Recruiting big board

Post by **aggies22** » May 12th, 2022, 11:08 am

utaggies wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 11:00 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 9:21 am

bwcrc wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 7:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 8:49 pm

slcagg wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 5:15 pm

utaggies wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 5:09 pm
At 6’9” and 225# Akin was the 3rd leading scorer and leading rebounder on the 9th place WAC team, California Baptist. He hit 69% on his FTs and 54% from the field. He was the team’s leading shot blocker by far.
Thank you for the summary

Honestly I feel like he will be a better matchup for a big like Ike at Wyoming than anything else we have on our roster, which really hurt us this past year.

So I’m encouraged by that.
If he is the add, I like Akin. He fits the role of a guy that isn’t going to be thrown back five feet when backed down by Ike. I honestly don’t have issues with the quality of any of the guys added. But like others have said, I think we’ll be treading water at best.

And yes, the coaching staff has far more confidence in our guards improving than I do. I think Jones, Ashworth, and Eytle-Rock are basically fully baked at this point. There may be some incremental improvement, but we know what we have there. All nice players (and likeable guys), but not one of them is particularly clutch or dynamic.
The incremental improvements I hope to see from those three are:

Jones - drive and shoot more instead of always picking up the dribble and looking to pass
Ashworth - keep improving across the board
Eytle-Rock - coming into form earlier in the season

Jones shooting more will help keep the defense honest and could also open up more cutting opportunities for other players. The entire team did better overall when Jones shot more. If he can average 8-10 ppg while at least maintaining the assists I think the season could be fairly successful.

Watching last season it kind of felt like Ashworth regressed some, similar to a sophomore slump. But looking at his stats, he definitely took a step forward and he needs to continue that progress this next season. Would love to see him bump up his scoring to 10-12 ppg while still being that pesky guy on defense that pisses off the other team and their fans.

Eytle-Rock seemed to come on better later in the season. Hopefully he comes around into form closer to the start of conference play.
If we got 10-12 ppg from BOTH Jones AND Ashworth, I guarantee we will be more than alright next year.
So that means 7 to 9 ppg more from them. Now we only need to see if we can make up the 31 ppg and 16.5 rpg that Bean and Horvath gave us and we should be just fine.

IF Dan Akin and Taylor Funk merely duplicated what they did last year that would get us 14.7 boards and 24 points per game. I would expect Isaac Johnson getting an opportunity for significant minutes and an uptick in production from Sean Bairstow to be able to make up the remaining 2 rebounds and 7 points. Suddenly my comment doesn't sound so stupid now does it?

Real Life Aggie · Post by **Real Life Aggie** » May 12th, 2022, 11:55 am

brownjeans wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 10:51 am
Some would say that the MWC was really great last year and that contributed to our poor conference showing. But I think the post-season showed that the MWC was over-rated.

We weren't very good.

Let's not overlook that close matchups can go either way, esp. when playing another very talented team. Also, choking happens. Don't need to disqualify very good seasons/players/conference just because, collectively, we couldn't finish.

Stockypoo2212 · Post by **Stockypoo2212** » May 12th, 2022, 2:26 pm

aggies22 wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 11:08 am

utaggies wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 11:00 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 9:21 am

bwcrc wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 7:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 8:49 pm

slcagg wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 5:15 pm

utaggies wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 5:09 pm
At 6’9” and 225# Akin was the 3rd leading scorer and leading rebounder on the 9th place WAC team, California Baptist. He hit 69% on his FTs and 54% from the field. He was the team’s leading shot blocker by far.
Thank you for the summary

Honestly I feel like he will be a better matchup for a big like Ike at Wyoming than anything else we have on our roster, which really hurt us this past year.

So I’m encouraged by that.
If he is the add, I like Akin. He fits the role of a guy that isn’t going to be thrown back five feet when backed down by Ike. I honestly don’t have issues with the quality of any of the guys added. But like others have said, I think we’ll be treading water at best.

And yes, the coaching staff has far more confidence in our guards improving than I do. I think Jones, Ashworth, and Eytle-Rock are basically fully baked at this point. There may be some incremental improvement, but we know what we have there. All nice players (and likeable guys), but not one of them is particularly clutch or dynamic.
The incremental improvements I hope to see from those three are:

Jones - drive and shoot more instead of always picking up the dribble and looking to pass
Ashworth - keep improving across the board
Eytle-Rock - coming into form earlier in the season

Jones shooting more will help keep the defense honest and could also open up more cutting opportunities for other players. The entire team did better overall when Jones shot more. If he can average 8-10 ppg while at least maintaining the assists I think the season could be fairly successful.

Watching last season it kind of felt like Ashworth regressed some, similar to a sophomore slump. But looking at his stats, he definitely took a step forward and he needs to continue that progress this next season. Would love to see him bump up his scoring to 10-12 ppg while still being that pesky guy on defense that pisses off the other team and their fans.

