Assuming we get a commitment from Cain,

1,286 Views | 4 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Monkdawg
Monkdawg
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and his lead recruiter at UVA has headed to Notre Dame and the Penn St. boards are predicting him to UGA, we will have 1 spot to fill. Momentum seems to be building for Noah Thomasson, the 6'3" SG from Niagara who averaged 19.5 ppg last season. While I would have preferred Lawrence (he's a proven SEC player), I'm OK with Thomasson/Cain as SG. Cain is a terrific shooter and Thomasson is a good scorer with experience.

I know it's a bit early and I'm getting ahead of myself, and we haven't seen any of these new guys in Red and Black as yet, but I wonder what the starting 5 looks like. I think 3 spots are sure things - Hill, Tchewa and Thomasson (assuming we sign him). I think the other 2 spots depend on what White wants to do scheme-wise. If we go conventional, then Deloach starts at the 4 and the SF spot is probably between Jabri and Melendez. But, White has indicated that he wants to return to his roots, the style of play that got him noticed at La Tech. They were deep, ran players in and out, pressed a lot and ran. I love that style of play myself. This roster would be pretty deep and capable of doing different things. I don't know how much pressing and running you can do with Jabri or Melendez. I guess we will find out. Demary, Jordan, James and Cain, I would think, would be an interesting unit. I would think they could run, press and score from the perimeter. We won't play them (the freshmen) all together. White will mix them in with Holt and Anselem providing depth.

It's an interesting quandary for White, but that's why he gets the big bucks....
Nostradawgus
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If you get Cain AND Thomasson - wow. You just can't ask much more of White. That would be - I think - four Top 100 high school players and some very quality transfers. Upgrades all.
Monkdawg
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I will do a comparison soon of what we are losing and what we are gaining. Should be interesting. This '23 freshman class looks really solid.

And to think a few days ago people were concerned we were going to get anyone significant....
StevieBuckets
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I'm very happy with the way recruiting is shaping up. It's such a different landscape these days with the transfer portal - many top 100 players take more than one season to blossom, so keeping them after their freshman year is as important as getting them to commit out of high school - but Coach White is demonstrating that it's possible to get these guys in the door.

I'm not sure we'll see a ton of record improvement next year, but if these guys stick around, we're starting to see a strong foundation. Pretty exciting!
Monkdawg
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I think our record will be better. I hesitate to predict by how much. Though he can't score like Roberts, Hill is a more solid PG and Demary looks athletic enough to help pretty soon. If we get Thomasson, I think he is better and more consistent at both ends than Oquendo. We are clearly better in the post - more size, better rebounding, better rim protection. James gives us a dimension that we haven't had - a PF who can shoot and stretch the defense. Deloach looks like he has some nasty in him - much more aggressive than Anselem or Bridges. We are really deep at SF with a lot of versatile players. White will have a chore to figure out minutes....
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