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Post by derhut on Sept 5, 2017 20:19:23 GMT -5
Correction Mr. Gleason...i would expect more accuracy from a st johns grad. the classic walsh vs st francis battles featured dewey taylor, the late matt o'connell, mark maguire, tim mcbride and jeff grandusky for walsh vs a loaded frannies squad with mr. patton, jerome davis, roth, and andzel. bruno and crew squared off with the uber talented bruce sage and chris jerebko [ syracuse ]. Patton would have eaten bruno's lunch and dinner. Dewey, who was 6'1" on a good day was a leaper ala matt gantt...in fact when walsh went against st francis at the walsh gym...frannies won the tap..passed to patton who thought he had an easy deuce..only to see dewey sky and swat it into the crowd..that set the tone for the whole game. when walsh visited frannies..digger phelps, frank maguire and al maguire were in the stands scouting patton. during the '72/'74 seasons the catholic league was loaded with talent...patton at st fran, billy truitt and ricky williams were at timon...truitt ended up at south carolina and truitt went to long beach st when they were a powerhouse..aaron curry ended up at oklahoma and there were a few others...walsh more than held their own against the big boys! Frannies coach was the colorful bob torgalski..his two sons were the ball boys...i believe they ended up playing at nichols prep with laettner [ who was from the southtowns area and actually played his frosh year at st francis!]. one of the torgalskis was the baseball coach at UB this past season when UB dropped their program.
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Post by derhut on Sept 5, 2017 20:27:18 GMT -5
make that williams went to long beach st. ricky's brother jimmy, was the point guard for the cuse ncaa squads which featured rudy hackett and crew in the mid 70s.
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Post by fjs64 on Sept 6, 2017 9:24:52 GMT -5
Just got back from the RC. I want to see Amadi being banged on by Holloway, but the A10 may be sleeping on this young man! Bonas doesn't have anyone who can guard him. Watched three games and he must have had 10 buckets. Jaylen, if possible, looked even better. Matt played very well. The freshmen looked good. Izaiah played very good d on Poyser and Chief was really good! Played really good pick and roll defense on Jaylen. Hit the boards well. Neither made many buckets. Courtney and Ndene did not play. Thanks, JAC. I am hoping for a lot from Amadi. He looked good when I watched in late June.....not only underneath, but out to 15 feet. What types of shots was he taking when you saw him.
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Post by fjs64 on Sept 6, 2017 10:00:43 GMT -5
I have been thinking about this for awhile. How good is this team going to be? At this moment, though optimistic, I have 2 things that keep me grounded. #1 is too many question marks that need to be answered and #2 I have been a sports fan for 65 years, and too much can happen to shred a teams potential (look at this years NY Mets). More later on #2.
This is my view of the team.
At guard we have possibly the best duo in the nation. There is not much more to say that hasn't been already said. Jay and Matt, not only play a great game, but are ready for the late game heroics, and we have 2 guys who can make the clutch bucket. I am confident that Nelson can play key minutes and allow Jay/Matt time to rest. I think Nelson is going to be much better, and being pushed by fellow countryman and friend, Jalen, will make him a better player. My first ?mark, will Nelson do it? I am not counting on Izaiah for anything, too late a signee, and too much to learn.
At the 3 we have a guard, in Idris we have a multi talented leader, a person who does all the small things. Always needed on the floor at crunch time. Will his offense ever improve? Who backs him up, is it Courtney? If Courtney is what we all expected when I saw him in June 2015, he could be the best 6-man in the A10. He is a slasher, a rebounder, knows where to be on court. My 2nd ?mark, what will we get from him? We really don't know for sure. So who else, could it be LaDarien, could it be Chef. LaDarien profiles similar to Idris, does the little things, can rebound, play the point in our 1 3 1 defense, can be a defensive specialist, but not very optimistic about his offense. The Chef, to me, can be one of the better Bonnies that I have seen. Built strong, shoots well......with our shortcomings in the frontline, I see him being a back-up stretch 4, as well as a back-up at the 3.
The front court is ?mark 3. We have a stretch 4 in Josh, who is only a sophomore, who I am counting on being our 3rd scoring option. No doubt he is stronger, which hopefully can make him a better finisher and better rebounder, because we need that from him. Ndene may not be ready to play, or at least contribute until sometime in November at the earliest. I was counting on him to be the enforcer underneath, both at the 4 and 5. The enforcement will now be left in the hands of Amadi. Based on his summer activities, he could be that person, plus score. Remember last year he was foul prone, did not play that much, but showed glimpses of an offensive game. What will the real Amadi be this year, we need some Bob Lanier-esque attributes to start to be seen.
If all the ?marks are answered in the affirmative, we are a Top 25 team. If none, we will still be good, but fall short of what we want as fans.
