OFFICIAL vs UCONN (AAC tourney) thread 3/8/2018

[SoCal_Pony]

Best thing about this year's frosh (assuming they all stay) is that they have 3 more years to improve and become more capable contributors. Most college players make their most significant improvement between years one and two so I will not judge these guys until we see them next year. Having said that, we can only hope none of them (with the possible exception of Chargois) are starters next year.

Yep, that’s my point.

3 years, 1 starter does not an NCAA tourney team make.

[Charleston Pony]

Best thing about this year's frosh (assuming they all stay) is that they have 3 more years to improve and become more capable contributors. Most college players make their most significant improvement between years one and two so I will not judge these guys until we see them next year. Having said that, we can only hope none of them (with the possible exception of Chargois) are starters next year.

Yep, that’s my point.

3 years, 1 starter does not an NCAA tourney team make.

Agree but I like having some JRs and SRs coming off the bench providing depth. With a 13 man roster, we can probably afford as many as 4 upper class guys as role players (compared to what we saw from this year's frosh)

[mustangxc]

Our Big 3 just scored 80% of our points today.

Hit some huge FTs in the end.

Our Freshmen disappoint again.

Unless you're talking NBA talent, freshman are always gonna be the contributing the least... not sure why people keep harping on this. Chargois, despite his late season swoon, is one of the best freshman I've ever seen at SMU. The jury's still out on the others... but - once again - that's pretty normal.

I like Chargois, but this is hardly a late season swoon. He’s been off for virtually the entire conference play. Douglas with just 1 point against a very average UConn team.

You call them freshmen, they have a full season under their belt.

Jank has some real soul searching to do about next seasons roster.

The improvement comes after an off-season of reflection and practice. They are still freshmen both in classification and development.

[sadderbudweiser]

With or without Shake we’ll be a bunch better next year.

[Terry Webster]

Let me be the first to ask....will Shake be able to play tomorrow?

Did the devil make you do that?

No, Jesus did because he really wants to know.

[SMU Section F]

Our roster has problems, but this crop of freshmen isn't significantly worse than any that we've seen. Ethan's PPG are only marginally lower than Shake's freshman year. (Shake/Jarrey compose the best freshman class we've had though. No argument.)

Sterling Brown and Ben Moore might disagree...and they both stayed 4 years and won more games at SMU than any other players in our history. Agree that Jarrey and Shake compare favorably but would sure love to see both play 4 years here.

Sterling and Ben were fantastic players and I definitely miss them, but as freshmen Sterling averaged half of Ethan's points/game and Ben was about 2/3. (And they both had fewer rebounds/game).

If we see anywhere near their level of development, Ethan alone could make this freshman class a success. And I'm not even saying it's a stellar class; just that they're nowhere near the worst since we joined the AAC.

[JoeKidd]

Great point on Ben and Sterling. Ethan can be special if he puts in the work and wants to be.....you don't get 6'9" guys with that frame and that touch/bball skills every day. Just needs to work hard and he will be good next year 12/8 and great by his junior year.

[Charleston Pony]

If Chargois continues to improve and stays 4 years, the rest of the AAC will wonder "will that guy EVER graduate?"

[SMU Section F]

If Chargois continues to improve and stays 4 years, the rest of the AAC will wonder "will that guy EVER graduate?"

[deleted] Gary Clark...

[PonyLawExpress]

If Chargois continues to improve and stays 4 years, the rest of the AAC will wonder "will that guy EVER graduate?"

For sure. Chargois has the body to become a good low post player and has the skill has shown the year to shoot the 3 and take some bigs off the drive. He should be much better with a full offseason to develop his body and work on his game.

The other 3 freshman have underperformed, even by the standards of other freshman in the conference. To be fair Ray missed the 2nd half of season and the other two are much more talented than Tom Wilson and Dashawn McDowell. They have improved some and show flashses, but overall are still playing at a lower level that we hoped and than many freshman in the AAC are playing at.

[Pony_Law]

I'm just looking forward to what the freshman can do when we have a real roster with the proper balance between forwards and guards and enough bodies to play the way we want to.

I think Douglas can be an elite defender. Whitt will be/is a really good man on man defender with his quickness and long reach. I'm looking forward to seeing SMu play defense against forwards with guys that are all 6'6 or taller.

[sadderbudweiser]

I'm just looking forward to what the freshman can do when we have a real roster with the proper balance between forwards and guards and enough bodies to play the way we want to.

I think Douglas can be an elite defender. Whitt will be/is a really good man on man defender with his quickness and long reach. I'm looking forward to seeing SMu play defense against forwards with guys that are all 6'6 or taller.

and return to man to man as the primary defense.

[PonyFan32]

We will have plenty of talent next year to compete and will have enough depth to run 9 guys out there who can hold their own. I think that will be true no matter what happens with Akoy or the freshmen. Let's not give up on next year at least until we see who we can bring in on the transfer market.

Whitt, McMurray, Jarrey, Mike, and either Ethan or some transfer will be just fine as a starting 5.

[huskerpower]

Pyle and Wilfong might see action tomorrow depending on how Agau is doing.

Akoy should be fine. His description to me was "its just a tweak, ill get thru the pain"

[One Trick Pony]

-13.5