Has anyone seen any practice or summer work, or heard from someone close to the program about the development of the team? I'd be interested in knowing how the newcomers are fitting in. I would imagine at least one will need to start, based on the guards we lost.

We're going to see some interesting lineups losing all those guards last offseason. Really pulling for Shabazz, he's one of the most talented players ever to play for App.

I'm excited about Kinney's development. I thought some of his moves last season were awesome. He clearly spent a lot of time on conditioning, because he was moving around great. I'm gonna call it now, double double machine this season.

did anyone see enough in the scrimmage to be able to determine anything about player/team development? Do any new players look like they will be able to contribute? Any veterans showing lots of improvement? I wanted to make it, but wasn't able to arrive in Boone until 9:00, right when Mountaineer Madness was ending.

There is a stream of it on GoASU. The women had a good, hard competitive scrimmage.
The men had the NBA All-Star game's 2nd cousin of a scrimmage. There was nothing that you could really tell except that we have some people that can dunk if the other team is playing ole defence.

judging from what little I can tell from the loose scrimmage, O. Williams can be really good. The last guy I can remember for us that had anywhere close to that leaping ability with a shorter stature was Tyson Patterson.

Tyrell Johnson looks impressive as well. I hope he has a break out season since we will need several guys other than Shabazz to share the scoring load.

app97 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 24, 2017 4:07 pm

judging from what little I can tell from the loose scrimmage, O. Williams can be really good. The last guy I can remember for us that had anywhere close to that leaping ability with a shorter stature was Tyson Patterson.

Tyrell Johnson looks impressive as well. I hope he has a break out season since we will need several guys other than Shabazz to share the scoring load.

"O" can really jump, will be interesting to see what he can do besides jump.

Tyrell will stick around the perimeter because he cant gain weight. I am excited to watch Ike Johnson, the rebounding machine.

bigCasu wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 26, 2017 9:33 am

[quote=app97 post_id=153404 time=<a href="tel:1508879235">1508879235</a> user_id=3199]
judging from what little I can tell from the loose scrimmage, O. Williams can be really good. The last guy I can remember for us that had anywhere close to that leaping ability with a shorter stature was Tyson Patterson.

Tyrell Johnson looks impressive as well. I hope he has a break out season since we will need several guys other than Shabazz to share the scoring load.

"O" can really jump, will be interesting to see what he can do besides jump.

Tyrell will stick around the perimeter because he cant gain weight. I am excited to watch Ike Johnson, the rebounding machine.
[/quote]

Looks like O can shoot as well. Ike really turned it on last year. He has a motor for sure. With a tiny bit more production he could be a consistent double double threat. I know I should focus on this season, but I’m excited to see Bibby with Shabazz and others next year.

What are ya'lls expectations for the team?

I'd really like to see some consistency for game to game. At times it felt like this team can beat (and sometimes did beat) the best in the conference and then very next game you'd see a lackluster result. I don't presume to know the effort that these guys were putting forward, but it'd be great to see more then a couple wins strung together.

I'm delusional, but year after year this team should be competing for a playoff spot. No one puts banners up for second place finishes in the Sun Belt. With all the turn over in the Sun Belt (ourselves included) who knows...

I take the approach that you usually have to walk before you run, so my goal is to finish above .500 (preferably in conference and overall).

Of course I've said the same thing the previous two years...

If Fox actually commits to a zone defense instead of trying to force a man defense to a squad that is not designed for it, I'll feel much better about this team.

I just hope we win 10 division 1 games.

I am causally optimistic about this season. We have more depth than we ever have under Fox. We have a star in Ronshad, and with Kinney, Johnson X2, and Seacat we have 4 serviceable bigs. I think we finally have a chance to win some games.

Something about this team has me optimistic. I like our size and length on the perimeter.

From the Sun Belt Sports site.

http://www.sunbeltsports.org/news/2017/ ... eason.aspx

UTA, Hervey picked to lead Sun Belt in 2017-18 season
NEW ORLEANS – The UTA Mavericks are preseason favorites for a second consecutive year, and its senior leading scorer Kevin Hervey is expected to repeat as Player of the Year, for the upcoming 2017-18 Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball season.

The league released its annual preseason all-conference teams and coaches’ poll based on a vote of the 12 head coaches. UTA amassed 128 points and nine first-place votes while Hervey was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year for a second consecutive season following a standout junior year.

UTA is the preseason favorite following a season in which it went 27-9 overall, won the Sun Belt regular-season title and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT. The Mavericks return two starters and 10 letterwiners from last year’s team, as well as 57 percent of their scoring and 58 percent of their rebounding.

Hervey, who returned last year following an abbreviated recovery from a knee injury during the 2016-17 season, was a First Team All-Sun Belt, NABC All-District, USBWA All-District, Associated Press All-America honorable mention and Lou Henson All-America selection. He enters the year with 1,107 career points and 639 rebounds, the second highest 3-year point total for a UTA student-athlete. He posted 16 double-doubles last year to give him 25 for his career.

Georgia State, Troy and Louisiana all earned a first-place vote apiece in the preseason poll to finish second, third and fifth, respectively.

The 2017-18 season begins on Nov. 10. An 18-game conference slate leads to the conference championship beginning March 8 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. All 12 teams qualify for the tournament in March, with the winner of the championship earning the league’s automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. The championship game of the tournament is scheduled for Selection Sunday, March 11, and will be televised on ESPN2.

Preseason Coaches’ Poll
Rank Team Points (first-place votes)
1 UTA 128 (9)
2 Georgia State 116(1)
3 Troy 115 (1)
4 Georgia Southern 114
5 Louisiana 113 (1)
6 Texas State 71
7 Arkansas State 68
8 Coastal Carolina 67
9 South Alabama 43
10 Little Rock 37
11 Appalachian State 35
12 ULM 28

Preseason First Team All-Sun Belt
Tookie Brown (Georgia Southern, Junior, Guard, Sport Management)
Ike Smith (Georgia Southern, Junior, Guard, Sport Management)
Kevin Hervey (UTA, Senior, Forward, Interdisciplinary Studies)
Erick Neal (UTA, Senior, Guard, Broadcasting)
Jordon Varnado (Troy, Junior, Forward)

Preseason Second Team All-Sun Belt
Ronshad Shabazz (Appalachian State, Junior, Guard, Criminal Justice)
Jaylen Shaw (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Guard)
D’Marcus Simonds (Georgia State, Sophomore, Guard, Sociology)
Bryce Washington (Louisiana, Senior, Forward, Accounting)
Wesley Person (Troy, Senior, Guard, International Business)

Preseason Third Team All-Sun Belt
Demario Beck (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Forward)
Mike Hughes (Georgia Southern, Senior, Guard, Sport Management)
Frank Bartley (Louisiana, Senior, Guard, Sociology)
Travis Munnings (ULM, Junior, Forward, Kinesiology)
Nijal Pearson (Texas State, Sophomore, Guard, Business Management)

Preseason Player of the Year
Kevin Hervey (UTA, Senior, Forward, Interdisciplinary Studies)