The Unfamiliar Future

[ZachTheZip]

It's finally time to talk about next year, since there is little to no chance of getting a home game for the CBI/NIT. The CBI costs $60,000 to host a game, and the NIT probably won't take any MAC teams at all if they don't have to (they pick based on $$$ which is illegal for the NCAA, but's that's another story).We graduate 5 seniors, and next year's team will look completely different from the one we've gotten used to over the last three years. Who replaces them?Wood, Dials, Ced, Quade, and Goddard are all staples of this team in their own ways. Each one adds to the identity of this team. We will need to find five guys that can contribute that weren't playing on the team this year. We will have only two seniors, Linhart and Conyers, and I don't even know if Conyers will play much. We will need some underclassmen to step into a leadership role, and I am not sure who that would be.I won't say that next year will be a rebuilding year, just like I didn't say that this year would be one either. Judging by the talent that we are bring in, I will say that it is a reloading year, but I don't think we can make the MAC finals a third year in a row.The future is bright, but unfamiliar. I only wish it could've ended better the last two years for the group of seven guys that took this program out of the depths to where it is today.

[skip-zip]

I think it will be difficult, when we return one senior starter, and one part-time underclassman starter, to not refer to next year as a rebuilding year. I mean, if this is truly our last game this year, where are the people that are READY RIGHT NOW to become major contributors in our NEXT GAME, without the help of Wood, Dials, and Middleton? If I had to guess right now, I'd say that we will have difficulty, for at least the first half of the season, to get some guys to the point where we'll be able to compete consistently.As we learned this year, you can't count on recruits to come in and make you a better team right from the start. Many of you on here were counting on Bardo, who ended up playing very little. And others thought Sweich could be a starter, and he never even played. New players rarely make an instant impact. And we need to keep that in mind when assessing next year. You really have to look at the people who have played this year, and decide for yourselves who is really, truly ready to step up into a major role, without the help of the departing seniors. I'm looking at 2 years before we have enough to be able to compete for a title again. But I sure hope I am dead wrong.

[ZippyRulz]

I don't see us dropping off that much at point guard. Everyone seems to agree Dials is more of a #2 and we have some good PG talent coming in. ND is a good leader but not exactly a consistent open-look shooter. Hopefully the new guys can progress steadily thru next season and be ready to make some noise in next year's tourney. Ced had his moments but 2.1 rebounds per game and 9.7 ppg should be replaceable. We'll obviously miss Wood's 18-24 ppg and rebounding. Most of the games we lost were due to offensive droughts so we need to improve the production a little without losing too much on defense.