The Rock wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 18, 2022 8:03 am

i think xavion brown could be the rim protector and rebounder. In the few games he played this year, the offense flowed much better from his ability to get to the rim and finish. having that threat gave us much better offense than living/dying by the 3. Brown is super athletic.

CharlotteApp05 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 18, 2022 8:54 am

I'll just add to the wishlist....Keep Gregory. I've heard of some schools that may be interested, he is our number one recruit right now.

bigdaddyg wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 18, 2022 8:40 am

Does anyone think Huntley needs to work on some ball skills as well? We won’t with him camped behind the line especially with the scoring losses. If he can’t take the ball off the dribble to the hole we will get zoned to death. Would have been nice if JL had some threat of offense instead of just roaming the baseline for a couple of dunks every game. I agree with the portal comments. We need to plug in at least a big and a shooter.

HurricaneYosef wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 18, 2022 9:49 am

The Rock wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 18, 2022 8:03 am

i think xavion brown could be the rim protector and rebounder. In the few games he played this year, the offense flowed much better from his ability to get to the rim and finish. having that threat gave us much better offense than living/dying by the 3. Brown is super athletic.

I love Xavion and his athleticism, but at 6'3 180 I don't believe we can feasibly expect him to protect the rim against opposing teams 6'10 240 lb bigs. We need an anchor

HurricaneYosef wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 17, 2022 8:53 pm

I did this last year and figured why not do it again as I sit through tonight's tourney games. We finished 2nd in the Sun Belt, made the semis, and hosted a post season tournament game. It didn't end how we would like but we should appreciate the successes we did have! Attendance this year was also top notch for what we are used to, hope the momentum carries into next year. So let's breakdown our roster for the upcoming season and I'll add a personal wishlist of what I would like to see.

First i'll take a brief look at last year's wish list / predictions and see if they came true:

1. Extend Kerns. - Happened
2. Retain one of Almonacy/Forrest. - Both Happened!
3. Bring in a rim protector / strong rebounder. - Did Not Happen. Duhart played less than expected this year, Sasha didn't take a step forward and it led to 6-7 man rotations for most of the season. Probably a wish that'll carry over to my new list.
4. Bring in an experienced PG - Didn't need to happen since JF and MA returned
5. Offensive improvement. According to kenpom there was improvement (245th in the country to 210th this year). But our offense has been less than ideal. Probably will need major improvements if we lose Delph this off season too.
6. Packed student section / good fan support. Happened!
7. Additional coach to our staff. - Did not happen, still wonder why we have not replaced the position held by Coach Allison in Kerns 1st year on staff
8. Non conference schedule improvements. - Happened! Our non con SOS was 24th in the country according to kenpom. Tons of quality MM's on our schedule this year (Vermont Furman Deleware Iona UNCC ETSU). This schedule should be the standard!
9. 8-5 conference record, or better! - Happened (12-6, 2nd in SB)
10. Toughness and strong defensive play carry over to 2021-22 - 191 to 133rd in the country according to Kenpom. Would say this did happen because without our strong defensive play, we don't win 19 games

2021-22 ROSTER BREAKDOWN:

G - Xavion Brown - likely returning
G - Chris Mantis - likely returning
F - RJ Duhart - likely returning
G - Michael Eads - likely returning
F - Donovan Gregory - Possibly returning
F - CJ Huntley - likely returning
G - Terence Harcum - likely returning
C - Sasha Glushkov - likely returning

F - Justin Abson - INCOMING FRESHMAN
G - Zocko Littleton - INCOMING FRESHMAN

C - James Lewis - Graduating, could return
G - Adrian Delph - Graduating, could return

G Justin Forrest - No remaining eligibility
G Michael Almonacy - No remaining eligibility

Guards - 5 Forwards - 4 Centers - 1*

3 SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

We currently have 3 scholarships to use and that number could grow to 5 depending on the decisions made by Lewis and Delph. Assuming both aren't coming back we will be losing 62.4% of our scoring production and 4 of 6 key rotational pieces. That is A TON to replace. We will get our first opportunity to see what a team recruited by this staff will look like as the only remaining Fox recruit will. likely be Donovan Gregory. I would imagine we take advantage of our momentum these last two years and utilize the transfer portal to acquire some players to contribute immediately.

