Recruiting Guards 2012

http://leftcoastrecruiting.com/2011/11/11/2012-isaac-barsh-late-bloomer/

http://leftcoastrecruiting.com/2012/01/15/mlk-hoopfest-preview/

From an interview in November:

" I need to work on my shooting and my dribbling"

I wonder how that's working out.

And from a January article:

2012 Isaac Barsh – A wing who is dangerous on the baseline.  Not only can Barsh score but he can rebound as well.

Um, I'm not saying young Isaac doesn't have an offer from UP, but um, I don't think so.

DoubleDipper wrote:Um, I'm not saying young Isaac doesn't have an offer from UP, but um, I don't think so.

What does that mean?

Also, the leftcoast article quotes Barsh as saying the Cal Poly has an offer, and UP has shown interest.

Rev tweet today.

Googling for recruiting updates on school is like walking into University library and asking someone for legal advice. May or may not work.

PurpleGeezer wrote:Rev tweet today.

Googling for recruiting updates on school is like walking into University library and asking someone for legal advice. May or may not work.

Does this mean Rev reads PN?

ShipstadPilot11 wrote:Does this mean Rev reads PN?

Hi Coach Rev!!

PilotNut wrote:

ShipstadPilot11 wrote:Does this mean Rev reads PN?

Hi Coach Rev!!

Uh Oh, I guess I should quit second guessing the coach

PilotNut wrote:

ShipstadPilot11 wrote:Does this mean Rev reads PN?

Hi Coach Rev!!

Haha Hopefully he is helping the guys get better, and looking for new guys to fit in, rather than reading us chuckleheads.

ShipstadPilot11 wrote:Does this mean Rev reads PN?

Umm, probably not. BUT, that doesn't mean staff family members don't tune-in from time-to-time.

blacksheep wrote:Uh Oh, I guess I should quit second guessing the coach

Hey, don't say anything behind someone's back you wouldn't say to their face.

[quote="PurpleGeezer"]http://leftcoastrecruiting.com/2011/11/11/2012-isaac-barsh-late-bloomer/

http://leftcoastrecruiting.com/2012/01/15/mlk-hoopfest-preview/

From an interview in November:
[quote]" I need to work on my shooting and my dribbling"[/quote

Don't we have enough players currently on the roster who need to work on the same skills? Not exactly what the team needs right now - more players who can't shoot, handle pressure, and who turn the ball over.

wrv wrote:Amadi Udenyi, De La Salle HS in Concord Cal is a point with shooting skills--hit a number of threes in a row in a recent game . . .and the Pilots might well be interested . . .

But who knows for sure. Trolling for recruiting information on the internet is like seeking legal advice at random in a public library--it might work but the odds are against it.

Boy do we need someone to take over at PG ,and boy do we need multiple shooters. Beyond Kevein Bailey, Nicholas, and Van Der Mar (provided he gets stronger), I'm not sure what we have going forward.

Tanner is probably the purest shooter on the team. I have high hopes for Jake Ehlers. David Carr has played well for a freshman. Riley Barker is coming back, presumably as a sophomore.

I think a PG makes us a middle-of-the-WCC team with the chance to regularly scare or beat the big boys.

ShipstadPilot11 wrote:Tanner is probably the purest shooter on the team. I have high hopes for Jake Ehlers. David Carr has played well for a freshman. Riley Barker is coming back, presumably as a sophomore.

I think a PG makes us a middle-of-the-WCC team with the chance to regularly scare or beat the big boys.

Honestly, I see the view of us being one PG away from competing with the top 5 in the WCC as unrealistic. We definitely need more than just a PG - we need multiple players - and players of higher caliber than Carr and Riley.

I haven't seen the HS kid from Corvallis play - Ehlers - and I know he was the top player in Oregon. But so was Jason Franklin (or one of the top few). Not saying Ehlers won't be good or very good - it's just not proven at the college D1 level yet. I hope he's as good as advertised.

Regarding Riley and Carr, to be honest, I haven't been that impressed. Carr is definitely not s starting PG or SG (or one of the first guys off the bench in the WCC), and I'm not even sure PG is his natural posistion. He was supposed to be a shooter, but I haven't seen it yet. Saying Riley is the best pure shooter on this team, isn't saying much. USF has at least five guys who are better pure shooters than Riley. It's similar when you look across other teams in the league. Where was Riley, or anyone for that matter tonight, when it most counted? Real pure shooters perform in big games.

