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BASKETBALL Scurry eligible, Farquhar, too!

It will be ok...I think our new coach and system will work in CUSA, just give him time.

I guess it depends upon what your definition of "ok" is. IMHO the early signing period will do much to tell us the direction of the program under McDevitt. I have been impressed that this staff, unlike under Davis, seems reluctant to throw around scholarship offers "willy-nilly". That said, some of the players to whom these limited offers have been extended have already committed elsewhere, including one to a conference foe.

As an aside #1: Did you seen in Sunday's Tennessean that Belmont has obtained 3 commitments;
As an aside #2: Davis has obtained two commitments from players that he had offered earlier while at MT. While we will never know if these prospects would have signed with MT it is clear that Davis and staff were able to close the deal at Ole Miss. It still hurts this fan that we'll never know what might have been.
 
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Farquhar brings real hope. Just not sure how much he can contribute as a true freshman. He will undoubtedly have some growing pains. The next 2-3 years surely look better, but I'm still WAY down on next season.
 
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I think Farquhar has the potential to be an absolute star here. We recruited very few, if any, players with the skills Farquhar has under Kermit straight out of high school. His size, shooting ability, and ball handling skills are extremely impressive. I love PG's with great jump shots who can pile in a ton of points and Farquhar offers just that. Really hope we don't try and plug him at the SG position. With his size and the threat he can pose at the PG position, I just don't see how you pass that up. He is the complete package. Call me crazy but he reminds me a lot of Dwayne Wade.
 
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That being said. I am beyond scared with regards to the lack of forwards we have on the roster. With our team constructed as is, I think we are going to see a ton of 4 guard rotations next year. Offensively, having 4 guards is great for spreading the floor and trying to shoot the lights out, but defense and rebounding are always going to be a concern when you lack size. And defense and rebounding are what wins championships.

There will be nights where we shoot the lights out and win easily but I have a hard time seeing MT win those grind-it-out games where it's hard to buy a bucket. And those are the kinds of games you typically run into when facing the top of the conference. I think our basketball team will remind us a lot of our football team next year. Middle of the pack, beating the crap out of bad teams, losing to good teams, and we'll be "tournament eligible" and playing in the CIT or CBI.

I suppose that's fine for a year even though I hate that we won't be in the NCAA tournament discussion for the first time in MANY years. I'm terrified of this program losing all it's momentum, both locally and nationally.
 
It has been a little while since we were in the NCAA tournament discussion, but not as long as it seems. Reggie's sophomore year we went like 19-16 after Shawn Jones, Kerry Hammonds, Tweety Knight, Torin Walker, and Neiko Hunter graduated. We even got passed up for the NIT their senior year. This year is similar to that year, but with less coming back given the transfers. We have a lot of tall, athletic, and from what I can tell talented freshmen coming in that are going to have to contribute. If we flirt with winning 20 games that would be a success. The future is bright especially if we can bring in a good recruiting class with some size. Would also help to bring in a grad transfer forward so we are not super young up front.

As for next year at the forward position it is not as bad as it could have been. I think (hope) Gamble can put it all together this year and if he does he will be called upon to play a lot of minutes against the bigger teams. Hawthorne and Scurry will be key even though they both are a little undersized. I think it really hinges on the biggest unknown and that is Massenberg. I also think if we have to play some 4 guard lineups it helps to have taller guards like Crump and Johnson.
 
The 2019 class is going to be very solid, guys.

In the words of A-Rod:

RELAX.

You don't know how much I want to believe you. With only a few scholarships to give we really will need to "hit" on all of the signees. This year we will be under-staffed and under-sized at the 4 and 5 positions and with Gamble and Hawthorne seniors we must get at least two, hopefully more, "bigs" in the '19 class. Yet I can find no credible offers out to either PFs or Centers.
Do you, without giving up any "inside" information, have convincing knowledge that we are "in on" some "bigs" for the '19 class who can come in and play immediately?
 
If you can find some 6'8 and 6'9 kids that can play inside out you will be fine. I just fell they will get a foreign kid or 2.
 
Again, a few more thoughts on the upcoming season for this new team.

Sure, a bumpy road is expected, but that does not mean I expect a horrendous season. I think most of us would be cool with a decent year of rebuilding building into some success the following season.

I too share the concerns about lack of size in the frontcourt....been concerned since the end of last season. Just putting a few things together recently including CNM rather brief comments in the local paper. Despite the lack of size and depth in the frontcourt, I'm thinking CNM still might be able to produce a reasonably competitive team this season. Although the team lacks depth in the frontcourt, he has brought in some good and athletic looking guards and wings.

