Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

Do we have the talent at the end of the bench to play those players minutes? I don't think so. I'd rather the guys that are capable of playing at a high level play a high level of minutes. They are a great conditioned team for a reason.

IMO, this is a chicken/egg argument to a degree. They don't have the talent because they don't get experience because they don't have the talent because they don't have experience...

If somebody isn't capable of contributing, I completely agree that they shouldn't get minutes. However, if we are expecting backups to be as good as Nate/Tony/Dykstra and even Chad/Brayden/Taevaun, expectations are a bit off. Of course the backups aren't going to be as good as the starters.

[Kemo]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

During Brayden's RS Freshman year and Tony's Sophomore year they only averaged 11 and 15 minutes, respectively. I'd say that is pretty close to what Zach H. and Taevaunn would be averaging if they were healthy all year.

Player development comes from more than just games, as practice, weight room, and film room are all places of development as well. Out work and out perform your teammates in the latter three and the playing time will follow.

[Nidaros]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

The freshman are always the future. So lets hope Coach Nagy can keep them coming. Broman seems to be a flash and most of us are already Bromatic over this young man. Whether he plays next year does not matter in my mind. Eventually he will play and play very good bb.

[OldHare]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

If my memory is close, many of the players starting now have been contributing since their early days. These guys are a first big group that came and stayed as Jackrabbits. More than those that came before (and I would include Grif in the now group), this group is the foundation of the DI program at SDSU. Scott Nagy is the guy who sinks or swims with these players and it makes it hard for me to second guess his actions. HOWEVER, I am like many who have that deep desire to see a stable of players ready to contribute at a high and consistent level. The coach does not see this or he is more satisfied to play fewer and that is his job. It was not long ago that many thought Nagy was not able to bring the players we needed to compete and it was time for him to be replaced. Contemplating how deep is the bench is a much better problem. It appears that the student athlete that is recruited is more stable than 5+ years ago. Go Jacks!

The freshman are always the future. So lets hope Coach Nagy can keep them coming. Broman seems to be a flash and most of us are already Bromatic over this young man. Whether he plays next year does not matter in my mind. Eventually he will play and play very good bb.

[SkippyJack]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

The freshman are always the future. So lets hope Coach Nagy can keep them coming. Broman seems to be a flash and most of us are already Bromatic over this young man. Whether he plays next year does not matter in my mind. Eventually he will play and play very good bb.

I would be very surprised if Broman plays next year - Nagy likes to beef up his freshmen no matter their skill level - Donlan and Devine are both redshirts this year in order to gain much needed muscle - and they are 6'6" and 6'9" with great skill. Broman at barely 6'2" will definitely need to muscle up in order to be able to hold his own at this level. Bittle is playing this year because his body was more ready and because Nagy had no choice with the transfer of Zach M. Nagy needed to get Bittle some experience behind Nate this year because next year, he needs Jake to Be The Man. If you look at the Division 1 era, very very few freshmen get to play and their minutes are not overwhelming. Taevaun is one exception but I recall an interview with Nagy recently where he stated 2 important facts - 1)Prince's body was ready and 2) At almost 21 Prince was much older and the inference was that with age comes maturity. I don't believe that Nagy thinks the average freshman is ready to play D1 ball. I think he is probably right.

[bigticket1]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

Has anyone heard how Connor Devine is looking in practice ? I would guess he is getting pushed around a bit,but that should help in the long run. TV has talked a little about Donlan being a great shooter,but I don't recall hearing anything about Devine.

[rabbitfarmer]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

I would be very surprised if Broman plays next year - Nagy likes to beef up his freshmen no matter their skill level - Donlan and Devine are both redshirts this year in order to gain much needed muscle - and they are 6'6" and 6'9" with great skill. Broman at barely 6'2" will definitely need to muscle up in order to be able to hold his own at this level. Bittle is playing this year because his body was more ready and because Nagy had no choice with the transfer of Zach M. Nagy needed to get Bittle some experience behind Nate this year because next year, he needs Jake to Be The Man. If you look at the Division 1 era, very very few freshmen get to play and their minutes are not overwhelming. Taevaun is one exception but I recall an interview with Nagy recently where he stated 2 important facts - 1)Prince's body was ready and 2) At almost 21 Prince was much older and the inference was that with age comes maturity. I don't believe that Nagy thinks the average freshman is ready to play D1 ball. I think he is probably right.

