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Posted (edited)

I wonder who the 3rd is. 

 

James Okonkwo and Seth Wilson are the first 2. Makes me think these guys are all but committed, and JG just wanted them to visit all at once to make sure the chemistry would be a fit. 

Edited by Let'sGoZips94
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13 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

I wonder who the 3rd is. 

 

James Okonkwo and Seth Wilson are the first 2. Makes me think these guys are all but committed, and JG just wanted them to visit all at once to make sure the chemistry would be a fit. 

 

I have it on good authority that it is KJ Walton, having qualified at 32 years old for his 8th year of college basketball.

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15 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

I wonder who the 3rd is. 

 

James Okonkwo and Seth Wilson are the first 2. Makes me think these guys are all but committed, and JG just wanted them to visit all at once to make sure the chemistry would be a fit. 

These guys are bench players from a power five conference who rarely saw the court.  I am just not sure if I am thrilled to get guys who failed at a bigger program no matter how highly sought after they were after high school.  

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There are no guarantees (the list of disappointments is long enough), but I see a rim protector with a high motor. And a strong, physical combo guard who can play some point guard, but is best off the ball hitting from deep at a decent clip. Just for 1 season. But they would help our young guys tremendously and Richard Brisco might even redshirt as a result. And we would not be talking about a rebuild year. It would take time for a new group of guys to gel, but they could be something special come March.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Illini Zip
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19 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

These guys are bench players from a power five conference who rarely saw the court.  I am just not sure if I am thrilled to get guys who failed at a bigger program no matter how highly sought after they were after high school.  

 

I don't care about high school rankings. These guys spent 3 years in highly competitive programs, training and learning how to win the right way. Both were taught by Huggins for the first 2 years of their collegiate careers - that's worth a lot. Huggins preaches hard-nosed, tough basketball.

 

Seth Wilson stayed after Huggins was fired and averaged 17 minutes per game. He can shoot - great form. Why he didn't score more? No idea, but the form is there and he'll have plenty of opportunities this year if he chooses Akron. 

 

Okonkwo left after Huggins was fired and UNC wanted him. He went toe to toe with the ACC for a year, and against Bacot every day in practice. He has more film from his time at WVU, and he is a pleasure to watch. Very Freeman-esque from a positioning and motor standpoint. Doesn't have the outside shot but he would be a menace in the MAC. 

 

Xeryius Williams was barely more productive at Dayton prior to coming to Akron. Was he a failure? Duvivier was maybe slightly more productive at Oregon State - maybe - and was awesome for Groce in his first year. Forgive me if I'm missing any other examples, but on the "failure" side, I can only think of Maishe. 

 

More often than not, those who spend time in winning programs will be able to be more productive in the MAC. Should these guys choose to commit to Akron, I have zero doubts they'll find success here. 

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46 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

These guys are bench players from a power five conference who rarely saw the court.  I am just not sure if I am thrilled to get guys who failed at a bigger program no matter how highly sought after they were after high school.  

I wouldn't exactly say averaging 17 minutes a game, which is what Seth Wilson played, is hardly seeing the floor. That's nearly a half of basketball.

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I know the roster is not finished up. My big questions who do you think gets the nod for starting point guard. Tarvi, Scott, Wilson, or Young… I think you can play all of those 4 guards at the 2 as well. my guess is Tarvi, but I’m hoping Young comes in and is special. 

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38 minutes ago, ZipsFan31 said:

I know the roster is not finished up. My big questions who do you think gets the nod for starting point guard. Tarvi, Scott, Wilson, or Young… I think you can play all of those 4 guards at the 2 as well. my guess is Tarvi, but I’m hoping Young comes in and is special. 

 

I think Tavari and Young are more natural point guards while Scott and Young are combo guards. 

 

Groce's confidence in Scott certainly grew as the season would down and I suspect that will continue into next season.

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1 hour ago, ZipsFan31 said:

I know the roster is not finished up. My big questions who do you think gets the nod for starting point guard. Tarvi, Scott, Wilson, or Young… I think you can play all of those 4 guards at the 2 as well. my guess is Tarvi, but I’m hoping Young comes in and is special. 

From what I heard, by several different MAC assistants, is Young is special. A starter as a freshman.

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58 minutes ago, RoyalBlu said:

From what I heard, by several different MAC assistants, is Young is special. A starter as a freshman.

 

This is the sense I get as well. He could be the next great MAC guard. That's why I think it's so important to land these WVU recruits. Coach Rob is a West Virginia icon for recruiting with his roots being Huntington Prep. Make Akron feel like home and hopefully we keep him for more than 1 year.

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20 hours ago, ZipsFan31 said:

I know the roster is not finished up. My big questions who do you think gets the nod for starting point guard. Tarvi, Scott, Wilson, or Young… I think you can play all of those 4 guards at the 2 as well. my guess is Tarvi, but I’m hoping Young comes in and is special. 

 

19 hours ago, RoyalBlu said:

From what I heard, by several different MAC assistants, is Young is special. A starter as a freshman.

 

Is this the year for the up-tempo offense? If @RoyalBlu is correct and Young contributes meaningful minutes at the point I believe it's possible. I keep waiting for it. I so enjoy it. Some of you might remember the team South of Akron running it. Please basketball gods make it be so.

 

Groce usually teaches one position to true Freshman. For Sharron Young that will be at point guard. Tavari should be able to play all three guard positions by now, but he is not likely to be able to guard the wing position well. I expect to see both Wilson and Okonkwo play 35+ minutes a game. But Wilson will probably only play up to half of those minutes at the point. The rest of the minutes will be at the 2 and 3 positions. Wilson unlike Tavari is plenty strong enough to guard the 3 position. We could possibly have three point guards on the floor together and the half-court offense could be initiated by any of them. Talk about a defensive nightmare. 

 

So the rotation I would like to see next year is Young at the point, Tavari or Scott at the 2, Wilson at the 3, Nate or Prather at the 4 and Okonkwo, Marvin, Baker, Lyles (or our last recruit??) at the 5. We would have 4 guards capable of bringing the ball up the court in transition. So we would be able to rebound and run. And with a rim runner like Okonkwo our fast breaks could become lethal. Unlike last year our guards have to be able to hit a fair amount of those open shots from deep. If that is the case we can spread out opposing defenses then drive and kick, drive and kick, etc. It's not something you typically run all game or against every opponent. But it's effective and damn cool.

 

Please, please, please!!!

 

 

 

 

 

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I like to pod them up:

Seth Wilson, Shammah Scott, Tarvi Johnson, and Sharron Young split time in the PG and SG role. The ability to hit shots will drive who plays more. I give my nod to the Seniors starting and Young and Johnson coming off the bench, this will change as all will play and whoever is hot will play more. 

 

Nate Johnson, Ryan Prather, Amani Lyles, and Marvin Musiime-kamali split time in the SF and PF role. The Match up and team need will determine who plays here. give me Nate and Prather to play a  bulk of minutes. unless we need size. 

 

James Okonkwo gets most of the minutes at Center. but the Redshirt Freshman Darrian Baker helps out when needed. 

 

I am not well versed if Eric Mahaffey or Rich Brisco are instant impact or Redshirt type players. we have one scholarship left. I would love a 6'7 or 6'8 guy to play stretch 4. or a 7'0 footer. would also just take a DAWG at guard who would have take over the game abilities. 

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