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Post by kccgold on Aug 27, 2024 15:16:18 GMT -5
And the international players are not allowed to earn NIL money for “active” work. So, players from Europe and elsewhere cannot sign autographs, attend promotional events, generate content, and post sponsorships on their social media. It's wise to recruit overseas. NiL Oumar Ballo just transferred from Arizona to Indiana. He’s from Mali and his reported NIL deal is ~$1.2M. Not sure the whole international kids can’t get NIL $$$ is accurate anymore Depends on immigration status. Student visa you can’t but work visa you can |
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Post by Chuck on Aug 27, 2024 17:53:38 GMT -5
Olean Times Herald article "Bonnies land late pledge from French wing." Following is from attached article. -- Bolanga has spent the last two seasons playing professionally in his native land with Orléans Loiret Basket, -- In his most recent year as a pro, the 6-foot-8 wing averaged 5.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. -- Prior to that, he played for the team’s under-21 squad since he was 16 years old. -- Last season, Bolanga also suited up for France’s under-20 national team in the FIBA U20 Euro Basket tournament. -- Bolanga, much like his new teammates Melvin Council Jr. and Jaxon Edwards, has a knack for the occasional highlight-worthy dunk. www.oleantimesherald.com/newsletter/bonnies-land-late-pledge-from-french-wing/article_781f3e38-641f-11ef-ac95-afc431085b1c.htmlFrench National team had 12 players. Noah was 11th in minutes at 11.5 minutes played per game. With limited minutes had impressive stats: 6th leading scorer, 3rd best 3 pointer and 7th in +/- stat, which is very impressive considering Noah played just 11.5 minutes per game. Noah's stats on France Under 20 National Team. — 6th leading scorer averaging 5.9 ppg. — 7th best +/- at 10.4. — Shot: FG 46.9%, 2 pointers 60%, 3s 40.9%. www.fiba.basketball/europe/u20/2023/player/Noah-Bolangawww.fiba.basketball/europe/u20/2023/team/France |
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Post by Chuck on Aug 27, 2024 18:38:34 GMT -5
Lefty who can finish with his right. Good trey stats on catch and shoot as well as creating his own shot. Defensively has good hands and positioning. Sees the court well. Liked his behind the back pass (with his right) in the paint. Lots of fine players in France where he's played pro for 2 years. Adding to WGT’s insight. — Elite athleticism. Comparable to Barry Evans. From what I’ve seen this summer, Noah might be best athlete on team. Definitely best athlete taller than 6’5”. — At 6’8” has very impressive ball handling skills. This is reminiscent of Barry Evans. — Does not have Barry’s rebounding or man defensive skills, but unlike Barry is a much better offensive player. Noah is very good at taking the ball to the basket. Also has a solid jump shot. Last season Noah shot 40% for France National Team. This is equal to 11th best 3 point shooting in A-10 last season. Noah’s athleticism, build, shot and skills are very similar to Ebrahim Kaba. A big difference is Noah has shown his shooting and other skills during an actual game. Noah and Kaba has exciting potential. |
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Post by Chuck on Aug 27, 2024 19:20:53 GMT -5
I agree with the above, especially when looking at positions. -- Center is set with Noel as starter. Good backups with Michael and Xander, who complement each other very well. Michael better with interior defense and Xander has more skills offensively. -- PF is set with my way too early choice of LaJae. Solid backups with Duane and Chance. Duane has a solid shot while Chance is a rugged offensive player inside. -- SG is set with Melvin Council. Solid backups with Jonah, who has a great shot. Miles is a solid athlete, who excels on defense. -- PG is set with Dasonte. Only skill he lacks is a solid 3 point shot, but Jonah will provide this as a backup PG. Small forward is the only position where I do not see a clear cut starter. Jaxson is my early favorite to start with his exciting athleticism, but his 32.4% shooting from 3s last season is a concern. His ball handling and passing skills are just alright (was 7th on Valpo's team in assists). My early opinion is Chance does not have the shot or ball handling skills for SF. Noah has both a solid shot and solid ball handling skills for small forward. Noah's signing is intriguing. He has the skills for small forward. Just wonder if he has the talent to compete with Jaxon and Chance for starting small forward. I would also include Duane in the running for starting small forward competition. |
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Post by ddsmugs on Aug 27, 2024 19:50:51 GMT -5
"ALLONS-Y BONAS"
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Post by bigcat on Aug 28, 2024 4:27:52 GMT -5
Chuck, you say Jaxson’s 32% on threes is a concern… but that number needs to be taken in context. If a player is NOT a volume shooter from deep, the difference between 32% and 38% is minimal. It’s one additional shot made (or missed) every 2 or 3 games.