Broman will play next year. Book it. I believe he is in the gym lifting 5 days a week and shooting at least 6 if not 7. He will get more muscle as he gets older but he is ready.

[Kemo]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

Broman will play next year. Book it. I believe he is in the gym lifting 5 days a week and shooting at least 6 if not 7. He will get more muscle as he gets older but he is ready.

Agreed. Broman is actually pretty well built for a high schooler, much moreso than Devine and Donlan (relative to height, of course).

[goon]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

Agreed. Broman is actually pretty well built for a high schooler, much moreso than Devine and Donlan (relative to height, of course).

I think if he plays at a high level AAU and does well and doesnt seem to be an issue I think as long as he is able to get after the defensive side of it the way nagy wants, he will probably play. also if he can shoot to help the offense would be needed but Nagy would be most concerned with how he plays defense IMO determines if he redshirts and or plays and or how much he plays.

[joeboo22]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

Red-shirting are more about need then want. With few exceptions, if you can redshirt a guy without needing him I'm guessing they will.

As far as the bench, I think they are more then capable. I think they will develop more minutes as the year goes on. Heemstra has seemed to have developed well, another guy who the coaches wanted to redshirt but couldn't because of depth. Horstman and Prince are good enough to get more minutes but have had linguring injuries. Horstman missing most of the summer and Prince with a toe injury that he is trying to play through. Nagy will have to go to the bench more as the year goes on, I felt like some of the guys were a little taxed towards the end of the year last year because of the lack of bench and I feel like more of a bench will be needed this year.

[goon]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

Red-shirting are more about need then want. With few exceptions, if you can redshirt a guy without needing him I'm guessing they will.

As far as the bench, I think they are more then capable. I think they will develop more minutes as the year goes on. Heemstra has seemed to have developed well, another guy who the coaches wanted to redshirt but couldn't because of depth. Horstman and Prince are good enough to get more minutes but have had linguring injuries. Horstman missing most of the summer and Prince with a toe injury that he is trying to play through. Nagy will have to go to the bench more as the year goes on, I felt like some of the guys were a little taxed towards the end of the year last year because of the lack of bench and I feel like more of a bench will be needed this year.

Lets face it though, heemstra needs to take the next step and be more then a roll player his jr year. next year probably will need to get into the starting lineup. He plays smart, really good passer, just needs to take that next step IMO in his game. Prince needs to figure out the flow of the offense. he changes the flow when he enters the game on the flip side i like how aggressive he is because a lot of the guys on this team are not agressive enough IMO. horstman I think it comes down to him totally buying into the defensive side of the ball. injury aside we know he is a good athlete and can probably score if give time with the offense but that is my guess is his D still is not where Nagy expects it to be to get meaningful minutes.

[filbert]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

You don't recruit guys you don't need--unless you're utterly incompetent. You recruit guys to fill holes in your lineup that you'll have in two or maybe three years--ideally.

If you've got a fully mature program, then you've got a rotation where you're replacing positions on the court on a regular rotation--as you've got an upperclassman carrying the load at each position, you're bringing in a freshman--if he's really, really good, he'll play behind the upperclassman, if he's not, you red-shirt him.

I don't see SDSU's program as fully mature yet, so players like Bittle play as true freshmen when ideally you would rather redshirt them their first year in college, let them learn the system and let them put on muscle and bulk. Of course, at programs of SDSU's low/mid major level, you might not get Bittles or Bromans if you don't tell them they'll play as true freshmen, so that's just another added complication.

[Andy Smith]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

Interesting perspective.

[Nidaros]

Re: Coach Nagy's take on the freshmen

To quote filberts signature:

I think we will be OK.