Onward and upward

[Jacked_Up]

Time to look forward again. Here's a guess at the starting lineup for the first game of the 2008-2009 season:
1 - Clint Sargent
2 - Garrett Callahan
3 - Kai Williams
4 - Anthony Cordova
5 - Anthony Davis
Top reserves: Dale Moss, Mackenzie Casey, Michael Palarca, Josh Cassaday, Mark Engren
Redshirt possibilities: Griffan Callahan, James Radar
Other contributors: Payton Tivis, Brandon DeBoer, Troy Wipf
Biggest question mark: Thomas Bassett. He didn't play in the last game of the season against Centenary, even though the Jacks' big guys got in early foul trouble. Can't help but wonder what's up with him. Maybe he's hurt. Maybe he belongs in the top reserves category.

[thebluehatman]

Re: Onward and upward

Biggest question mark: Thomas Bassett. He didn't play in the last game of the season against Centenary, even though the Jacks' big guys got in early foul trouble. Can't help but wonder what's up with him. Maybe he's hurt. Maybe he belongs in the top reserves category.

If he can keep his mouth shut and not talk back to the coaching staff he will see some more playing time.

[SDSUJack3031]

Re: Onward and upward

If he can keep his mouth shut and not talk back to the coaching staff he will see some more playing time.

Sad.

But true...

[joeboo22]

Re: Onward and upward

I think Cassady is the dark horse.... I don't know the extent of his injury or how he will come back from it but BHSU's point guard (a good friend of mine) was his neighbor in Aurora and said he was one of the toughest and best kids he ever played against and playing in the denver burbs you play against pretty good talent..... we didn't see much of him this year but he looked good when he played.....

Sargent I don't like when he plays the point, I think hes meant more for the 2 guard spot, you ask good 2 guards and they maybe the best point guard on the team but they say it throws off there offense so they don't like to play the point......

Here is what I think on the team...

Callahan- he needs to get more consistent pretty simple he would have great games and then bad ones.... consistency

Williams- I think he needs to watch Hansbrough play and just try to be like Tyler.... I honestly think that Kai is more talented then Hansbrough I just think he needs to release that inter energy sometimes... he seems a little to timid at times..... His problem is when he turns it up he gets to many offensive fouls so he needs to be able to turn it up with out the fouls

Palarca- I think he needs to pick his battles.... he gets burned early too often and then is chasen the rest of the possession...

Sargent- I think he needs to shoot more often, or something I read his recruiting bio and he was tagged as a sharp shooter that can slash. maybe it was how we used him I'm not sure

Moss- He turned the corner later in the year, I think he needs to continue to work on his ball handling

AC- Control and shot selection he gets out of control to often and falls in love with the 20 foot jumper, I just think he needs to realize that we need him down low....

[joeboo22]

Re: Onward and upward

Time to look forward again. Here's a guess at the starting lineup for the first game of the 2008-2009 season:
1 - Clint Sargent
2 - Garrett Callahan
3 - Kai Williams
4 - Anthony Cordova
5 - Anthony Davis
Top reserves: Dale Moss, Mackenzie Casey, Michael Palarca, Josh Cassaday, Mark Engren
Redshirt possibilities: Griffan Callahan, James Radar
Other contributors: Payton Tivis, Brandon DeBoer, Troy Wipf
Biggest question mark: Thomas Bassett. He didn't play in the last game of the season against Centenary, even though the Jacks' big guys got in early foul trouble. Can't help but wonder what's up with him. Maybe he's hurt. Maybe he belongs in the top reserves category.

Can Griffen redshirt? I suppose he has another semester to do so so he might be able too.

[Just in the crowd]

Re: Onward and upward

Time to look forward again. Here's a guess at the starting lineup for the first game of the 2008-2009 season:
1 - Clint Sargent
2 - Garrett Callahan
3 - Kai Williams
4 - Anthony Cordova
5 - Anthony Davis
Top reserves: Dale Moss, Mackenzie Casey, Michael Palarca, Josh Cassaday, Mark Engren
Redshirt possibilities: Griffan Callahan, James Radar
Other contributors: Payton Tivis, Brandon DeBoer, Troy Wipf
Biggest question mark: Thomas Bassett. He didn't play in the last game of the season against Centenary, even though the Jacks' big guys got in early foul trouble. Can't help but wonder what's up with him. Maybe he's hurt. Maybe he belongs in the top reserves category.

Let me be the first to say, 20-8.

