I’m going to start a thread on Joe T. Check it out if interested in discussing him.
WVU guard Kerr Kriisa in the portal
- Thread starter RULoyal
- Start date
I’m with you but desperate times….and IMHO we’re there. I look at it now as post v perimeter players and we need more perimeter players. I’d rather have the most talented players rather than a 6-5 who can’t keep up in the B1G. I watched Mawot defend the five successfully when we beat OSU last year, heart and talent > height. I want talent, I’ll flex the systems I run.
Toussaint is a tough, speedy, defensive guard who is not afraid to take the blame when things go wrong. Also, he's a good ball handler.
I don't know if Pike will pursue him, but it's foolish to think he wouldn't be a key contributor during the upcoming season.
I don't know if Pike will pursue him, but it's foolish to think he wouldn't be a key contributor during the upcoming season.
Yes, he can contribute, BUT, It comes down to what's the priority right now. And, it's for a Shooter.
And what quality shooter is available in the portal. Adapt or die
Yes, 1000%.....& there's more talent that's a long term solution available as well. There's more talent than available spots.
It isn't complicated....we have a true PG and 2 combo guards already and a star 4* SG in Griffiths....there's ZERO need to clog up minutes with another guard, who can only play guard.....and unless the player is an absolute no-brainer, I'm not taking another 1 year rental at PG....Kriisa simply isn't that good IMO.
The Joe Toussaint name makes more sense, but we already have Fernandes, so I'm not interested in creating more chaos and limiting minutes for Davis or Simpson. Fernandes is on board, let's move onto the 3 spot.
RU needs a 2/3 or a 3/4.....Ideally someone who can play multiple years or another 2023 or 2024 kid, who could reclassify back to 2023.
I have only heard of 2 names at a 3 or 3/4 & both names are a much better fit for what this roster needs.
We have Hyatt as a 3/4.....Chol, who is unproven and off a redshirt and Mag, off an ACL. The roster needs an athletic 3, who can defend a 2/3, grab some rebounds and play with toughness. And yes there are players out there who can do that, and also shoot 3s.
I am not interested in moving or playing Griffiths, full time at the 3 or wing, where I ask him to be the 2nd or 3 best rebounder AND 2nd best scorer behind Cliff. I would rather let him be a scorer, from the top of the offense and let his shooting range impact the offense, vs playing him more along the wing and baselines. He is a legitimate shooting threat and needs space to stretch the court and defense.
I'm not able to put any names out there, because I have no real way of verifying where the recruiting cycle is for those names. I leave that to Richie and the others to put out there.
I think all of this is 100% accurate....BUT I have more confidence in the quality of depth this year vs 2022-23.
Fernandes vs Mulcahy at PG....I think we have upgraded in overall playmaking, scoring and ability to play at a faster pace.
Griffiths vs Spencer....Griffiths, to me, will prove to be a much more dangerous and legitimate problem for defenses. We have upgraded here.
3rd guard is Simpson Year 2 vs Simpson Year 1.....I have to think Simpson sophomore year is better than Simpson as a frosh.
JMike vs Jalen Miller.....JaMicheal Davis, is extremely athletic and can defend at the levels needed as a 4th or 5th guard....Jalen Miller's defense was very good as a frosh, it wasn't as sharp as a sophomore.....and Davis is just a better player....
We have upgraded at guards 1 through 4 vs last year as starters and depth.
The concern is replacing Caleb's minutes, which is where the staff is looking now. A 2/3 where Caleb played, needs a similar athlete, who defends, gets steals, rebounds and gets stops. And we can find 70% of defensive player of the year Caleb and find some more scoring shooting. This is the hole that needs filling.
3/4 with Hyatt, Mag, Chol.....see above, we need improvements here with some athletic ability and scoring/shooting. Mag is going to miss the 1st batch of games in November and likely early December.
4 Hyatt/Chol/Mag/Woolfolk....I think the depth is better than this group with Oskar and Dean in the mix off the bench.
5 Cliff, Woolfolk as a soph and Ogbole as a better defender/rebounder, is just better with Cliff and Reiber and frosh Woolfolk.
We have better depth this season today vs last year. We need one more wing piece, that can play 15 to 25 minutes and defends/rebounds. Those players are out there and RU will fill that spot in the next couple/three weeks.
Hawk I have quite a few concerns with your analysis. First the recruiting profiles I read (rivals, 247, espn) have Gavin as a 3. Can he offensively play the two from what I’ve seen, perhaps. Can he defend the 2. I don’t think so. I can’t see how you can so easily say he’s an upgrade over Cam.
