PSU - GW Men's BB Game Thread

[BrianS]

One KEY point to be made here:
* our BENCH is not very good! I like the play of Wheeler. Bostick is so-so. Our sub-bigs are NOT too good. Zemgulis is a non-factor. Buttrick and Harrar are, obviously, not as far along as last years frosh. Thus, not B10 ready.
Chambers has his work cut out for him this year. But, I am one of those who sez Chambers NEEDS to be here next year to finish his work. Let's hope Dread, Bolton, and the "big guy" can add some quality "Wheeler-like" minutes.

 

[bdgan]

Do you really not comprehend that 3 losses to Top 150 teams do not a season end when you play as many games as they do in basketball?

You're assuming all of these conference losses. Why don't we let the season play out, see how the team improves... or doesn't.

We absolutely need to see how the year plays out. The concern is that we lost to teams with less talent. PSU isn't good enough to overcome bad losses by stringing a few wins against ranked teams. They have to win the games that are winnable.

 

[PSU-Knocker]

I think I'm the most optimistic individual on this board. The staff is bringing in the type of talent we need to push into the top of the Conference. Do I believe we get there this year, no. But I believe we are heading in the right direction and I believe this Staff can get it done.

I don't want to say that if we don't make the NCAAs or we don't make the NIT, we fire Chambers. Way too much can go wrong during a season to make critical statements now. While our talent is improving, we do not have the depth yet to suffer sickness, injury or other misfortunes and still have very good outcomes. Hey, we're getting there and I don't want our administration to pull the plug on Chambers based on failure to reach preseason goals.

 

[bdgan]

One KEY point to be made here:
* our BENCH is not very good! I like the play of Wheeler. Bostick is so-so. Our sub-bigs are NOT too good. Zemgulis is a non-factor. Buttrick and Harrar are, obviously, not as far along as last years frosh. Thus, not B10 ready.
Chambers has his work cut out for him this year. But, I am one of those who sez Chambers NEEDS to be here next year to finish his work. Let's hope Dread, Bolton, and the "big guy" can add some quality "Wheeler-like" minutes.

Props to Buttrick. He's not BiG ready but I saw him do something yesterday that I've seldom seen so far this year. He actually boxed out! The more athletic players should take notice.

 

[AWS1022]

One KEY point to be made here:
* our BENCH is not very good! I like the play of Wheeler. Bostick is so-so. Our sub-bigs are NOT too good. Zemgulis is a non-factor. Buttrick and Harrar are, obviously, not as far along as last years frosh. Thus, not B10 ready.
Chambers has his work cut out for him this year. But, I am one of those who sez Chambers NEEDS to be here next year to finish his work. Let's hope Dread, Bolton, and the "big guy" can add some quality "Wheeler-like" minutes.

So he finishes his work with this group of sophomores, then what? Admittedly I don't follow basketball recruiting at all, but looking at the recruiting rankings for the past few years it looks like this sophomore class was a blip on the radar then we're back to more sub .500 seasons. It doesn't seem that he has really maintained his break into the Philly market.

 

[bison13]

It was nice to see Wheeler hit an outside shot too. He needs to take them when he is open, other teams slack so far off it doesnt allow space for others.

 

[BrianS]

So he finishes his work with this group of sophomores, then what? Admittedly I don't follow basketball recruiting at all, but looking at the recruiting rankings for the past few years it looks like this sophomore class was a blip on the radar then we're back to more sub .500 seasons. It doesn't seem that he has really maintained his break into the Philly market.

I'm anxious to see Butler and Dread. Wheeler looks very good defensively. I understand offensively, he is letting the Garner's, Carr's, Steven's, and Reave's do their thing right now. The development of Harrar and Buttrick will go a long way as the current soph's finish their college careers. We gotta hope the BIG GUY Chambers recruited out of California can play right away.

 

[wbcincy]

So he finishes his work with this group of sophomores, then what? Admittedly I don't follow basketball recruiting at all, but looking at the recruiting rankings for the past few years it looks like this sophomore class was a blip on the radar then we're back to more sub .500 seasons. It doesn't seem that he has really maintained his break into the Philly market.