SBU has had many solid players at SG and SF who have shot around 32% from deep or worse.
Jaren Holmes shot 27% from deep his last year at SBU (33.5% for his career). Courtney Stockard shot 32% for his career from deep. Both of those guys could carry an offense when they got hot. Plus they could do so many other things to help a team win.
His first two seasons at SBU, Kyle Lofton shot 33% from deep but he seemed to make so many big shots from behind the arc. Numbers don’t tell the whole story.
Last season we had several guys at 40% or higher but they were streaky (ie, Mika, Banks, Assa, Pride, Flowers, etc). There was little consistency from start to end of the season… and they often struggled to make outside shots under pressure or in the clutch.
It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Schmidt has a lot of pieces to figure out but there seems to be way more depth/options than anytime in recent memory.
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Post by Chuck on Aug 28, 2024 7:01:27 GMT -5
Here is the big question with Jaxon’s 3 point shooting. Is he the player, who shot 20% (13 of 65) for the first 3 months of the season or is he the player who shot an incredible 46.7% (7 of 15) in February? This summer Jaxon looks more the impressive shooter in February. Most likely Jaxon’s 3 point shot is much better than his 32.4% from last season. Overall, Jaxon was impressive this summer and is my early favorite to start at small forward. But still there are concerns, which prevents me from naming Jaxon a clear cut favorite to start at small forward. On a really bad Valpo team with a record of 7-25. — Jaxon was not a star. — Was a part time starter (started 21 games). — Barely played over half the game (24.8 mpg). — Was 5th in scoring averaging 7.3 ppg. Unlike the other 4 positions, I do not see a clear cut favorite to start at small forward. I agree with “Schmidt never likes to use his last scholarship,” which brings up the question. What is the reason why Schmidt would use his valuable 13th scholarship? Is Noah too talented of a player to pass on or does Schmidt want more competition at the small forward position? Hopefully both are true, but I tend to think adding more competition at small forward is more likely. www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/jaxon-edwards-1/splits/2024www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/valparaiso/men/2024.html |
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Post by atlbonnie87 on Aug 28, 2024 20:43:52 GMT -5
I agree with the above, especially when looking at positions. -- Center is set with Noel as starter. Good backups with Michael and Xander, who complement each other very well. Michael better with interior defense and Xander has more skills offensively. -- PF is set with my way too early choice of LaJae. Solid backups with Duane and Chance. Duane has a solid shot while Chance is a rugged offensive player inside. -- SG is set with Melvin Council. Solid backups with Jonah, who has a great shot. Miles is a solid athlete, who excels on defense. -- PG is set with Dasonte. Only skill he lacks is a solid 3 point shot, but Jonah will provide this as a backup PG. Small forward is the only position where I do not see a clear cut starter. Jaxson is my early favorite to start with his exciting athleticism, but his 32.4% shooting from 3s last season is a concern. His ball handling and passing skills are just alright (was 7th on Valpo's team in assists). My early opinion is Chance does not have the shot or ball handling skills for SF. Noah has both a solid shot and solid ball handling skills for small forward. Noah's signing is intriguing. He has the skills for small forward. Just wonder if he has the talent to compete with Jaxon and Chance for starting small forward. I would also include Duane in the running for starting small forward competition. Chuck, you’re far more connected — I’m just speculating here. But it feels like you’re quite low on Moore and I’d like to hear a little more on it. I agree with everything else you have above except for your take on the 4. And like you, I don’t think Moore is a 3 in Schmidt’s system (he played majority of his minutes last year at the 3, but also played quite a bit of 4 according to KenPom). Anyhow, I had previously seen Lajae at 3 (Jaxon backing up), Moore at the 4 (Duane backing up), playing a fairly significant amount of minutes. Bolanaga is extremely enticing as it seems he’s a 3, arguably our deepest position. To me, all that means is Bolanaga (if he’s eligible, it is important to note it’s late in the year) is going to squeeze someone’s minutes. And deductive reasoning certainly indicates it’s Moore or Lajae. I’m curious to hear more of your thoughts of Moore, who you had behind Lajae at the 4 — as to me from just the optics (his pedigree, ton of minutes in Missouri Valley which is comparable to A10, and the fact he signed so early in the recruiting cycle, potentially indicating that he was a priority for Schmidt and company) it felt like he was going to play a big role. |
