Men's Basketball 2018-2019

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TreeTop

TreeTop

The Nicks Level
Supporter
This thread might get buried faster than you can say "nobody's buying out Lansing's contract" but let's see if anyone is motivated to pontificate about the near future...

I'm excited at the prospect of having the following players on the court for us...

Neese, Barnes, Williams, Key

I don't know how often those four guys will be on the court at the same time, but I'm looking at four players who could be as good as any four players (collectively) that ISU has had in quite some time.

The two biggest questions about next year's team are DEFENSE and INTERIOR PLAY. And those are two HUGE questions and concerns, on several levels.
 

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TreeTop said:
This thread might get buried faster than you can say "nobody's buying out Lansing's contract" but let's see if anyone is motivated to pontificate about the near future...

I'm excited at the prospect of having the following players on the court for us...

Neese, Barnes, Williams, Key

I don't know how often those four guys will be on the court at the same time, but I'm looking at four players who could be as good as any four players (collectively) that ISU has had in quite some time.

The two biggest questions about next year's team are DEFENSE and INTERIOR PLAY. And those are two HUGE questions and concerns, on several levels.
Click to expand...

You forgot Hughes.
 
Everybody better prepare themselves now for a rough non-conference season. We don't get Neese or Williams active until basically the start of conference play. We're going to be relying heavily on Barnes, Key, and Hughes to hold down the guard/wing fort until the reinforcements arrive.

Trey Knight is another wildcard. I'm assuming he returns, but I'm not counting on it right now.

We need some JUCO and grad transfers to come to our rescue a bit, which is always scary.
 
is this what we look like next year if everyone returns?

Seniors
Rickman
Thomas

Juniors
Barnes
Williams
Kessinger
Knight

Sophomores
Key
Hughes
Deady
Martin
Huenerman
Claycomb

Freshman
Neese
Washington
Brinkmeyer


Holy shit we need to beef up at the 4-5 positions. Brinkmeyer has an opportunity to make an immediate impact (I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing).

Also, I've loved the way we have scheduled during Lansings tenure. But with a lack of bigs (for the time being) and with Neese and Williams ineligible until conference play. I'd like to see us ease up a little in the non-con and try to get some wins that we so desperately need as a program. I'm not talking Evansville bad schedule But play some solid OVC, Horizon, Summit teams and try to get some confidence heading into the conference season.
 
BrokerZ said:
Everybody better prepare themselves now for a rough non-conference season. We don't get Neese or Williams active until basically the start of conference play. We're going to be relying heavily on Barnes, Key, and Hughes to hold down the guard/wing fort until the reinforcements arrive.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's going to be as big a deal as has been mentioned.

We'll have them both for our trip to Hawaii....that's three games right there. Plus we won't need them for our game vs the D-II opponent. And maybe we'll have a second D-II opponent. Wow, this will be the first time in my life I'll actually be glad to see D-II teams on our schedule.
 

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I don't think we have any home games in the non-conference the next two years. Don't know if those D2 games will be played or not. Are we going to pay them to play at their place.
 
chaddog said:
I don't think we have any home games in the non-conference the next two years. Don't know if those D2 games will be played or not. Are we going to pay them to play at their place.
Click to expand...

Todd Golden states:

"One bit of good news is that ISU will be able to play nonconference games after Thanksgiving inside the arena. Although, in the case of the men's team, it's already committed to several road dates in December, including the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu."

http://www.tribstar.com/sports/down...cle_f830fb46-1ec8-11e8-b22f-6b45651533f3.html
 
chaddog said:
I don't think we have any home games in the non-conference the next two years. Don't know if those D2 games will be played or not. Are we going to pay them to play at their place.
Click to expand...

http://www.tribstar.com/sports/down...cle_f830fb46-1ec8-11e8-b22f-6b45651533f3.html

In this piece Golden states we will be able to play game in the arena after Thanksgiving. Also some other interesting stuff like not getting any feedback or response from our new President certainly is not encouraging. I don't always agree with him...but he 1000% spot on with the new HC talk.

As for next year I look for us to try and fill our frontcourt via JC and maybe a HS kid. There are still plenty of quality 3/4 types out there in the HS ranks but we also need a JC or grad to come in and be able to play right away. I think we cut bait with one of our players to make this work scholarship wise.

Rickman needs to take this offseason as serious as Murphy took the last one and Hughes needs to improve tenfold on the defensive end or he'll be sitting a ton next season. BK showed some confidence in the last few games and needs to build on that. Really needs a reliable 3 ball.. I know the staff is very high on Brinkmeyers ceiling but he needs to put on 15 pounds of good weight to help. Are Barnes and Key up to the challenge of not just leading by example but holding their teammates accountable?? This to me is the most important and hardest thing to do. Being a leader is tough and a full time job, not just when you feel like it or shit is going your way.Oh and I hope Khristian stays around for another season..Like how he interacts with the guys

In the league the Top 4 that played in the semis will all have loaded squads so we have a longggg way to go to contend. Hoping the staff is on the road as we speak.
 
