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rawhide8	Thoughts About Last Night and Next Year		Lead	[-]
Posts: 29 03/09/09 11:46:14	Tags : None First off I wanted to say thank you to John Bryant for providing 4 great years of hard work and some of the most improvement ever seen in a Bronco uniform. Last night was very discouraging to say the least. To many lapses and missed assignments on defense and for the second time this year we basically quit at halftime vs the best team in conference. That concerns me a little, we have to many young guys on the roster to be learning bad habits i.e. Foster not getting back on defense after a turnover which happened more than once last night. Now I know he was discouraged but still no excuse to not hustle back. Overall this was a little better season than most had predicted finished in the top half of league and a game under 500. Next year we will be very young, again but I think a better team. Now I know we are losing the WCC MVP but we are going to be bringing a very good pg in Smith and have Alexander back too. Our turnovers should decrease just by maturity and KK has already said it himself we are going to be pushing the pace next year as we won't be running that many half court sets to accomadate Bryant. Foster will be one of the top 5 players on the conference next year and we definately should have more depth next year maybe seeing 10 guys a game. I think we will finish in the top portion of the league and maybe contend for the 2 spot. Now I know not many want to hear this but the year after next I think is the year we really contend. If the incoming freshmen are as good as advertised and if KK can bring in another good class I think we can contend with Zags for the top spot. 2 years is a long way away so something just to think about.
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jcardoza77	Concur	#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 448 03/10/09 05:57:34 Moderator	Ditto on the props for Big John; while you could see glimpses of talent when he lumbered up and down the court his freshman year, you could never guess he would finish his career as one of the best bigs Santa Clara ever produced. Hard work and self discipline can certainly inspire. Losing 18 points, 14 rebounds and a solid defensive presence in the middle will be a challenge, but I also think that the Broncos will be a better team by next season's end. Rahon and Foster, relieved of PG duties should be able to concentrate on scoring and improving their defense. Add Cowels as another shooter, who is supposed to be able to defend and the '2 spot' seems to be in good hands. Up front, Traz can develop into a special player; his improvement the second half of the WCC season was impressive and he'll only get better as well as stronger. I still think Thompson will be a major factor on this team and was encouraged when K2 mentioned him as part of SCU's future when discussing the All Freshman team awards. Another year of strength training will help and playing against Bryant every day in practice had to help prepare him for next year. Dowdell contributes in a lot of ways --defensively in particular, but he (and I know it's been said before) needs to improve his offensive game; a consistent 15-18 foot jumper would prevent defenders from sagging in the post and allow him to drive. It would also allow him to play some three instead of battling and fouling bigger PFs. I'm also betting that Niyi significantly contributes next season. Cunningham will provide depth at the 4 and (if he has grown) the 5. I'm not sure what will happen with DW; he is the only legit 3 on the roster (although he was so big, he did not move as well as I expected) but he certainly did not meet expectations. If comes back, let's hope it is with a different attitude. Actually if he does come back it will have to be with a different attitude. I think there is still a schollie to give (it might be the one Santos received this year);I would not be surprised to see a big (6'5-6'7") wing, recruited commit, especially if DW is no longer a Bronco. With about 10 games of college experience at the point, I expect that SCU will be slow out of the gate next year. As Smith and Alexander gain experience, things should turn the corner by the Cable Car. In a more fluid offensive situation next season, P2 might be more effective than he was trying to run a half court sets. If not, he could see time as a 2, which might not be a bad thing. On the floor with the Foster-Traz- Rahon freshman class, and on paper with the incoming class, Keating has shown he can evaluate and secure talent. Like his players, I think he will also improve in his decision making and approach. Patience will be a prerequisite for SCU basketball fans, but I think the wait will be worth it.
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tripbill		#2	[url]	[-]
Posts: 138 03/10/09 08:23:07	I'm a bit less optimistic. I don't see enough size on the roster to contend. I see players who aren't fundamentally sound. Hopefully some of that was due to being newcomers. I often wondered if Foster was doing more harm than good when on the court and perhaps as a FR he shouldn't have been getting that many minutes but KK had to play him that much. (If you follow college hoops look at Oregon for what happens when you are forced to play FR too many minutes) He's only a FR and hopefully we'll see some better ball handling even when he's not playing PG and some better decision making when he passes and shoots. That's on the coaches to improve that. Petty dribbled with his head down. A number of guys didn't block out. Maybe they thought they didn't have to with Bryant. They'll have to next year. Again, that's on the coaches to improve all of that. I see slightly better than sub .500 seasons ahead but I don't see us contending for the top spot and second will be a stretch. If we see improvements in some of the things noted above I'll raise my outlook but until then...
