Which year do think will be better for the Flyers?

Fudd · #1 08-11-2008, 06:00 PM

Do you predict that we will have a better team in 08-09 or 09-10?

I have been thinking about this, and I think we are poised for a bigger season in 09-10. We will be a good team this year, probably a bubble team, IMO, but when you look at the roster in 09-10, you can see we will be a senior dominated team with 2 guys in Wright and Marcus Johnson who will have been all-league caliber players for several years by then. I expect someone on our roster will step up to be a 3rd star by that time. Barring more losses from this group, we will have 5 seniors, 3 juniors, and 4 sophomores with a freshman in Kavanaugh who I think will have a division 1 body and strength before he steps on campus. I think he will contribute quickly. That class breakdown will probably make us one of, if not the most veteran team in our league.

All of my predictions, of course, assume we will not have devestating injuries or a huge personel loss in either year.

UDF4N4LIF3 · #2 08-11-2008, 06:50 PM

Wright won't be a Senior next season! Our Seniors will be Warren, Johnson, Hulesman, Lowery, Perry.

Personally I think this year is our year. Wright now knowes the Offense and johnson steped up HUGE in the X game. Perry will surprise alot of people I think. Paul Williams is going to be the third straight Freshman to come into the Arena and have a GREAT Opening Game.

This years team will win the A-10 BELIEVE!

Fudd · #3 08-11-2008, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by UDF4N4LIF3

Wright won't be a Senior next season!

I didn't say he would be a senior next season.

San Diego Flyer · #4 08-11-2008, 08:41 PM

I don't see why we shouldn't have two really good years in the next two. If you must, I take this season over next because I really believe we have all the pieces. I think Lowery filled a huge hole that could develop if Warren is a no-show. Warren will get the nod, Lowery will play a lot.

In fact that would make 3 really good years were it not for injuries to our star-power.

But it seems we have options at all positions. We should rebound strong with our front line plus Marcus who seems to be everywhere on the boards. We have on-ball defenders. We have added shooters. We have situational players galore. We have plenty of players with strong motors.

This is one year where I believe we will get stronger as the year unfolds.

Go Flyers!!

UDF4N4LIF3 · #5 08-11-2008, 10:23 PM

"you can see we will be a senior dominated team with 2 guys in Wright and Marcus Johnson"

Now to me it sounds like you did but hey thats just me.

Viperstick · #6 08-12-2008, 06:26 AM

We've got talent, experience, and no excuses. However, three things will determine whether we will have a good (read: NCAA) year or the "next year is our year" year:

* Point guard play (good assist/TO ratio, credible offensive threat to keep defenses honest)
* Team F/T shooting north of 70%
* Poise under pressure (late game inbounds, not allowing a LaSalle/SLU type comeback when you've got a team beaten)

Make those happen & I feel pretty good about this year and next.

Fudd · #7 08-12-2008, 06:28 AM

Originally Posted by San Diego Flyer

I don't see why we shouldn't have two really good years in the next two. If you must, I take this season over next because I really believe we have all the pieces. I think Lowery filled a huge hole that could develop if Warren is a no-show. Warren will get the nod, Lowery will play a lot.

In fact that would make 3 really good years were it not for injuries to our star-power.

But it seems we have options at all positions. We should rebound strong with our front line plus Marcus who seems to be everywhere on the boards. We have on-ball defenders. We have added shooters. We have situational players galore. We have plenty of players with strong motors.

This is one year where I believe we will get stronger as the year unfolds.

Go Flyers!!

I do think this will be a good year, but the next year we will have nearly all of the same pieces with the addition of a team 38 years of college basketball experience and college basketball development versus 29 in 08-09. Teams at our level in the division one world seem to really benefit in the years that we happen to have an abundance of seniors and juniors. With a few exceptions, we typically get recruits who need a few years of strengthening before they are a factor against the big boys. Having 5 seniors with the minutes that guys like Huelsman, Johnson and Warren will have gotten over their careers should make us a very seasoned team.

The Chef · #8 08-12-2008, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by UDF4N4LIF3

"you can see we will be a senior dominated team with 2 guys in Wright and Marcus Johnson"

Now to me it sounds like you did but hey thats just me.

That would be because you left out half of the sentence. Try this:

"...you can see we will be a senior dominated team (note, this is the end of phrase #1 and the start of the next phrase) with 2 guys in Wright and Marcus Johnson who will have been all-league caliber players for several years by then."

What he's saying is that Wright and Johnson both will have been all-league players by then, not that they would both be seniors by then.

