Best news at least -- happy to see that we have distributed scoring!
Just wondering out loud. How much due diligence was actually involved in Louth’s signing? Or was 6’10” the only/pivotal credential? The guy is on his last year and, yet, gets only 3 minutes a game, if that. Look, I can see Scroggins being developed and brought along slowly, but Louth should have had the capability transferring in to be a change agent at the 5. So far, no evidence of that. Our other xfers-in have had some good moments so far. Louth, hasn’t even had enough minutes to try to have a moment. Jerome was so much better. His minutes and scoring far exceed what we have now, yet he was allowed?/encouraged? to leave? Huh?
Figuring this out is way above my sports IQ.
I'm thinking Louth has an additional year of eligibility but agree that neither has shown us any firm indications that they can help us win games. I'm certain the coaching staff knows what these 2 can do but I as a fan feel completely left in the dark. I get it that Sepp is now the better center but at 6' 7" and without a reliable stretch the defense shot Kaspar may be very close to his development potential ceiling. Who should get the playing time if your center is maxed out and still not adding significantly to your wins?
With the additions of Monegro, McNair and Wright I'm uncertain about the playing time available to Stafford even if he returns at full strength. Yes his return could help but I don't think it is essential.We need Stafford.
Exactly. This team is desperate for a 29% 3 point shooter.
I want to add a few Shaw observations as well.
1 He is a little small and slow to defend big inside players.
2 He is a little big and slow to defend perimeter shooters who can penetrate.
3 He should be able to defend in a zone but I don't think we will be playing a lot of zone.
4 He is a good but not great ball handling penetrator.
5 His penetration has resulted in some forced shots and turnovers.
6 He needs to slow down, relax and shoot mainly off the open pass.
7 I sometimes think that he is trying so hard to impress that his results have been spectacularly unimpressive.
With the additions of Monegro, McNair and Wright I'm uncertain about the playing time available to Stafford even if he returns at full strength. Yes his return could help but I don't think it is essential.We need Stafford.
Exactly. This team is desperate for a 29% 3 point shooter.
I want to add a few Shaw observations as well.
1 He is a little small and slow to defend big inside players.
2 He is a little big and slow to defend perimeter shooters who can penetrate.
3 He should be able to defend in a zone but I don't think we will be playing a lot of zone.
4 He is a good but not great ball handling penetrator.
5 His penetration has resulted in some forced shots and turnovers.
6 He needs to slow down, relax and shoot mainly off the open pass.
7 I sometimes think that he is trying so hard to impress that his results have been spectacularly unimpressive.
The comment you responded to was me being facetious about Stafford. I agree with what you mentioned.
I agree with everything you posted Re: Shaw...I've expressed my concern with him since the day he was signed.
Our defense has been less than stellar, especially given this is year two of Powell. We have shooting woes - are we not getting in the gym as individuals for shooting practice?
Unless we get progressively better, we’ll be lucky to win 12/6.
I’ll give some credit to Holtmann - for having no returning players in his first year he seems to have righted many years of DePaul subpar performances.
I think we will improve but still uncertain as to how much.Our defense has been less than stellar, especially given this is year two of Powell. We have shooting woes - are we not getting in the gym as individuals for shooting practice?
Unless we get progressively better, we’ll be lucky to win 12/6.
I’ll give some credit to Holtmann - for having no returning players in his first year he seems to have righted many years of DePaul subpar performances.
Coach Holtmann got 90 minutes and 45 points from his Valley thefts of Rivera, D'Amico, Enright and NJ Benson. DePaul would be a high level Valley team this year because much of their core group is Valley players.
Scroggins must be just awful in practice otherwise why cant he get at least some run in games? He has a little twitch and his length at least helps with rim protection... at this point Palm could have contributed something... Same thoughts on Louth... there isnt 12 minutes a game in any game for either of these guys?
@valpodad My previous point exactly. It seems like RPJ has subtracted by adding - at least at the 5.
Scroggins was part of last year’s scramble to find talent after a late hire. A youngster with “potential.” A project who could pan out over a couple of years. However, in today’s portal and NIL world no coach has that luxury anymore. Or ……. maybe it was a political move - cementing a relationship with Don Bosco. Whatever.
Louth, OTOH to this point in the schedule, is a questionable xfer signing. As you, Dad, and I have stated, Jerome was so much better, already in place, understood Roger’s system, and played better than either of these two kids.
Ok. After some thankgiving time taken. Here are thoughts.
1. This team didnt perform well against NIU, and those same mistakes were evident during the DePaul game. Asking a team to play, day off, play, is not feasible to generate fine tuning and fix mistakes. DePaul had over a week off.
2. This team needs to shoot better. Plain and simple. Coop was able to knock down 3s, but the sporadic hot and cold shooting isn't sustainable. Hopefully something can click in the gym to where shots start falling, but running a set play, draining precious seconds, only to come up empty over and over again is painful to watch. Honestly, you get the shooting percentages up, and this team is quite serviceable.
3. This team is still very sound defensively. However there were major lapses that I noticed during DePaul. The complete sell out for the 3 ball made this team look like jokers on national TV. DePaul is one of the best 3 point teams in the country, but the over sell on the 3 caused a lot of scored points for DePaul.
I don't agree with the comments that the defense is bad. This defense is a lot better than last year's defense and has been pretty sound on the interior and perimeter. They simply had a bad game and got in their own heads.
Just wondering out loud. How much due diligence was actually involved in Louth’s signing? Or was 6’10” the only/pivotal credential? The guy is on his last year and, yet, gets only 3 minutes a game, if that. Look, I can see Scroggins being developed and brought along slowly, but Louth should have had the capability transferring in to be a change agent at the 5. So far, no evidence of that. Our other xfers-in have had some good moments so far. Louth, hasn’t even had enough minutes to try to have a moment. Jerome was so much better. His minutes and scoring far exceed what we have now, yet he was allowed?/encouraged? to leave? Huh?
Figuring this out is way above my sports IQ.
Louth got the short end of the stick with Sepp's improvement. Sepp plays the role of a rebounder to a high degree depside being 3 inches shorter. than Louth. And to me at least, Louth was signed to be a rebounder. Hard to justify putting Louth in the game for rebounding when Sepp can perform the job well.
