Good afternoon! The first post had a few members talking about players not mentioned in my original write-up. Rightfully so because on paper this is the deepest team Frank Martin has had on paper in terms of experience and talent. The talent may not be as top heavy as that final four team (I mean come in Sin had one of the greatest seasons in NCAA history, Dozier was a McDonald’s All-American, Gravett and Notice on NBA teams and 6th man of the year award winners, Silva and Kotsar All-SEC.. that’s crazy talented).
Yet, I don’t feel like I am overselling the talent on this team from top to bottom, and combine that with the experience and that’s..well.. see gif above.
@Pfunk Cock asked about TJ Moss and Alanzo Frink. We’ll start with Moss. Moss was quite possibly the worst (and it pains me to write this) offensive player in the nation last season from an efficiency standpoint. In fact, he was so bad thatKy McKeon wrote, “his 68.6 o-rating is one of the lowest I’ve seen on KenPom in my college basketball writing career.” Brutal, but fair analysis. As poorly and disappointing as his redshirt freshman campaign went, he is still an intriguing player thanks to his size. He and Hannibal will be fighting for time at PG this season, and Hannibal was not an offensively efficient guard either. That will be interesting to watch and see if Moss moves off the ball more, or if his experience will help him take a step forward. Moss, by all accounts, is a great teammate and a guy that has a great personality. I think we could see Moss off the ball more which seems to be a more natural fit for him.
Alanzo Frink will be a Junior this season, and this is the season where I usually start to expect to see some more noticeable improvements from players.He’s a guy that does a lot of good things in practice, and he can be a Guy that is tough to handle in the post thanks to his size. He’s a brute and it is reflected in several categories (Free throw rate was 2nd highest on the team of active players, second in rebounding percentage). He’s a guy that’s given us some glimpses of what he can do (22 points against UGA last season, a double double against Cleveland State), but his consistency and fouling were his biggest issues. He would commit some bad fouls, but, as I talked about in the first post, was a victim of atrocious on ball defense at the PG position. He should see good minutes this season at center but could slide into the PF position if we go bigger.
Jalen McCreary was another name brought up, and he’s another post player that will be relied on to provide more minutes and fill the gap left by Kotsar. @aj&uscgrad stated that McCreary may have been the player with the highest points per minute last season which I found to be an interesting thought. So let’s take a look at it. If we made every player equal as if they played 40 minutes per game, the results are pretty damn interesting. The top scorers in order are:
Mike Green - 24 ppg
Couisnard - 18.6
Lawson - 18.4
Bryant - 16.9
Bolden - 15.8
Frink - 14.8
Kotsar - 14.7
McCreary - 14.3
What I found surprising was Minaya not being higher on the list, and Frink 5th our of our active players last season. While McCreary wasn’t quite where expected, he’s still the highest of the true freshmen, and his quick twitch and athletic ability will only continue to help him as he gets more comfortable with collegiate ball. He should be in line to get some quality minutes this season, and has put in a lot of work in his offensive game (specifically ball handling and shooting) to try and take a step forward. Defensively, McCreary has the athleticism and motor that help him be a great rebounder (3rd in ORB% last season, tied for 4th in DRB%, 3rd in TRB%). He has good length and once he really grasps the defensive concepts could be a great defender especially in the passing lanes.
Replacing Kotsar
Replacing players is inevitable. Last season, most fans fretted over replacing Chris Silva. The Hasse transferred out. Some were hoping Kotsar would follow suit, but I, like I did with Gravett, stated that Kotsar would be a good player as a senior. Never in my wildest dreams did I think Kotsar would be an All-SEC player, but sometimes you just have to give a coach credit. Martin has a great knack for developing players. The coaching staff is built around teaching and coaching up. We’ve seen it with so many players: Kacinas, Carrera, Brenton Williams, Thornwell, Gravett, Silva, and Notice.
So, who replaces Kotsar? Well, that’s not an easy answer because the post players are young except for 1 (Frink) so I’m going with the “by committee” answer, but I do believe that Leveque will have a good season. As shown above and in the previous post, we return some of our best rebounders, so it stands to reason that rebounding will not drop off with the minutes increased among other big men. Minaya and Bryant should help defensively as they showed a knack for blocking shots when providing some help defense. Wildens Leveque will provide some rim protection, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Iriel play a role either. Kotsar’s offensive production will not be missed if the guards are as good as advertised. It’s really not a major concern. In fact, I’d argue that the bigger concern is who replaces Bolden’s three point shooting, but we already talked about that in the first post. These questions will be a little easier to answer as we get closer to the season, but for now, I’m sticking with the safe answer.
