Reciprocal relationship between ex-LMU players and returning ISU veterans

[Jason Svoboda]

“It’s certainly an acclimation process and it’s not going to happen overnight. Three guys from LMU who have a good grasp of the system along with 10 guys with no grasp of the system along with three guys who know they system who don’t know the 10 guys. This summer is as big as it is for anybody in the country in terms of developing chemistry and cohesion on and off the court,” Schertz said on Tuesday.

Hope people read this and temper their expectations going into the season. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. This year should be about sending Tyreke off with a bang and building a foundation for Schertz moving forward IMO.

Reciprocal relationship between ex-LMU players and returning ISU veterans

As Indiana State's men's basketball workouts continue, the ex-Lincoln Memorial players have something to teach the Sycamores' vets and vice versa.

www.tribstar.com

 

[TreeTop]

I'm gonna take a shot at guessing which players will see the most minutes this season...

MOST MINUTES...
The Obvious: Tyreke Key
The Assumed: Cooper
The LMU'ers: Henry and Bledson
The Comeback: Kailex
The Pac-12: Dearon Tucker
The Sleeper: Zach Hobbs

SECOND TIER...
The Returner: Julian Larry
The True Frosh: Peterson, Crawford

AND THE REST...
The Young Big Men: Hittle and Wilbar
The Juco Frosh: Micah Thomas
The Walk-On: Mervis!

 

[Bingoman]

I'm gonna take a shot at guessing which players will see the most minutes this season...

MOST MINUTES...
The Obvious: Tyreke Key
The Assumed: Cooper
The LMU'ers: Henry and Bledson
The Comeback: Kailex
The Pac-12: Dearon Tucker
The Sleeper: Zach Hobbs

SECOND TIER...
The Returner: Julian Larry
The True Frosh: Peterson, Crawford

AND THE REST...
The Young Big Men: Hittle and Wilbar
The Juco Frosh: Micah Thomas
The Walk-On: Mervis!

I think Thomas is going to be in the second tier because he's a collegiate point guard with experience who scores extremely well. I think he'll be a guy if Quimari or Julian are cold, Schertz can put him in and rely on him to be a scorer.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

I think it is a fool's errand to try to quantify where anyone sits outside of Tyreke and probably Cooper since both were upper crust Valley players last year. Those guys can score and scorers can fit into any system.

Also, if you haven't read Coaches "Born To Coach" book, lineups are essentially immaterial and always subject to change. Honestly, go drop the $13 on Amazon and read it.

 

[Hooper]

Hope people read this and temper their expectations going into the season. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. This year should be about sending Tyreke off with a bang and building a foundation for Schertz moving forward IMO.

Schertz seems to admit as much:

" At LMU, we out-scored teams by 20 because we had talent, but you could also afford more lulls. Here? We’re going to be in an underdog situation almost every game."

So his expectations are that in almost every MVC game we won't be favored. Nice.

You know who wouldn't be underdogs in almost every upcoming MVC game this year? A Lansing-coached team with LaRavia and Williams (and Key?). Last year we won a bunch of games and the year before that we beat every MVC team at least once. Back-to-back winning seasons with a good nucleus coming back for this year. Not good enough for Clink, Curtis and many on here. Well ok. So we fire the coach knowing full well it will cause an exodus of good players (it did) and are now told to temper expectations as we'll be underdogs in most MVC games. You all can tell me to "get over it" all you want but I have a problem being told to temper my expectations when you fire a winning coach knowing it will cause really good young players to leave because you think you can do better. I think psychologists call this cognitive dissonance.

 

[Bingoman]

I

Schertz seems to admit as much:

" At LMU, we out-scored teams by 20 because we had talent, but you could also afford more lulls. Here? We’re going to be in an underdog situation almost every game."

So his expectations are that in almost every MVC game we won't be favored. Nice.

You know who wouldn't be underdogs in almost every upcoming MVC game this year? A Lansing-coached team with LaRavia and Williams (and Key?). Last year we won a bunch of games and the year before that we beat every MVC team at least once. Back-to-back winning seasons with a good nucleus coming back for this year. Not good enough for Clink, Curtis and many on here. Well ok. So we fire the coach knowing full well it will cause an exodus of good players (it did) and are now told to temper expectations as we'll be underdogs in most MVC games. You all can tell me to "get over it" all you want but I have a problem being told to temper my expectations when you fire a winning coach knowing it will cause really good young players to leave because you think you can do better. I think psychologists call this cognitive dissonance.