It's a tough spot for recruiting. After bringing in that class, we're essentially left having to recruit kids knowing we can't offer the opportunity to start for years. It's hard enough to recruit top players at Penn State until we start showing some consistent success in the court, it's virtually impossible to do that when freshmen are already filling the starting lineup. I thought role players like Wheeler, Harrar and Buttrick were as good as we could hope for in that situation.

Next year's class could be decent again. ESPN ranks both Bolton and Dread as 4 star players (around 150 and 200 nationally). And Dread's stock has been rising. Those aren't Tony Carr level signings, but they also aren't a return to garbage recruits that nobody else wanted.

I think once the current starters become upper class men and earlier playing time is foreseeable, and assuming the on court success comes at the same time, we'll see whether Pat is reload with similar players.

 

[wbcincy]

I'm anxious to see Butler and Dread. Wheeler looks very good defensively. I understand offensively, he is letting the Garner's, Carr's, Steven's, and Reave's do their thing right now. The development of Harrar and Buttrick will go a long way as the current soph's finish their college careers. We gotta hope the BIG GUY Chambers recruited out of California can play right away.

I hate to be too negative, but what I saw of that big was....bad. He looked to me like a guy who needs to play at New Mexico State, not in the B1G. Very Satchel Pierce-like. Just a lumbering big who brings little other than size. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[BrianS]

I hate to be too negative, but what I saw of that big was....bad. He looked to me like a guy who needs to play at New Mexico State, not in the B1G. Very Satchel Pierce-like. Just a lumbering big who brings little other than size. Hope I'm wrong.

Oh boy.

 

[wbcincy]

Oh boy.

Hah, I'm sure I'm going too far. I just don't like seeing "highlight" videos where the guy never puts the ball on floor once. Not a good sign. I'll take the athletic 6'9" big with tape of him putting it on the floor and making athletic blocks over the lumbering 7' guy every time. See Watkins vs Pierce.

 

[bison13]

I dont quite think Yaffa is ready yet either but he picked PSU over Gtown, Stanford, Cal, Butler, who most would say are programs that are solid. He brings the ball down to much and is not a spectacular athlete but is a better athlete than Moore. I think Butrick will end up being the guy who spells Stevens at the 4 and at least step out and keep a defender honest with the outside shot so Watkins has room. Harrar seems built well enough to do as much as Pierce/Moore on the glass. I think you will see a lot of time where Carr is off the ball next year and Wheeler/Bolton run the show.

 

[greenmanRD]

So he finishes his work with this group of sophomores, then what? Admittedly I don't follow basketball recruiting at all, but looking at the recruiting rankings for the past few years it looks like this sophomore class was a blip on the radar then we're back to more sub .500 seasons. It doesn't seem that he has really maintained his break into the Philly market.

Pat is still hitting up the DMV/Philly area, the problem is there hasn't been enough talent in Philadelphia in 2017 and 18. There have been great players but the depth hasn't been there. Quade Green, DCR, Gillespie all ended up at elite programs. The 2017 class was also not one where Pat had available scholarships, so he started pounding 2018 a year earlier than most.

Myles Dread and Rasir Bolton are both players, both guys who will contribute for us. As far as Kasatkin or Jones, who knows, I honestly don't know much about either. But 2018 was not a strong Philadelphia class either outside the top end talent. We are still pulling talented players from the areas we focus on, and that's encouraging to me.

 

[psuguy43]

They might be athletic but they still have to run back on defense, play defense with their feet, block out, rebound, and create movement on offense.

There's no doubt that PSU has some good athletes but they lost a couple of games to athletically inferior teams. That's gotta get fixed if they hope to make the NCAA tournament.

Yes, but we have a top 20 kenpom defense, actually. I'm a little surprised with everyone hammering Chambers for a lack of defense, bc the stats do not show that when looking at the whole (not just a game or two).