Eytle-Rock seemed to come on better later in the season. Hopefully he comes around into form closer to the start of conference play.
If we got 10-12 ppg from BOTH Jones AND Ashworth, I guarantee we will be more than alright next year.
So that means 7 to 9 ppg more from them. Now we only need to see if we can make up the 31 ppg and 16.5 rpg that Bean and Horvath gave us and we should be just fine.
IF Dan Akin and Taylor Funk merely duplicated what they did last year that would get us 14.7 boards and 24 points per game. I would expect Isaac Johnson getting an opportunity for significant minutes and an uptick in production from Sean Bairstow to be able to make up the remaining 2 rebounds and 7 points. Suddenly my comment doesn't sound so stupid now does it?

I agree. We will have other guys step up. I like the additions we put together and I'm excited to see the Aggies win a lot next year

scotlandog · Post by **scotlandog** » May 12th, 2022, 2:34 pm

Real Life Aggie wrote:
brownjeans wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 10:51 am
Some would say that the MWC was really great last year and that contributed to our poor conference showing. But I think the post-season showed that the MWC was over-rated.

We weren't very good.
Let's not overlook that close matchups can go either way, esp. when playing another very talented team. Also, choking happens. Don't need to disqualify very good seasons/players/conference just because, collectively, we couldn't finish.

In my opinion, I thought the MWC had a little suspect officiating last season that hurt our teams in the post-season by conditioning them to play a certain way that wouldn’t be allowed in the big dance. I thought Maldonado, Ike and Roddy especially were allowed to play so physically that they became reliant on it. Towards the end of the season they, those players utilization rates were ridiculously high. When they got fouls called or tried to adjust their play to match the way the ncaa was calling games, the teams fell apart and lost their game plans. I think you could throw Boises Armus in there as well but less significant. I know the MWC doesn’t have their own refs and don’t control the refs but hopefully they realize what happened and can work with the refs to not allow that to happen again.

We share refs with the PAC-12 and others and can’t say for sure but I’m curious if there was similar things that happened in their league games. They did have UCLA and Arizona win some games but both had closer games than they should have and were both upset by lower seeds. Arizona especially was a disappointment. Just food for thought..

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » May 12th, 2022, 3:40 pm

aggies22 wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 11:08 am

utaggies wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 11:00 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 9:21 am

bwcrc wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 7:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 8:49 pm

slcagg wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 5:15 pm

utaggies wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 5:09 pm
At 6’9” and 225# Akin was the 3rd leading scorer and leading rebounder on the 9th place WAC team, California Baptist. He hit 69% on his FTs and 54% from the field. He was the team’s leading shot blocker by far.
Thank you for the summary

Honestly I feel like he will be a better matchup for a big like Ike at Wyoming than anything else we have on our roster, which really hurt us this past year.

So I’m encouraged by that.
If he is the add, I like Akin. He fits the role of a guy that isn’t going to be thrown back five feet when backed down by Ike. I honestly don’t have issues with the quality of any of the guys added. But like others have said, I think we’ll be treading water at best.

And yes, the coaching staff has far more confidence in our guards improving than I do. I think Jones, Ashworth, and Eytle-Rock are basically fully baked at this point. There may be some incremental improvement, but we know what we have there. All nice players (and likeable guys), but not one of them is particularly clutch or dynamic.
The incremental improvements I hope to see from those three are:

Jones - drive and shoot more instead of always picking up the dribble and looking to pass
Ashworth - keep improving across the board
Eytle-Rock - coming into form earlier in the season

Jones shooting more will help keep the defense honest and could also open up more cutting opportunities for other players. The entire team did better overall when Jones shot more. If he can average 8-10 ppg while at least maintaining the assists I think the season could be fairly successful.

Watching last season it kind of felt like Ashworth regressed some, similar to a sophomore slump. But looking at his stats, he definitely took a step forward and he needs to continue that progress this next season. Would love to see him bump up his scoring to 10-12 ppg while still being that pesky guy on defense that pisses off the other team and their fans.

Eytle-Rock seemed to come on better later in the season. Hopefully he comes around into form closer to the start of conference play.
If we got 10-12 ppg from BOTH Jones AND Ashworth, I guarantee we will be more than alright next year.
So that means 7 to 9 ppg more from them. Now we only need to see if we can make up the 31 ppg and 16.5 rpg that Bean and Horvath gave us and we should be just fine.
IF Dan Akin and Taylor Funk merely duplicated what they did last year that would get us 14.7 boards and 24 points per game. I would expect Isaac Johnson getting an opportunity for significant minutes and an uptick in production from Sean Bairstow to be able to make up the remaining 2 rebounds and 7 points. Suddenly my comment doesn't sound so stupid now does it?