I tend to agree with Fudd on this one. I think 2009-10 is likely to be better than 2008-09. That doesn't mean that I think 2008-09 won't be good. It just means that I think 2009-10 will be more good.

UDFLYERS2K · #9 08-12-2008, 02:00 PM

I tend to think that 09-10 will be better than 08-09 simply because everyone will be a year older and we will have MK as a freshman. The X-factor for this season will be Charles Little. CL has shown flashes of greatness for the past three years but he has been very inconsistent. I think that he is very capable of giving the team 12 and 10 every night. If he attacks the rim and continues to improve his defense we could be very good this year.

Fudd · #10 08-12-2008, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by UDFLYERS2K

I tend to think that 09-10 will be better than 08-09 simply because everyone will be a year older and we will have MK as a freshman. The X-factor for this season will be Charles Little. CL has shown flashes of greatness for the past three years but he has been very inconsistent. I think that he is very capable of giving the team 12 and 10 every night. If he attacks the rim and continues to improve his defense we could be very good this year.

I almost brought that point up in my original post. If Charles plays up to his potential like he did at the end of his sophomore year, and just before he got hurt last year, that will be a huge shot in the arm for us. He turned it on from the UMass game on in his sophomore year. We need him to play angry like that.

NorthwestFlyer · #11 08-12-2008, 02:28 PM

I tend to agree with Chef, the '09 - '10 year will be better than this year because we will have more experience as a team in '09. There is a lot of fresh blood coming this year and I think we will see some action from Benson and quite a bit of Williams as this year progresses.

That said, I don't think this year is going to be disappointing and we will likely see an improving team over the course of the year that will be harder and harder to lock down (no more box and 1). I think Searcy is going to start to appear regularly and will move from backing up Huelsman to contending for his minutes and will easily fill the void left by Thiago, this will give some space for Benson to see some playing time.

The big shift is we will likely start to play two forwards and a center as opposed to the three guard sets we have seen the last few years. This team will be able to get it done on the inside and we have some good looking shooters coming in that should improve as time passes.

Everyone keeps talking about the competition between Lowery and Warren, but even more interesting is going to be the heat for the 2 spot. MJ gets the nod, but Williams is going to hungry and likely capable of handling some playing time. Perry seemed to be building up his game at the end of the season. Toss the prospect of Chris Johnson being a Guard/Forward type build and it gets even more interesting.

NorthwestFlyer · #12 08-12-2008, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by Fudd

I almost brought that point up in my original post. If Charles plays up to his potential like he did at the end of his sophomore year, and just before he got hurt last year, that will be a huge shot in the arm for us. He turned it on from the UMass game on in his sophomore year. We need him to play angry like that.

I have been thinking about this. Charles has a lot of potential but some nights he is a no show or gets in quick foul trouble. Seems like he played his best ball when Wright was in the game. Wright is likely to draw some help defense which will give Charles a little more space to operate. With Charles in position we will likely see a few more put backs, alley oops, and general rebounding from him.

Charles has freakish leaping ability and is difficult to push out of position, but he has to make up for playing against guys 2 to 4 inches taller with larger wingspans. So defenders just need to stay between him and the basket to be mostly successful since he does not have a deadly shot or a lot of moves. If he has a lane and can get moving, then he is awesome as a slasher.

Wright is likely to draw help defense and double teams since there are not a lot of players we will play against that will be able to lock him down without some help, which will likely be either Charles' man or Huelsman's man, leaving us open for some easy inside shots or some easy boards.

UDF4N4LIF3 · #13 08-12-2008, 03:04 PM

Personally I think we are going to go 26-5. Losses to Marquette, @Xavier, @Creighton, @Duquesne, then a loss to someone like Charlotte, or Umass.

13-3 in the Confrence, 13-2 in the OOC.

Three Players in Double Figures.

Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson, Charles Little

And surprising Guard play by Paul Williams

John the Bomb · #14 08-12-2008, 05:19 PM

I agree with UDF4N4LIF3 in that Wright, Johnson and Little will all be in double figures next year. They were the second, third and fourth leading scorers on the team last year along with being the 3 leading rebounders. It should be a really good team next year. I want to see them KICK Xavier's ass next year, at least at The Arena. Should be a good year, though, with those 3 guys.