[bub94]

Re: Onward and upward

One of the things I liked about Clint's game is his ability to take his defender down on the box. At his height playing the point, he is guarded by smaller players alot. He did drive the lane during some games and it was effective. I would like to see him as the shooting guard. I thought Garrett did a good job his freshman year as the point and I don't think it hurt his shooting. Either way they are both valuable ball handlers.

I wonder if Griffan will have to sit out until the second semester next year to play?

[BTownJack]

Re: Onward and upward

I wonder if Griffan will have to sit out until the second semester next year to play?

That is something he and the coaching staff are going to decide. Griffan has 2 options:

1. Start playing Jan. 2009 and only play half of his first season. This means he would only get 3 1/2 years out of his entire career. This is the eariliest he could start playing since he has to sit out an entire year before he's eligible to compete for SDSU due to transferring mid-year.

2. Wait until the the fall of 2009 which means he will sit all of next year. Then he can begin his career withe the 2009-2010 season and have all 4 years of eligibility left.

The only thing else I can see affecting his decision is the 10-semester rule. That rule mandates you use all 4 years of your eligibility in 10 semesters. If that is true in Griffan's case then he will have to start playing Jan. 2009. But there may be an exception for him since he was red-shirting at a D-II school (UND) at the time he transferred. There are various transfer and redshirting rules that could trump the 10-semester rule and allow him to wait until the 2009-2010 season.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Onward and upward

That is something he and the coaching staff are going to decide. Griffan has 2 options:

1. Start playing Jan. 2009 and only play half of his first season. This means he would only get 3 1/2 years out of his entire career. This is the eariliest he could start playing since he has to sit out an entire year before he's eligible to compete for SDSU due to transferring mid-year.

2. Wait until the the fall of 2009 which means he will sit all of next year. Then he can begin his career withe the 2009-2010 season and have all 4 years of eligibility left.

The only thing else I can see affecting his decision is the 10-semester rule. That rule mandates you use all 4 years of your eligibility in 10 semesters. If that is true in Griffan's case then he will have to start playing Jan. 2009. But there may be an exception for him since he was red-shirting at a D-II school (UND) at the time he transferred. There are various transfer and redshirting rules that could trump the 10-semester rule and allow him to wait until the 2009-2010 season.

Wouldn't that basically mean Griffan had two redshirt years then? That doesn't seem right to me that he would still have 4 years of eligibility left.

[BTownJack]

Re: Onward and upward

Wouldn't that basically mean Griffan had two redshirt years then? That doesn't seem right to me that he would still have 4 years of eligibility left.

I agree...but you have to remember he is required to sit a year because he is transferring so it could look something like this:

Semester 1 (UND): redshirt
- transfers to SDSU
Semester 2 (SDSU): has to sit out due to transferring
Semester 3 (SDSU): has to sit out due to transferring
Jan. 2009 - Semester 4 (SDSU): complete his redshirt year or start playing - there is the question mark.

I'm not sure on all the rules so take the above for what it is worth. If I had to guess he will start playing Jan. of 2009 IMO. I know if I was 19 and was required to be out of competition for 1.5 years I would be ready to go ASAP.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Onward and upward

I agree...but you have to remember he is required to sit a year because he is transferring so it could look something like this:

Semester 1 (UND): redshirt
- transfers to SDSU
Semester 2 (SDSU): has to sit out due to transferring
Semester 3 (SDSU): has to sit out due to transferring
Jan. 2009 - Semester 4 (SDSU): complete his redshirt year or start playing - there is the question mark.

I'm not sure on all the rules so take the above for what it is worth. If I had to guess he will start playing Jan. of 2009 IMO. I know if I was 19 and was required to be out of competition for 1.5 years I would be ready to go ASAP.

I would agree, I bet we see Griffan playing in Jan. of 2009. Just because he chose to transfer, and has to sit out the year, doesn't mean he gains that back in eligibility. That is why you typically only see folks transfer that haven't had a redshirt year (i.e. Steve Holdren) as it doesn't force them to lose a year of PT. Unless there is a loop hole in regards to transferring from a D2 transitioning school to a D1 transitioning school, I would bet we see Griffan next year and he has three and a half years of playing time left starting in January.

