Got a new commit. 6’7” senior. From his X account, he had an offer from AZ State among a bunch of other mid majors. RPJ is definitely recruiting Illinois.
Hard for me to get excited for a big signing like this anymore. Without an offensive that shares the ball and shows the ability to execute some set plays for a good look every once in a while, it’s hard to see how having good players will matter.
I do think this team is more talented and overall “better” than last years team. However, even with bad talent I think a good coaching staff should be able to get them to play cohesively on offense. I still have not seen any sign of that ability.
Powell seems to want to run run run. Typically that offensive philosophy doesn't mesh well at the same time as solid set offense. Usually the hyper fast offense requires, to a degree, out athleting other teams which is going to be hard for Valpo. It's remarkable how guys who seem to be able to shoot can't once they put on a Valpo uni. My guess is that practice is spent "doing what we do" with less time spent on "doing what other teams will have us do". Likely this gets the shooters off their spots and leads to difficulties.
Hard for me to get excited for a big signing like this anymore.
Agreed, for another reason. With the new annual flood of transfer turnovers and NIL poaching, any freshman signing seems less significant. There is no way of knowing how he will fit with the squad since we have no confidence in players remaining following the end of the season; so, we have no idea what the composition of the team will be when he arrives. We used to be able to project a player's contribution and speculate on impact. That is no longer possible. This is one of the negative symptoms of the current system in the NCAA that has diminished once existing fan enthusiasm and anticipation for the next year, particularly at mid-major universities.