I feel you’re rushing Mawot back. Mid DEC to be full strength?? You have Aundre starting at the 3 and the 4. We have six core guys. Last year we got significant minutes at times from Cliff, Mawot, Paul, Cam, Caleb, Aundre, Derek, Wolf, Reiber, Palmquist and Jalen. That’s 11! Now can Chol and David surpass Palmquist and Jalen. Probably. But that’s only 8 players this year. We need to be better than last years team that didn’t make the ncaas. And what killed last years team was quality depth.
You keep saying the talent is in the portal. I’ve looked quite a bit at the portal. I far from share your optimism. You talk about long term solutions in the portal. The long term solutions are coming with 2024 recruiting. We need some 2023 mercs who can compete strongly at the P5 level. Other than the WVU guys I don’t see it in the portal. Your basic analysis leaves us with a down year win wise in my mind. I want one or two more talented portal pieces so we don’t have a 14 win season.
If we play Gavin and the 3, who is your 2nd guard?? If you are playing Simpson there, I am fine with that, but it is easier to create a mismatch, by having Griffiths do what he does best....shoot and score.
The same argument about playing Mulcahy at point guard is the same argument of playing Gavin at the 2.....just because they play primarily at 1 position on offense, doesn't mean they are required to defend the same position on defense. Mulcahy wound up playing the weakest offensive player on defense, when we had RHJ, Geo, Jacob, Myles etc....let him match up accordingly.....if the opposition wants to give their 5th best scoring option the ball, just to try and take advantage of Mulcahy, that's a win for the RU defense......same logic applies here with Gavin....he's not here to be an elite defender BUT he will make more plays than Spencer did. Spencer simply didn't make enough plays over a 30 to 32 minutes.....and if he didn't hit shots, his game didn't deliver anything else that impacted winning.
As much as I was not a fan of Jacob Youngs offensive game and high turnovers on offense, I knew that if Young didn't hit shots, he could impact the game in other areas. I see Gavin at 6'7", being a decent defensive player as he gets more experience.....but I'm willing to live with his mistakes and learning curve.....his upside is enormous IMO. Do I think Spencer in November is a better option than Gavin....?? Sure.....but by January and into the teeth of the schedule, Gavin is still going to be 6'7", with long arms and can help RU....Spencer simply isn't good enough at this level to get RU over the hump, as a primary offensive player. He is better off as the 4th or 5th option, which is where he'll land at UConn.
And don't limit the thought process that only Power 5/6 programs can provide a 15 to 25 minute a game player. We don't need a 1st option/star....we need a complimentary piece who doesn't slow the development of Simpson, Griffiths and allows Fernandes his 26 to 29 minutes at PG......and I am completely sold on JaMicheal Davis as well. Fans are underselling his talent and upside.
It’s been weeks since Cam and Paul have moved on and you continue to lecture us that we’ll find better replacements….we’re almost into July and you still have not been able to offer up 1 single name!
Lol.
You’re putting an awful lot of stock in a 6-8 freshman (Pike this week said Gavin is 6-8) playing “guard” on offense. That’s a huge leap of faith to think that he has the handle to play guard. He’s a pure 3 - probably the purest 3 we’ve had in a very long while.
I happen to agree with you that we need an athletic 3/4 to backfill for Mag’s recovery. But not because guard isn’t also a priority, but because — with only 10 guys on scholly right now (one of whom is a recovering Mag) — we need BOTH a guard (preferably SG but a CG will do too) AND a 3/4.
Kriisa is listed as a PG, but he’s really a CG who can play off ball and can shoot. You can never have too many guards who can handle and distribute, as long as you also have shooters.
As Janowski has said, you’ve been beating the drum for weeks that there’s tons of talent out there waiting to be scooped up. To quote Ted Knight…. “Well, we’re waiting!!!”
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I do like what you’re saying about moving Gavin around on defense but it still doesn’t make him a 2. He’s a pure 3. And yes, then that leaves me Noah and Derek at the 1 and 2. And I’m liking that…..but that’s why I say we’re scary thin there because are they going to play 40 mins each and never get hurt.
I think Davis will be good. And Gavin great even. But in years 2-3. They’re frosh and it took more than half a season for Derek and Wolf to adapt. Again the goal is to be better than last year. And I feel your reasoning “Davis > Jalen” is simplistic, doesn’t properly fill the positions and doesn’t highlight our glaring lack of depth.
Also I didn’t say it had to be a P5 kid, I said P5 caliber. Maybe it was a good hs kid who ended up at a mid major but I just don’t even see kids like that in the portal. All I’m seeing in the portal other than the WVU kids now is Deans Oskars and Jalens.
I wouldn’t. Tons of energy and effort. Gritty. Can shoot.
I think we need an above average defender more than what we’re going to get in a shooter right now. We’re probably not getting a lights out kind of guy this late. A Peter Kiss type of player isn’t going to help us.
