Transfer Portal

[EastHallApp]

I might be in the minority here, but I actually think it may be more prudent to bring in a guard from the Portal than a post player. From my experience, mid major teams that have the most success, in terms of postseason runs, have an abundance of perimeter scoring. Our team this past season is a good example. If you have multiple guards that can be a threat to score 20 every game then you have a chance to make some noise in your conference tournament and in the early rounds of the big dance.

I totally understand why people would look at our roster with Forrest, Almonacy and Delph and think we have sufficient perimeter scoring, but after that, there are still unknowns. Those 3 can't play 35+ minutes a game for the year. How much scoring can we expect from the bench? I think Eads has potential to take a jump off the bench, Brown is a great defender and super athletic, but still unsure what his offensive impact is just yet. Hard to project how quickly the two incoming freshmen will acclimate to the college game. To me, it makes a ton of sense to add some experienced backcourt scoring to that group.

With Lewis, Duhart, Gregory, Huntley & Glushkov - we have a pretty deep rotation of guys that can come in and provide energy, rebounding, rim protection and defense to the floor. Even if they did bring someone in from the portal, they'll likely be the 4th-5th option offensively anyways so not sure a bucket getter down low is super critical. Plus, 80% of this group has additional eligibility past next season where the backcourt has more key players graduating.

Certainly not opposed to bringing in a post player that can bolster that group, but I wouldn't discount the value another scoring guard could bring to our second unit.

strongly disagree here. We aren't deep in the front court. Gregory who is more of a traditional 3 was playing out of position as a 4/5 during our tourney run. Huntley and Glushkov both didn't see the floor in the games that mattered late. So that leaves only Lewis and Duhart again, which is why we should target a true big man so we can stop playing one of our top players (Gregory) out of position.

Also worth mentioning our perimeter scoring options are: Forrest, Almonacy, Delph, Gregory, Eads, Brown, PLUS 2 incoming freshmen in Mantis and Harcum

Interior scoring options are: James Lewis. That's it. Because Duhart, Glushkov, and Huntley are all stretch bigs that camp at the 3 point line more than they post up on the block

This plays right into Kerns’ style. Many of the best college bball teams play what would essentially be considered 4 guards in the lineup. It’s not necessarily about “positions” anymore as much as it is to get the best combo of players on the court who play to the strengths of the system. Hell, coach K was recruiting this way 30 years ago...not necessarily based on positions 1-5, but which pieces fit his puzzle for success. He won national titles with Grant Hill playing on the perimeter and Laettner as a stretch forward, sometimes post player, depending on the lineup at the time.

Probably should have expanded my post to include other metrics other than just offense, but I've mentioned it before in other posts here recently. Our offense was 245th in the country this past season, our rebounding differential was 151st in the country and 8th in the Sun Belt. We need help on the block and a strong rebounding big man who can also score a little will do leaps and bound more than another guard. I hope "Kerns' style" on offense improves, cause our offense was challenging to watch for the duration of the season. Even in the sun belt tourney we would go stretches of 2-5 minutes without making a basket. Hopefully player development continues to be a strong point and we see more of an impact from Kerns recruits. As of right now Huntley/Glushkov aren't capable of protecting the rim, scoring on the block, and dominating the glass in a way that will improve our offense, post defense, or rebounding differential. Both need to add more muscle and continue to improve this off season for any of those things to happen.

Offense definitely needs to improve, but hopefully that happens with improved shooting, which we saw late in the year (first half against Norfolk State notwithstanding).

We're probably never going to be great in rebounding margin as long as we prioritize everyone running back on a missed shot over crashing the offensive glass, which is one of the basic tenets of a pack line defense. That said, 151 nationally is slightly above the median, so not awful.