Ok so we had a good season and it ended poorly. It doesn’t matter what happened last night. That game is over. We have to look forward to next season. We have to do an audit of our team and look at our strengths and our weaknesses. So I am going to do that right now, because my Xbox360 is broken and I don’t have class until 2.
PG play- Should keep getting better. We have a two headed monster at the position in Gerrity and Harris. I envision Gerrity getting the bulk of the minutes next season with Harris coming in to shutdown someone defensively or to break the press. Gerrity is an excellent passer and dribbler who gets to the rim with ease. He has to finish his lay ups. That will help open up our offense tremendously, because if he starts to finish his lay ups he will score with ease until opponents big men come over to stop him and he can dish it off to a big man under the rim for a dunk.
SG play- It is hard to say what we have here. There are three guys who will be competing for minutes. I can’t tell at this point from watching him in practice if Javarris is actually any good. From what I have heard, the reason he looks so bad in practice is that he can barely lift his arms due to his “Preston Treatment.” So if that is the case, then hopefully he will be an excellent player and a 6’7" shooting guard should be capable of shooting over people and shutting down the opponents’ shooters who most often will be shorter than him. Ian Andersen. Who doesn’t love this kid? He is a great person to be around, but his shot has got to be more consistant. Too often his shot is completely flat and just bricks of the side of the rim. Also, when he is guarded, he throws up a lot of air balls. Kid must work on his range. Shamarr Bowden. The thing about Shamarr is that we can’t be totally sure what we have in him. I personally expect big things from him, because of how he looks when he is shooting around. His pull up jumper is very pure from mid-range all the way out to thirty feet. I love having a guy who can hit a ridiculously long shot consistantly. Brendan Plavich used to really stretch defenses with his range and it really used to open up the post when a defense decided to focus on him. If Shamarr can be that guy, then we will be able to fill a big hole left behind by Lee. I don’t think the shooting guard should ever be the focul point of an offense, because if you shut him down it doesn’t really open up anything else.
SF play- An’Juan Wilderness has a ton of potential. In terms of strength, he is second to none on this team. He is a good ball handler with a lot of skill going to the hoop when he gets agressive. He is also a very solid passer which is good to have from the SF position. A lot of people have compared him to Eddie Basden including myself. In terms of how much he can progress from his freshman season to his senior season that is a pretty good comparison, but they really arent similar players. Eddie wasn’t as strong and An’Juan can’t jump as high and isn’t as quick. I think next year we should expect An’Juan to average double-digit scoring around 10-11 points per game. Then there is Chuck Dewberry whose play seemed to really decline towards the end of the season. I think he needs to get his confidence back as a slasher as he used to be an excellent finisher. He needs to know what he wants to do with the ball before he does it as we saw him turning the ball over more and more towards the end of the season. We’ve all obviously seen flashes of what he can be and he needs to recapture that flash next season.
PF play- Lamont Mack and Charlie Coley are both PFs, and should both be starters. You have to love Lamont’s game. I’d like to see him play a bit more inside-out instead of outside-in. It is nice when he gets hot from outside, but other teams are wise to this and he can be disrupted fairly easy. I’d like to see him calling for an entry pass earlier in the posession and when the pass doesn’t come, I’d like to see him drifting out to the perimeter, ready to bury the open trey. Charlie Coley… The man can jump. He plays great D, blocking shots and forcing turnovers. He should be the first option in transition offense, but unless he gets stronger and develops a better jump shot he isn’t going to be able to contribute much in the half-court offense. This position should be the focul point of our offense. It opens up the perimeter when guys have to collapse to the post, which will keep opposing defenses from smothering our shooters.
C play- Phil Jones is big. He needs to continue to show the agressiveness he displayed towards the end of the season. He needs to develop better post-up moves and when he takes a hook shot it needs to go in or at the very least draw iron. He plays very well facing the basket and is a good passer for a big man. Simply put though, he needs to get better with his back to the basket. Gaby Ngoundjo. Yes, I spelled his name correctly. He is a monster on defense, but doesn’t show a ton of skills on offense. There is a good amount of room for him to grow defensively still with those long arms of his. He probably won’t see many more minutes next season than he had this season.
Rebounding- This was absolutely our most glaring weakness this season. If this gets better everything else will as well. One reason we weren’t so good at this is that the team likes to run as opposed to boxing out. It would tend to be that the shot would go up and people would start to run the other way which leaves the offense open after the opposing team got the offensive board. In the past we used to out rebound people all the time. I would really like to see us get back to that.
Half-Court Offense- Our number one option should be Lamont Mack starting from inside. If his shot isn’t there, then he should dish it out to the perimeter for an open jumpshot. The second option should be An’Juan or Gerrity driving to the basket and either finishing, getting fouled or dishing it out to the open perimeter. The only time I want to see Lamont Mack shooting threes is when he is open after An’Juan or Gerrity have drawn the defense into the paint with their drive. The third option should be one of our shooting guards taking an open three. I stress open threes. I love it when we hit a three, but hitting them over outstretched arms isn’t very easy.
Transition Offense- This is simple. Gerrity should run the break and throw it to Coley for the highlite reel alley-oop. Otherwise someone should be going to the hoop for the lay up or getting fouled in the process.
Defense- Our defense this year revolved around forcing turnovers. Unfortunately this kind of defense often leads to open shots by the opposition, but it should also lead to lay ups for us on the other end. We need to be a bit more disciplined at times, but we should never let down in intensity.
Recruiting- We have two scholarships left to give. I feel that we should look for another shooter and another big man. It is always nice to get freshman, but I think I prefer just getting guys who can play. We soured on JUCOs for a while, but we struck gold with Coley and Mack this year.
Projected Starting Line-Up:
PG: Gerrity
SG: Bowden
SF: Wilderness
PF: Lamont Mack
PF: Charlie Coley
First off the bench: Phil Jones
Next Year’s Outlook- The future shines bright in Charlotte. I predict a top 4 league finish and an NCAA bid. Anything else should be considered a failure. We are returning almost everyone from a team that far surpassed everyone’s expectations. We lose Leemire Goldwire and will have to adjust to that. With this team getting one year older and one year wiser, that shouldn’t be a big problem.