As of now we have two incoming freshman for the 2022 Class. Zocko Littleton 3 star top 200 recruit in the nation, our highest rated recruit in program history (Donovan Gregory is now 2nd). He is a 4 star according to ESPN. Can shoot the rock and has great handles. Will likely be in position to start in one of Forrest / Almonacy's spots unless we pick up some impactful transfers....and even then I'm more than comfortable handing this kid the keys to our future. Our other incoming freshman is Justin Abson from Florida. He is a. 2 star 6'9 PF and we beat out UNCC and Georgia St in recruiting him. He looks more developmental as his HS competition looked very weak in the film i've seen. It's nice to be getting a big man though, we haven't had a true big man recruited yet under Kerns. He started with Isaac Johnson, Hunter Seacat, and James Lewis and has just rode out the eligibility of those 3 guys.

Transfer portal I will probably have a seperate post/thread for. But if we want to contend next year in the Sun Belt, we will want to utilize it. If we want to focus on high school recruits, some of our guys are going to have to take major steps forward next year to contend.

WISHLIST:

1. Adrian Delph returns. Would be huge, don't think it needs an explanation

2. Bring in a rim protector / strong rebounder. We need a guy like Georgia State has with Nsosome, a guy who can protect the rim and dominate games on the glass. Gregory is the closest player we have to that, and he's a 6'5 forward. If we could just another with his effort who is closer to 7 foot I think it would be HUGE for our team.

3. Bring in a veteran PG via the portal. I'm a strong believer in Zocko, and liked what we saw in Harcum this season. Xavion has PG capability as well, but would love to have a guy who has already PROVEN they can run PG effectively.

4. High major transfer via the portal. We've seen South Alabama almost exclusively go after HM transfers, and teams like ULL, Ga St, and Coastal land guys from high major conferences. I think with the momentum of our program it's our turn to land someone who will provide an immediate IMPACT to our program. It's wishful thinking, but with 400+ names already in the portal, there's bound to be someone there!

5. Better Early season tournament - This year we played in the Gulf Coast Showcase which did feature quality mid major programs, The tournament however was broadcasted on FloHoops which nobody was able to watch just about. In 2019 we played in the "Spartan Classic" against UNCG, Tenn Tech, and Montana St and those games weren't even livestreamed if I remember correctly. Would love to see us in one of the ESPN / big network tournaments for the national exposure it could bring and the opportunity to knock off a big time program at a neutral site.

6. FREE THROW SHOOTING IMPROVEMENTS

7. Donovan Gregory returns

This is all I can think of for now... would love input and opinions from others. As always, TAKE THE STAIRS!

Stonewall wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 18, 2022 1:16 pm

We depended way too much on the departing guards and calling them inconsistent is being kind.They did give it their all and Almonacy exceeded expectations in his two years.Justin was either the best player or the worst , depending on the moment.I love CJ but his shot has a contrary rotation , easy to fix and I wonder why it hasn't been?With work he can be really special.Duhart is ready to breakout and be a stud.Xavion is a natural and gifted 3.Harcum and Mantis will be or can be very good once the light goes on upstairs.Eades can go at 2 and 3 , but not down low. Gregory should have been all conference so if he and AD return we will compete ...plug in some talented newcomers and turn the corner.

agentpaul001 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:16 am

Stonewall wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 18, 2022 1:16 pm

We depended way too much on the departing guards and calling them inconsistent is being kind.They did give it their all and Almonacy exceeded expectations in his two years.Justin was either the best player or the worst , depending on the moment.I love CJ but his shot has a contrary rotation , easy to fix and I wonder why it hasn't been?With work he can be really special.Duhart is ready to breakout and be a stud.Xavion is a natural and gifted 3.Harcum and Mantis will be or can be very good once the light goes on upstairs.Eades can go at 2 and 3 , but not down low. Gregory should have been all conference so if he and AD return we will compete ...plug in some talented newcomers and turn the corner.

I agree with the assessment for next season. If Gregory & AD are both back I think this team has the very real potential for a Sunbelt Regular season title. Huntley made an awesome leap this year and Duhart looks so close to making that jump as well.