Just my humble opinion.
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Post by fjs64 on Sept 6, 2017 10:18:56 GMT -5
I said this:
"and #2 I have been a sports fan for 65 years, and too much can happen to shred a teams potential (look at this years NY Mets). More later on #2."
My first let down as a Bonnie fan was the 1962/63 Bonnies, a team that we were so optimistic about...and in my naive fashion thought we were top 3 in the nation (of course we were #2 in the nation 2 years earlier), so I was spoiled. We had the the return of Fred Crawford (from TB), Miles Aiken was now a junior following a sophomore year where he averaged 23.7ppg, John Mahonchak in the backcourt, and 2 players from the freshman team, the Greek from NY, forward Bob Barnek, and Mike Rooney (the greatest shooter I ever saw). This was the nucleus of the team, outside and inside, scoring from anywhere. Well it never came to be.....they did get into the post-season, the NCIT (National Catholic Invitational Tournament), but the overall record was 13-12. Not even close to what was expected. Injuries, dissension, chemistry was the bane of that team.
Even our last NCAA team, the 2011/12 team disappointed early, but came together late, and if it wasn't for the magic run, we would all have been disappointed. Remember we were 8-5 in the OOC, and the loss to Arkansas ST.
And of course as a NY Mets fan, I watched a team this year that had incredibly bad luck.
So you never know what to expect. Low expectations can yield a big surprise and high expectations can also generate a big surprise.
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JAC
Sophomore Member
Posts: 165
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Post by JAC on Sept 6, 2017 10:26:38 GMT -5
Just got back from the RC. I want to see Amadi being banged on by Holloway, but the A10 may be sleeping on this young man! Bonas doesn't have anyone who can guard him. Watched three games and he must have had 10 buckets. Jaylen, if possible, looked even better. Matt played very well. The freshmen looked good. Izaiah played very good d on Poyser and Chief was really good! Played really good pick and roll defense on Jaylen. Hit the boards well. Neither made many buckets. Courtney and Ndene did not play. Thanks, JAC. I am hoping for a lot from Amadi. He looked good when I watched in late June.....not only underneath, but out to 15 feet. What types of shots was he taking when you saw him. Everything was in the low block. He didn't stray more than 5 feet from the hoop. The thing that really stuck out were his hands and feet. He still has very little lift (almost missed a dunk), but both his hands and feet surprised me. One play Jay got into the lane, and when Josh left Amadi to cover him, Jay dropped off a bounce pass to Amadi that was at his knees. Amadi fielded it cleanly and made the layup. Another time he had Josh on his back. Took a power dribble into the lane, as Idris came to double he took a right handed pump fake, got Josh off his feet, stepped through while he was in the air and made the left handed layup. It was quite pretty!
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Post by bonafan5000 on Sept 6, 2017 10:38:43 GMT -5
Thanks, JAC. I am hoping for a lot from Amadi. He looked good when I watched in late June.....not only underneath, but out to 15 feet. What types of shots was he taking when you saw him. Everything was in the low block. He didn't stray more than 5 feet from the hoop. The thing that really stuck out were his hands and feet. He still has very little lift (almost missed a dunk), but both his hands and feet surprised me. One play Jay got into the lane, and when Josh left Amadi to cover him, Jay dropped off a bounce pass to Amadi that was at his knees. Amadi fielded it cleanly and made the layup. Another time he had Josh on his back. Took a power dribble into the lane, as Idris came to double he took a right handed pump fake, got Josh off his feet, stepped through while he was in the air and made the left handed layup. It was quite prettyyen My biggest fear is still not been solved in the offseason!!! We don't have any athletic-high rising big men. Neither Ayeni or Ikpeze can jump more than 6 inches off the ground, Denzel is going to be a key loss on the rebounding front. We are very lucky that both Mobley and Idris both rebound very well. Wouldn't be surprised to see us go with a lineup of Adams, Mobley, Idris, Chef, and Ayeni? We need to run and gun with this team, not going to be a very good halfcourt team still, without the presence of a low post big man on either end. We can all hope for it, but the reality is we still have zero shot blocking, and not much rebounding. Better hope we out score teams.
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Post by gdub2009 on Sept 6, 2017 11:53:17 GMT -5
Surprising enough Ikpeze had the same block percentage as Gregg when he was playing at 6.3% of possessions he was in. That being said I don't envision him as a shot blocker. Griffin was next on the team with 3.9%. Griffin can jump and is athletic, the question mark with him is his offense.
I agree with you bonafan5000 that our biggest weakness is that athletic wing that can jump out of the gym grabbing rebounds, blocking shots, and taking it to the hole. I am hoping Chef, Griffin, Izaiah, or Stockard can step into that. If Griffin has really worked on his shot this offseason I feel he could be a real help to us this season.