Your comment never sounded stupid. But let’s be realistic about Akin and Funk. The former played on a lower-tier WAC team. It is not realistic to believe that his stats with California Baptist are going to be replicated in the MWC. This past season the numbers for ER were considerably down from those he garnered while at UMBC. Horvath’s scoring was essentially the same but his other numbers at UMBC were all better than those he put up at USU. As to Funk, his numbers may be more transferrable but we need to remember that he played on a very bad St. Joe’s team. But the Atlantic 10 is a conference ranked very closely to the MWC.

We shall see what happens. I think our front-line by committee can come close to giving us the production we had last season. But it remains to be seen if our guards can step up to the level you identified. If they do I believe we’ll improve upon our 7th place finish but even with that happening I seriously doubt we’ll contend for the conference crown with the team that has thus far been put together.

FeartheFro · Post by **FeartheFro** » May 12th, 2022, 3:59 pm

utaggies wrote:
aggies22 wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 11:08 am

utaggies wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 11:00 am

aggies22 wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 9:21 am

bwcrc wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 7:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 8:49 pm

slcagg wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 5:15 pm

utaggies wrote: ↑
May 11th, 2022, 5:09 pm
At 6’9” and 225# Akin was the 3rd leading scorer and leading rebounder on the 9th place WAC team, California Baptist. He hit 69% on his FTs and 54% from the field. He was the team’s leading shot blocker by far.
Thank you for the summary

Honestly I feel like he will be a better matchup for a big like Ike at Wyoming than anything else we have on our roster, which really hurt us this past year.

So I’m encouraged by that.
If he is the add, I like Akin. He fits the role of a guy that isn’t going to be thrown back five feet when backed down by Ike. I honestly don’t have issues with the quality of any of the guys added. But like others have said, I think we’ll be treading water at best.

And yes, the coaching staff has far more confidence in our guards improving than I do. I think Jones, Ashworth, and Eytle-Rock are basically fully baked at this point. There may be some incremental improvement, but we know what we have there. All nice players (and likeable guys), but not one of them is particularly clutch or dynamic.
The incremental improvements I hope to see from those three are:

Jones - drive and shoot more instead of always picking up the dribble and looking to pass
Ashworth - keep improving across the board
Eytle-Rock - coming into form earlier in the season

Jones shooting more will help keep the defense honest and could also open up more cutting opportunities for other players. The entire team did better overall when Jones shot more. If he can average 8-10 ppg while at least maintaining the assists I think the season could be fairly successful.

Watching last season it kind of felt like Ashworth regressed some, similar to a sophomore slump. But looking at his stats, he definitely took a step forward and he needs to continue that progress this next season. Would love to see him bump up his scoring to 10-12 ppg while still being that pesky guy on defense that pisses off the other team and their fans.

Eytle-Rock seemed to come on better later in the season. Hopefully he comes around into form closer to the start of conference play.
If we got 10-12 ppg from BOTH Jones AND Ashworth, I guarantee we will be more than alright next year.
So that means 7 to 9 ppg more from them. Now we only need to see if we can make up the 31 ppg and 16.5 rpg that Bean and Horvath gave us and we should be just fine.
IF Dan Akin and Taylor Funk merely duplicated what they did last year that would get us 14.7 boards and 24 points per game. I would expect Isaac Johnson getting an opportunity for significant minutes and an uptick in production from Sean Bairstow to be able to make up the remaining 2 rebounds and 7 points. Suddenly my comment doesn't sound so stupid now does it?
Your comment never sounded stupid. But let’s be realistic about Akin and Funk. The former played on a lower-tier WAC team. It is not realistic to believe that his stats with California Baptist are going to be replicated in the MWC. This past season the numbers for ER were considerably down from those he garnered while at UMBC. Horvath’s scoring was essentially the same but his other numbers at UMBC were all better than those he put up at USU. As to Funk, his numbers may be more transferrable but we need to remember that he played on a very bad St. Joe’s team. But the Atlantic 10 is a conference ranked very closely to the MWC.

We shall see what happens. I think our front-line by committee can come close to giving us the production we had last season. But it remains to be seen if our guards can step up to the level you identified. If they do I believe we’ll improve upon our 7th place finish but even with that happening I seriously doubt we’ll contend for the conference crown with the team that has thus far been put together.

I agree with what you are saying in regards to scoring. I don’t think it applies as much to rebounding. So much of rebounding is tenacity and I think that’s a skill that can translate to a tougher division of basketball.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bluened · Post by **Bluened** » May 12th, 2022, 5:18 pm

I like some of our pieces although it would be nice to have a star type player. Let’s hope it can be a situation where the whole is greater that the sum of the parts.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

TrueAG · Post by **TrueAG** » May 12th, 2022, 7:57 pm

If we shoot a decent 3% during our rough stretch we end up top part of the conference and a bubble team. I think we will be a better shooting and defensive team.

