We should know about Ravern today

[Hump4Hoops]

<h6 style="font-weight: normal;" class="uiStreamMessage"><font size="2">Via facebook:
</font></h6><h6 style="font-weight: normal;" class="uiStreamMessage"><font size="2">Ravern Johnson: Heading back to school today to make my decision.</font></h6><font size="2">Which sounds to me like NBA isn't any longer part of the equation. Staying or going to Europe.</font>

 

[dawgstudent]

[No message]

 

[SallyStansbury]

I would love to insert Ravern at the 3 instead of Benock**

Curious what others think of the rest of the rotation?

<div class="scrolling"><div>I think if we play the following lineup to start the season, we will be decent:

Bost (35) / Beckham (5)

Steele (?) / Bryant (?) cross fingers here.

Benock (Just threw up a little in my mouth....?) / Turner (?)

Turner (30) / [Osby leaving kills us here early] (Lewis???10)

Kodi (35) / Bailey~Reik~Lewis (5)

Realist/Pessimistically I figure Baileyand Smith are eachtoast and won't contribute much at all.
The two new guys at the 2 have to come in and be able to contribute good minutes quickly. If they are better than advertised, perhaps we could slide one down to get some minutes at the 3 and allow Benock to spend more time on the bench. Either way we have some proven offense out of Kodi, Bost and Phil.
I think that if we prank around with trying to find too many minutes for Reik/Lewis (as well as Benock) early in the year we are screwed. With wholesale substitution patterns early "trying to find the rightrotation, etc...." we are going to be ******.We have to play make it or break it in these early games to get our win total up and not allow losses to marginal teams. Assume Sidney is ready @ game nine and all of a sudden wereplaceKodi with Sidney atcenter and moveKodi to power forward.Phil slides up to play 38 min per gameat3 almost completely taking Benock off the court or worst case, both of the new guys suck and Phil has to pick up minutes at the 2.

My statements largely revolve around getting the best players on the floor for the most minutes possible.

For some reason Coach Stansbury has a simplistic approach where we are two deep at each position regardless of talent level and the backup player has to sub in regardless of game situation or productivity of said player at predeterminedtime intervals. This statement sums it up pretty well for me and it makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

Here is hoping for something different after 12 years of the same.
</div></div>

 

[goldeneye]

We dont need him back. He's a cancer. /sarcasm off

 

[Hump4Hoops]

If we manage to get Johnson and Bost both back, and having Osby as our only non-graduating loss, the from last year would look like:

- Varnado
- Stewart
- Osby

+ Sidney
+ Bailey
+ Beckham
+ Smith
+ Bryant
+ Steele

Going from 8 deep to 11 deep will be night and day. And if Lewis and Riek have made any progress? 13 deep.

 

[patdog]

Not saying it's to the point where we don't want him back, but there's no doubt that there's both good and bad to him coming back. He's definitely a bad attitude and a cancer. Hopefully, he comes back and straightens his attitude out too.

 

[jcdawgman18]

But really, they were both really good games.

 

[dawgstudent]

[No message]

 

[Hump4Hoops]

I don't think we should throw Kodi into the 5 spot - we only did that last year because Lewis/Riek were very unprepared and we at least had Osby to add size then. Kodi's defense won't hold up for 9 straight games. It HAS to be Bailey's time to shine, if we expect to get out of our first 9 games with less than 3 losses.

I'll go ahead and predict:

1(PG) Bost - Beckham
2(SG) Steele - Benock
3(SF) Johnson - Smith
4(PF) Augustus - Turner
5(C) Sidney - Bailey - Lewis - Riek
Bryant - Redshirt

Although I would personally put Turner to the starting 2 spot, and move Lewis to the backup 4 spot, it won't happen. I could see Bryant playing some backup anywhere from 1 to 3 if Smith or Beckham isn't fully recovered, or letting Riley "Please don't give me the ball" Benock.start.

 

[mstateglfr]

Going from 8 deep to 11 deep will be night and day. And if Lewis and Riek have made any progress? 13 deep.

11 deep?!?!?! 13 DEEP?!?!?!?!??!?!

Are you kidding me? This is worse than your comment about how the bench this seasonwill be better than this year's starters.

 

[goldeneye]

We played our best game of the year the second time against Kentucky WITH Ravern. keep in mind the first game was at home and the second game was basically a UK home game with more on the line and we should have won that one. ravern scored over 20 points on over 50% shooting that game. I would even go as far as saying if ravern played the first time against UK, we would have won but I am blaming ravern for that loss and not Stans for benching him. Ravernmay not be a great team player but I dont think there is much chesmistry with that team without him either.

 

[Columbus Dawg]

people confuse bodies with depth all the time regarding our b-ball team. It's pretty funny.

 

[paindonthurt_]

It appeared to me he got along with most on the team.

Now b/t he and Rick? yes it didn't seem like they cared for each other. Guess what. It doesn't seem that any of his players like him. Not one ever looked like they paid any attention to what he had to say. Not one.

 

[goldeneye]

I agree and if yo ulook at Stan's best teams, the starters played 30+ minutes anyway. Depth is nice but we would be good with just talent in our 7 deep line up. If bennock is in our 7, we are in trouble.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

1. You don't bring in JUCOs to redshirt.
2. Steele will not start over four upperclassmen who could play the two (Ravern, Phil, Benock, Bryant.) It's even more likely that Dees slides to the 2 than it is Steele starting.

If Bost and Ravern are back it will be:
Bost
Bryant
Ravern
Kodi
Sidney
Phil will play 20ish minutes a night. Beckham and Benock less than 10. Bailey and Smith could get anywhere from zero if they still can't walk to as many as 15. Lewis and Riek will alternate playing 2 minutes a night every third game.

In typical Stansbury fashion, Steele will not redshirt, but will play so few minutes that we are wondering 10 months from now why we didn't redshirt him.

If they are not back, it won't matter what five we put out there because we will be so terrible.

 

[Coach34]

Turner too....all the drama that will ensue from a bunch of players that don't want to be here will be interesting, to say the least

 

[captaindawg]

talk players into staying when he was an assistant coach for Richard Williams? I was at MSU during the Williams time period and it seemed like we always had someone looking to transfer (Brad Smith, Vandale Thomas, Early Smith, Marlon Dorsey, Chancellor Nichols, Nate Morris, Quentin Smith...). Quentin Smith even decided to come back after Williams left. My understanding is that Rick was the "buddy" coach back in the day. I had forgotten about that until I started counting how many players actually left during that time period.

 

[paindonthurt_]

[No message]

 

[fishwater99]

<div class="comment_text"><font color="#3b5998">Hunter Brown</font>
<div class="comment_actual_text" id="text_expose_id_4be43da2d9d775dda38b7">just think about it ravern, come back for your senior year and average 20 points, improve what needs to be improved, and be a first round pick next year. you'll achieve your dream of playing in the nba and make way more money that way. good luck man i hope you make the right decision</div></div><div class="comment_actions">Yesterday at 2:37pm</div>