Of course, a lack of experience & chemistry playing together could lead to guys being selfish in close games too. This is a red flag with Ferry's record. He HAS to coach some discipline both on offense and on defense.

This is what programs do. If we continue to play like an IM team that's missing guys and pulling players out of Gumberg to have numbers, we'll be having the "ifs and buts and candy and nuts" discussion until he's back on the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway.

I am 95% sure Jim Ferry will not be able to put a cerebral, disciplined team on the floor next or any other season. A huge change in his ability to manage minutes, match opponent's in-game adjustments, retain/develop players, & execute a complete defensive strategy seems impossible after what has been on display the last 4 years.

However, I have a strong appreciation for the work Ferry & his staff have done with recruiting because of how difficult it must be to attract talented, young men to this program. 35 years of failure, playing 2nd/3rd fiddle in town, lack of national exposure, & mediocre facilities are a hard, hard sell.

There was plenty of talent, size, experience, & athleticism on the roster last season to win 20 regular season games, win 2 in the A-10 tourney, & head to the NIT. That should be true again in 2017-18.

Coach has done a great job getting valued players to transfer in. Micah, Ovie, Domo,Castro, M. Jackson, Smith, Blackman, & Abramson were all sought by/came from stronger programs.

(One of my buddies that came away from Castro's summer league performance with a bit of a man crush has advanced the theory that Castro's body has been taken over by aliens.)

Getting Blackman & Abramson to fill next year's holes is an impressive accomplishment that demonstrates sound planning & creative use of the resources available. This is further supported by the bonus of having a walk-on with a couple of D-I offers. Even so, it is very unlikely that that the combined contribution of these 3 could be equivalent to that of Micah & Gill last season.

Another pleasant surprise of Ferry era recruiting has been his success finding size. Sanders, Domo, Lewis,Gill, Powell, Ovie, Robinson, & Ike Mike are a big step forward from having Marhold & Monteiro constantly battling guys half a foot taller.. Even though I know it is not, this feels like an embarrassment of riches after the slim pickings of the previous 3 coaching regimes.

Further credit seems due to Ferry for finding low rated players that are A-10 worthy in  Powell, James, DC, & LG. No all-league talent here but all would find a place in the rotation of most A-10 schools.

Finally, This is the first time in a while that 2 consecutive recruiting classes have given me reason to believe that that a sustainable improvement in talent level is gaining momentum. This will make the mediocre coaching all the harder to take.








 

If Abrahamson has more minutes than Sander then Sander will probably transfer.

The future of the team are with the players that two or more years left to play.

Ferry, of course, will screw this up.  He may have made promises to Abrahamson about minutes to entice him to come to DU.  If Abrahameson doesn't get his minutes he will become a problem and affect the entire team.

Same for Blackman regarding Jackson and Steel.

Another 12-17 year.

I agree.  All minutes should be earned.

But with Ferry, who knows.

 

Econ69 wrote:

I agree.  All minutes should be earned.

But with Ferry, who knows.

 

One positive about the grad transfer thing is you really don't have to just give them minutes because they came. Not like they can just get upset and threaten to transfer, there last college year is locked in, all they have is motivation to be impactful. Especially because if they don't this could be the last year they ever play competitive basketball.

phil95 wrote:

ED:

This past year's crop of Steele, Sanders, & Jackson followed by next year's T. Smith, Mike, Littleson, M. Lewis, Taylor, Abrahamson, & Blackman is more legitimate D-I talent that top 125 programs would be interested in than I can easily recall heading for the Bluff in consecutive years.

Maybe RE's 1st & 2nd classes had this much to be happy about? 

 

RE's first three classes were very solid, the last three, not so much. I believe the factors in the decline were the loss of Miami Tropics, Ron falling out with Norm Ostrin, and the end of the Connecticut pipeline. I think Ron made a mistake in trying to replace this with a Michigan connection.
 

WEB wrote:

He scored 41 in a game this past year?  Sign me up!

and he scored 9 or less in 15 games this past year while playing an average of 20-25 minutes in those games. I'll just wait and see.

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

WEB wrote:

He scored 41 in a game this past year? Sign me up!

and he scored 9 or less in 15 games this past year while playing an average of 20-25 minutes in those games. I'll just wait and see.

I agree with you one big point outburst doesn't mean much to me, especially with the other numbers. However, I do think it's positive that the other schools he was looking at were UNLV and Arizona State, and we got him. Coming out of high school he had offers from Stanford, Wake Forest, Boston College and some other power 5 schools so there is definitely talent there, it will be interesting to see if we can get that talent out of him and to work for us.

Thanks, Fan.  Read between your lines and seems his play is what you might call soft.

I understand his brick-by-brick analogy, but the mortar (coaching) that holds the bricks in place appears to be mushy.