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » May 28th, 2022, 2:31 pm

TrueAG wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 7:57 pm
If we shoot a decent 3% during our rough stretch we end up top part of the conference and a bubble team. I think we will be a better shooting and defensive team.

Yeah it really is too bad how bad she shot from 3 during the 5 game losing streak early in conference play. Even a poor 3pt% instead of an atrocious one and we win at least a few of those games and our season is viewed completely different.

VegasBornAggie · Post by **VegasBornAggie** » June 26th, 2022, 1:47 pm

Usu0505 · Post by **Usu0505** » December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am

Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ineptimusprime · Post by **ineptimusprime** » December 13th, 2022, 8:13 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.

Blitz79 · Post by **Blitz79** » December 13th, 2022, 8:23 am

It is so Monday morning qb to say what you just said. It's easy to pick the good and the bad now.

The team is kicking butt so no complaints from me(until next off-season), I'm glad to say I was wrong.

ineptimusprime · Post by **ineptimusprime** » December 13th, 2022, 8:32 am

To bring this back to the original subject matter, does anyone know what is going on with our signee Kalifa Sakho? His production at South Plains this season has fallen off the earth. I thought the expectation was that he was going to take on a bigger role this year, but that seems to not be happening.

Is he battling injuries or something? Any insight is appreciated. I was initially excited about that signing, but my expectations are definitely tempered.

I was a big fan of the Phelps, Templin, and Sakho signings. I understand why the coaches locked down Sakho when they did. He’s a guy that if he blows up in JC this year that we have no chance on. But it’s looking like the gamble may not have paid off. I’m not going to Monday morning quarterback this one, because the decision to sign him made sense at the time, but his performance this year has been disappointing.

Usu0505 · Post by **Usu0505** » December 13th, 2022, 8:45 am

ineptimusprime wrote:
Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.

You make valid points. We could have counseled out Zapala and utilized his open scholarship better. But we have turned out to be anything but meh so far. Also it’s not even just this thread. Go back 2 years and the players who are playing well now were not even D1 caliber then. Just goes to show patience is the key.

I do believe roster management for next year so far has been much better.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Usu0505 · Post by **Usu0505** » December 13th, 2022, 8:49 am

Blitz79 wrote:It is so Monday morning qb to say what you just said. It's easy to pick the good and the bad now.

The team is kicking butt so no complaints from me(until next off-season), I'm glad to say I was wrong.

If your talking to me, it’s the overall negativity of the board that gets to me. Yes, hindsight is 20/20. But a lot of people were doubting Odom as a coach since his very first game and I have stood my ground. I had no hind sight at that point.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MarioWest · Post by **MarioWest** » December 13th, 2022, 9:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 8:13 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.

You've made this point a lot and you're probably right, but I'll play devil's advocate here. First of all, the fact that Zapala is still in Logan probably means that he wants to be in Logan. I can't imagine a scenario where Odom begged Zapala to stay.

Odom counseling Zapala out could have hurt team chemistry. These guys clearly love playing with each other and they love playing for Odom. Would they feel that way if Odom counseled their teammate out? Would this theoretical recruit be okay with a small role like Dorius has? How would Dorius--one of the two longest-tenured players on the team--feel about being entirely benched again?

Beyond chemistry, the lack of roster turnover could help recruiting. Maybe Odom doesn't believe in counseling players out so he can honestly tell recruits that he will honor his commitment to them. I know Zapala wasn't his recruit, but he had played under Odom for a year.

Ultimately, I'd err on the side of adding talent to the roster, but Odom seems to care more about building culture. A slightly better 3rd center isn't going to change this team's destiny, but an elite culture can help both with short-term chemistry and long-term recruiting.

Aggie84025 · Post by **Aggie84025** » December 13th, 2022, 9:44 am

MarioWest wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 8:13 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.
You've made this point a lot and you're probably right, but I'll play devil's advocate here. First of all, the fact that Zapala is still in Logan probably means that he wants to be in Logan. I can't imagine a scenario where Odom begged Zapala to stay.

Odom counseling Zapala out could have hurt team chemistry. These guys clearly love playing with each other and they love playing for Odom. Would they feel that way if Odom counseled their teammate out? Would this theoretical recruit be okay with a small role like Dorius has? How would Dorius--one of the two longest-tenured players on the team--feel about being entirely benched again?

Beyond chemistry, the lack of roster turnover could help recruiting. Maybe Odom doesn't believe in counseling players out so he can honestly tell recruits that he will honor his commitment to them. I know Zapala wasn't his recruit, but he had played under Odom for a year.

