(04-24-2018 10:24 PM)Shooters Wrote:  

(04-24-2018 05:02 PM)Tigergary Wrote:  

(04-24-2018 02:20 PM)tigerjamesc Wrote:  Will we have more talent than last year? I think so. BUT our schedule will be harder. Bubble team?

OOC maybe. We just need to do real well in the conference which should be down. If we are top 3 we should easily be in. I think we will be top 2.

You guys do realize that recruiting is not even over yet, there will be transfers either in or out (or both) and y'all are putting us in very precise places in the conference standings. Carnac.

We are fans on a fan forum. It's what we do.

Honestly looking at the recruiting lists on 24x7 of last years team I am amazed that we won as many as we did.

Jamal Johnson was the best rated HS recruit on the team...Barely higher than DJ Stephens out of high school.

https://247sports.com/college/memphis/Sp...meRecruits

They got coached up...

Even on Pastners first team he had 4 guys rated higher than anyone on this team (Wesley, Willie, Mack and Williams)...And most of those guys were upperclassmen

I think we need to temper our expectations for next year as I feel we are setting Penny up for a big fall.

(04-25-2018 09:35 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  Even on Pastners first team he had 4 guys rated higher than anyone on this team (Wesley, Willie, Mack and Williams)...And most of those guys were upperclassmen

I think we need to temper our expectations for next year as I feel we are setting Penny up for a big fall.

It'll be nice having experienced senior players like Martin, Davenport, Brewton, and Thornton to help the talented new guys learn the game.

I also think/hope Parks will take a big step forward this season

(04-25-2018 09:55 AM)UofMemphis Wrote:  

(04-25-2018 09:35 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  Even on Pastners first team he had 4 guys rated higher than anyone on this team (Wesley, Willie, Mack and Williams)...And most of those guys were upperclassmen

I think we need to temper our expectations for next year as I feel we are setting Penny up for a big fall.

It'll be nice having experienced senior players like Martin, Davenport, Brewton, and Thornton to help the talented new guys learn the game.

I also think/hope Parks will take a big step forward this season

Oh I believe we should be better than last year without question but these freshmen are likely going to have some growing pains.

Maybe my expectations of Freshmen from the Pastner era are clouding my judgement but I don't expect these guys to set the world on fire early.

(04-25-2018 10:01 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  

(04-25-2018 09:55 AM)UofMemphis Wrote:  

(04-25-2018 09:35 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  Even on Pastners first team he had 4 guys rated higher than anyone on this team (Wesley, Willie, Mack and Williams)...And most of those guys were upperclassmen

I think we need to temper our expectations for next year as I feel we are setting Penny up for a big fall.

It'll be nice having experienced senior players like Martin, Davenport, Brewton, and Thornton to help the talented new guys learn the game.

I also think/hope Parks will take a big step forward this season

Oh I believe we should be better than last year without question but these freshmen are likely going to have some growing pains.

Maybe my expectations of Freshmen from the Pastner era are clouding my judgement but I don't expect these guys to set the world on fire early.

I think the best we can hope for is a repeat of the CC, Will the thrill, Joe Jackson freshman season where they didn't finish 1st but won the conference tournament.

My way too early prediction for next season is 4th in conference behind...
1. Cincy
2. UCF
3. HOU

Possibly a bubble team....Our conference schedule was kind to us this past season...odds of that happening again are slim

(04-24-2018 10:15 PM)macgar32 Wrote:  

(04-24-2018 01:46 PM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(04-24-2018 08:02 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  I am curious what peoples expectations are with this current roster.

I understand people felt Pastner wasn't a great coach but he had at least 4 (Most years 5) guys rated higher than anyone on this team this coming year.

I think to expect going to the tourney based on our recruiting class would be unfair.

I think the roster is not settled, and it could be final big pieces. Just based on the smoke that's out there.

Based upon the roster currently with maybe one more grad transfer add or big recruit...I've been thinking about this and I sort of compare it to Pastner's second year. He had a few experienced players in Witherspoon and Coleman. Then he added some key young foundation building players. I think that's where we are now. We just need that final big add to compare to Will Barton (maybe Jones is it).

That year we struggled in CUSA before the nice run through the conference tourney to qualify for the NCAA. The AAC is better than CUSA, so we may take some lumps. But NIT is certainly reasonable. Right now.

