Lottich and Co. fill in. I'm glad he was hired, but there's really no way to tell how much of a difference Bryce made until we have someone to compare him to. Injuries: I suspect we're a little less deep than last year, at least experience-wise. We've got talent absolutely, but what's set Valpo apart the last few years from other HL teams has been the ability to get production from the second, third, fourth guys off of the bench, especially late in games. Can we keep that up this year?