Kerr Kriisa did not lose his starting role with Arizona.. I'm not sure where you got that from.
He started 34 out of 35 of Arizona's games this past season...The only game that he didn't start was the 7th to the last game of the season, and the only reason he didn't start that game was because it was senior night and Coach Lloyd started senior Matt Lang in that game as a senior honor. (Lang played 3 minutes before being replaced by Kriisa who played 34 minutes.). I'm not debating your desire to pass on Kriisa, but at least be fair in what you post to support your point of view.
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It's insanity that people keep saying this and probably needs it's own thread.
Ask people to actually define what they think the difference between a "2" , a "3" and a "4" are to see how dumb it is.
"Gavin is too tall for a 2" is just a jumble of nothing.
Was Paul "too tall" for a 1? (reportedly 6'7")
RHJ "too short" for a 4? (6'5")
Cam was "just right" for a 2 but too short for a 3 (so all those Paul/Cam/Simpson lineups were bad now)?
Luther Muhammed played in 4 non COVID years, 2018-19, 19-20, 21-22, and 22-23. He's not getting a waiver for the missed COVID year.
He's short though. We need a wing who can defend. 6'4 minimum ideally like 6'6/7
Agree with most of this but the problem if you want to play Gavin at the 2 and not the 3 is minutes distribution
Now you have Fernandes Simpson Gavin and Davis all splitting minutes for 2 spots. Davis as the freshman backup PG likely gets the least but that's still 80 min for 4 people
How do you divide those minutes up? Simpson to the bench?
Also, if Gavin doesn't play the 3 then we are really screwed unless we land a starting caliber 3 in the portal
The important difference between a 2 and a 3 for me is size defensively. Not really too relevant offensively, but a 2 should be a very strong ball handler to help with ball pressure. Your 3 ideally should be as well, but can get away with being solid. The 2 and 3 play on the wings so pretty interchangeable in half court
If you're 6'2 you are going to struggle to guard 3's in the B1G who are likely to be more like 6'6 or so. If you try to play a 6'2 guy at the 3 it's giving up size and length. It's going to give the other team a likely size mismatch and can hurt rebounding as well
If you try to play a 6'8 guy at the 2, foot speed and lateral movement are likely a mismatch when guarding smaller quicker 2's
There are obviously exceptions, but in general those are the differences and potential concerns as I see it. If possible, you want to shoot for a more ideal roster construction even if it's not the end all be all. Still need talent and to try to get your best players on the court, but you want to ideally play them where they are most likely to succeed. Some players have more flexibility than others
We saw this with Hyatt. Struggles guarding the perimeter more and was pretty poor at the 3. Moved to the 4 and he plays stronger interior defense and can rebound. Can guard the perimeter a bit but not matching up with more athletic 3's didn't expose him as much
It seems like you're saying 2 & 3 are the same, with the taller guy guarding the other teams taller guy. Which is pretty much what I was getting at by asking what is a pure 3, a tall 2?
Cam was a mismatch guarding smaller, quicker 2's but everyone still called him a 2 (I'll bet Gavin has better footspeed).
What if you play some zone, or switching man to man?
GG will probably be a better defender one day than Cam but experience matters with defense. Simpson will be better at defense than Cam too but as a frosh he missed assignments more than Cam. There’s usually a learning process on when not to sell out. We’re going to be very green on defense.
Ya your not making any sense.
GG is taller than Hyatt.
So does that mean GG is the 4?
What about Mag? Is he a 2 since he’s shorter and better defensively?
What about 6’5” PF Ron? Would he be a 2 next to GG?
The focus on these numbers is the problem. 2, 3 - they don’t mean anything.
If GG comes in and is great defensively - does he switch from a 3 to a 2 all of a sudden?
Or does he stay a “3” because he’s taller than Simpson? (Ignoring he’s taller than Hyatt but Hyatt can’t be a 3 even though he’s shorter. Now I’m getting confused…..”
LOL - exactly, it's a fun, albeit nonsensical game.
I wonder what Pikiell would say "ahh, 2, 3 what does it matter? you gotta defend, you gotta pass, dribble and shoot, who cares what number or position people say you are? you wanna say you're a 2? fine, you're a 2, now get out there and play"
don't worry, this board will soon find a worry replacement
Josh Eilert being made HC ( interim) for next season probably was done to stop the bleeding and not rush bringing in Huggins replacement .
Also gives this guy a chance to prove himself and stop any searching
A guy we look at last year from Pitt, went to UCF.
He's back on the market
www.sports-reference.com
He's back on the market
Ithiel Horton College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Ithiel Horton - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more
www.sports-reference.com
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