[filbert]

Re: Onward and upward

I'm no compliance expert, but it seems to me from the NCAA bylaws that there's at least some wiggle-room for making the case that Griffan C. might be able to play the full season in basketball:

14.5.1 Residence Requirement -- General Principle
. . . In basketball, a transfer student-athlete who satisfies the applicable transfer requirements or receives an exception or waiver as set forth in this section, but initially enrolls as a full-time student subsequent to the first term of the academic year shall not be eligible for competition until the ensuing academic year.
. . .
14.8.1.2 Residence Requirement.
The one-year residence requirement for student-athletes may be waived under the following conditions or circumstances:
. . .
(d) On the recommendation of the Committee on Athletics Certification for a student-athlete who transfers to a member institution to continue the student-athlete's opportunity for full participation in a sport because the student-athlete's original institution, per Bylaw 22.3.3, is placed in a membership category that would preclude the institution's team in that sport from participating in postseason competition during all of the remaining seasons of the student-athlete's eligibility.

We might have to petition the NCAA for a waiver for him, or he may "satisfy the applicable transfer requirements." The water is made muddy by UND's move to D-I which eliminates Griffan's chance to compete in the post-season for the remainder of his eligibility, if he had remained.

I guess we'll see what happens . . .

[filbert]

Re: Onward and upward

I did some looking at the season stats for the Jacks this year. I think they're very interesting, and point at things the Jacks need to do better next year if they are to improve. I think they also show how close this team was to being a .500 team, overall.

First some general impressions, and gratuitous, un-asked-for and undoubtedly unneeded advice for the coaching staff:

Scott Nagy has, I think, a pretty good idea what needs to happen in the off-season for this team to come back as something more than the league's laughing-stock and whipping boys. Nagy needs to use his players better and smarter. He needs to cut Kai Williams' minutes down from 35 a game to 30 a game, and ask him to play more effectively during those reduced minutes. He needs to go deeper into his bench in order to do that, and to give his younger players the game experience they really need in order to develop.

Nagy and his staff needs to manage the game better, being more sensitive to the game flows and calling time-outs when the other team starts to get on a run, not after they've run off twelve or twenty unanswered points. Nagy needs to focus more on how the game is unfolding, rather than how individual players are performing. Nagy is a D-I head coach now. He needs to delegate most of the yelling at the players to his assistants, because concentrating so much on his players is, IMHO, causing him make mistakes in how he's managing the overall game. He needs to concentrate more on managing the game flow, working the refs, and being a leader on the bench. (Don't worry, I'll still let him yell at the guys if they really, really deserve it. )

To that end, Nagy really needs that third full-time assistant coach, to get him on par with the other teams in his league. Open your checkbooks, folks.

The Jackrabbits suffered in 2007-08 by inadequate guard play--read that as inadequate POINT guard play. The turnovers need to be reduced, the assists need to be increased. SDSU had over a hundred more turnovers than the opposition (459-384) and 30 fewer assists than the opposition (384-352). More experience gained the hard way at the guard positions will help.

The Jacks need to get to the free throw line more--opponents shot 633 free throws, the Jacks shot 414. The Jacks committed 600 fouls with 19 foul-outs, their opponents 577 with 12 DQ's.

Opponents blocked 106 shots, the Jacks blocked 70. But the Jacks did win the rebounding battle for the year, 34.8 per game vs. 31.9.

General shooting percentage allowed vs. shooting percentage made is 45.3% to 43.5%. Room for improvement there, but overall that's not too big of a difference.

The picture changes greatly however when you focus on 3-point shooting. The Jackrabbits need to shoot better, especially from 3-point range, and defend the 3 better, too. Their 3-point shooting percentage was 33.0% vs. 40.3% for opponents. Opponents shot 41 more 3-point shots than the Rabbits, 455-414.

To see how the 3-point shot hurt the Jacks, I went into the game stats.

Keeping everything else equal, I recalculated the final scores of the games the Jacks lost, by calculating what the score would have been if the Jacks had shot the same 3-point percentage as their opponents in each game. Seven losses turn into wins:
SDSU 92, UW-Milwaukee 89
SDSU 89, Centenary 90
SDSU 84, Minnesota 78
SDSU 74, CSU-Bakersfield 73
SDSU 110, Oakland 78
SDSU 71, IUPUI 70
SDSU 82, Centenary 69

SDSU's overall record would be 15-14 (7-11 Summit).

How much better would we all feel about a team that finished with a winning record and big wins on the road against UW-M, Minnesota and Oakland and a close win at home vs. IUPUI? THIS is how close SDSU was to being a winning team this year.

(Now, I did not look at SDSU wins and see if there were any games we won where our 3-point shooting percentage exceeded our opponent's. But since we won only eight games total, even if we gave a couple back by equalling ours and the opponent's 3-point percentage, overall it's still an area that the coaches and the team need to improve on.)

