21-22 Roster Breakdown & Wishlist
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:08 pm
Coming off the most exciting and successful season during my 15+ years supporting app state basketball I'm already excited for the next season to begin. I wanted to make a thread to breakdown our roster for the upcoming season and add a personal wishlist of what I would like to see.
2021-22 ROSTER BREAKDOWN:
G - Justin Forrest - RETURNING
G - Michael Almonacy - RETURNING
G - Xavion Brown - likely returning
F - RJ Duhart - likely returning
G - Michael Eads - likely returning
F - Donovan Gregory - likely returning
F - CJ Huntley - likely returning
G - Adrian Delph - likely returning
C - James Lewis Jr - likely returning
F - Sasha Glushkov - likely returning
G -Deshon Parker - NOT RETURNING
F - RJ Wilson - NOT RETURNING
G - Terrence Harcum - INCOMING FRESHMAN
F - Chris Mantis - INCOMING FRESHMAN
Guards - 6 Forwards - 5 Centers - 1
1 SCHOLARSHIP available
As of right now assuming we lose nobody else to the portal we are lacking ball handlers and post depth. Almonacy &/or Forrest returning for the bonus year would be huge in terms of having someone return who can handle the rock. Parker was a reliable defender for us and we will miss that, but offensively he was a huge minus when on the court. Wilson showed flashes of being able to defend and rebound off the bench, but unfortunately he has been injured both years in Boone. I wish good health and the best for these 2 as they find a new home!
As of now we have two commits signed that'll be freshmen for us next year. Harcum is a point guard and as of right now would have a good chance to start year 1 due to lack of competition at that position. Harcum averaged 25 ppg 6 rpg 5 apg and scored over 2k points in his HS career. Harcum is a 2 star recruit according to 247. Mantis is a 6'7 SG/SF from Indiana who committed to us on Christmas day. At the time of his commitment he was "averaging 29.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game." Mantis is a fringe 3 star recruit according to 247. Both could be impact players as freshmen in my opinion. Mantis would be competing for Kendall Lewis old minutes with year 2 guys like Eads and Brown. And Harcum could be competing for Alomonacy and Forrests' old minutes.
With the 2 current departures and 2 incoming freshmen that leaves us with 3 remaining scholarships. Two could be used on Alomancy/Forrest and the 3rd on a newcomer. Or all 3 could go to newcomers. That is TBD.
WISHLIST:
1. Extend Kerns. Can cross this off the list already!
2. Retain one of Almonacy/Forrest. I'd be thrilled to see both return, but realistically I feel like we can get one to return. If Forrest returned he would have the chance to become our programs all time leading scorer (Passing Sims and Shabazz). BOTH RETURNED
3. Bring in a rim protector / strong rebounder. James Lewis was awesome for us on numerous occasions this season, but when he was in foul trouble or hurt we had basically no rim protection. Duhart had a great game in the sun belt tourney protecting the paint, but his game is more of a stretch 4 kind of player. Would love for us to sign an impact kind of guy to lighten the load off of Lewis' shoulders. Glushkov is another year or 2 away in my opinion, but maybe I'm wrong and he is able to step up in year 2.
4. Bring in an experienced point guard in the transfer portal. There are over 900 players in the portal right now, I'd love to see us land an experienced HM player like other sun belt schools are landing, or even another Almonacy kind of guy who played well in D2/low major. Even if we retain Forrest or Almonacy I think we will still need another reliable point guard.
Don't need experience from the portal, we kept it in house
5. Offensive improvement. Our strengths this past year was our defense, toughness, and grittyness that we played with. But I think we can all agree our offense wasn't the most fun to watch. Our offensive efficiency was 244th in the country and it was evident as we commonly would go 3-5 minutes without making a shot. I don't know if this needs to happen with roster improvement or a new offensive philosophy / playbook. But I would hope we see improvement on the offensive end of the floor next year.
6. Packed student section / good fan support. I would expect sporting event capacities to be 100% by November, if not at least 75% capacity which would be just fine for the holmes center. coming off an amazing season I really hope we see students and fans come out and support the program like never before!
7. Additional coach to our staff? This isn't a wish but what went unnoticed when Coach Allison took over as interim Head Golf Coach his position was never replaced. This could have been due to COVID related budget issues, but it is standard for D1 programs to have 3 assistants and 1 operations position, and 1 other position (ie Video Coordinator, special assistant, recruiting/scouting director, etc.). We currently have 3 assistants (Szorc, Young, and Moynihan) and 1 DOBO (Fey). In comparison South Alabama has 9 assistant coaching positions and Georgia State has 3 assistans, 1 DOBO, and 2 GA's.
8. Non conference schedule improvements. Under Kerns in 2 years we have played 3 (0-3) Power 5 teams, 6 (3-3) regional MM competitors (ie ECU, UNCG, Bowling Green) 4 (3-1) low major competitors, 6* (6-0) cupcakes (D2/easy teams). I know this past year is an asterisks year for scheduling, I would like us to play less cupcakes a more quality mid major competitors. In two years we have played 9 quality non conference opponents, and 10 cupcakes.
*could have been 9 if not for COVID cancellations.
