I'm really not concerned about having too many point guards with the addition of Javi. Mays sounds like a great PG. Degand and Johnson are guys that reportedly can run the point, but are combo guards so they can play at 1 or 2. In Lowe's system, I'd rather have multiples point guards that can move over and play minutes at 2 guard than be SOL if one gets hurt or in foul trouble.

Does anyone really think Sid and Monte can't scout a good point guard?

3/2/2007 1:51:10 PM

personally you can never have too many good guards in the College game.

3/2/2007 1:53:18 PM

Javi is now a verbal commitment. Just saw that.. Welcome aboard.

3/2/2007 1:54:18 PM

Welcome Javi. Well he won't be too hard to spot/remember. He'll be the only hispanic player on the team.

3/2/2007 2:00:49 PM

Star ratings are for restaurants and hotels.

This kid can def. ball - he's got handles and good speed. Some evaluations cite him as having problems defensively, but we'll see how he pans out next year.

3/2/2007 2:04:57 PM

him, along with hickson, smith, thomas, and fells, ben, and costner with another offseason under their belt..I am very excited.

3/2/2007 2:07:50 PM

man, it's gonna be crazy to go from no depth to crazy (although young) depth next year.

3/2/2007 2:08:14 PM

can anyone post Javi's packpride article ?

3/2/2007 2:12:17 PM

^haha TWW almost got sued over that

3/2/2007 2:14:37 PM

C - McCauley, Hickson
PF - Costner, Smith
SF - Grant, Horner, Thomas
SG - Fells, Johnson, Ferguson
PG - Degand, Gonzalez

Harris will also be eligible next year, but I'm not sure how much time he'll see. I wonder if the two football players will stay on the team next year. Bartosz will probably be healthy, but who knows if he's going to transfer or what. Next years team will definitely improve a lot on this years record. We'll have a great mixture of experience and talent. PG play may be the only position where we may struggle. I have a lot of optimism for Degand, but he's still young and inexperienced. Hopefully Atsur, Towe, and Lowe have put together a "How to run the point for dummies" book/clinic for Degand, Ferguson, and Johnson this year.

3/2/2007 2:16:35 PM

this depth is shaping up nicely

if anyone has the PP article on Javi could you pm it to me instead of posting it

thats the easiest way

3/2/2007 2:18:58 PM

I still wanna see

C/PF- Hickson
PF/C- McCauley
SF- Costner
SG- Fells/Grnat
PG - Degand (maybe johnson later in the year)

3/2/2007 2:21:29 PM

Let's make sure Javi is a legal citizen of the U.S. though. We don't want another Grant situation.

3/2/2007 2:24:05 PM

the Prick Pride article really didnt say anything other than he gave a verbal and listed the roster for next year

3/2/2007 2:31:15 PM

Glad to see its pretty much a done deal for Javi next year. While we all would have liked to land Jai Lucas or Chris Wright, this may end up being a better move in the long run. Lucas and Wright have NBA scouts all over them already and Javi could fly under their radar (like Costner) for years.

I have faith in Javi because I have faith in Sidney. Sid and his staff are PG specialists and I think they stand as good a chance of making a star outtof a 3*** recruit than just about any other staff in the country. If he gets alot of PT his freshman year, then he will be a master of Lowe's system when he is an upperclassman.

Also I understand where alot of you are coming from on the T. Smith / Mt. Zion thing, but I think that is all a bunch of useless, fearful banter until I see something even remotely concrete about it.

3/2/2007 2:39:22 PM

All I've seen about this guy is he's quick. So was Mike O'Donnell.

Can he pass? Can he penetrate? Can he shoot? Can he dunk? That'd be some shit.

Anyone who's read a profile on him, help a brotha out.

3/2/2007 3:21:12 PM

^its all over the place
you must not be reading up on him too much

pretty much anywhere you look you can find his stats.

3/2/2007 3:52:13 PM

god i hope he can dunk. if he can he is perfect for us.

3/2/2007 3:53:01 PM

i hope someone can start over fells, i really don't want to see him starting next season - he is a turnover waiting to happen

3/2/2007 3:56:15 PM

I'll go ahead and answer my own question.

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=52114&Sport=2#videos

The videos free, but beware of the Nike commercial preceeding the highlights. The guy looks pretty solid overall. Doesn't seem as quick as I've heard, but seems to play under control and use some good moves to get into the lane. We'll see.

