@valpofb16 - successful? Yes I guess if I base it on a company performance review. But certainly with a lot of room to improve. The program is in the right direction, but they need to be aggressive on recruiting and aware of the current climate of the men’s college basketball ecosystem. Change and improvement is expected at a much faster pace,and five year strategies will not work.
Wright ideally defends other teams point, this would eliminate a lot of cross matching. He has a 2:1 A/T ratio and almost a 26% usage rate. He’s a high volume tweener and a FR PG in the MVC. Theoretically, his distributing and shot selection should get better with age, as it does for many CBB players.
16, what you are saying is that All is the PG all of us have been wishing for since moving to the MVC. Decent defensive size, quick first step, good A/T ratio, able to score from the arc to stretch the D, able to penetrate and score off the dribble. As a pure 2 he would not be asked to check all those boxes, so we’d need another player at PG, but who else checks all those boxes? Certainly, it would be easier to find another 2 (among Stafford, Monegro, McNair) than find another All-like PG.
I agree that they have to get Cooper out of the middle of the defense. His best attribute are his long arms which he's an effective shot blocker which can be more effective if he's coming from off the basket a bit instead of protecting the rim. Sepp will be used as the under the basket guy from time to time but he's just not tall enough/springy enough to handle that. As far as the two bigs guarding the end of the bench...I can't fathom how bad these guys must show behind the curtain to essentially not play at all when it is the rosters biggest hole. It's a cavern which I'm sure Powell recognizes and yet he really hasn't even tried to get either of these two on the court.
Wright as a point guard, and I really don't give a crap about stats, can be maddening. He doesn't make good decisions period and too often takes ill advised shots. He'll be a better player without the ball in his hands.
A point and a big plus a 3 and D and we are golden.
As far as the two bigs guarding the end of the bench...I can't fathom how bad these guys must show behind the curtain to essentially not play at all when it is the rosters biggest hole. It's a cavern which I'm sure Powell recognizes and yet he really hasn't even tried to get either of these two on the court.
The definition of "dilemma": a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives. Scroggins was touted last year in his redshirt season as a game-changer for the upcoming season. So, something doesn't seem right.
According to Valpo's stats, Scroggins has played in only 6 games against various level teams, from Calumet College to Ohio State, although not in any conference games. He has played a total of 32 minutes, during which he has 18 points on 9-9 field goal shooting (he is 0-2 from the free throw line), plus 10 rebounds (5 offensive), 2 assists, 4 blocks, and a steal. On the other hand, he has 3 turnovers and 8 personal fouls. Arguably, he has numbers good enough to get some playing time, especially in those late minutes of games that are beyond winning. Certainly, these aren't the stats of someone who should be barred from seeing the court in 17 conference games, particularly when needed to aid with teams that have imposing big men. In addition, Valpo appears locked into 11th place. Wouldn't this be a good time to attempt at least some brief experiments in lineups?
As far as the two bigs guarding the end of the bench...I can't fathom how bad these guys must show behind the curtain to essentially not play at all when it is the rosters biggest hole. It's a cavern which I'm sure Powell recognizes and yet he really hasn't even tried to get either of these two on the court.
The definition of "dilemma": a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives. Scroggins was touted last year in his redshirt season as a game-changer for the upcoming season. So, something doesn't seem right.
According to Valpo's stats, Scroggins has played in only 6 games against various level teams, from Calumet College to Ohio State, although not in any conference games. He has played a total of 32 minutes, during which he has 18 points on 9-9 field goal shooting (he is 0-2 from the free throw line), plus 10 rebounds (5 offensive), 2 assists, 4 blocks, and a steal. On the other hand, he has 3 turnovers and 8 personal fouls. Arguably, he has numbers good enough to get some playing time, especially in those late minutes of games that are beyond winning. Certainly, these aren't the stats of someone who should be barred from seeing the court in 17 conference games, particularly when needed to aid with teams that have imposing big men. In addition, Valpo appears locked into 11th place. Wouldn't this be a good time to attempt at least some brief experiments in lineups?
32mins of that every night would be pretty good I'd think. Heck.....Half of it would be good.
Maybe Powell has some unknown requirements to get into a game which go beyond the court. The two bigs can't get to the scorers table no matter how beat up inside Valpo gets. Devon Ellis has done something wrong after being the team's best player for 4-5 games at the start of the season. Even Carson Schwieger didn't make an appearance in the last game after showing at least a little bit.
It is interesting to imagine what it will be like with Stafford in the mix...and Pettigrew is supposedly a tremendous shot blocker... it is odd that no bigs can sniff a minute including carson... behind the curtain at practice there has to be things we havent seen that the staff has seen that explains things I assume. But Scroggins wreaking havoc for a few minutes - bad fouls a goaltend maybe a put back dunk bad turnover etc- is something Id be interested in seeing at some point. He was touted all pre season then poof...