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Southgrad07 said:
http://www.tribstar.com/sports/down...cle_f830fb46-1ec8-11e8-b22f-6b45651533f3.html

In this piece Golden states we will be able to play game in the arena after Thanksgiving. Also some other interesting stuff like not getting any feedback or response from our new President certainly is not encouraging. I don't always agree with him...but he 1000% spot on with the new HC talk.

As for next year I look for us to try and fill our frontcourt via JC and maybe a HS kid. There are still plenty of quality 3/4 types out there in the HS ranks but we also need a JC or grad to come in and be able to play right away. I think we cut bait with one of our players to make this work scholarship wise.

Rickman needs to take this offseason as serious as Murphy took the last one and Hughes needs to improve tenfold on the defensive end or he'll be sitting a ton next season. BK showed some confidence in the last few games and needs to build on that. Really needs a reliable 3 ball.. I know the staff is very high on Brinkmeyers ceiling but he needs to put on 15 pounds of good weight to help. Are Barnes and Key up to the challenge of not just leading by example but holding their teammates accountable?? This to me is the most important and hardest thing to do. Being a leader is tough and a full time job, not just when you feel like it or shit is going your way.Oh and I hope Khristian stays around for another season..Like how he interacts with the guys

In the league the Top 4 that played in the semis will all have loaded squads so we have a longggg way to go to contend. Hoping the staff is on the road as we speak.
Click to expand...

Well, if he wants an answer from Curtis, maybe he DOES need to mingle with her. She's been doing barnstorming tours and you can always call up the school and do a media request. If she declines that, then I'd be concerned. Take it to her, Todd, and get the answers.

I think the staff has to potentially open up a second scholarship. There are a couple guys on the end of the bench that are best suited in different systems or levels. I want a JUCO big and a HS big. I only want a JUCO big IF the staff projects he could start. If they don't legitimately think he could beat out Rick, Thomas or BK at either the 4 or 5, I don't want him. Thomas was a Top 50 JUCO kid and he was up and down, at best. That Maricevic kid I posted about earlier in the year is still on the board although he has quite a few nice offers now. Offer him and ask him to visit. Illinois is also recruiting a JUCO 4 and has offers out to 3-4 of them and they obviously can't sign them all. Lansing has a relationship with Underwood so offer them and ask your colleague to help you out. The current D1 transfer pile with immediate eligibility is a barren wasteland. I've not even looked to see what is left with the HS kids but my guess is there is a handful of kids left. Unless you can get someone 3 stars or higher with multiple HM offers, I'd pass there, too.

Every player we have needs to have a big offseason. Weights, conditioning and working on their shots. Loyola dominated this league because they shot markedly better than everyone else. They had all better work on their damn free throws, too. Get the shots up.

As for your last point, I'm not convinced. Had we been blown out, I'd agree but pretty much every game being decided by a couple buckets makes me pretty optimistic when you add a shooter like Neese AND a long guard like Williams. If I'm Lansing, I call up my buddy Ben Jacobsen and ask for Jeremy Morgan highlights, tape Williams eyelids open and play them on repeat when he isn't eating, lifting, shooting or sleeping.
 

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TreeTop said:
I don't think it's going to be as big a deal as has been mentioned.

We'll have them both for our trip to Hawaii....that's three games right there. Plus we won't need them for our game vs the D-II opponent. And maybe we'll have a second D-II opponent. Wow, this will be the first time in my life I'll actually be glad to see D-II teams on our schedule.
Click to expand...

I forgot that tournament is over Christmas and not over Thanksgiving like the others we've played. That'll definitely help.

It still means there's almost zero chance anyone redshirts. Even if it's limited minutes for the Freshman like Washington and Brinkmeyer, we'll need all hands on deck from the very beginning.
 
I'd like to see the staff implement what Sanford did after the 0-11 debacle his first year - institute a leadership class that a few hand-picked players were required to do. Outside of pure talent, that's probably the most impactful thing I've ever seen done in an ISU team. That team went from 0-11 to 8-5 and it wasn't because we had so much more talent. Lansing and Co. could use the same technique with no more than 2 or 3 of our returning players to great effect, I would think.

What we lacked more than anything else this season was mental toughness. That can be helped immensely by good leadership. And good leaders can be taught. I'd love to see it done again.
 