Ultimately, I'd err on the side of adding talent to the roster, but Odom seems to care more about building culture. A slightly better 3rd center isn't going to change this team's destiny, but an elite culture can help both with short-term chemistry and long-term recruiting.

You bring up a good point about culture. I think most of us thought going into the season with the graduations of Bean/Horvath but the addition of Funk/Akin that it was pretty much a wash. I had concerns that we were basically running it back with a similar team and was concerned based on the performance of the team last year. What cannot be measured is team chemistry which this team certainly has and it has for sure grown over the off season. Another key is most players that were on the team last year have improved to this year. I still have reservations about really how good this team is but Odom and company have proved me wrong which i gladly accept. Be interesting to see how the team performs when we get into conference and have some true road games.

Usu0505 · Post by **Usu0505** » December 13th, 2022, 9:48 am

Aggie84025 wrote:
MarioWest wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 8:13 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.
You've made this point a lot and you're probably right, but I'll play devil's advocate here. First of all, the fact that Zapala is still in Logan probably means that he wants to be in Logan. I can't imagine a scenario where Odom begged Zapala to stay.

Odom counseling Zapala out could have hurt team chemistry. These guys clearly love playing with each other and they love playing for Odom. Would they feel that way if Odom counseled their teammate out? Would this theoretical recruit be okay with a small role like Dorius has? How would Dorius--one of the two longest-tenured players on the team--feel about being entirely benched again?

Beyond chemistry, the lack of roster turnover could help recruiting. Maybe Odom doesn't believe in counseling players out so he can honestly tell recruits that he will honor his commitment to them. I know Zapala wasn't his recruit, but he had played under Odom for a year.

Ultimately, I'd err on the side of adding talent to the roster, but Odom seems to care more about building culture. A slightly better 3rd center isn't going to change this team's destiny, but an elite culture can help both with short-term chemistry and long-term recruiting.
You bring up a good point about culture. I think most of us thought going into the season with the graduations of Bean/Horvath but the addition of Funk/Akin that it was pretty much a wash. I had concerns that we were basically running it back with a similar team and was concerned based on the performance of the team last year. What cannot be measured is team chemistry which this team certainly has and it has for sure grown over the off season. Another key is most players that were on the team last year have improved to this year. I still have reservations about really how good this team is but Odom and company have proved me wrong which i gladly accept. Be interesting to see how the team performs when we get into conference and have some true road games.

I’d just add, even if we start losing, the development skills the staff have showed already cannot be understated. Every player has gotten better and if that continues along with some decent recruiting classes watch out.

Lot of ball left to play this year so here’s to hoping we keep it going!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OrangeCountyAggie · Post by **OrangeCountyAggie** » December 13th, 2022, 9:56 am

Who really cares about the third-string center?

AggieFBObsession · Post by **AggieFBObsession** » December 13th, 2022, 10:15 am

scotlandog wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 2:34 pm

Real Life Aggie wrote:
brownjeans wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2022, 10:51 am
Some would say that the MWC was really great last year and that contributed to our poor conference showing. But I think the post-season showed that the MWC was over-rated.

We weren't very good.
Let's not overlook that close matchups can go either way, esp. when playing another very talented team. Also, choking happens. Don't need to disqualify very good seasons/players/conference just because, collectively, we couldn't finish.
In my opinion, I thought the MWC had a little suspect officiating last season that hurt our teams in the post-season by conditioning them to play a certain way that wouldn’t be allowed in the big dance. I thought Maldonado, Ike and Roddy especially were allowed to play so physically that they became reliant on it. Towards the end of the season they, those players utilization rates were ridiculously high. When they got fouls called or tried to adjust their play to match the way the ncaa was calling games, the teams fell apart and lost their game plans. I think you could throw Boises Armus in there as well but less significant. I know the MWC doesn’t have their own refs and don’t control the refs but hopefully they realize what happened and can work with the refs to not allow that to happen again.

We share refs with the PAC-12 and others and can’t say for sure but I’m curious if there was similar things that happened in their league games. They did have UCLA and Arizona win some games but both had closer games than they should have and were both upset by lower seeds. Arizona especially was a disappointment. Just food for thought..

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A big part of it is that the P5 conference teams get homered by the refs in the tournament.

newhouse9 · Post by **newhouse9** » December 13th, 2022, 10:18 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:48 am

Aggie84025 wrote:
MarioWest wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 8:13 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.
You've made this point a lot and you're probably right, but I'll play devil's advocate here. First of all, the fact that Zapala is still in Logan probably means that he wants to be in Logan. I can't imagine a scenario where Odom begged Zapala to stay.

Odom counseling Zapala out could have hurt team chemistry. These guys clearly love playing with each other and they love playing for Odom. Would they feel that way if Odom counseled their teammate out? Would this theoretical recruit be okay with a small role like Dorius has? How would Dorius--one of the two longest-tenured players on the team--feel about being entirely benched again?