This is all I can think of for now... would love input and opinions from others. As always, TAKE THE STAIRS!
tldr: this thread will breakdown are projected roster. I hope we retain 1 of Forrest/Almonacy, sign a rim protector, and a veteran point guard in the portal.
2021-22 ROSTER BREAKDOWN:
G - Justin Forrest - RETURNING
G - Michael Almonacy - RETURNING
G - Xavion Brown - likely returning
F - RJ Duhart - likely returning
G - Michael Eads - likely returning
F - Donovan Gregory - likely returning
F - CJ Huntley - likely returning
G - Adrian Delph - likely returning
C - James Lewis Jr - likely returning
F - Sasha Glushkov - likely returning
G -Deshon Parker - NOT RETURNING
F - RJ Wilson - NOT RETURNING
G - Terrence Harcum - INCOMING FRESHMAN
F - Chris Mantis - INCOMING FRESHMAN
Guards - 6 Forwards - 5 Centers - 1
1 SCHOLARSHIP available
As of right now assuming we lose nobody else to the portal we are lacking ball handlers and post depth. Almonacy &/or Forrest returning for the bonus year would be huge in terms of having someone return who can handle the rock. Parker was a reliable defender for us and we will miss that, but offensively he was a huge minus when on the court. Wilson showed flashes of being able to defend and rebound off the bench, but unfortunately he has been injured both years in Boone. I wish good health and the best for these 2 as they find a new home!
As of now we have two commits signed that'll be freshmen for us next year. Harcum is a point guard and as of right now would have a good chance to start year 1 due to lack of competition at that position. Harcum averaged 25 ppg 6 rpg 5 apg and scored over 2k points in his HS career. Harcum is a 2 star recruit according to 247. Mantis is a 6'7 SG/SF from Indiana who committed to us on Christmas day. At the time of his commitment he was "averaging 29.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game." Mantis is a fringe 3 star recruit according to 247. Both could be impact players as freshmen in my opinion. Mantis would be competing for Kendall Lewis old minutes with year 2 guys like Eads and Brown. And Harcum could be competing for Alomonacy and Forrests' old minutes.
With the 2 current departures and 2 incoming freshmen that leaves us with 3 remaining scholarships. Two could be used on Alomancy/Forrest and the 3rd on a newcomer. Or all 3 could go to newcomers. That is TBD.
WISHLIST:
1. Extend Kerns. Can cross this off the list already!
2. Retain one of Almonacy/Forrest. I'd be thrilled to see both return, but realistically I feel like we can get one to return. If Forrest returned he would have the chance to become our programs all time leading scorer (Passing Sims and Shabazz). BOTH RETURNED
3. Bring in a rim protector / strong rebounder. James Lewis was awesome for us on numerous occasions this season, but when he was in foul trouble or hurt we had basically no rim protection. Duhart had a great game in the sun belt tourney protecting the paint, but his game is more of a stretch 4 kind of player. Would love for us to sign an impact kind of guy to lighten the load off of Lewis' shoulders. Glushkov is another year or 2 away in my opinion, but maybe I'm wrong and he is able to step up in year 2.
4. Bring in an experienced point guard in the transfer portal. There are over 900 players in the portal right now, I'd love to see us land an experienced HM player like other sun belt schools are landing, or even another Almonacy kind of guy who played well in D2/low major. Even if we retain Forrest or Almonacy I think we will still need another reliable point guard.
Don't need experience from the portal, we kept it in house
5. Offensive improvement. Our strengths this past year was our defense, toughness, and grittyness that we played with. But I think we can all agree our offense wasn't the most fun to watch. Our offensive efficiency was 244th in the country and it was evident as we commonly would go 3-5 minutes without making a shot. I don't know if this needs to happen with roster improvement or a new offensive philosophy / playbook. But I would hope we see improvement on the offensive end of the floor next year.
6. Packed student section / good fan support. I would expect sporting event capacities to be 100% by November, if not at least 75% capacity which would be just fine for the holmes center. coming off an amazing season I really hope we see students and fans come out and support the program like never before!
7. Additional coach to our staff? This isn't a wish but what went unnoticed when Coach Allison took over as interim Head Golf Coach his position was never replaced. This could have been due to COVID related budget issues, but it is standard for D1 programs to have 3 assistants and 1 operations position, and 1 other position (ie Video Coordinator, special assistant, recruiting/scouting director, etc.). We currently have 3 assistants (Szorc, Young, and Moynihan) and 1 DOBO (Fey). In comparison South Alabama has 9 assistant coaching positions and Georgia State has 3 assistans, 1 DOBO, and 2 GA's.
8. Non conference schedule improvements. Under Kerns in 2 years we have played 3 (0-3) Power 5 teams, 6 (3-3) regional MM competitors (ie ECU, UNCG, Bowling Green) 4 (3-1) low major competitors, 6* (6-0) cupcakes (D2/easy teams). I know this past year is an asterisks year for scheduling, I would like us to play less cupcakes a more quality mid major competitors. In two years we have played 9 quality non conference opponents, and 10 cupcakes.
*could have been 9 if not for COVID cancellations.
This is all I can think of for now... would love input and opinions from others. As always, TAKE THE STAIRS!
tldr: this thread will breakdown are projected roster. I hope we retain 1 of Forrest/Almonacy, sign a rim protector, and a veteran point guard in the portal.