All very good points. USC4Valpo, I liken this rebuild to what Crean took over at Indiana in ‘08. Completed tear down. I believe he went 8 than 14 wins in year 1&2, is it perfect? no. But very rarely are teams completely flipping the trajectory of their program in one year. Sans ample NIL, which we don’t have.
JD24 , I get what you’re saying on the boneheaded plays. But he’s a freshman. I’d rather try to reel in potential than amplify a corpse. He does some real good non scripted things. Decision making and shot selection are usually two things that improve through eligibility in college. Time will tell.
All very good points. USC4Valpo, I liken this rebuild to what Crean took over at Indiana in ‘08. Completed tear down. I believe he went 8 than 14 wins in year 1&2, is it perfect? no. But very rarely are teams completely flipping the trajectory of their program in one year. Sans ample NIL, which we don’t have.
JD24 , I get what you’re saying on the boneheaded plays. But he’s a freshman. I’d rather try to reel in potential than amplify a corpse. He does some real good non scripted things. Decision making and shot selection are usually two things that improve through eligibility in college. Time will tell.
im intrigued on Stafford but with him being an upcoming 5th year , I think he favorably fits into a high volume bench role. So if we’re playing 9 before portal season
PG: All Wright
SG: Jefferson Monegro
SF: JT Pettigrew? (has Arizona state offer)
PF: Cooper Schweiger
C: Portal
6: Stafford
7: Sepp
8-10: McNair/Shaw/Ellis
i can really get behind that rotation. But need to get a winner at the 5
All very good points. USC4Valpo, I liken this rebuild to what Crean took over at Indiana in ‘08. Completed tear down. I believe he went 8 than 14 wins in year 1&2, is it perfect? no. But very rarely are teams completely flipping the trajectory of their program in one year. Sans ample NIL, which we don’t have.
JD24 , I get what you’re saying on the boneheaded plays. But he’s a freshman. I’d rather try to reel in potential than amplify a corpse. He does some real good non scripted things. Decision making and shot selection are usually two things that improve through eligibility in college. Time will tell.
I'm not looking to get rid of him, just get the ball out of his hands a bit. He's not a true point guard and, while Valpo may need to live with him as PG if one isn't brought in either through the portal or recruit (Darius HAS to be replaced to some degree) I guess the hope is that the decision making gets better. I'm one who believes that is an instinct skill rather than a taught skill but we'll see.
im intrigued on Stafford but with him being an upcoming 5th year , I think he favorably fits into a high volume bench role. So if we’re playing 9 before portal season
PG: All Wright
SG: Jefferson Monegro
SF: JT Pettigrew? (has Arizona state offer)
PF: Cooper Schweiger
C: Portal
6: Stafford
7: Sepp
8-10: McNair/Shaw/Ellis
i can really get behind that rotation. But need to get a winner at the 5
Still going to have the same inside problems if a big or two isn't brought in. We were all on here last portal season thinking the issue was solved with the two guys who are now not playing at all. Stafford doesn't float my boat as much as it does for some. Stafford, Wright and Monegro on the floor at the same time will require more than one basketball. Stafford is a very good rebounder so he may actually help more there than scoring.
I think that we all forget that Stafford has another season, and really hope that he stays. I don't see Cooper or All receiving big money paydays after this season, given the current statistics, but could be wrong. They could get some form of NIL somewhere, but hopefully they realize the value of staying at least one more season each. If All does test the portal, it is good to know that Stafford should be unlikely to transfer, coming off a tough injury. He would just slot into the role that All is playing currently.
Seems like our most efficient stretches occur when Darius is primary ballhandler... Its good when All has breaks from total ballhandling duties. Hoping for a nice leap from Mcnair next year. We need more assists/ball movement. Plus the oft mentioned new steady big.
Devon Ellis has played 307 total minutes for the season but fewer recently. I recognize his limitations and do think he will likely transfer but I started wondering how he would have fit on our 2023-24 team. From old stat sheet I'm seeing that Jaxson Edwards played 768 minutes, Ola Ajiboye 439, and Connor Barrett had 160. I'm thinking that had Ellis been on that team he would have played more than any of them and might have won us a couple additional games. This helps me understand why Powell recruited him but the opportunities for his style of play have definitely shrunk.
@justducky This is a great point, especially considering that Ellis was the first transfer Powell got last year. At that point, I think they were still operating under the belief that Stafford would be back for this year, and just based on who they did and did not try to recruit or end up getting to come here, I think Powell's transfer strategy may have changed after he figured out the Stafford reality.
