Post ECU thoughts

[Bergermeister]

I love Ray’s man bun

[One Trick Pony]

I felt all the knee highs were lovely as well.

[sadderbudweiser]

I'm not touching the seating arrangements.

As for last night and the future:

Every single healthy player is getting squeezed because Shake and Jarrey ARE sitting on the bench. It makes game planning for opposing teams a whole lot easier knowing you don't have to deal with them. So any performance above the norm by any healthy player is commendable. That being said:

McMurray is learning and using more discretion than I thought he would. He's getting triple teamed in the lane simply because our bigs/offensive rebounding isn't respected like it used to be. He is best spotting up and with little inside/inside out game those chances aren't coming as much as they could. There were a couple of great passing sequences last night that ended up with a McMurray swish that illustrates this. I think Jank knows this and that's why Whitt, Landrum and especially GU all tried to penetrate the lane more last night. Gu and Whitt have the hops and moves to pull it off, Landrum doesn't and McMurray just couldn't deal with the numbers in there.

Douglas is absolutely a mystery to me. You see the physical tools. You see the court sense. He's got an A+ work ethic. He defense is good, his passing ok but he just won't cut loose and pull the trigger. He needs him some Sterling. I hope he finds some.

Landrum is improving but I just don't see him here long term. He'll get recruited over in 2019 and if Shake returns he's no closer to meaningful minutes next year than he was last October. I like his energy but I don't see him as a legit D-1 top tier player.

Chagois? An off season of conditioning, strength and some coaching on the inside moves will serve him well.
But I still want to see an experienced JUCO or grad transfer big added to the mix for next season.

Whitt be Whitt...fine with me.

Akoy is a serviceable 10 minute guy...period. Love him and thank him if he's done.

Gu will be missed.

If by chance we get both Shake and Jarrey back next season we are definitely "coming home..." to unfinished business.

[Charleston Pony]

Gu will REALLY be missed next year. He was a catalyst last night and with the bad wrist affecting his 3 point shooting, 9 of his 10 shots were 2's last night so he is doing what he needs to do to adjust to his injury and maximize his production. Unselfish player and his leadership is really going to be missed.

[Terry Webster]

Watching it seemed as though his wrist is starting to feel better which is really big in helping McMurray
open things up a bit.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

I guess it is just me but I see so much more potential from Douglas than I do from Landrum. It is just that Landrum has started to pull the trigger on shooting and Douglas is too hesitant. But I like every other part of Douglas’ game.

It seems like more people do have a concurring opinion on William Douglas.

[JasonB]

Going against the grain a bit, I'll point out that with Shake out and Jarrey out, and Ray out, what this team needs is Length. The fact that Douglas is the one coming off the bench instead of Eli when we already have a point guard should be very, very telling.

I'll also point out that McMurray is much more effective when he is sitting in the corner waiting for the ball. When he handles the ball a lot in the lane and up top, it is a disaster. He turns the ball over a ton, takes ill advised shots, and slows ball movement. His best position on this team will be as a third guard in a 3 guard set so he can sit in that corner, or as a player coming off the bench for instant offense. His decision making will need to improve substantially for him to start as a combo or 2 on a good team.

[RI Stang]

Agree that it's curious that Landrum is starting over Douglas, but the probably of Douglas playing a key role in the future vs Landrum isn't close, in my opinion.

Also agree on McMurray as a 6th man/3rd guard type off the bench. Assuming Shake is gone, we badly need a JUCO or grad transfer combo guard in here next year. We are in on some top level JUCO guys, really hoping we land one.

[PonyLawExpress]

Agree that it's curious that Landrum is starting over Douglas, but the probably of Douglas playing a key role in the future vs Landrum isn't close, in my opinion.

Also agree on McMurray as a 6th man/3rd guard type off the bench. Assuming Shake is gone, we badly need a JUCO or grad transfer combo guard in here next year. We are in on some top level JUCO guys, really hoping we land one.

Agreed. It is curious Landrum is starting over him, I am sure its to send a message to Douglas to be more aggressive or just because Landrum is playing more confident right now, but as RI said that doesn't change the fact that Douglas has a higher ceiling and a much better opportunity of playing a big role going forward.

Landrum's biggest problem going forward is he is a PG only (on a normal team). Unless he starts hitting a consistent 37% clip from 3 and figures out how to finish in the lane he isn't ever going to be a big minute guy going forward. And even if he does that and even if the staff 100% wanted him back, if you are him, you gotta think he could maybe get 10-12 MPG next season IF he improves AND IF Shake isn't back AND IF we don't add a Wendell Mitchell or a big name combo guard. Alot of IFs.

Then he has to think after that he probably gets recruited over in 2019 class if we bring in Maxey, Avery Anderson or a legit top 100 PG, which we are trying to do AND Whitt is still only one class ahead of him. He could find himself buried if we hit on the 2019 class and best case a career backup.

Despite the big minutes this season, which he only started getting when we lost 2 starters (before Shake's injury he was averaging 7.5MPG in conference play and didn't play against UCF), I could see Landrum himself opting to look elsewhere seeing that he likely won't become a starter here and might have limited PT with Whitt here and us looking at so many guard options at his position going forward. Guys have transferred for alot less.