I'm sorry but great recruiting or not, coaching into winning is much higher priority than "great recruiting"...
2023 Roster is complete!
- Thread starter lobbybuu
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I think talent on paper when evaluating your team in July is basically meaningless. I think this is Kevin's most talented squad, but I think we're sort of blowing the overall quality of the team and the 2023 class out of proportion. Lately I've been using the Industry setting in On3 for class evaluation as it aggregates the big 3 for NCAA recruiting and their own. They put this class including transfers as the 2nd in the MWC and 55th nationally. This generally isn't a transformational recruiting class by anyone's metric. Last year's overall class was ranked 221st overall and 11th in the MWC, and the best players in it were Shane Nowell who didn't get any floor time until Kruger had run the wheels off his starters, Isaiah Cottrell who obviously had to redshit, and Keyshawn Hall who came in out of shape and didn't get any burn early and transferred.
I think there's some reason for cautious optimism. Our front court will have to be better especially if we can get a semi-healthy Cottrell. But we tend to overdo both the highs and lows around here--which is probably true of most beleaguered NCAA fanbases. But I think at this point this squad has more questions than answers. What will the locker room look like? Kruger typically only ran a 9 man rotation last year, will he parse out minutes more widely and if not who are the odd men out who will get the pine? We lack depth at the PG position, which is risky. I know some people think JJ3 can give us 10 minutes a game, but I didn't see anything from him that lead me to believe he could be a lead guard in the MWC last year. Our wings again all appear to be catch and shoot guys for the most part--is there someone that can get their own shot outside of the iso hero ball offense Krugs seems to love?
Last year I thought we would finish 4th or 5th in the conference given our talent and depth, and people thought I was a hater because we started 10-0. We finished 7th, and only by the grace of EJ Harkless did we go 9-13 over our last 22 in a relatively mediocre MWC conference.
I think there's some reason for cautious optimism. Our front court will have to be better especially if we can get a semi-healthy Cottrell. But we tend to overdo both the highs and lows around here--which is probably true of most beleaguered NCAA fanbases. But I think at this point this squad has more questions than answers. What will the locker room look like? Kruger typically only ran a 9 man rotation last year, will he parse out minutes more widely and if not who are the odd men out who will get the pine? We lack depth at the PG position, which is risky. I know some people think JJ3 can give us 10 minutes a game, but I didn't see anything from him that lead me to believe he could be a lead guard in the MWC last year. Our wings again all appear to be catch and shoot guys for the most part--is there someone that can get their own shot outside of the iso hero ball offense Krugs seems to love?
Last year I thought we would finish 4th or 5th in the conference given our talent and depth, and people thought I was a hater because we started 10-0. We finished 7th, and only by the grace of EJ Harkless did we go 9-13 over our last 22 in a relatively mediocre MWC conference.
IMO, SDSU and New Mexico will be #1 & #2. Everybody else will be fighting for # 3 and it will only take a couple of close losses to drop to 5th. Yes, we most likely will be third, but fifth is well within the scope of possibilities.
You’re a 4 star and you don’t get any burn against some scrubs. Absolutely insulting lol
I'm excited to see what he can do with more talent.
I was watching an analysis of switching defenses the other day and it provided a convincing argument. We haven't seemed to have had the proper pieces to play it (I know that it was up to the coach to play to the team's strength in that situation, so I digress...) but it's been very effective for schools that do have the players.
We will be longer so switching may save our energy on that end of the court while not negatively impacting our defensive production.
I was watching an analysis of switching defenses the other day and it provided a convincing argument. We haven't seemed to have had the proper pieces to play it (I know that it was up to the coach to play to the team's strength in that situation, so I digress...) but it's been very effective for schools that do have the players.
We will be longer so switching may save our energy on that end of the court while not negatively impacting our defensive production.
Set backs? The only set backs are self imposed stubbornness and inability to adapt a game plan when the other team has you completely scouted the last 20 games of the season.
Meh..more of the same. I don’t get get all Googley eyed when a kid transfers from a P5 School.
Let’s just be honest, we are a bottom level MWC team, the lowest of the lowes.
I don’t know what to tell you guys. When I discuss UNLV basketball with regular joes on the street. You are lucky if you can get a guy to talk about the 1990 team.
When you get them to talk about todays current team, they just shake their head.
“I’ve never been to a game”
“They absolutely suck”
I just switch over and bring up UNLV women’s basketball team. At least people have a very keen interest on the women’s team.
I know Kruger’s teams are known about switching..but it’s the other stuff that is garbage..the offense.
You’d be lucky to have a chance meeting with a stranger in public and discuss current UNLV basketball with any detailed insights. You’ll still bump into people and they’ll know the golden era, but it’s still on the rare side. It faded slowly for the first 20 years, but it’s been a very fast fade the past 5-10 years.
I’m still hopeful, I like what we have on paper more than any time since Rice. But that’s paper and our paper has been pretty unstable when using it to predict success. Everyone is a stud, everybody better run and hide, the Rebels are back, take no prisoners, we are loaded at every position, blah blah blah, then something in the area code of 500/no meaningful postseason smacks us in the face.
I do think this season will be different. But once again, I'm more excited about football.
Offseason is definitely our season - good thing people get into recruiting or Joe might have to take up golf or something ....lol
WHO the FOOOOOK knows???? nobody knows ???? not even the coaches ??
that is why things un ----fold.. The future is unwritten - looks good on Paper - Again - Chemistry has everything to do with it - There has been a Toxicity in the flow for many years - A university without a clear direction and position on improving athletics - cant see why things wont GO wrong again this year ....
after all - we were really never supposed to be on that stage anyways- Tumbleweed Tech got lucky and hit the Jackpot with Tark - Doubt they ever get dealt 4 aces like that ever again
Correct. Weve had a top 3 squad in MWC on paper in offseason for past 10-15 years and we've been out of the post season for over a decade...
We dominated the MWC in the off season the past decade. No one can deny that. 😄
Sucks we can only hang our hat on off seasons and 30-35 year-old glory years. Really would be awesome to have a genuinely great year(25 wins, 2nd round NCAA).
