I used parentheticals to convey sarcasm. Doing as such is common in writing, no athlete is truly worthless, but here's the bottom line. Some of our athletes are actively being replaced at this venture. Bench depth is important, and DD can be a valuable 6th or 7th man if he can keep his level of play towards peak performance, but there are some other guys on the roster who just are not going to get any play time. Powell said as such. Its nothing bad to try and see if someone else can better use your talents. Sometimes places just aren't a good fit anymore, and for a few of our guys, this year is going to end up being a "prove it" year.
I would not label Darius as dead weight, or say he should be benched right away. As far as your comparisons of past shorter point guards, they usually played against opposing guards about their same height and weight ;with some exceptions. In today's game, most point guards and shooting guards are bigger, stronger and are more offensive minded(points). The good teams today have bigger, stronger and offensively minded backcourt or combo players. This this where Darius falls short. Other than that, I like Darius, especially his improvement from last year, hard work and dedication to the program. In no way am I suggesting that he leave the program or enter the portal. My guess is that next year he will be the starting point guard to begin the season. After that, lets see what happens.
We have bigger needs than finding another point guard so despite his flaws Darius will start (when healthy) and McNair should see plenty of backup action. If phrased as an over-under in minutes played per game I'd say at least 6 additional minutes for Darius and I would take the over.
I beg to differ. There is no “dead weight” on this team. To label anyone as dead weight is to assert that they are worthless. It’s impossible to know that about college freshmen or even sophomores who never played at this level before. There were people on this board who labeled Darius as dead weight - before he wasn’t. This is not professional basketball where players are who they are. Many of our guys are still in their teens, forced into early playing time out of necessity, playing against teams with players 4 and 5 years older, who probably weren’t any more accomplished than our guys at the same age. I wish people would stop with the wishing certain young guys would leave the program. Recruiting freshmen to your program and promising to develop them over time only to push them out after 1 year is a stupid program growth strategy, in fact it’s not strategic at all. It’s a shortsighted game of musical chairs that leads to mediocrity at best. We should be praising our young players for staying the course, not insulting them by calling them dead weight.
If there was little to no expectation that there would be further open scholarships than the 2 (now 1) available why did Roger Powell spend the last half of the season defiantly telling anyone who would listen that he was going to hit the transfer portal hard and do what he couldn't do last off season? Something tells me he was talking about more than 2 spots. I think many on the board felt the same way.
We can't now turn around and say that everything worked out the way we wanted because what we originally wanted didn't happen. We're already headed that way on the board.
We have bigger needs than finding another point guard so despite his flaws Darius will start (when healthy) and McNair should see plenty of backup action. If phrased as an over-under in minutes played per game I'd say at least 6 additional minutes for Darius and I would take the over.
I mustn't understand what you mean. Darius played 33mins a game last year. You think he gets 6 more or he plays 6 mins more than McNair?
I beg to differ. There is no “dead weight” on this team. To label anyone as dead weight is to assert that they are worthless. It’s impossible to know that about college freshmen or even sophomores who never played at this level before. There were people on this board who labeled Darius as dead weight - before he wasn’t. This is not professional basketball where players are who they are. Many of our guys are still in their teens, forced into early playing time out of necessity, playing against teams with players 4 and 5 years older, who probably weren’t any more accomplished than our guys at the same age. I wish people would stop with the wishing certain young guys would leave the program. Recruiting freshmen to your program and promising to develop them over time only to push them out after 1 year is a stupid program growth strategy, in fact it’s not strategic at all. It’s a shortsighted game of musical chairs that leads to mediocrity at best. We should be praising our young players for staying the course, not insulting them by calling them dead weight.
If there was little to no expectation that there would be further open scholarships than the 2 (now 1) available why did Roger Powell spend the last half of the season defiantly telling anyone who would listen that he was going to hit the transfer portal hard and do what he couldn't do last off season? Something tells me he was talking about more than 2 spots. I think many on the board felt the same way.
We can't now turn around and say that everything worked out the way we wanted because what we originally wanted didn't happen. We're already headed that way on the board.
The team probably has already talked with rhe coaching staff as to the expectations for the nest season. If these guys are fine with staying when they've most likely been told that their minutes are going to be few and far between, then hey, more power to ya. As for our expectations in the portal. We should be filling all of our available scholarships so expect 1 more signing to occur. Our portal tracker is definitely looking more populated than years past. Maybe we get some more info on Valpo day or in later press releases, but getting someone in the portal before dead week is definitely an accomplishment that needs to be noted
@whvalpo I tend to differ. Valpo needs an overall higher level of talent, and last season was certainly an indicator of this. It’s just not youth and a new coaching staff. Last year Powell had to rapidly get players to fill the roster, and several were not D1 level talent. We are in an era of NIL and transfers and more rapids solutions these days.
A further comment on DD for 24-25.
In 23-24, DD was the only real PG we had and, as 24 mentioned, he played 33 minutes per game - probably the most on the team. That’s a lot of minutes for a PG to run a fast paced offense. Decreasing his load down to maybe 28 mpg would reduce second half fatigue and add to his consistency. It would allow Roger to ease McNair into the role he could hold for the following 3 seasons. To me that would be the ideal way of passing the torch (beacon?).
ADDITION: Only player to play all 32 games and start all 32 games. Played 1062 minutes; closest next player, Coop, with 928.
In the past, I thought that it was ridiculous that a coach could take an athletic scholarship away from an athlete, even though they are technically awarded on a yearly basis. In this age of NIL and lack of loyalty, I don't see such a yearly award methodology as unethical anymore.
I wonder if it is possible that the school would step in and not allow a scholarship to be "removed" even if Powell wished to have one removed.
D2 guard Connor Dillon commits to Bradley. Averaged 22 pts on 39% 3 point shooting with a season high of 41 points. That’s the kind of scoring threat I was/am hoping we could add this off-season. I feel like we might just not have the NIL and appeal to draw that caliber of recruit.
My thinking has been similar to yours.In the past, I thought that it was ridiculous that a coach could take an athletic scholarship away from an athlete, even though they are technically awarded on a yearly basis. In this age of NIL and lack of loyalty, I don't see such a yearly award methodology as unethical anymore.
BUT! Roger Powell seems to be adapting to this new "lack of loyalty" landscape with old time thinking. If he is recruiting honorable kids and parents to an honorable institution then there are some implied moral (handshake) obligations which both sides should try hard to adhere to. In this hypothetical world you might pull a scholarship for behavior or grades or a bad basketball work ethic but maybe you shouldn't yank it away just because the coaching expectations at signing have fallen somewhat short.
I was just thinking about the ramifications of transferring for certain players. Think Brandon Newman, who was a regular contributor at Purdue and would have no doubt been again this season. He chose to transfer to Western Kentucky, who won 19 games, where he scored 10 ppg and 5 rpg. If he had stayed he would have been playing in a National title game with a very good chance of getting a title ring. So much for feeling underused etc. etc.
The first Indiana State player, Masen Miller, has entered the transfer portal. He was almost exclusively a 3-point shooter (37 out of 39 field goal attempts), who had above 40% but shot 0 free throws all year in limited minutes (7.6 per game, 213 total).
The first Indiana State player, Masen Miller, has entered the transfer portal. He was almost exclusively a 3-point shooter (37 out of 39 field goal attempts), who had above 40% but shot 0 free throws all year in limited minutes (7.6 per game, 213 total).
THis is who I expect to leave ISU following the Shertz news. THe guys who got limited minutes. I do not think that any of the starting 5 are going to leave as the replacement for Shertz is well liked from what I have seen on the MVC and ISU forumn.
