Next year's team makeup

[DMvalpo18]

What do you guys think next years' team is going to look like? obviously it will all be purely speculation at this point. but consider things like scoring. is there going to be a definite scoring leader, or good overall balance? possibly look for someone like broekhoff to step in to more of a scoring role? do you think we may see some previous regulars see a smaller role on the team? maybe it is too early to be asking these questions because there is little certainty right now. but i can't help but wonder.

[DMvalpo18]

maybe buggs could be sent to the doghouse. i love his defense too, don't get the wrong impression here. it's just that his offensive liability is too much for me to justify keeping him a starter. he is established though, so i don't want to be too quick to nail him.

[dcvalpo]

maybe buggs could be sent to the doghouse. i love his defense too, don't get the wrong impression here. it's just that his offensive liability is too much for me to justify keeping him a starter. he is established though, so i don't want to be too quick to nail him.

Sent to the dog house?!? Sounds like you are being more than quick to nail him.  While I am not the biggest fan of Buggs' offensive prowess, he is a fine young man with a great spirit about him.  To use language like "dog house" when you refer to him is ignorant at best and spiteful at worst.

He may lose some PT to Bogans, but let's be careful about what we say.

[DMvalpo18]

maybe buggs could be sent to the doghouse. i love his defense too, don't get the wrong impression here. it's just that his offensive liability is too much for me to justify keeping him a starter. he is established though, so i don't want to be too quick to nail him.

Sent to the dog house?!? Sounds like you are being more than quick to nail him.  While I am not the biggest fan of Buggs' offensive prowess, he is a fine young man with a great spirit about him.  To use language like "dog house" when you refer to him is ignorant at best and spiteful at worst.

He may lose some PT to Bogans, but let's be careful about what we say.

sudden heart change, eh? i recall in an earlier thread you were cutting buggs down. maybe what i really mean is that no one's PT will be too safe now. it will have to be earned. buggs included.

[dcvalpo]

maybe buggs could be sent to the doghouse. i love his defense too, don't get the wrong impression here. it's just that his offensive liability is too much for me to justify keeping him a starter. he is established though, so i don't want to be too quick to nail him.

Sent to the dog house?!? Sounds like you are being more than quick to nail him.  While I am not the biggest fan of Buggs' offensive prowess, he is a fine young man with a great spirit about him.  To use language like "dog house" when you refer to him is ignorant at best and spiteful at worst.

He may lose some PT to Bogans, but let's be careful about what we say.

sudden heart change, eh? i recall in an earlier thread you were cutting buggs down. maybe what i really mean is that no one's PT will be too safe now. it will have to be earned. buggs included.

Hey, as I said, I'm not his biggest fan.  But dog house implies he will be in trouble with Head Coach Bryce and that is unfair.  Eric is a fine young man and deserves better than this treatment.

[DMvalpo18]

i am being quick to dismiss him, probably too far. to be fair, i remember his excellent defensive play against norris cole when CSU was at the arc. cole had quite the off game, and i think buggs must have been bothering him.

[dcvalpo]

Sounds like we are on the same page after all.  Carry on my friend! 

[milanmiracle]

I am very concerned about a couple of things for next year...

Rebounding

Defense

That's pretty much it. Well that and by a large margin Kevin Van Vijk's back. If he can stay on the floor, that will really change the direction of the team. If not, it's going to be a struggle keeping teams out of the paint and for Valpo to get open looks on the outside.

[DMvalpo18]

i have to agree. rebounding and defense are always top concerns. i notice how we talk a lot about post play and getting offense down low, but interior defense is also important! van wijk we have seen can give us interior defense.

[dcvalpo]

Rebounding and defense are the keys for any team.  Come on guys, can we get a little more in-depth with our analysis here?

[milanmiracle]

Rebounding and defense are the keys for any team.  Come on guys, can we get a little more in-depth with our analysis here?

It's really pretty simple. Unless Van Vijk can stay healthy it's going to be a parade to the rim for whoever Valpo's playing and then VU is screwed. Is that more in depth for you? Either that or they're going to have to help so much on defense that there's no way to recover to the outside shooters that will be hitting stand still jump shots over the top.

[DMvalpo18]

sounds simple enough to me. without van wijk clogging up the paint, then who do we have? cameron witt? don't think so. especially since the horizon league has many good guards in it. it will be important for us to have van wijk there to challenge them. if things are too easy for them then it will be harder to win games.

[dcvalpo]

I think Richie Edwards is going to be a huge help in terms of our interior toughness.  But, yes, the health of Kevin is tremendously important.

[vu72]

I have some time on my hands, recovering from surgery.  So, guess what?  I started digging around thinking about next year.  Two things came to mind. First, at the end of next year we will only lose ONE senior and that is Cam, not a regular contributor.  So will will have the next two years to get it right and make a meaningful run.

Second, based on ESPN rankings, it is obvious that the quality of new players is improving.  Here is what I found:

The highest ranked player we have ever had is Jay Harris at 93. Other players on last year's team include BWood at 85, Ryan at 85, Matt at 85 and Tommy at 83.  Players coming in include Edwards at 89, Ben Boggs at 87, Fernandez (presumably) at 86 and Jakolis at 84.

I couldn't find a ranking for Will bogan or Erik Buggs, though there is little doubt that Bogan would have been a high 80's player.
Obviously these rankings were as high school players and each may or may not continue to develop ranking wise as their college careers move along.

When you start looking at possible depth charts for next year I can go 11 deep including Tommy as the third point.  That only leaves Cam (who certainly could give us some quality minutes) and Vucic, who remains an unknown though only a sophomore eligibility wise.  With Fernandez coming in as a freshman this team will surprise many as I suspect we will be picked to finish only about fourth.

I see the starting five as probably Kevin at the 5, Richie at the 4, Ryan at the 3, Erik at the point and Ben Boggs (after Dec 1) at the 2.  The second team could be Dino at the 4, Fernandez at the 5, Kenney at the 3, Jay at the point and Will Bogan at the 2.

[wh]

I couldn't find a ranking for Will bogan or Erik Buggs, though there is little doubt that Bogan would have been a high 80's player.

Neither Bogan nor Buggs had an ESPN rank coming out of high school.  You're probably right that Bogan would have been high 80's.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/54683/will-bogan

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/52867/erik-buggs

[vu72]

I guess I should have said that ESPN didn't rank Bogan or Buggs!  Fair enough   

[wh]

I guess I should have said that ESPN didn't rank Bogan or Buggs!  Fair enough   

I wasn't trying to be picky, '72.  I thought you literally meant you couldn't find their rankings, which would make sense because ESPN's "prospect" search doesn't go back to 2008 (Bogan's and Buggs' recruiting year).  I had to do a separate google search to find that both were ranked "40" (meaning not yet ranked). 

I hope your recuperation is going well. 

[BulldogBully]

i think next years team might be alright..with the big men coming