That’s pretty much all I have for now. Thanks for reading, and hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!
Yet, I don’t feel like I am overselling the talent on this team from top to bottom, and combine that with the experience and that’s..well.. see gif above.
@Pfunk Cock asked about TJ Moss and Alanzo Frink. We’ll start with Moss. Moss was quite possibly the worst (and it pains me to write this) offensive player in the nation last season from an efficiency standpoint. In fact, he was so bad thatKy McKeon wrote, “his 68.6 o-rating is one of the lowest I’ve seen on KenPom in my college basketball writing career.” Brutal, but fair analysis. As poorly and disappointing as his redshirt freshman campaign went, he is still an intriguing player thanks to his size. He and Hannibal will be fighting for time at PG this season, and Hannibal was not an offensively efficient guard either. That will be interesting to watch and see if Moss moves off the ball more, or if his experience will help him take a step forward. Moss, by all accounts, is a great teammate and a guy that has a great personality. I think we could see Moss off the ball more which seems to be a more natural fit for him.
Alanzo Frink will be a Junior this season, and this is the season where I usually start to expect to see some more noticeable improvements from players.He’s a guy that does a lot of good things in practice, and he can be a Guy that is tough to handle in the post thanks to his size. He’s a brute and it is reflected in several categories (Free throw rate was 2nd highest on the team of active players, second in rebounding percentage). He’s a guy that’s given us some glimpses of what he can do (22 points against UGA last season, a double double against Cleveland State), but his consistency and fouling were his biggest issues. He would commit some bad fouls, but, as I talked about in the first post, was a victim of atrocious on ball defense at the PG position. He should see good minutes this season at center but could slide into the PF position if we go bigger.
Jalen McCreary was another name brought up, and he’s another post player that will be relied on to provide more minutes and fill the gap left by Kotsar. @aj&uscgrad stated that McCreary may have been the player with the highest points per minute last season which I found to be an interesting thought. So let’s take a look at it. If we made every player equal as if they played 40 minutes per game, the results are pretty damn interesting. The top scorers in order are:
Mike Green - 24 ppg
Couisnard - 18.6
Lawson - 18.4
Bryant - 16.9
Bolden - 15.8
Frink - 14.8
Kotsar - 14.7
McCreary - 14.3
What I found surprising was Minaya not being higher on the list, and Frink 5th our of our active players last season. While McCreary wasn’t quite where expected, he’s still the highest of the true freshmen, and his quick twitch and athletic ability will only continue to help him as he gets more comfortable with collegiate ball. He should be in line to get some quality minutes this season, and has put in a lot of work in his offensive game (specifically ball handling and shooting) to try and take a step forward. Defensively, McCreary has the athleticism and motor that help him be a great rebounder (3rd in ORB% last season, tied for 4th in DRB%, 3rd in TRB%). He has good length and once he really grasps the defensive concepts could be a great defender especially in the passing lanes.
Replacing Kotsar
Replacing players is inevitable. Last season, most fans fretted over replacing Chris Silva. The Hasse transferred out. Some were hoping Kotsar would follow suit, but I, like I did with Gravett, stated that Kotsar would be a good player as a senior. Never in my wildest dreams did I think Kotsar would be an All-SEC player, but sometimes you just have to give a coach credit. Martin has a great knack for developing players. The coaching staff is built around teaching and coaching up. We’ve seen it with so many players: Kacinas, Carrera, Brenton Williams, Thornwell, Gravett, Silva, and Notice.
So, who replaces Kotsar? Well, that’s not an easy answer because the post players are young except for 1 (Frink) so I’m going with the “by committee” answer, but I do believe that Leveque will have a good season. As shown above and in the previous post, we return some of our best rebounders, so it stands to reason that rebounding will not drop off with the minutes increased among other big men. Minaya and Bryant should help defensively as they showed a knack for blocking shots when providing some help defense. Wildens Leveque will provide some rim protection, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Iriel play a role either. Kotsar’s offensive production will not be missed if the guards are as good as advertised. It’s really not a major concern. In fact, I’d argue that the bigger concern is who replaces Bolden’s three point shooting, but we already talked about that in the first post. These questions will be a little easier to answer as we get closer to the season, but for now, I’m sticking with the safe answer.
That’s pretty much all I have for now. Thanks for reading, and hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!
