Mulder wrote:

Is it possible that Coach Dru knows the Bronny is coming here and delaying announcing others until that is official?
 

I am not sure about that.  The trend seems to be the player makes the announcement via his twitter or instagram account when he feels it is appropriate.
 

It appears there will be a noon press conference today to discuss coach Dambrot's coaching future.

Whatever he decides to do is cool.  He will forever hold a special place in DU history for getting the school back to the NCAA tournament after years and years of wandering aimlessly in the college basketball wilderness.

Muchas Gracias Coach and to the players who hung in there, persevered, and got it done in the end !!

Unfortunately coach was caught in the situation he finds himself in many , many times.

At a crucial time in the game ( 6 minute mark ) he has 2 players on the court , who due to physical limitations, struggle to contain their man / play effective defense , rebound and score. It came back to bite him in the a$$ tonight.

With this roster there is no easy answer to this issue. Just gotta plug on.

Wildwood13 wrote:

HookShot wrote:

There is one major difference in this year’s recruiting class that should be a major factor. The coaches have seen these kids play live and in person and have had these kids in for official visits. Last year they recruited via video and had no official visits. So, I do expect improvement. Being optimistic, a jump toward the middle with a winning record is what I expect.

 
Hook Shot, I hope you are right, I myself have lost faith in this coaching staff. I am always rooting for a good season. We will see what happens.

Very good points by both posters.

With still so many unknowns ( final roster , schedule , team health , etc .... ) I am fine with Hook Shot's scenario.

I can also see Wildwood's hesitation in buying in. The last couple of years have certainly not been pretty. It is my hope that the coaching staff adjusts a bit to the new normal. I don't expect coach D. to go all soft , but maybe a bit more of a move to the center of the spectrum ( soft vs. hard ass ) would be cool.


 

I guess the moral of the story is - IF you leave, you may want to be fairly certain that there is a landing spot and you have a chair when the music stops.

Wow. So much to unpack here.

The teardown must be more extensive than even imagined. Assuming all 6 verbals ( at this moment ) are signed the maximum amount of returnees would be 7.

With about 2 weeks left to enter the portal and be immediately eligible we have 9 players in tow ( Gunn , Ayers, Rotroff , Williams , Easley , Barba , Bekelja , Spears and Hima ). At a MINIMUM 2 of these 9 are leaving. Mr. Easley is looking at pro opportunities and Mr. Ayers had some sort of personal situation during the latter part of the 2021-22 season so their returns are certainly up in the air. 

The staff is pretty good at once they get a targeted player on campus closing the deal. So I am going to assume they close the deal on one or more of this weeks vistors. This means another 2021-22 player departs - OR a verbaled player relooks at the situation and decides to sign elsewhere in the quest for a better opportunity.

I guess the old adage that you never stop recruiting is even more true than ever.

Not very surprising with the many backcourt players the staff is talking to in the lead up to the spring signing period. You just knew the winds of change where blowing - they may not be finished with backcourt departures.

While Jackie is a talented offensive player he does not fit the coach Dambrot mold.

He struggles with man to man defense and defensive concepts in general and seemed unwilling to play the inside out game ( feed the post and then look for a potential 3 point shot ) that the coach espouses.

Hopefully , for Jackies sake , he finds a team that will allow him to play to his strengths.

With regards to who stays and who goes I'll take the following approach :

1) We need 8 or 9 A-10 level players. No A-10 team rosters more than 10 of these types. It is open for discussion which of the group of 12 we have now fits that bill. I am guessing 4 maybe 5 with a couple of wild cards ( Acuff and Okani ). We also have a couple of complete unknowns ( Gunn and Barba ).

2) For the filling out of the roster I would like the coaching staff to show some consistency in who they recruit. If you are going to stress defense you best recruit players who are WILLING / CAPABLE of playing it. No sense bringing in defensive liabilities and either, not playing the player, or yanking him at every turn when he makes a mistake. this is a failed strategy.

3) Same goes for "I have always played inside out". Any big you bring in better have some offensive game and the guards / wing players better be willing to space the floor , move the ball , hit open shots , and FEED THE POST.  Don't half ass it. Either recruit these types of players or don't. If you don't, come up with a new game plan.

4) Take a hard look at the coaching staff. Loyalty is great, but I would ask why have we had so many bad player evaluations ??? There are always going to be misses but the number that have occurred at DU over the last 5 years is staggering . We better find an answer and fix it, or else it just won't work.

In closing , good thread many interesting points.

 

In order for a player to take advantage of gaining immediate eligibility when he / she transfers their name must be entered in the portal by May 5, 2022.

Regarding Mike B, as one of my old acquaintances in the scouting community used to tell me, " The more he plays the worse he looks".

Classic talk of don't expose him, play him in small doses. 

I don't listen to these games any more. I turn on iheart radio at 9:00 just to see how the boys are doing ( not real well ). I listen to the post game show and one of the Thomas boys comes on.

The young man says the team played well at Davidson and it is really difficult to win on the road in the A-10. Now I see the irony here, but I'm sure Mr. Thomas doesn't.  In the last 5 days the team ( PLAYING AT HOME !!) was crushed by a mediocre at best Fordham team,  and pounded into a fine paste by a poor G.W. team.

You can't help but laugh.

This team's play has deteriorated from mediocre to poor to holy crap what was that over the last 10 games.

So much to unpack.  

There are 12 schollies accounted for just by potential returnees. Unless coach is going to stomach another full "reboot" where is the major improvement coming from ? I realize there will be some attrition, so maybe there is a glimmer of hope.

Why does coach constantly mention "We're just too small . We're almost like a high school team" when the plan all along was to play mssrs. Williams and Easley as the main 4 and 5. He had no real faith in Austin R or Mounier H. so they were not major parts in the plans for 2021-2 ??

What system is coach recruiting to ??  Look at Davidson, Richmond and VCU just for 3 examples of "We are going to recruit players that are capable of playing our style of ball effectively." DU has a real mish mash of players.

We wanna play inside out yet have only 1 marginally effective back to the basket player.

We wanna shoot 3's effectively as that is the way the game is going, but our forwards and guards are really not knock down 3 point shooters. They may have brief periods where they are on, but those are fleeting at best.

We wanna play / stress tough man to man defense but 1/2 the team (or more maybe) is not willing or able to do this. This again goes back to my previous mentions of poor roster construction.

Just a truly frustrating season and puzzle going forward.

The teams limitations are limitless ( talent level when compared to other a-10 schools , in game situational basketball , careless play , offensive scheme , defensive intensity / awareness , etc ... ). Good points by all the posters in this thread.

The main issue however, and it was apparent very early on was the poor roster construction going into the season. You need 8 consistent players to be successful on a nightly basis.

EVERYTHING ( good health , player development in the offseason ) would have had to fall into place to get to the 8 number on this years team given the group of 13 that started out.

This did not occur, so the team is in effect , dead in the water at this time with limited hopes moving forward barring some "Bolt from the Blue ".

Sad but true.