I don't think you're reading that correctly, he is saying that at the D2 level there was more margin for error, which to win games at the D1 level there is almost no margin for error. Therefore it's harder to be favored especially in a balanced league like ours next season. It should be the deepest it's been in quite some time. Almost every game in the valley will be competitive this year

And all I have to say about what you said about Lansing is, he's not coming back, so no point in continuing to talk about him.

 

[pbutler218]

I

I don't think you're reading that correctly, he is saying that at the D2 level there was more margin for error, which to win games at the D1 level there is almost no margin for error. Therefore it's harder to be favored especially in a balanced league like ours next season. It should be the deepest it's been in quite some time. Almost every game in the valley will be competitive this year

And all I have to say about what you said about Lansing is, he's not coming back, so no point in continuing to talk about him.

Nailed it!!

 

[Hooper]

I

I don't think you're reading that correctly, he is saying that at the D2 level there was more margin for error, which to win games at the D1 level there is almost no margin for error. Therefore it's harder to be favored especially in a balanced league like ours next season. It should be the deepest it's been in quite some time. Almost every game in the valley will be competitive this year

And all I have to say about what you said about Lansing is, he's not coming back, so no point in continuing to talk about him.

If that’s what he meant that’s what he should have said. And you’ll be hearing plenty from me for a while about what could have been if Schertz doesn’t win right away. I’m sorry but you don’t get to purposefully blow up a winning basketball program that I’ve donated thousands of dollars to and then tell me to temper my expectations as we’ll be underdogs in most games this year. When you fire a winning coach the idea is to bring in someone that you think is better (meaning finish higher than Lansing). That’s not what I’m hearing right now with phrases like “underdog” and “temper my expectations.”

Actually, my expectations have been sky high for both Football and Basketball heading into this fall. Clink and Curtis are the experts right? They seem to think sitting out spring football and firing Lansing are the paths to improvement. So putting our faith in their judgment means we should expect to do better than Lansing did in basketball. And since our football team sat out the Spring they will be the most rested and “developed” in the MVFC and poised to make a run in the FCS Playoffs. Can’t wait. It’s going to be a great year to be a Sycamore….right?

 

[sycamore tuff]

My expectations are not tempered. I think we will have a pretty good team. I am quite excited. Go Sycamores!

 

[4Q_iu]

“It’s certainly an acclimation process and it’s not going to happen overnight. Three guys from LMU who have a good grasp of the system along with 10 guys with no grasp of the system along with three guys who know they system who don’t know the 10 guys. This summer is as big as it is for anybody in the country in terms of developing chemistry and cohesion on and off the court,” Schertz said on Tuesday.

Hope people read this and temper their expectations going into the season. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. This year should be about sending Tyreke off with a bang and building a foundation for Schertz moving forward IMO.

Reciprocal relationship between ex-LMU players and returning ISU veterans

As Indiana State's men's basketball workouts continue, the ex-Lincoln Memorial players have something to teach the Sycamores' vets and vice versa.

www.tribstar.com

Likely not going to happen Jason... this board was FILLED with comments how the Trees would be a power overnight if ONLY a coaching change were made.

Good Luck to the Mighty Trees of the Wabash for a .600+ season;

Any step back will not be viewed well by some

 

[BlueBleeder]

By many folks i have been told Laravia was out anyway. He was looking for a place to get more "exposure". His opinion was very high of himself, not saying he was wrong, but it led him wanting something bigger. Not sure he found that at WF but he certainly did in the ACC. He will get his chamce shine against some of the best. I think Williams probably woul have stayed, but you never know. This was a tough decision to make I am sure, but our leadership made it and we have to move forward. It wasn't last season that didn't get Lansing extended, it was the previous handful of years that were sub par when we couldn't afford to buy him out. In all honesty i think we significantly upped our coaching staff X and O wise, recruiting wise, Lansing leaves a pretty good void there they have to fill. It may take 1 or 2 years for them to get "their" players here, but the cupboard isn't bare this year. I fully expect growing pains, especially early. My money is on this team being very solid come March. These guys all seem to love the new coaches and it is a shooter's dream of an offense. All-in-all i think we will be just fine.

