It's early but the key to me is not what the coahes get outta the 4 and 5 spots, but what they get outta the 3 spot.  I could be tempted very much to use Colter, Castro and Mason in the one two and three spots with any combination of the "bigs" we have at the four and five spots.  There are teams that used four guards in A-10 play during the year most notably URI and GW to some degree.  We got guys who look like guards and small forwards who should seeming fit the the mold of a three ala Billy Clark (James 6'4", Jackson 6' 5", Steel 6'4" , Jere Johnson 6'3").  We got plenty of guards for the one and two spots. (Colter, Castro, Mason, Jere Johnson) and we got the five "bigs" for underneath. Our "bigs" gotta be better after the bit of disappointment in last year's showings.  Plus,Sanders seems to be a real deal in that his point production usually equals his rebounding production.  Accepting that Lewis can improve as much this year as he did from his frosh to sophomore year and that Jordan can get over the malaise that seemed to envelop him, then a good start to a better inside game can be generated.  All in all, the outlook, preliminarily, is fairly good.  The talent level, by the reactions of our posters, has risen again.

ElDuque wrote:

Colter's a point guard, Mason's a shooting guard, and Jones should be a backup swingman. We need to cultivate a better player there because he gives us nothing defensively, he takes too many bad shots, he turns the ball over, and he commits dumb fouls. I suspect Castro is a combo 1/2 but I've never seen him play.

Saw Castro in last year's summer league and will hopefully see him and the others again. As I recall, Castro did some PG duties in the games that I watched. Seemed comfortable bringing the ball up court but, again, it's the summer league. I have to concur with the other comments on this thread. Last year almost made me give up forever. Especially NJIT and Bobby Mo who played without their best player (at the time). What really concerns me is the defense. I know that we will score points but we can't give up 80+ ppg time and time again. Coach Ferry better have a plan to revamp the D entirely or we will be in deep doo-doo again.
 

Colter and Mason don't rebound too well. Mason had enough issues last year with the switch to the point. I'd leave him alone. Well, I might actually design a few plays for him, but what the hell, I'm not a coach. Peace.

Start your best returning 5 (Lewis, Gill, Jones, Colter, Mason) and start working Castro, James, Jackson, Robinson and Powell from there. Be vicious on defense, attack on offense, leave everything on the floor every night. Treat every opponent like you're facing Duke at Cameron. Take smart shots, hit FTs, hustle, scrap. It's not rocket science.

And to someone else's point: attack the glass. Our big men should definitely rebound better, especially Gill and Robby.

DukesFan79 wrote:

Good insight by all.

Hopefully the use of a foreign tour will be unitized to get a head start on the season.

We've heard nothing about a tour, even though this is the perfect year for one. We did a tour Ron's second year, which I think helped us get off to a very strong start that season. We also did one his last year, which I thought was dumb, as the team had been hit with heavy graduation losses, and only had modest expectations, which proved to be true, as we finished at .500 vs D1 competition. Foreign tours can be done only once in a four year period, and should be used when you have a veteran team returning, like we do this year.
 

ElDuque wrote:

Colter and Mason don't rebound too well. Mason had enough issues last year with the switch to the point. I'd leave him alone. Well, I might actually design a few plays for him, but what the hell, I'm not a coach. Peace.

 Good chat, but must disagree on Micah Mason as a rebounder.  He rebounded very well from the guard position.  If you factor in size, he was probably our best rebounder.  Now if our "bigs" would rebound in a manner that would be expected for their size, we would be a good rebounding team.  In my estimation, the improvement of our 4's and 5's will dictate how much this team will improve.  There is obviously much room for improvement for each of them.

There definitely should be a tour. No matter if you suck or are kentucky you can always get better.  I think the practice time is more important than the games. i checked the website when they released the info about canada under RE and it wasn't until July so I guess there's still time to take a trip, if they haven't planned one already. If they do take a trip hopefully they play decent competition by going to somewhere in Europe or the bahamas.

levon1975 wrote:

ElDuque wrote:

Colter and Mason don't rebound too well. Mason had enough issues last year with the switch to the point. I'd leave him alone. Well, I might actually design a few plays for him, but what the hell, I'm not a coach. Peace.

 Good chat, but must disagree on Micah Mason as a rebounder.  He rebounded very well from the guard position.  If you factor in size, he was probably our best rebounder.  Now if our "bigs" would rebound in a manner that would be expected for their size, we would be a good rebounding team.  In my estimation, the improvement of our 4's and 5's will dictate how much this team will improve.  There is obviously much room for improvement for each of them.

I stand corrected, he did increase his rebounding stats year over year. But how much of it was because our bigs don't get the job done?

Good to hear

I want to beat Pitt. 16 years is too long. One win will change our school. If they players act like its their superbowl it can be done 

currentstudent wrote:

I want to beat Pitt. 16 years is too long. One win will change our school. If they players act like its their superbowl it can be done 

Short term, beating Pitt is not that important. Putting too much emphasis on that game could be disastrous. If it comes, great. Beating Bobby Mo is the step we need to take. When we become a winning program, we can then worry about beating Pitt. Making it our Super Bowl at this time is a mistake. Beating Pitt, but finishing 12-20 means nothing. Losing to Pitt, but going 20-12 would be great.
 

It isn't as though Jim Ferry is going to tell his players that Bobby Mo or Pitt is the big game of the year. As in "This is it guys, win this one and you've already achieved a big season."

Every coach wants to win every game, and if the players don't feel the same way, there's a big problem.
..
However, true that we have seen this team play with less than great enthusiasm. At least apparently.