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Post by bonafan5000 on Sept 6, 2017 12:14:09 GMT -5
When looking at all 3 of the NCAA tourney teams from the A10 last year, they all had one thing in common--- inside toughness and grit! We can certainly have three tough dudes with Adams, Mobley, and Idris..... But where is the other toughness going to come from, because on paper nobody can score with Adams and Mobley!
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Post by derhut on Sept 6, 2017 12:37:48 GMT -5
bona5k...i agree 100% =- rhody and vcu seemed to be loaded with tight end types who could run the floor and get to the rim with ease - and they had a few of them..not just 1
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Post by mnbonnie on Sept 6, 2017 13:14:16 GMT -5
While I have no other basis for this than a news article written about Izaiah, while in high school, the piece talked about his ability to play defense. While there is a big learning curve, on so many levels to the college game, having a guy who can come off the bench and guard a guy is a rare skill set indeed. I think that may get the young man some minutes, a particularly important attribute in Schmidt's system, as we've seen over the years.
I also believe Chef and Gueye are the difference makers. Folks have witnessed to the physical transformation of Ayeni and Ikpeze, which I think will really help, but I get the sense that Chef is ready, we just need to turn him loose. With Gueye and the rotator cuff issue, whateve it is, we just have to hope we roll the dice and he can give us some solid minutes up front. This may not work for all game match ups, but I think we play a three heaed big, Ayeni, Ikpeze and Gueye, keeping a guy fresh there for the whole game. We rotate, Griffin, Chef, Idris, Matt, Jaylen, Nelson and then Courntey and even Izaiah, depending on health/demonstrated ability to contribute at the four other positions. I know it's a reach, but I believe Izaiah was told, if you can perform, you'll play. I don't think they lied to the kid, he was looking at prepping which means he was going to play, I don't think he signed so he could sit.
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Post by Bonafan71 on Sept 6, 2017 13:50:09 GMT -5
To be honest, I think we shouldn't expect anything from Stockard. JP's article didn't leave me with much hope that even if he returns, he's going to be a strong participant. Same thing with Gueye: a torn rotator cuff is a pretty serious athletic injury. I know baseball players who suffer it often have relapses. Here's to hoping Ikpeze and Ayeni have vastly improved their games...
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Post by bonafan5000 on Sept 6, 2017 14:15:19 GMT -5
To be honest, I think we shouldn't expect anything from Stockard. JP's article didn't leave me with much hope that even if he returns, he's going to be a strong participant. Same thing with Gueye: a torn rotator cuff is a pretty serious athletic injury. I know baseball players who suffer it often have relapses. Here's to hoping Ikpeze and Ayeni have vastly improved their games... 100 percent agree, we will get nothing from either Stockard or Gueye. At least with Gueye we hope he can be 100 percent by next season. From everything in my circles of life, Stockard might be ready by A10 play, at best. I said on this board last year, once you break a foot like he did, it's almost a life sentence for your basketball career, and it's too bad I heard the kid could play. Adams, Mobley, Taqqee and Chef we be our key backcourt contributors. Unless a miracle happens don't plan on seeing Stockard suit up for opener against Niagara on November 10.
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Post by bonnie83 on Sept 7, 2017 5:01:19 GMT -5
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Post by Chuck on Sept 7, 2017 12:36:33 GMT -5
Above proves you can't always tell how good a player is from their ranking. -- Jordan Tyson is the highest ranked player from the 2014 class. Above shows Jordan is the only player with 3 stars from ESPN. I even remember Jordan's coach at Fishburne said Jordan was better than his other big man Jabari Craig. Jabari was recruited by many P-5 schools and signed with USC. At the time I thought the Bonnies got a steal with Jordan. -- Above ESPN does not even rank Jaylen. Originally Jaylen signed with Jacksonville State and then changed his mind after the head coach was fired. I remember at the time being less than excited about Bona signing a player who was going to Jacksonville State. My feeling was pretty much the same as when they signed Dion Wright, who was not recruited by another D-1 school. As for this year's class. -- It appears ESPN does not rank JUCO players, because if they did Ndene Gueye would have a few stars. He was JUCO Junctions 63rd ranked player. Ndene is the 3rd ranked center on the list. -- From what I saw from Chef, like Jaylen, Dion any many others, Chef is another example of an unranked player who is a lot better than his low ranking. -- Being named All City for Philadelphia, named first team All State for class 6A (largest class in Pennsylvania) and being a McDonald All American nominee is a lot more meaningful to me than Izaiah's 3 stars. www.jucorecruiting.com/2017jucotop100
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