Jason Svoboda said:
Well, if he wants an answer from Curtis, maybe he DOES need to mingle with her. She's been doing barnstorming tours and you can always call up the school and do a media request. If she declines that, then I'd be concerned. Take it to her, Todd, and get the answers.

I think the staff has to potentially open up a second scholarship. There are a couple guys on the end of the bench that are best suited in different systems or levels. I want a JUCO big and a HS big. I only want a JUCO big IF the staff projects he could start. If they don't legitimately think he could beat out Rick, Thomas or BK at either the 4 or 5, I don't want him. Thomas was a Top 50 JUCO kid and he was up and down, at best. That Maricevic kid I posted about earlier in the year is still on the board although he has quite a few nice offers now. Offer him and ask him to visit. Illinois is also recruiting a JUCO 4 and has offers out to 3-4 of them and they obviously can't sign them all. Lansing has a relationship with Underwood so offer them and ask your colleague to help you out. The current D1 transfer pile with immediate eligibility is a barren wasteland. I've not even looked to see what is left with the HS kids but my guess is there is a handful of kids left. Unless you can get someone 3 stars or higher with multiple HM offers, I'd pass there, too.

Every player we have needs to have a big offseason. Weights, conditioning and working on their shots. Loyola dominated this league because they shot markedly better than everyone else. They had all better work on their damn free throws, too. Get the shots up.

As for your last point, I'm not convinced. Had we been blown out, I'd agree but pretty much every game being decided by a couple buckets makes me pretty optimistic when you add a shooter like Neese AND a long guard like Williams. If I'm Lansing, I call up my buddy Ben Jacobsen and ask for Jeremy Morgan highlights, tape Williams eyelids open and play them on repeat when he isn't eating, lifting, shooting or sleeping.
Click to expand...

1.Can agree on Todd..And he said he's going to seek more answers so we'll see where that goes..

2.Yeah I think we all can agree there is some dead weight at the end of the bench. Anytime a FR walkon (albeit a good one) is playing/producing over that many guys it's a problem. We've got to get more talent in here period.

3. If we have 2 ships one is going to a JC player..IMO it needs to be a 4/5 type. Maybe think Jackson type from Loyola? Would love to sit here and say "lets go get the 6'10 badass" like Pippen or whoever...But realistically our staff has not shown the ability to locate or lock down those type of guys..I would settle for a change of pace undersized bruiser like Jackson who can be a changeup to Rickman. I think there are plenty of quality 3/4 HS kids who would be worthy of that second ship. They don't have to have multiple HM offers, but they do need to provide a unique skill set that can help next season and grow into a solid player in the future...Bottom line if we can get one starter quality player now and another who can play a little and grow from this spring I'd be happy..Might make it a longer post down the line but Lansing and Co problem has not been the last year+..It was the 3 years when and after Mcintosh bailed. Lansing got lazy and our staff whiffed again and again. The last 1 1/2 yrs has just been trying to make up for lost time.

4. Only reason I say we have a long way to go is we lose 3 big pieces and teams like SIU and ISUR lose nothing and add big time players like we do. Then you take a team like Loyola that loses players but already has rock solid leadership coming back in Custer. It is not an impossible mountain to climb for us to compete for a title next year... but we need to add 1-2 quality pieces, solid development of our young players, and someone or ones to step up and carry the leadership torch. Oh and something that hasn't been touched on yet...While we were close in games with these perceived contenders for next year we experienced virtually ZERO injuries during the year. Yeah some flu or concussion stuff for a game here or there..SIU was plagued all season long, Ditto for ISUR, and Custer missed a chunk for Loyola.. We have work to do was all I'm saying.
 

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What we really need is what we have never been able to get, and that is a player like CAMERON KRUTWIG. Big, soft touch, can shoot with either hand, knows how to pass the ball. He beat Murphy's butt and he is only a freshman. He could be best player in MVC by the time he is a senior.
 
sycamore tuff said:
What we really need is what we have never been able to get, and that is a player like CAMERON KRUTWIG. Big, soft touch, can shoot with either hand, knows how to pass the ball. He beat Murphy's butt and he is only a freshman. He could be best player in MVC by the time he is a senior.
Click to expand...

Murph was actually one of the few that gave him problems..especially in Chicago..but yes he was a big time get for them and we'll struggle to contain him for the next 3
 
TreeTop said:
Well, I didn't forget him. I'm a Hughes fan. I just don't put him in the same upper-echelon as I do Neese, JB, Williams, and Key.

Hopefully he'll prove me wrong.
Click to expand...

I love his potential; and I thought everyone else did. I guess I was wrong.
 
I like the leadership team concept IF they have a high hoops IQ. This team desperately needs a leader that can take charge on the floor and be a coach on the floor. JO13 types don't come here very often do they?
 
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