CNM indicates he likes having big guards/wings to help rebound with the undersized frontcourt size. With that in mind, I again looked back at the CNM led team vs arguably the best team in MT's history when the two played on a neutral court. UNC-A started with a 4 G and 1 F set. It looks like their tallest starter was around 6-5 to 6-6. It looked like UNC-A would bring off the bench a couple of taller players for some solid minutes with decent production but nothing impressive. When I say larger, 6-6 and 6-9. Mostly, they appeared to run a 4G 1F set. Despite their smallish undersized team, the all-time great MT team only beat them by 2. It took a last minute 3 pointer by Harris for MT to seal the 2 point win. Even more interesting, the CNM led UNC-A team beat MT in rebounding! Looks like the small UNC-A team won the rebounding battle by 5. Think about that. Turnovers and steals were pretty close to even for both teams. It looks like MT was able to win by Kermit's classic defensive effort. UNC-A shooting % were off for the game and were likely the difference. That is also consistent with how Kermit's teams would grind out games.

That was a pretty impressive, if small team, that came awful close to beating a great MT team. Despite starting 2-4 that year, UNC-A still went to the NCAA Tournament that year, if I recall correctly. I think one of those guards went on to transfer to Louisville. With CNM's approach and the size and athleticism of the whole mess of guards and wings he has, he just might be able to have a productive season.
 
Again, a few more thoughts on the upcoming season for this new team.

Sure, a bumpy road is expected, but that does not mean I expect a horrendous season. I think most of us would be cool with a decent year of rebuilding building into some success the following season.

I too share the concerns about lack of size in the frontcourt....been concerned since the end of last season. Just putting a few things together recently including CNM rather brief comments in the local paper. Despite the lack of size and depth in the frontcourt, I'm thinking CNM still might be able to produce a reasonably competitive team this season. Although the team lacks depth in the frontcourt, he has brought in some good and athletic looking guards and wings.

CNM indicates he likes having big guards/wings to help rebound with the undersized frontcourt size. With that in mind, I again looked back at the CNM led team vs arguably the best team in MT's history when the two played on a neutral court. UNC-A started with a 4 G and 1 F set. It looks like their tallest starter was around 6-5 to 6-6. It looked like UNC-A would bring off the bench a couple of taller players for some solid minutes with decent production but nothing impressive. When I say larger, 6-6 and 6-9. Mostly, they appeared to run a 4G 1F set. Despite their smallish undersized team, the all-time great MT team only beat them by 2. It took a last minute 3 pointer by Harris for MT to seal the 2 point win. Even more interesting, the CNM led UNC-A team beat MT in rebounding! Looks like the small UNC-A team won the rebounding battle by 5. Think about that. Turnovers and steals were pretty close to even for both teams. It looks like MT was able to win by Kermit's classic defensive effort. UNC-A shooting % were off for the game and were likely the difference. That is also consistent with how Kermit's teams would grind out games.

That was a pretty impressive, if small team, that came awful close to beating a great MT team. Despite starting 2-4 that year, UNC-A still went to the NCAA Tournament that year, if I recall correctly. I think one of those guards went on to transfer to Louisville. With CNM's approach and the size and athleticism of the whole mess of guards and wings he has, he just might be able to have a productive season.

McDevitt seems to have somewhat the approach Bruce Stewart had years ago. To paraphrase something Stewart either told me or I heard from him in the media: We can't recruit front court players who have size with the big boys so we try to equalize by having bigger perimeter players.
It worked pretty well back in the 80s, I'll give McDevitt a chance for his philosophy to take hold even though I question if many of the current signees for next year (realizing the rush job) would be under normal circumstances considered more than role-players.
 
Have we ever had a 6'8 guard like crump?

Not 6'-8" but Earle had 6'-5" Jimmy Martin (a converted high school center) and Stewart had 6'-5" Duane Washington, both point guards on very good teams (Washington played a few years in the NBA but had problems with substances, His highly-touted son was recruited by Davis but chose Ohio St. where he is on scholarship)

I would imagine that Hammonds, Jr is the best recent example of the type player McDevitt seems to like on the perimeter.
 
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Not 6'-8" but Earle had 6'-5" Jimmy Martin (a converted high school center) and Stewart had 6'-5" Duane Washington, both point guards on very good teams (Washington played a few years in the NBA but had problems with substances, His highly-touted son was recruited by Davis but chose Ohio St. where he is on scholarship)

I would imagine that Hammonds, Jr is the best recent example of the type player McDevitt seems to like on the perimeter.
Perrin Buford at 6'6" is also a good example. I know he played more forward, but so will Crump on this team.
 
I will add that we did not seem to mind our size when we had Reggie at 6'7" and Darnell Harris at 6'8". Right now we have 6'9" and 6'7" with Scurry at 6'6" basically the same size as Reggie with just giving up an inch. Scurry does have a 7'3" wingspan though.
 
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