THirt · #15 08-12-2008, 06:09 PM

I am going to tend to agree with Mr. Fudd on this one. While I think our current junior class is poised to lead this year, it will be even better the following year. I'm not going to knock Charles at all, he does a lot of good things, but it seems to me that being a leader isn't one of them. I'm not in the huddle, in the practices, but I can't recall a time where he got in someone's face and told them to get with it.

As an aside, I think that would have been nice to have last year, and I said the same on a few occasions. I think BRob was too nice of a guy. If he had gotten in guys' faces a bit more and demanded more, then we might have eked out another win or two. But that shouldn't be seen as a knock on Brian, it's just his personality. He did tons of things well; getting in a guy's face wasn't one of them.

At any rate, I think we might need Charles to start in order for him to be the man this year, but I'm not sure that's our best option. We might be better off with say, Kurt at the 5, Devin at the 4, and Chris at the 3. But then again, we might have to start Charles to keep his head in the right place (sort of like Mark Jones during BRob's freshman year. BRob was the better 2-guard, but to keep Mark's head on right, he started - at least that's how I saw it).

As another aside, word on the street that I heard is that it's Chris Johnson, not Paul Williams that has been really impressive so far. Not that Paul is doing poorly, mind you, but the talk on these boards seems to be all about him. One gentleman I spoke with said that Chris Johnson has been looking really good in the open gyms.

I know it's never as simple as it seems, but trade Kavanaugh for Little, and give the other 11 guys a year of experience... you'd have to think that looks good. I think this year could be really exciting. I'm hoping that halfway through the year, I'll be taking off work for some of March, and selling my NCAA tickets that are at UD Arena.

NorthwestFlyer · #16 08-12-2008, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by THirt

I know it's never as simple as it seems, but trade Kavanaugh for Little, and give the other 11 guys a year of experience... you'd have to think that looks good. I think this year could be really exciting. I'm hoping that halfway through the year, I'll be taking off work for some of March, and selling my NCAA tickets that are at UD Arena.

That is an interesting way to look at it. I am not looking forward to seeing Little graduate, he has been (and still is) a lot of fun to watch with his explosiveness. But that senior team in '09 - '10 could very well make a run we talk about for 20 more years, not that it will be the only year this team accomplishes something big.

Interesting remarks about Johnson. I always thought of him as a bit of a wild card and possibly a replacement for the other Johnson as far as athleticism when he matures, but maybe he will be the big surprise for the year and playing alongside MJ. Oh no, we may be hearing the "coined" term Johnson and Johnson.

Fudd · #17 08-12-2008, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by THirt

I know it's never as simple as it seems, but trade Kavanaugh for Little, and give the other 11 guys a year of experience... you'd have to think that looks good.

Yes, that is exactly what I was trying to say in a clumsier way. Little is an explosive player, but I think Kavanaugh is going to be a good one in a different way. Kavs impressed against some very good competition at the AAU tournament in Cincy recently.

flyer2003 · #18 08-12-2008, 08:56 PM

point guard play and finding a second outside threat in addition to MJ -- those are the two things I'm concerned about.

the irish stallion · #19 08-12-2008, 11:49 PM

I agree with everybody. I think we will be strong this year and stronger next year. The person that nobody has mentioned if Luke F. Everything I have read about this kid is he can shoot the three. At 6'9" and a three point shooter he poses a problem to the defense. If the starting line up is KH, CW, LF, MJ, & LW I think that presents a hugh problem for defenses. We would have one Freshman with scoring potential and four seasoned players on the court and a tall front line. This is just on of the possible line-ups there are many when you have this much talent to choose from.

Nice feeling Flyer Fans

Flyer 86 · #20 08-13-2008, 10:12 PM

point guard play is first and main priority.

not sure which year will be better or best. what i do know, is last year we had quality through 8 maybe 9 guys. Not top a1 quality, but players. in years past we'd be lucky to have 6.

The next 2 years we could easily be looking at 10 guys knocking at each other in practice, showing up in games, and making it VERY Good for Ud all around.

And it's possible 3 could be top level A10 guys, even more in 09-10. i'd say that's exciting!

UDBrian · #21 08-14-2008, 09:02 AM

On paper it appears that we will be good this season and even better the following season. But, how the season turns out can depend some upon luck. We could get into the tournament this year and draw three teams in a row that are good matchups and suddenly be in the elite eight. That would mean that the following season would require getting to the final four to be considered better imho.

I agree with the poster that this team should improve as the season goes on. The recent teams have had obvious warts, this team should have fewer weaknesses if point guard play improves and at least one shooter can emerge. This team will be improved on defense and hopefully harder to defend even though our best offensive player is gone.