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glenlaw
Sophomore Member
Posts: 113
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Post by glenlaw on Aug 28, 2024 21:10:27 GMT -5
No one mentioning Ebrahim Kaba. Am I missing something?
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Post by Chuck on Aug 29, 2024 9:07:45 GMT -5
Chuck, you’re far more connected — I’m just speculating here. But it feels like you’re quite low on Moore and I’d like to hear a little more on it. To respond to the above, I would like to share opinions of 2 other friends, who have watched the Bonnies this summer. Here is a way too early projected starting lineups. Positions in order of center, PF, SF, SG and PG. In parentheses are our best battle for last starting position. Observer 1: Noel, Chance, Lajae, Melvin and Dasonte (Chance, Jaxon and Duane) Observer 2: Noel, Lajae, Melvin, Jonah and Dasonte (Jonah, Duane and Chance) Mine: Noel, Lajae, Jaxon, Melvin and Dasonte (Jaxon and Duane) The thing that stands out is we all have Noel, Lajae, Melvin and Dasonte as starters. We all have a different projected 5th starter. As you can see from above my friends have a slightly higher opinion of Chance Moore than what I have. I disagree with AltBonnie87 opinion that I’m “quite low on Moore.” From what I’ve seen, Chance and Lajae have the best offensive game in the paint. Chance is also a solid rebounder, especially being just 6’6”. This summer I had 2 big surprises. Jaxon being the biggest surprise in talent and Chance biggest surprise in his game. Both Go Bonnies and Missouri St. list Chance as a guard. Chance is a 6’6” rugged player who looks more like a linebacker than a basketball player. His ball handling is alright, but does not stand out, especially for a wing. Just looked up his assists and turnovers, Chance has exactly twice as many turnovers than assists (31/62). Do NOT see Chance at wing. I think Chance would be a solid player at power forward. Solid backup for Lajae. Just hope he starts paying more attention to his inside game than his 3 point shooting. www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/chance-moore-2.html |
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Post by Chuck on Aug 29, 2024 9:12:06 GMT -5
No one mentioning Ebrahim Kaba. Am I missing something? If a player is going to be red shirted this season I think most likely it will be Kaba. First time I arrived this summer to watch the Bonnies workout, I asked my friend, who has been the most impressive. He replied Kaba. After watching several days of drills, Kaba by far had the most impressive shot. Also could not believe his ball handling. Reminiscent of Barry Evans. Kaba reminds me of Melian. He looks a lot better during drills than during a game. In games Kaba’s impressive skills completely disappear. Important to note, Kaba has a lot more skills than Melian. I think he needs time to develop his impressive skills into a solid overall game. Unlike Melian, Kaba has a lot of potential. |
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Post by ceharv on Aug 29, 2024 9:30:02 GMT -5
Glenlaw - I don’t think you’re missing anything. IMO of all the newcomers on the roster Kaba is the most difficult to predict as far as what position he will fit into. Just looking at his size, you’d think he was a 4. But from what is available describing his game, he looks to be an outside shooter, plus he apparently wants to be treated as a guard and appears to have been recruited to play the 2. So where he’ll fit in (frontline, back court or swingman?) is really difficult to predict. Maybe more so than anyone else on the roster, where he’ll fit won’t be determined until the games begin. For one, I am excited about the prospect of a 6’9” shooting guard. If he can shoot effectively from 3, he’ll be virtually unstoppable against most teams in the A10 and will force opponents to revamp their typical defensive and rebounding alignment by needing to move their best defensive big out from under the hoop to the arc or the corner to try and stop Kaba from shooting over the typical defenders on the outside. I expect that would be very disruptive to any opponent, resulting in several mismatches Schmidt can take advantage of. Also, having a 6’9” defender on the outside would disrupt any opponent’s offense.