Nagy needs to "stop worrying and learn to love the Bomb," as Dr. Strangelove would have said. The 3-point shot is the great equalizer. You can win with physically less athletic players if you manage the 3-point game right. Many teams below the major conference level live and die by the 3-point shot. Right now we're dying by it.

If your inside game is suspect or just not very deep, as ours has been since the transition began, or if you just keep falling behind big in games, like we have done far too often, you need an edge. Our 3-point shooting HAS to improve, and our 3-point defense HAS to get better, too.

So: Guard the 3 better. Shoot the 3 better. Get stronger. Get quicker. Get smarter. Cut down the turnovers. Keep rebounding strongly. Manage games and players better, especially keeping your best player fresh and strong. Improve with the coaches and players we have right now, and more wins will come.

I've got more to say, focusing on individual players. I'll bet y'all just can't wait! (Don't worry, I'm staying positive--mostly.)

[filbert]

Re: Onward and upward

About the players. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I'll let the 2007-08 season go after this lengthy post. (And if you believe that . . . )

My predicted opening day 2008-09 starters:
1 - Mackenzie Casey (Sr.)
2 - Garrett Callahan (Jr.)
3 - Kai Williams (Jr.)
4 - Anthony Cordova (So.)
5 - Anthony Davis (Jr.)

Top Reserves:
1 - Michael Palarca (So.)
2 - Clint Sargent (So.)
3 - Griffan Callahan (RS-Fr.)
4 - Josh Cassaday (RS-Fr.)
5 - Mark Engen (Jr.)

The overriding themes are: get stronger, improve shooting, and play lots of hoops in the off-season.

Going from a lineup starting two freshmen, two sophomores, and a senior to one with a senior, three juniors, and a sophomore automatically means a more experienced team. That experience alone may be worth a couple of extra wins that we didn't get this year.

But everybody on the team has their work cut out for them in the off-season. With luck, they'll actually listen to people who really do know what they're talking about basketball-wise, rather than some guy who posts a lot on a discussion board. But here's my opinions which are, of course, worth every penny you've paid for them:

Nagy has really talked up Mackenzie Casey the past couple of weeks. I expect he'll start at the point, and be subbed primarily with Palarca. My gut feeling is that Casey will start at the point at the beginning of the season. If he's made enough progress with strength, ball-handling, passing, shooting, and most of all understanding Nagy's offense this year while wearing the red shirt, he might start all year long.

Garrett Callahan isn't a D-I point guard. I don't think his ball handling skills are quite where they need to be, and frankly, the duties of a point guard would take something away from Garrett as an offensive threat. He could be a very, very good off-guard however. A friend of mine notes that Garrett is not very effective at making his own shot, needing his teammates to work in order for him to get open--I think that's a valid point. Garrett has success when he drives to the hoop, so some additional strength work could augment that part of his game.

Kai Williams needs to come back dedicated to scoring 20 points and pulling down 10 rebounds per game. That's right. A double-double average should be Williams' goal next year. Even more than his rebounding, the Jackrabbits need Kai to score more. He's got First-Team All-Conference ability. He needs to channel that ability effectively, something that he seems to struggle with at times. He needs to get open, and his team-mates need to GET HIM THE BALL!!!

My prescription for the coaching staff for next year regarding Kai Williams is two-fold: first, cut Kai's minutes down from this year's 35 minutes per game to 30 per game, and make the rest of the guys pick up the offensive and rebounding slack.

Second, tell the team that Kai will take the first shot of each half, the first shot coming out of every time-out, and the last shot of the half and of the game. The rest of the team's job in those situations is to get Kai open and get him the ball, whatever it takes. (OK, I'll accept a successful assist for Kai in those situations, too, just to keep the opponents from mugging him more than they already do.) Kai's a guy you can build an offense around. I'm not sure the coaches have done a very good job of doing that, to the detriment of the overall team's success.

Anthony Cordova has all the physical tools, but doesn't seem to know what he's doing out on the court some (much?) of the time. I guess you could say he lacks a strong general court sense (aka the Centenary Tip-In--sorry to remind everyone of that). But dang it, it's hard to keep him on the bench because he's so physically gifted. He needs to spend about 2 hours a day in the weight room and about three to eight hours a day just playing basketball in the off season.

Fun fact: AC led the team in 3-point shooting percentage this year. Of course, he only shot nine times, but made four of them. He could be a very effective inside-out player in the Summit League, and potentially another all-conference type of guy. But he needs to play hoops, more hoops, and then some more hoops, and just work on his court sense.