Beyond chemistry, the lack of roster turnover could help recruiting. Maybe Odom doesn't believe in counseling players out so he can honestly tell recruits that he will honor his commitment to them. I know Zapala wasn't his recruit, but he had played under Odom for a year.

Ultimately, I'd err on the side of adding talent to the roster, but Odom seems to care more about building culture. A slightly better 3rd center isn't going to change this team's destiny, but an elite culture can help both with short-term chemistry and long-term recruiting.
You bring up a good point about culture. I think most of us thought going into the season with the graduations of Bean/Horvath but the addition of Funk/Akin that it was pretty much a wash. I had concerns that we were basically running it back with a similar team and was concerned based on the performance of the team last year. What cannot be measured is team chemistry which this team certainly has and it has for sure grown over the off season. Another key is most players that were on the team last year have improved to this year. I still have reservations about really how good this team is but Odom and company have proved me wrong which i gladly accept. Be interesting to see how the team performs when we get into conference and have some true road games.

Aggie84025 wrote:
MarioWest wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 8:13 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.
You've made this point a lot and you're probably right, but I'll play devil's advocate here. First of all, the fact that Zapala is still in Logan probably means that he wants to be in Logan. I can't imagine a scenario where Odom begged Zapala to stay.

Odom counseling Zapala out could have hurt team chemistry. These guys clearly love playing with each other and they love playing for Odom. Would they feel that way if Odom counseled their teammate out? Would this theoretical recruit be okay with a small role like Dorius has? How would Dorius--one of the two longest-tenured players on the team--feel about being entirely benched again?

Beyond chemistry, the lack of roster turnover could help recruiting. Maybe Odom doesn't believe in counseling players out so he can honestly tell recruits that he will honor his commitment to them. I know Zapala wasn't his recruit, but he had played under Odom for a year.

Ultimately, I'd err on the side of adding talent to the roster, but Odom seems to care more about building culture. A slightly better 3rd center isn't going to change this team's destiny, but an elite culture can help both with short-term chemistry and long-term recruiting.
You bring up a good point about culture. I think most of us thought going into the season with the graduations of Bean/Horvath but the addition of Funk/Akin that it was pretty much a wash. I had concerns that we were basically running it back with a similar team and was concerned based on the performance of the team last year. What cannot be measured is team chemistry which this team certainly has and it has for sure grown over the off season. Another key is most players that were on the team last year have improved to this year. I still have reservations about really how good this team is but Odom and company have proved me wrong which i gladly accept. Be interesting to see how the team performs when we get into conference and have some true road games.

I’d just add, even if we start losing, the development skills the staff have showed already cannot be understated. Every player has gotten better and if that continues along with some decent recruiting classes watch out.

Lot of ball left to play this year so here’s to hoping we keep it going!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Understated or overstated?

Usu0505 · Post by **Usu0505** » December 13th, 2022, 10:31 am

newhouse9 wrote:
Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:48 am

Aggie84025 wrote:
MarioWest wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 8:13 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.
You've made this point a lot and you're probably right, but I'll play devil's advocate here. First of all, the fact that Zapala is still in Logan probably means that he wants to be in Logan. I can't imagine a scenario where Odom begged Zapala to stay.

Odom counseling Zapala out could have hurt team chemistry. These guys clearly love playing with each other and they love playing for Odom. Would they feel that way if Odom counseled their teammate out? Would this theoretical recruit be okay with a small role like Dorius has? How would Dorius--one of the two longest-tenured players on the team--feel about being entirely benched again?

Beyond chemistry, the lack of roster turnover could help recruiting. Maybe Odom doesn't believe in counseling players out so he can honestly tell recruits that he will honor his commitment to them. I know Zapala wasn't his recruit, but he had played under Odom for a year.

Ultimately, I'd err on the side of adding talent to the roster, but Odom seems to care more about building culture. A slightly better 3rd center isn't going to change this team's destiny, but an elite culture can help both with short-term chemistry and long-term recruiting.
You bring up a good point about culture. I think most of us thought going into the season with the graduations of Bean/Horvath but the addition of Funk/Akin that it was pretty much a wash. I had concerns that we were basically running it back with a similar team and was concerned based on the performance of the team last year. What cannot be measured is team chemistry which this team certainly has and it has for sure grown over the off season. Another key is most players that were on the team last year have improved to this year. I still have reservations about really how good this team is but Odom and company have proved me wrong which i gladly accept. Be interesting to see how the team performs when we get into conference and have some true road games.

Aggie84025 wrote:
MarioWest wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 8:13 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.
You've made this point a lot and you're probably right, but I'll play devil's advocate here. First of all, the fact that Zapala is still in Logan probably means that he wants to be in Logan. I can't imagine a scenario where Odom begged Zapala to stay.