 

[Sycamorefan96]

Outside of baseball, which I almost always have high expectations for, I often go into the football and basketball seasons with watered down expectations. Usually I have a "best case scenario" and a "worse case scenario" and we usually finish somewhere around in the middle.

I am hopeful that we will have a good team this season, but I am also aware that there could be and likely will be bumps in the road. We could finish in the top 4 or the bottom 4, but that's not much different than where we have been for 6 years now. I will say that we are a lot better off today than I thought we would be when Lansing was let go. I think the new staff has done a really good job so far building a competitive team and I am looking forward to seeing what we will do.

As for the MVC, I think it will be like usual with one or two good teams, along with a few mediocre ones that could catch fire at the right time towards the end of the season. I'm hoping we will be in that second category in March.

 

[dino]

I think it’s pretty obvious that coach schertz understands that he’s no longer the top dog of his league. He doesn’t want to come into year one putting high expectations on the season. If you pay attention to him he’s very self-deprecating when he talks about himself. I think he’d rather set the bar lower and outperform instead of setting the bar high and failing those expectations.

with being said, I feel like the depth is better this year than last.

 

[jsetliff5]

The teams with the upper hand in the Valley are obviously the ones that brought back the most experience. But for a team with a coaching change, we did remarkably well. Three starters coming back, and I think the guys brought in have length, quickness and can shoot. Henry and Bledson upgrades from Bacote, Miller and Howard? Hankins never saw the floor and Tucker is a power 5 level defender, and will be more of an offensive threat in the Valley. Could Tre Williams defend, night in, night out in the PAC 12? Honest question.

 

[sycamorebacker]

I'm gonna take a shot at guessing which players will see the most minutes this season...

MOST MINUTES...
The Obvious: Tyreke Key
The Assumed: Cooper
The LMU'ers: Henry and Bledson
The Comeback: Kailex
The Pac-12: Dearon Tucker
The Sleeper: Zach Hobbs

SECOND TIER...
The Returner: Julian Larry
The True Frosh: Peterson, Crawford

AND THE REST...
The Young Big Men: Hittle and Wilbar
The Juco Frosh: Micah Thomas
The Walk-On: Mervis!

My opinion on this: From game films I have seen I think Peterson and Thomas can be big players for us. I don't think it will take much experience to get them going.
I think all three PG's will see plenty of time early in the year, limitations based on ability to guard. I would like to see us rotate fresh players and climb into the jocks of the opposing PG and not allow them to start their offense.

The only positions I question now are PF and backup C. I just hope Stephens is ready to go and locks down the starting PF spot. Or, we will have to go with a small lineup.

 

[Bob Evans]

I like the plan our new coach has and I really hope it will play out well. However, I don't think you can fault people for being skeptical. ISU just let go a coach with an overall winning record - that hasn't happened for 39 years and that one left after 2 straight losing seasons. Now we will likely have to wait a couple years to see whether we have an improved program. I hope it turns out that way, but to criticize someone for being skeptical seems a bit of a stretch for me to go along with, especially considering the level of criticism that we had to endure on this site the last couple of years concerning a winning coach.

 

[CoachShipp]

I feel Greg Lansing was a good coach and a good dude...with his core returning (incl. Key), they had the potential to be top 1-3 in the Valley. However...you can't hold that against Coach Schertz....he was extended an offer to move to ISU and he took it...he and his crew are working hard, from the things I've seen, and talking with him, seems he's a likeable "good dude" as well. So, IMHO, in all of this you can rightly judge Clink and Curtis as you like when things unfold...all things considered, just keep supporting Coach Schertz and the players.

 

[OX 92]

Not that anyone cares but I think we may surprise people this year. I remember when Purdue grabbed Tiller and his "basketball on grass" offense. Teams will have to totally reconfigure defensive strategy and go deeper in bench personnel. I mean actually stop and spend time in mid season to study a unique offense. Not like the past where--- gee we Play ISU at home so we will play a 2-3 defense next we have then in Terre Haute we will move to a 3-2 defense... let them dribble the perimeter and look for one guy to break for a back door pass which we can stop, then they throw up a 3 with 4 seconds left on the shot clock--- If we get our offence going the way of an Invisible Hand (forgive my market metaphor) we will frustrate several teams. This years is about points which creates pressure, make no bone about it.