I don't really know anything about Anthony Davis, but he needs to come in and take the starting center spot from Engen--or at least compete against Mark hard enough to make both of them better players. I've heard that he's more of an offensive threat than Mohammed Berte was. I hope so--we need enough of an inside game to help open up the perimeter for those 3-point shots I think this team needs to ultimately succeed.

Palarca has a better court sense than Cordova but my prescription for him is the same--hit the weights and play a LOT of basketball in the off season. He'll see a lot of minutes at the point, either behind Casey, or moving into the starter's role.

Clint Sargent could very well start, but like Garrett C. I don't see him as a superior D-I point guard, but as potentially a pretty good off-guard. If he improves his ball-handling, gains strength, and plays one-on-two with the Callahan boys for about four hours a day, he'll come back a much better player next year.

Griffan Callahan is a real wildcard. Reports are that he matches up well physically with Kai Williams. If so, he'll be a gift to SDSU from the basketball gods, who have generally not been kind to the Jackrabbits since we moved to D-I. Griffan is said by some to be a real bulldog. That's great, because what this team really needs is a combination of Kai Williams' ability and Michael Loney's intensity and focus. If that's what we have with Griffan, he'll make an immediate impact. If he matches up with Williams like I've heard he does, his most useful attribute might be as a motivational tool for Kai Williams--play up to your considerable abilities, Kai, or Griffan goes in for you. With luck SDSU will get the waiver to let Griffan play from day one, but even if he was held out until after the fall semester ends, he should have a positive impact.

I'm a Josh Cassaday fan, based on the little I saw of him early this year before he got hurt. He struck me as having good court-sense and a pretty darn good shot. If he can come back stronger than he was the beginning of this year and hungry to make an impact, he will indeed make a positive impact.

Mark Engen could start. Towards the end of the year, he showed flashes of ability that give this Jackrabbit fan hope. He'll be an upperclassman next year, and it is time for him to raise his game and become a significant positive scoring and rebounding force for the Jackrabbits. The addition of Anthony Davis should push Engen, and Engen should push Davis as well. If the two of them can improve on the scoring and rebounding numbers of Beran and Berte this year, that will be an excellent sign for this team.

Dale Moss could start as well. Like all of the Jacks, he needs to add strength, and work on ball-handling. Additionally, if he improved his mid-range jump shot, he could broaden his offensive threat beyond the slashing layups (of which we need to see more of--even if it's penetrate-and-dish to Williams, Garrett, or Clint). If he could as well add the occasional 3-pointer to his offensive repertory, that would really make him a much more complete player.

Thomas Bassett frustrates the heck out of me. I'm pretty sure, having watched him (occasionally in the games but mostly on the bench) that Thomas Bassett also frustrates the heck out of Thomas Bassett, not to mention the coaching staff. I kind of like Bassett--I'm rooting for him to succeed. The team could certainly use him on the court--his size, and his basketball ability. What the team doesn't need is his excess, uncontrolled emotion. He needs to learn to play under control and do the things he can do, and avoid trying to do things he can't do very well. It's time to become a man, Thomas Bassett. He needs to learn control, or get used to a spot at the far end of the bench (or somewhere else, on somebody else's bench). I wonder if he wouldn't benefit from a redshirt this coming year.

I think, for roster balance purposes, you absolutely have to redshirt incoming freshman Rader.

I don't see much court time for Payton Tivis, Troy Wipf, or Brandon DeBoer. But having decent practice players is necessary for the starters and top substitutes to continue to improve.

The Jackrabbits should be better next year. I don't know how much better, though. Maybe only one or two games better, maybe eight games better and contend for a winning record. Maybe the guys will kick serious butt this year with their strength and skills training and really surprise everyone in the Summit League.

It's all up to the guys now--if they work hard on the right things, I think all of the Jackrabbit Nation will be pleased with their improvement.

Wait 'til next year!

Go Rabbits!

[fabio208]

Re: Onward and upward

Maybe I watch too much of the NBA but I really really( so badly it hurts) want to see someone step up and shoot the ball. It seems like everyone is just scared to shoot sometimes. Kai is our number 1 player and needs to shoot it more. I know hes a great guy and the ultimate team player but sometimes you just need to be selfish and shoot it. Same with the other guys, just not as much ha Another thing is I want to see dunks. Why have the ability to jump so high to just go up and lay it off the glass ALL THE TIME. I wish someone would throw it down once or twice during the course of a game. DUNKING the ball gets the crowd going and the players and can often be a game changer. I do think our team will be better next year and I am already excited because I am a huge bball fan and sports fan for that matter. Go JaCkS!