Odom counseling Zapala out could have hurt team chemistry. These guys clearly love playing with each other and they love playing for Odom. Would they feel that way if Odom counseled their teammate out? Would this theoretical recruit be okay with a small role like Dorius has? How would Dorius--one of the two longest-tenured players on the team--feel about being entirely benched again?

Beyond chemistry, the lack of roster turnover could help recruiting. Maybe Odom doesn't believe in counseling players out so he can honestly tell recruits that he will honor his commitment to them. I know Zapala wasn't his recruit, but he had played under Odom for a year.

Ultimately, I'd err on the side of adding talent to the roster, but Odom seems to care more about building culture. A slightly better 3rd center isn't going to change this team's destiny, but an elite culture can help both with short-term chemistry and long-term recruiting.
You bring up a good point about culture. I think most of us thought going into the season with the graduations of Bean/Horvath but the addition of Funk/Akin that it was pretty much a wash. I had concerns that we were basically running it back with a similar team and was concerned based on the performance of the team last year. What cannot be measured is team chemistry which this team certainly has and it has for sure grown over the off season. Another key is most players that were on the team last year have improved to this year. I still have reservations about really how good this team is but Odom and company have proved me wrong which i gladly accept. Be interesting to see how the team performs when we get into conference and have some true road games.

I’d just add, even if we start losing, the development skills the staff have showed already cannot be understated. Every player has gotten better and if that continues along with some decent recruiting classes watch out.

Lot of ball left to play this year so here’s to hoping we keep it going!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Understated or overstated?

Overstated. Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

newhouse9 · Post by **newhouse9** » December 13th, 2022, 10:57 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 10:31 am

newhouse9 wrote:
Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:48 am

Aggie84025 wrote:
MarioWest wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 8:13 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.
You've made this point a lot and you're probably right, but I'll play devil's advocate here. First of all, the fact that Zapala is still in Logan probably means that he wants to be in Logan. I can't imagine a scenario where Odom begged Zapala to stay.

Odom counseling Zapala out could have hurt team chemistry. These guys clearly love playing with each other and they love playing for Odom. Would they feel that way if Odom counseled their teammate out? Would this theoretical recruit be okay with a small role like Dorius has? How would Dorius--one of the two longest-tenured players on the team--feel about being entirely benched again?

Beyond chemistry, the lack of roster turnover could help recruiting. Maybe Odom doesn't believe in counseling players out so he can honestly tell recruits that he will honor his commitment to them. I know Zapala wasn't his recruit, but he had played under Odom for a year.

Ultimately, I'd err on the side of adding talent to the roster, but Odom seems to care more about building culture. A slightly better 3rd center isn't going to change this team's destiny, but an elite culture can help both with short-term chemistry and long-term recruiting.
You bring up a good point about culture. I think most of us thought going into the season with the graduations of Bean/Horvath but the addition of Funk/Akin that it was pretty much a wash. I had concerns that we were basically running it back with a similar team and was concerned based on the performance of the team last year. What cannot be measured is team chemistry which this team certainly has and it has for sure grown over the off season. Another key is most players that were on the team last year have improved to this year. I still have reservations about really how good this team is but Odom and company have proved me wrong which i gladly accept. Be interesting to see how the team performs when we get into conference and have some true road games.

Aggie84025 wrote:
MarioWest wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:02 am

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 8:13 am

Usu0505 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 5:17 am
Fun thread to read through right now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A lot of us were wrong about us being “meh” to bad — me included.

I liked the Akin add at the time (and love it now), but I am overall still pretty pissed we didn’t make some more moves at the 5 spot in the offseason.

I’ll go with a low hanging fruit option here. Does anyone think we wouldn’t be incrementally better had we used a scholarship now being used by one of our backup centers on the Christensen kid now at Utah Tech that wanted to be here? By the same token, does anyone think Zapala wouldn’t be having more fun actually playing at a place like Idaho State?

In the future, I’d like to see better roster management. But I can’t gripe with what Odom and co. are accomplishing on the court.
You've made this point a lot and you're probably right, but I'll play devil's advocate here. First of all, the fact that Zapala is still in Logan probably means that he wants to be in Logan. I can't imagine a scenario where Odom begged Zapala to stay.

Odom counseling Zapala out could have hurt team chemistry. These guys clearly love playing with each other and they love playing for Odom. Would they feel that way if Odom counseled their teammate out? Would this theoretical recruit be okay with a small role like Dorius has? How would Dorius--one of the two longest-tenured players on the team--feel about being entirely benched again?

Beyond chemistry, the lack of roster turnover could help recruiting. Maybe Odom doesn't believe in counseling players out so he can honestly tell recruits that he will honor his commitment to them. I know Zapala wasn't his recruit, but he had played under Odom for a year.

