Point Guards

[MTFNBY5]

Prior to last season it looked like the Blue Raiders would have an embarrassment of riches at the point guard position for several years to come. We had signed Jacob Ivory who Davis stated was the best high school PG in Louisiana, DJ Jones who was a highly touted (by our staff, at least) JUCO PG who would be exciting and be a crowd pleaser, and because of a coaching change at Houston bringing an assistant to MT we signed late 3 Star (we get very few of them) JaQuel Richmond.

And a year later: PG is our weakest position and IMHO cost us a game last night.

Richmond - just as he was beginning to show his high upside left the team in the middle of the season
Ivory - sustained a concussion during the season last year, appeared to be recovered during our Caribbean trip, but now is not playing because of reoccurring symptoms
Jones - Played well during the last portion of the season when he was the only available PG, was instrumental in our run to the C-USA finals, but was dismissed prior to the school year after the summer trip.

Now we are left with JUCO signee Quavious Copeland who is clearly not ready, Simpson or Potts playing out of position, or Raymond (who knows what his position is but it isn't PG - Appears to have a very low BkB IQ - Hasn't improved one bit in three years - I'm sure he is a great kid - hope he graduates and has a great life but he is one player I won't shed a tear for on Sr. game night) who is a turnover waiting to happen.

As an aside: To add salt to the wound last night a mid-state player helped VCU beat MT - Have no idea if we recruited him but had he been on our team we would have won the game.

 

[SmithO1906]

I think you hit the nail on the head. When VCU wasnt pressing and we were able to walk the ball up the court we scored at will or at least got good looks at the basket. When they pressed us our back court folded. Raymond is obviously not a point guard. From watching Copeland play last night it seems like he is the type of guard who is offensive minded and likes to attack and he seems to be struggling with Kermit's system where the point guard is really just supposed to just get us in to our offense.

 

[MTBig Blue]

I don't think Copeland has looked that bad this year.

But let's be honest. VCU is the best defensive team by far we will face this year. This is a team that came in losing in the last few minutes to Duke and lost on a last second shot to Wisconsin. It's not like we couldn't handle FIU's pressure. I'll think we'll be fine this year.

 

[SmithO1906]

I don't think Copeland is bad at all. I just think he is going to have to change his style of play to fit what Kermit wants to do offensively. You can tell that he wants to attack( which isn't a bad thing), but Kermit's offense isn't necessarily conducive to attacking guards

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Guard play wins championships...

 

[MTsumner92]

Great points guys. Copeland will get there. Be patient. I remember Harris, Potts, and others looked clueless at this point in time last year. I actually saw Phillips make a play or two last night. That was encouraging.We are close. We are much better today than when I watched us against Murray. Our team has that burning desire that I like to see. This season is going to be fun.

Potts? Damn that was ugly!!!

 

[dukewayne]

I have been wondering how Kermit and MT have been getting back to the point of having difficulty keeping players. Injuries. What can you do. I have to wonder if Ivory missing a 2nd season to concussion, is his playing days over?

I too thought it was clear that PG is what cost the game for MT. In my view of things, it's not cutting it that we were close to VCU and should be fine in conference. MT can and should be better than that. Winning games vs VCU in ooc is what gets you noticed come March. Winning games vs VCU is what ups your cachet on the national stage. Losing close to VCU keeps MT where we currently are. A decent record, but a team generally flying under the national radar. It keeps you competing for the NIT instead of the NCAAs.

Hopefully Copeland improves as the season moves along. At this point, I don't see any reason to expect otherwise from Copeland as the season progresses. Raymond is a 2G. An incredibly athletic and physically talented 2G who hasn't seemed to develop the confidence in that role. Perhaps changing his role from SG to PG and back and forth contributes to his lack of confidence and focus on developing where he is talented. Every so often he shows flashes of incredible athleticism usually in a 2G role. I think it possible that team circumstances and some confidence type issue has Raymond at a place of not playing to his potential. It's almost like if Raymond could play at the 2 and stop thinking about things, he could just possibly really impress on both ends of the court.

It was clear vs VCU that MT just didn't have a PG (yet?) who could strongly and quickly handle the rock from the fast long reaching arms of VCU defenders. If MT had a player like Jones from last year who was small and quick enough with good ball handling skills, he just might have been good enough to keep those defenders in chase mode.

At this point, Copeland staying healthy and rapidly improving is MT's best and about only chance for a really good season. If not, MT will likely struggle vs good talent which will likely result in a decent season but not a great season.