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JustPlainSmith		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 162 03/10/09 09:57:18	Many good comments. I look forward to more robust play out of the forwards, primarily on the offensive end. For SCU to be good, Dowdell needs to be off the floor. His defensive hustle is really average at best and his zero production on offense is a huge problem. It is likely the Broncs could out a 3 or 4 guard offense on the floor ... might be fun against the lower D1 schools but is not going to be a match against the mid-majors.
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bbjunkie	The Key is Coaching	#4	[url]	[-]
Posts: 32 03/10/09 19:32:02	Excellent topic and good comments. Every player has things to work on to get better for next year but the key to success lies with the coaching. KK and staff could have had more wins but for the line-ups during the first half of the season. It is difficult to image another team in the country where four out the five players (Dowdell, Santos, Johnson, Petty) that started and played the majority of the minutes on opening day were regulated to supporting roles for the second half of the season (replaced by Foster, Rahon, Traz, Alexander). Without Bryant and KK makes that mistake again next year, we will under-achieve again next year. Recruiting wise, KK gets a 66% grade for this year. The four freshmen were awesome but the recruitment of Petty and White was a disaster. Not only can they not play, they are terrible character kids. What it must of been like for the freshmen in particular to play with these guys. KK and the team would have been far better off keeping Tiedman, Gunderson, and Latimar. If KK has brought in trouble to the program again, things will spiral out of control quickly. Lastly, team chemistry is obviously a problem. The team rarely looked like they all had the same objective which should have been winning. This again falls on KK and the staff. Throw out the stats and the scorecard should be wins and losses. My strong recommendation is to replace one of KK's assistants and bring in an experienced coach. KK has under-achieved two straight years and I don't see him improving on his own with an inexperienced staff. KK needs help. One of his current coaches has got to go otherwise we are headed into another season where KK and Santa Clara Basketball under-achieves. Until next year..............
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rawhide8		#5	[url]	[-]
Posts: 30 03/10/09 20:31:56	Interesting response I don't believe we underachieved at all this year I think most us believed we were headed for a finish in the bottom half of the league and a couple games below .500. If you would have said that we would finish in the top half of the league and only a game below .500 I think many here would have taken that. We learned many things this year about the young guys we have the makings of 2 studs Foster and Traz while we have 2 starters/role players in Rahon and Alexander. We learned that KK has a tremendous eye for talent i.e. I do not think any recuriting service had any of the 4 freshmen ranked above 2 stars. I can't wait to see Foster move to his traditional 2 spot which will free him up more to come off screens and it will definitely cut down his turnovers as he will have the ball in his hands less and a year of maturity can not hurt. I can not wait to see Traz next year; a summer spent hitting the weights and working on his game i would not be surprised to see him average close to 13 and 8 a game. Recruiting is a crap shot for a mid major program and if you can get 4 kids a year that can play the way the freshmen displayed you did one heck of a job (yes I know it's impossible to get 4 a year as we only have 13 scholarships to give a year). I would not be so quick to write off PP, anytime you bring in a jc kid there is one huge adjustment period. Not many jc kids are asked to come in and start right away, I think he did a serviceable job and after a summer of work and the game just slowing down for him we can rely on him for 5 to 10 minutes a night next year. Just ask our friends up north how hard it is for a jc player to crack the lineup, look at Ira Brown he came in with some big expectations and now he can't even crack the lineup and that is a 26 year old man not some 19-20 year old kid. Now I think your prejudice for KK is getting in the way of saying only a 66% success rate for this class.I do think Decensae was hyped way to much, but KK took care of the problem and no I do not expect him to be back next year, which is disappointing because if the kid realized it he had a major chance to succeed here as we need someone to fill the 3 spot for this yr and next (say hello Niyi). One point I do agree with is I would like to KK bring in an assistant who has some years of experience, look at what Dawkins at Stanford surrounded himself with. Now I do not think we need to overhaul the whole staff but bringing in someone with some experience can only help KK make better decisions in the clutch. Having had someone who has been there and done it already can not hurt. But on the other hand I think the young guys do connect with the kids and it is one of the reasons why we are able to recruit so well for our relative lack of success in the past 10 years or so. I for one am just happy that KK is infusing some excitement for SCU basketball, the facilities are getting better, the program is getting more money in and the talent is getting better. For those who are willing to be patient I believe it will be worth the wait.
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Replies

Thoughts About Last Night and Next Year	03/09/09 11:46:14	rawhide8
Concur	03/10/09 05:57:34	jcardoza77
Re: Thoughts About Last Night and Next Year	03/10/09 08:23:07	tripbill
Re: Thoughts About Last Night and Next Year	03/10/09 09:57:18	JustPlainSmith
The Key is Coaching	03/10/09 19:32:02	bbjunkie
Re: Thoughts About Last Night and Next Year	03/10/09 20:31:56	rawhide8