Just my opinion, but we are definitely more than just a PG away from contending with the top five teams in this league. The talent on this team is not going to get it done against LMU, USF, BYU, St Marys, and is so far away from Gonzaga it's not even funny. What concerns me even more, is that we have to wait two more years until a significant number of scholarships will become available through graduation. I'd like to see a little more balance on the team in terms of seniors, juniors, sophs, and freshman.

How many years, decades really, have we been saying "just wait until next year", or "when this recruit gets here"? Sorry folks, but the honest truth was painfully clear tonight. We're not close. We need more players the caliber of Raivio, TJ Campbell, K. Bailey, Stohl, Canaan Chatman, etc.Instead of just one or two guys like that, we need 4 to 6. How many of our players would make Gonzaga's team? K Bailey and Nicholas, and VDM would have red-shirted until he got stronger. I see this year after year after year - an over-inflated evaluation of our own players. For example, how much better has Douglas gotten since he first stepped on campus? He's still out of control, and then forces things that aren't there, resulting in turnovers or bad shots. How much better is Rogers? Will Cason ever be anything more than a project? The jury is still out on that one.

I know I sound really cynical and I'm sure many will say "negative". I just see it as brutal objectivity and honesty. I'm definitely in the "show me" mode. Scoreboard tongiht: it speaks for itslef. We weren't even competitive. I, like many of the old timers, have invested a lot emotionally with this team over the past 20+ years (others even longer). It just so painful to watch this team try to run an offense, and hope that we can make it through a possession without turning it over.

If Rev can go find a legitimate starting PG that can compete with the upper tier teams in this conference, can find a couple of pure shooters (at least two), VDM gets stronger so he can carve out some space to utilize his tremenous offensive skill set (this kid has really outstanding footwork and post moves - huge upside), Cason or someone can become a consistent force on the boards, then this team has a chance. As the team is currently constructed, IMO, it will not come close to breaking into the top five. This conference is getting better and better talent wise. We can't just keep up, because we're already behind. Rev and his staff are going to have to go out and find multiple players of starting material at the WCC level.

Keep the faith, goldhelmet!
Let's see what sort of adjustments are made in the off-season.

bctigard wrote:Keep the faith, goldhelmet!
Let's see what sort of adjustments are made in the off-season.

I like your attitude, bctigard! Welcome to PN!

goldhelmet wrote:This conference is betting better and better talent wise. We can't just keep up, because we're already behind. Rev and his staff are going to have to go out and find multiple players of starting material at the WCC level.

How confident are we in this coaching staff's ability to recruit the right guys? They sold us Cason, Barker and Douglas as the future of this program. Perhaps they've taken us as far as they're capable and in order to get to the next level we need a group that's been there? I don't have an opinion either way. Just throwing it out there for discussion.

newpilotfan wrote:How confident are we in this coaching staff's ability to recruit the right guys?

Very confident.

newpilotfan wrote:

goldhelmet wrote:This conference is betting better and better talent wise. We can't just keep up, because we're already behind. Rev and his staff are going to have to go out and find multiple players of starting material at the WCC level.

How confident are we in this coaching staff's ability to recruit the right guys? They sold us Cason, Barker and Douglas as the future of this program. Perhaps they've taken us as far as they're capable and in order to get to the next level we need a group that's been there? I don't have an opinion either way. Just throwing it out there for discussion.

I think it's easy for us to disregard the youth of this squad; I also think that's a HUGE mistake.

In my opinion, one thing this program does well is develop players to their maximum potential. We haven't always been blessed with the best recruits but the guys hit it HARD with Coach Scott over the summer and always look much stronger come fall. Let us not forget that Rev collected 60 wins over the 3 years previous to this year, including the first back-to-back 20-win seasons in program history. There's clearly something going right here.

This year was tough for us but let us not forget that, on average, we got 42.8 minutes, 12.5 points and 5 rebounds per game from our 3 UPPERCLASSMEN. To put that into perspective, LMU, a middle-of-the-pack team which has potential to beat the big boys, got 41.9 minutes, 18.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game from their 4 seniors (two of whom combined for a whopping 92 minutes played over the course of the year).

The point here is that we are young but we shouldn't lose hope because of that. I'm guessing that Rev inherited unbalanced recruiting classes, though I'm too lazy to research that at the moment. As long as we are working to correct the unbalanced recruiting classes, I don't see any other glaring issues with our system right now. We've got a good thing going and we shouldn't overlook that due to our youth (and the complete senior season collapse of a former All-WCC Player).