Pastner added 4 top 100 guys to that squad...2 top 20 guys.

If we can add Wiseman or a similar talent I would say it is comparable. But Penny would have to perform much better managing/coaching that talent in his first year than Pastner did in order to sniff an at large in the AAC.

That's why I said NIT rather than AAC at large. That team wasn't even an at large. They won the tourney to get in.

I also said we need one more "surprise" big recruit this year to compare (Wiseman, Brown, O'neal, grad transfer). They had some higher rated young guys. But they were young and we're also going to have solid young players. We will actually have better experience than that team had with Martin, Davenport, Parks, Thornton.

Oh well, it's my thougths anyway.

(04-22-2018 05:34 PM)ItsDude Wrote:  As of now?

5-Parks Jr./Maurice/Enoh
4- Davenport/Thornton
3- Martin/Jones/Hardaway
2-Harris/Brewton
1-Lomax

Lot of interchanging parts. Could go bigger with the starters...not sure who of the 3 in the back court would not start?

Wingett added to the 2/3 slots....we are set there. 4/5 a little slim....but that doesn’t seem to be as important as it once was...

(05-09-2018 08:32 PM)ItsDude Wrote:  

(04-22-2018 05:34 PM)ItsDude Wrote:  As of now?

5-Parks Jr./Maurice/Enoh
4- Davenport/Thornton
3- Martin/Jones/Hardaway
2-Harris/Brewton
1-Lomax

Lot of interchanging parts. Could go bigger with the starters...not sure who of the 3 in the back court would not start?

Wingett added to the 2/3 slots....we are set there. 4/5 a little slim....but that doesn’t seem to be as important as it once was...

I think A. Jones starts and Tyler is super 6th man

same minutes

(05-09-2018 08:32 PM)ItsDude Wrote:  

(04-22-2018 05:34 PM)ItsDude Wrote:  As of now?

5-Parks Jr./Maurice/Enoh
4- Davenport/Thornton
3- Martin/Jones/Hardaway
2-Harris/Brewton
1-Lomax

Lot of interchanging parts. Could go bigger with the starters...not sure who of the 3 in the back court would not start?

Wingett added to the 2/3 slots....we are set there. 4/5 a little slim....but that doesn’t seem to be as important as it once was...

Penny promises an uptempo offense and defense that will require great physical effort and heavy subbing. Plug and play......

(05-09-2018 08:32 PM)ItsDude Wrote:  

(04-22-2018 05:34 PM)ItsDude Wrote:  As of now?

5-Parks Jr./Maurice/Enoh
4- Davenport/Thornton
3- Martin/Jones/Hardaway
2-Harris/Brewton
1-Lomax

Lot of interchanging parts. Could go bigger with the starters...not sure who of the 3 in the back court would not start?

Wingett added to the 2/3 slots....we are set there. 4/5 a little slim....but that doesn’t seem to be as important as it once was...

If Maurice turns out to be a player and Thorton improves I think we will be fine at the 4-5 spots because Davenport will be good and likely get 30 minutes a game.

Ya'll are crazy, the Forum will be electric. We'll win a couple of games just because of the crowd.
I see us first or second in the AAC
Tournament here, hell, look what we did last year
AAC tourney champions, and well, we were picked fourth, so...
NCAA second round upset with Thornton and Wingett going nuts from 3
Sweet Sixteen YEAR 1 BABY!
Jeremiah Martin AAC player of the year
Brewton, Lomax, Harris have 15 fouls to give, they'll be 40 minutes of hell and then some, go ask Tony, he knows what to do. We'll lead conference, maybe nation in steals
And I haven't even mentioned Jones and Parks, have I? What about Davenport, he's not getting worse with Penny and Miller coaching him.

(04-25-2018 09:55 AM)UofMemphis Wrote:  

(04-25-2018 09:35 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  Even on Pastners first team he had 4 guys rated higher than anyone on this team (Wesley, Willie, Mack and Williams)...And most of those guys were upperclassmen

I think we need to temper our expectations for next year as I feel we are setting Penny up for a big fall.

It'll be nice having experienced senior players like Martin, Davenport, Brewton, and Thornton to help the talented new guys learn the game.

I also think/hope Parks will take a big step forward this season

The last half of the season, Parks played like a completely different human being than in the first part of the year. To me, it was the biggest transformation I've ever seen.