3/2/2007 4:04:35 PM

Well dammit, it played for me the first time. Now it's telling me I have to order Rivals before I can watch it again.

3/2/2007 4:07:25 PM

^^^ You want a new freshman to start over Fells who will be a Junior?

Fells is still improving you know? He is not THAT bad with the ball.

3/2/2007 5:23:11 PM

Grant will be starting over Fells. Grant won't be our PG...hopefully.

3/2/2007 5:50:01 PM

I hope so too. That would mean everyone else is complete shit.

3/2/2007 6:13:07 PM

^^^ maybe not a new freshman - ^^ yeah maybe if grant started over fells

ideally, i'd like to see: hickson, mccaulley, costner, grant, and degand/gonzalez

3/3/2007 12:13:01 AM

At the beginning of the next year, McCauley, Costner, Grant and Fells will all be starting. Besides earning that right this year, they will be also the most experienced of the bunch. Now later on in the season if any of them start to slack off then they will probably see their minutes go down. They'll probably see their minutes go down anyways just b/c all of our other players will have developed more as the season progresses.

3/3/2007 12:19:42 AM

^^ yeah right, dumbass. Hickson is coming off the bench, Fells is starting -- as it should be. Experience is more important in the college game.

3/3/2007 12:25:15 AM

^Wright, Lawson, Ellington?

3/3/2007 12:32:35 AM

^name the alternatives, faggot.

Furthermore, those three players' lack of ability to play defense is why they lose games and why they will have an early tourney exit. That's how freshmen roll.

3/3/2007 12:53:22 AM

alternatives? frasor, green (McAAs), thomas, miller, ginyard...they all have more experience than ellington and lawson, but they're not as good. and as for defense, i'm not sure about ellington and lawson but wright is nasty.

3/3/2007 9:41:17 AM

Quote :

"frasor, green (McAAs), thomas, miller, ginyard."

All of whom suck balls and couldn't hold Fells' jock. Hence, easily replaced. UNC's freshmen proving to be better than existing second string players is not comparable to our situation -- an unknown freshman replacing a proven starter.


And you are an idiot if you think lawson and wright are nasty on defense. They might have a few nasty plays that are negated by generally crappy defense the rest of the time. UNC loses games when wright doesn't rebound and guards abuse Lawson.

[Edited on March 3, 2007 at 11:06 AM. Reason : sdf]

3/3/2007 11:04:26 AM

I think Javi will be a pleasant surprise for us. It's exciting to finally have some PGs at State.

3/3/2007 11:36:02 AM

i wonder what the starting 5 is going to look like next season

3/3/2007 12:40:38 PM

^the same as it does now, with a different point guard.

3/3/2007 1:43:10 PM

At least initially, definately.

3/3/2007 2:21:32 PM

maybe a more appropriate question is i wonder what the starting five is going to look like at the end of next season.

OK, I'LL GUESS FIRST!

1 - degand
2 - grant
3 - costner
4 - mccauley
5 - hickson

3/3/2007 2:26:52 PM

And Degand will probably start at point over Gonzalez at the beginning of the season, since Johnson isn't eligible until after seven games or so.

^Hard to say at this point because we haven't seen the freshmen play. I do think Costner is better suited to the 4 than the 3, though, and Grant is a much better SF than guard.

[Edited on March 3, 2007 at 2:31 PM. Reason : ]

3/3/2007 2:28:44 PM

1: Gonzalez (25 min), Degand (15 min)

2: Fells (30 min), Degand (10 min) or Marques (10 min once elligible)

3: Grant (30 min), Thomas (10 min)

4: Costner (25 min), Smith (10 min), Hickson (5 min)

5: McCauley (25 min), Hickson (15 min)

Spare minutes for the rest.

3/3/2007 3:24:19 PM

Quote :

"Grant is a much better SF than guard."

in reality, though, he really doesn't play either.

3/3/2007 6:00:43 PM

Quote :

"It is believed that Lewandowski will be awarded a medical hardship/redshirt for the 2006-2007 season."

per packpride... i hope he transfers

3/3/2007 9:46:42 PM

Normally I would say let's wait and see what the guy can do

but as it is, someone is going to have to give up a scholarship after next season, whether by transferring, going pro early, or becoming a walk-on...