Speaking of Nem, I want to point out two things. 1) He didn't come on until his junior year. His sophomore year, he contributed 12.5 minutes, 4.2 points and 1.5 rebounds. Don't judge too much based on youth; development and maturation are keys to the college game. 2) Imagine how this team would have looked if All-WCC Nem would have been playing this year. We lost a fair number of close games, especially in conference that I think we would have won with "old" Nem. It's all speculation but my point is that we're very close to competing. We hung with Kentucky and BYU, even. Finding the determination and the conditioning to play a full 40 minutes every night will be a big boost to this team moving forward and I think it will allow us to compete in the top half of the WCC within the next two years.

Closing thought: StatSheet has us listed as the 14th youngest (most inexperienced) team in the country on their Experience Tracker. 14th youngest of 343 teams. That puts us in the bottom 4%. We are unbelievably young. And, let's face it, teams like Kentucky, who rank as younger than us, don't really count.

SP11

I agree that there is an overwhelming confidence in this coaching staff, which is what made this year so difficult. No doubt things didn't go as planned for us this year. Going into the season, I expected Nem and Eric to be the veteran pillars of this team. I expected Tim to continue his progress and develop into a real threat at the PG position. I expected the rest of the Sophomore class (and Rodgers) to continue their progress and while I knew it would be hard for individuals to replace Stohl, Sikma, Hannibal and Knutson I expected that a group effort could overcome that loss. I expected the freshman to come in and contribute from the start. I expected there to be some real bumps in the road considering our schedule. I expected to be quite optimistic at this point.
Early on, with no one to take pressure off him, teams swarmed Nem, and his confidence took a hit. Turnovers were contagious and lost us a lot of games. Progress stalled a bit for some players. Things seemed to get a bit out of control, and that much losing take take a tole on a team. Hopefully Rev and the rest of the coaching staff can create an off-season regiment that gets us prepared for next season.
While I agree that a TJ Campbell type point would be fantastic, I don't think that is going to happen. I do believe that we have a competitive team. By nature I'm overly optimistic, but I think that we have some really really nice pieces in K. Baily, Ryan Nicholas, and TVDM. I think that Barker can be solid, and Cason can turn those flashes that he has shown into a more consistent effort. I think that Carr can be a solid player and Tim can become a better decision maker and distributor. I think that Tanner can also become a better decision maker, learn that just because you make one three doesn't mean that you have to take the next 4. I think that Rodgers can work on his ball handling and add a jumper to his game. I really believe the team as a whole will not turn the ball over so much. Let's hope at least. From my understanding this isn't a group of guys that is satisfied or discouraged from a year like this. Something that Coach Rev does a good job of is recruiting guys that want to get better. That aren't satisfied with mediocrity so hopefully that will push the team this off-season. I understand that there are limits to this team, and their ceiling isn't as high as I would like, but I also understand that building a program is a process, especially building a program at a school with no real winning culture when it comes to basketball. I guess what I'm getting at is that I believe that Rev can build a winning program. I believe that Rev can get us to a point where we are winning consistently, where we can consistently get top recruits in Oregon, Washington and California. I believe that Rev can get us to a point where we don't have to play til Friday or Saturday at the WCC Tournament, and where we are playing on Sunday at the WCC Tournament. I have to believe that. As Goldhelmet sounds cynical I sound hopelessly optimistic. I understand that work needs to get done, but I will never throw in the towel. It are times and seasons like this, that will make those magical NCAA tournament seasons so sweet.

The collapse of Nem's game was the killer, to me. That put so much more pressure on the young players to fill that void. Cason and Carr were true freshmen; how much did Sikma and Stohl contribute as true freshmen? And Bailey should have been the talented frosh contributing to the mix, not trying to be the leader his first year. Pangos and Dee didn't have to to lead their teams, just be solid contributors, and that allowed them to relax and play their games.

Assuming Riley B. comes back healthy, Rev will have a full complement of bigs to work with, and that is the game I think he likes best; an inside power game. The league has increased talent across the board, but I don't see many Omars or Sacres coming along. (Does Davies go pro?) Playing a power inside game could be just the ticket next year. But there still needs to be someone who can get the ball in to them, and some consistent shooters they can kick it out to.