So if Kaba can shoot from deep and play decent D he’s going to see a lot of playing time and probably will touch on multiple positions, disrupting the typical position definitions. Can’t wait to see this unfold, unless of course it turns out he can’t shoot - something I don’t even want to think of.
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Post by atlbonnie87 on Aug 29, 2024 9:48:46 GMT -5
Chuck, you’re far more connected — I’m just speculating here. But it feels like you’re quite low on Moore and I’d like to hear a little more on it. To respond to the above, I would like to share opinions of 2 other friends, who have watched the Bonnies this summer. Here is a way too early projected starting lineups. Positions in order of center, PF, SF, SG and PG. In parentheses are our best battle for last starting position. Observer 1: Noel, Chance, Lajae, Melvin and Dasonte (Chance, Jaxon and Duane) Observer 2: Noel, Lajae, Melvin, Jonah and Dasonte (Jonah, Duane and Chance) Mine: Noel, Lajae, Jaxon, Melvin and Dasonte (Jaxon and Duane) The thing that stands out is we all have Noel, Lajae, Melvin and Dasonte as starters. We all have a different projected 5th starter. As you can see from above my friends have a slightly higher opinion of Chance Moore than what I have. I disagree with AltBonnie87 opinion that I’m “quite low on Moore.” From what I’ve seen, Chance and Lajae have the best offensive game in the paint. Chance is also a solid rebounder, especially being just 6’6”. This summer I had 2 big surprises. Jaxon being the biggest surprise in talent and Chance biggest surprise in his game. Both Go Bonnies and Missouri St. list Chance as a guard. Chance is a 6’6” rugged player who looks more like a linebacker than a basketball player. His ball handling is alright, but does not stand out, especially for a wing. Just looked up his assists and turnovers, Chance has exactly twice as many turnovers than assists (31/62). Do NOT see Chance at wing. I think Chance would be a solid player at power forward. Solid backup for Lajae. Just hope he starts paying more attention to his inside game than his 3 point shooting. www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/chance-moore-2.htmlThanks, Chuck. Didn’t mean that you thought lowly of Moore, just that you had him lower on your rotation than I assumed. Appreciate answering my question. |
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Post by thesocalkid on Aug 29, 2024 11:05:17 GMT -5
ya but, in the end isn't who adjusts to the Coache's system, that gets the most playing time? ( Hot Hand etc )
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Post by ceharv on Aug 30, 2024 9:07:59 GMT -5
As of Friday at 10AM, Noah is not yet listed on the roster at gobonnies.com. While this is at least a little worrisome,I think it’s maybe just due to typical international delays. Aren’t there usually delays caused by visa issues and the like? Plus I have not seen anyone suggest this is not a done deal or that he is under consideration elsewhere, so I think we can assume he a Bonnie, or Wolf, pending some paperwork. I hope so, as I think this guy can provide some needed experience, maturity and athleticism to the front line and could be one of those always valuable “matchup nightmares.”
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