Ultimately, I'd err on the side of adding talent to the roster, but Odom seems to care more about building culture. A slightly better 3rd center isn't going to change this team's destiny, but an elite culture can help both with short-term chemistry and long-term recruiting.
You bring up a good point about culture. I think most of us thought going into the season with the graduations of Bean/Horvath but the addition of Funk/Akin that it was pretty much a wash. I had concerns that we were basically running it back with a similar team and was concerned based on the performance of the team last year. What cannot be measured is team chemistry which this team certainly has and it has for sure grown over the off season. Another key is most players that were on the team last year have improved to this year. I still have reservations about really how good this team is but Odom and company have proved me wrong which i gladly accept. Be interesting to see how the team performs when we get into conference and have some true road games.

I’d just add, even if we start losing, the development skills the staff have showed already cannot be understated. Every player has gotten better and if that continues along with some decent recruiting classes watch out.

Lot of ball left to play this year so here’s to hoping we keep it going!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Understated or overstated?

Overstated. Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

nswaggie · Post by **nswaggie** » December 13th, 2022, 11:00 am

OrangeCountyAggie wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:56 am
Who really cares about the third-string center?

He has play some meaningful minutes, but not a lot. I’m hoping some of the guys like Zapala and Homoda get significant minutes against Westminister.

ineptimusprime · Post by **ineptimusprime** » December 13th, 2022, 11:05 am

OrangeCountyAggie wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:56 am
Who really cares about the third-string center?

No one cares about the third-string center, but everyone should care about the center rotation.

We aren’t talking about the third string center here,
unless, of course, you think Dorius would have beaten out the Christensen kid for playing time.

No matter who starts, I think a rotation of Akin/Christensen would be better than Akin/Dorius.

And I am not necessarily saying we should have signed Christensen specifically, I am just pointing that out because it was a very real roster move that could have been made.

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » December 13th, 2022, 11:18 am

In reading some of my comments from this original thread I have concluded the following — if you add a little hot sauce to it crow really doesn’t taste that bad!

Usu0505 · Post by **Usu0505** » December 13th, 2022, 11:21 am

utaggies wrote:In reading some of my comments from this original thread I have concluded the following — if you add a little hot sauce to it crow really doesn’t taste that bad!

Haha! I very much respect the people that can at least admit it. Not that my respect means anything on this board but good on ya.

Let’s keep it rolling!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Post by **aggies22** » December 13th, 2022, 11:25 am

nswaggie wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 11:00 am

OrangeCountyAggie wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:56 am
Who really cares about the third-string center?
He has play some meaningful minutes, but not a lot. I’m hoping some of the guys like Zapala and Homoda get significant minutes against Westminister.

I think Hamoda has played plenty.

Roy McAvoy · Post by **Roy McAvoy** » December 13th, 2022, 11:30 am

I wonder where Cade Potter would've fit into the lineup. I'm just not seeing any minutes available for him, and maybe he saw that writing on the wall and that's partly why he left.

brownjeans · Post by **brownjeans** » December 13th, 2022, 12:53 pm

From a development and strategy point of view, I think Odom is the best since Stew (maybe better on the development side, worse on the strategy side).
I'm not convinced Odom can recruit yet.

nswaggie · Post by **nswaggie** » December 13th, 2022, 2:31 pm

aggies22 wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 11:25 am

nswaggie wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 11:00 am

OrangeCountyAggie wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 9:56 am
Who really cares about the third-string center?
He has play some meaningful minutes, but not a lot. I’m hoping some of the guys like Zapala and Homoda get significant minutes against Westminister.
I think Hamoda has played plenty.

Agreed, my reasoning for wanting to see Homoda get more minutes is simply because I think he need to have a game were he can get longer spurts of minutes and play through some mistakes. I’d like to see Zapala get more minutes to see more of what he can do against lower level competition. Homoda is a contributor, I guess I’m still holding out hope that Zapala could play a Dorius type roll in the future.

newhouse9 · Post by **newhouse9** » December 13th, 2022, 2:44 pm

The ball gets a little sticky with Hamoda. He's got plenty of skill, and minutes will help him. Keep the ball moving!

Post by **aggies22** » December 13th, 2022, 2:47 pm

Roy McAvoy wrote: ↑
December 13th, 2022, 11:30 am
I wonder where Cade Potter would've fit into the lineup. I'm just not seeing any minutes available for him, and maybe he saw that writing on the wall and that's partly why he left.

It's not.

Usu0505 · Post by **Usu0505** » December 13th, 2022, 2:49 pm

Hamoda’s defense is pretty dang good. I don’t like all the RJ Eytlerock hate but I’d rather see Zee on the floor then RJ. I do wish Zee would work within the offense on a consistent basis.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Upcoming Events

Event Results