2024-25 Season

[westojay]

Wow the Fighting DRocks beat Gonzaga today

[TrueBlueJay]

The Big East. Woof.

[cu8493]

We had a bad game against UNL, where we did a lot of uncharacteristicly bad stuff in the first pressure game playing together. We lost one of our two returning “glue” guys in that game. We likely had to take a rest day Saturday or Sunday, which means we had one full practice to try to adjust, and then off to Vegas, Baby. Probably one light practice there and then played a pretty good SDS who always seems to have our number. Fellas were trying to adjust to new roles and seemed pretty tentative. We had to turn around and play next day. Essentially little time to work on the things that I am sure coaches have identified. We were better at times yesterday, but clearly a work in process. We will have some time today to work on things, and then a couple more days after they get home Friday. I expect it to look better Friday (I think we win), and better yet against KU, UNLV and Bama. Might go 2-2 those 4 games, but I expect you will see a markedly different team by end of December. I have seen these coaches pull some great adjustments over the years. Frankly, I think the challenge may breathe new life into Mac and his staff. Things were pretty easy for him last severals years (6 game skid a couple years back aside).

[#RollJays]

Having Ashworth back this early improves the outlook on the season quite a bit. If we are able to split our next 4 games we still have a decent shot at being a tourney team.

This team greatly needs another wing that can create offense. Neal is shooting way too many 3s. It’s hard to be asked to do so many things and then still have the effort needed to attack the rim but his settling for 3s is hurting us. McAndrew needs cut to the rim a bit more and go after offensive rebounds. Traudt needs to get some confidence back in his shot. It’s hard when your career doesn’t pan out the way you want it to and your spot gets taken by a freshman but McAndrew is a stud and Traudt doesn’t bring enough to the table if shots aren’t falling. Pop is doing fine but he and Ashworth need to get healthy and cut down on turnovers. Miller just isn’t good enough to play with this group. His weaknesses were masked by Trey and Baylor. Green is basically just a defensive sub at this point with how bad his offense has been. Zugic needs to get eligible asap and it sounds like that is getting close.

Defensively this team needs to find an identity. We have 1.5 guys that can guard the ball. Our guards are too small and our bigs are too slow to guard against the pick and roll. The contested mid range shots that our defense is built on giving up are way more open this year. We get worn out guarding the ball for 25-30 seconds when playing man. This also negatively impacts our offense. Might be time to mix in more zone.

Roster construction. Mac has toed the line of recruiting skill over athleticism for a few years now. This team might be a bit too far over that line. We have several large stretch 4s that can’t downsize and fill in as a 3. Our backcourt is really small. Right now we have 1 wing that is playable and he can’t shoot. McAndrew is a stud but him and Kalk aren’t the most athletic frontcourt and can get exposed on the defensive glass. It’s even worse with Traudt in the game. Our bench is full of skill guys and shooters. Athleticism and defense are easier to produce on a nightly basis. We need to show a few guys the portal this offseason.

[Venturajay]

Nice take.

The big east as of now appears to be down this year (like really down) unless the conference can pick it up over the next month , we are not looking at more then 4 or 3 seeds if even that. So we will need to win more then the last 2 out of 4 non-conf games in my opinion. I hate to say must win because the season is so early (the conference as a whole has very few quality wins and a lot of losses against the power 4) but I think Kansas is a must win.

Yes Fedor needs to be eligible asap because we need another scorer. I am not sold on Neal as a starter and we need someone to replace Baylor's rebounding. Teams have figured out since we can't shoot the three ball outside of Ash, Pop and Jackson to pack it in and double and triple team Kalk. Jackson should be playing 35 minutes a game because why not. The other weaknesses are just a repeat of what everyone else is saying. But as someone said earlier Mac was spoiled over the last few years with the the headiness of Baylor, Trey, and Farabello, so this could be the challenge that Mac needs, their is still hope but lord we looked really bad in particular on the offensive end over the last three games. Go Jays.

[Jaysker12]

We have always struggled to recruit playmakers with size even in the Big East. They are the most coveted players both out of HS and in the portal.

The 22-23 team was, IMO, an embarrassment of riches in this regard between Alexander (short but long arms), Kaluma, and Baylor.

I am glad we have Greer on deck for next year, I think he will play a lot right away. But they need to try to find at least one more big guard/wing in the portal, if not more depending on Pop's decision.

[slaw]

Roster construction. Mac has toed the line of recruiting skill over athleticism for a few years now. .

Why does it have to be either/or? We've had plenty of athletic skillful players in the past: Ty-Shon, Trey, Khryi, Marcus.

[BenningtonBluejay]

Nembhard was a really skilled player who was freaky athletic at time, remember some of his dunks?

[JacobPadilla]

Roster construction. Mac has toed the line of recruiting skill over athleticism for a few years now. .

Why does it have to be either/or? We've had plenty of athletic skillful players in the past: Ty-Shon, Trey, Khryi, Marcus.

Not to quibble, but I'd say none of those guys were more than average in terms of run/jump athleticism. Ty-Shon, Trey and Khyri had length to help make up for that, but for all four, their skill level and feel for the game is why they were so good for Creighton. Khyri is probably the best mix of this group, and even his athletic testing was fairly underwhelming comparatively at the combine.

Non-comprehensive list of guys the last handful of years that I'd consider leaned significantly one way or the other in terms of athleticism/physical tools vs. skill.

Physical tools: Neal, Johnson, Green, King, Kaluma (they've gone after more guys in recent classes that would land on this list, but haven't had much success landing them).

Skill guys: McAndrew, Isaacs, Ashworth, Traudt, Scheierman, Farabello, Christofilis, Alexander, Hawkins.