3/3/2007 9:48:36 PM

I just hope Javi can play as well as Greivis Vasquez for Maryland. Handle the ball, run the plays and get it to the scorers (Strawberry, Jones, Ebekwe). That's all we need.

3/3/2007 10:24:59 PM

I see a lot of optimism in here which I guess is good.

These recruits don't always pan out.

Look at our freshmen this year: 1) Costner: Great 2) Horner: Decent 3) Ferguson: Awful

3/3/2007 11:18:21 PM

Quote :

"i hope someone can start over fells, i really don't want to see him starting next season - he is a turnover waiting to happen"

you gotta be kidding me. for one, grant is way more of a turnover machine then fells is. half of fells' turnovers are off bad grant passes.

plus, he has way more upside being on the court than downside. he is streaky, but he will continue to get better. last year hardly even counts b/c he got such little playing time. other than practice he really had no oppurtunity for improvement.

i think he has regained confidence in his game and now has the ability to take over the game for us. now he just needs to work on being more consistant. i never really even considered him that much of a turnover problem, except when he was forced to play minutes at PG but you really can't fault him for that. he and grant aren't natural point guards so a few turnovers while filling in for an injured player are kind of expected.

bottom line, i like fells and what he brings to the table. i'm excited to see 2 more years of the guy.


and i think our starting 5 will be:

1) degand
2) fells
3) grant
4) costner
5) mccauley
----------------------

6) hickson (in for ben)
7) smith (for costner)
8) horner (for grant)
9) gonzalez (degand)
10) thomas (grant/horner)
11) johnson (after december)
12) ferguson (guard sub)
13) big lew (bench warmer)

we'll have the lineup to put together a really nice 8-9 man rotation and be able to handle injuries. i fully expect degand to start over javy for at least the first half of the season and probably longer unless javy just blows him out of the water from a talent standpoint. degand has been with us in practice for a whole year and will be far more comfortable running the point than javy at first. if javy takes the job it won't be until around february or so, or maybe the 2008 season.

[Edited on March 3, 2007 at 11:31 PM. Reason : ]

3/3/2007 11:24:13 PM

I think there is a lot of optimism also, but I think that it may be due to Sid. Sid knows what kind of character a player needs to help his team win big in the college game. He also knows what kind of talent it takes to make it in the NBA. When you've been around the best players in the world for well over 20 years, you should be able to spot the players that can ball and those that can't.

3/3/2007 11:24:48 PM

i like him too but he's gotta attack the rim more. he settles for too many jumpshots. the kid can jump out of the gym, i would hope he would use it to attack the rim more. that and he has to improve his defense. but that comes with time and teaching.

3/3/2007 11:25:48 PM

he has a good jumpshot too though

i do agree about him pulling up for a jumpshot inside of 4-5 feet of the basket, but other than that his jumpshot isn't bad. his FG% is 45% which isn't that bad for a guard.

he is streaky on defense too. he has held dowdell to a combined 25 points between our 2 games against va tech, and then in other games it's like he's not out there. i think the biggest thing he needs to work on is consitancy like i said. i'm sure having a longer bench to give him more breathers will help that some. also there will be more pressure to do well since we would actually have someone else to go to if need be.

we will finish in the top half of the acc next year and make the ncaa guaranteed. really i think we'll be better than that but i'll keep my guarantee on the conservative side.

3/3/2007 11:38:40 PM

ok so i know a few posts ago i said what i thought our 5 would be at the end of the season, but really, i think it'll be very situational. we lost to a few teams this year we should not of due (at least partially) to just not matching up well. this will more than likely not be a problem next year, especially come mid december. we can go straight up 3 guards, we can go real tall, whatever. we'll have enough guys to really give some different looks, which i think will be great.

3/3/2007 11:46:24 PM

scout appears to have included Javi to the class (but lists us at 19th, LOWEst with a 5 *) but rivals hasn't yet, any idea on how far, or if, we'll move up when they update?

3/5/2007 5:49:02 PM

I doubt Javi adds much to the rankings, since he's an unranked 3* on both sites.

Quote :

"the kid can jump out of the gym, i would hope he would use it to attack the rim more."

I agree, but I also like his pull-up jumper. We don't really have anyone else that can stop and take a midrange shot like he can.

3/5/2007 5:59:23 PM