(11-29-2017 08:56 PM)hiroshimacarp Wrote:  isabell followed up the worst crunch time shot in drexel history with the greatest crunch time pass in drexel history.

we had a transfer from central wyoming on the floor with him. let that sink in. i hope he reads this, proves me wrong, and becomes a beast.

Honestly I didn't see a best player on the floor which is the problem. I'm having trouble watching these games online or jumping on the turnpike today instead of watching football because I'm sorting out what we're trying to do. I see a mixture of holdovers from the prior era, random transfers, and younger recruits. I haven't been too impressed with the recruits and those are the guys you would think are intended to be the foundation.

I hope I look back in a few years and say Coach Spiker made chicken salad of chicken you know what through good coaching...then found his recruiting niche. I'm fine with it being foreign guys or way undersized guards...for now...but at some point I'd like to see a sense of direction for how this thing is being built.

I think that was always the concern with Spiker and we talked about it quite a bit. We knew the style he wold play and knew defense would be lacking. What we were unsure of was how he was as a recruiter since Army is a totally different place for recruiting than just about anywhere else. At Army you have national appeal and really do not have to do very much as players come to you, recruiting any else you have to find the players you want and convince them to play for you.

I think Spiker has done a good job of recruiting thus far. The first year with limited time he got Kurk Lee, Kari Jonsson, Tramaine Isabell, and Troy Harper. These guys are all double figure scorers. Granted they all have weakness - less than stellar defense, bad attitude, homesickness - but still an impressive class at this level. Isabell needs to keep his head straight and develop some chemistry with Lee, but he is as talented as anyone we've had here in recent years.

The second class is Doles, Demir, Kararinas, and Perry. Perry seems destined for a red shirt and I think was expected to be a project coming in, but the others have shown they can contribute right away. At the mid-major level, big guys are usually going to come in raw and needing to get stronger and this group is no different, but I believe there is good potential here.

It is becoming clear what Spiker is trying to develop here. He wants guards who can drive to the hoop and big guys who can stretch it out the other way and shoot from the perimeter. The mid-range jumper that has pretty much disappeared from the Dragon repertoire (perhaps to the dismays of fans of guys like Major, Rashann, and Tavon). Let's see where we're at in a year or two, but for now I think recruiting has been as good as can be expected at this point.

His second class also includes Butler, the transfer from Navy. I'm actually not as worried about his recruiting. Army recruits around the country, so he should have more contacts, more geographically spread out with fewer of the constraints than what that program and conference placed upon his efforts. I also like the willingness to go with an international flare on the roster as well.

If we're gearing up for CAA play and claiming OOC W/L doesn't matter beyond implementing The System (there can be only one Process), I'd like to see Doles get more run. Other than Drake, he hasn't gotten more than 19 minutes in any other game. He's our best shooter right now, and I'd like to see if that continues through increased opportunities. His defense is not really any worse than most of our other guys (https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sch...r_poss::26) and I'd like to try and let him learn in game action if we're truly building up to conference play. Perhaps one of the blog guys could weigh in on the staff's thinking behind his usage.