tl;dr - I think the big question I have is if Kam Craft is that #1. If he comes in close to that top 60 ranking he had out of HS, then I think we compete.
The longer version, I think the top 4 in the MAC is usually pretty comparable. Did Miami get better from last season: yes. Did anyone Miami finished above have an offseason that could push them above Miami: no. Did anyone Miami finished under get worse than Miami got better: yes. I would say we definitely passed CMU and BG to land in that top 4 group.
Breaking down the top 4 is tough. IMO, Akron lost most of their talent but picked up some unknown P5 talent. Toledo lost almost all of their top talent and landed Seth Hubbard as well as JT Schumate 2.0. I still donāt think it makes up for losing Maddox, Cochran, and Moss. Ohio is in a weird spot where they lost their top scorer and Iām not sure their second scorer will do well being āthe guy.ā
My rankings so far look like:
Akron
OU
Miami
Toledo
Things that could move us up further: Potter being healthy and bigger helping his production, Byers being strong enough to help rebounding, Skaljac being another player who can score on his own.
Agree overall. Canāt count out Kent Stāproven track record of always being top 5 consideration. Miami should be in running for top 4 this year if all remain relatively healthy. Potter in particular needs to be healthy from the get go and take a nice second year leap. Craft is the #1 guy in my opinion. He has the elite shot making ability that this team has lacked over the years. Talent and skill level has increased over the past two years without question.
I would agree with Jive. I think the season hinges on two things:
Craft being the guy, which is a little scary since we just donāt know (he didnāt play a ton for X and was hurt last year.)
And whether a couple of our sophomores take a jump. Iām thinking specifically Elmer and Ipsaro, but Potter too possibly. I think one of them definitely will. Elmer has massive potential. But we probably need more than one of them to make the leap to all-macish type players to be a top 4 team in the league.
Additionally if Skaljac could be a scoring option right away that would go a long way to solving one of our biggest issues from last year which was lack of perimeter creation on offense.
Might be worth noting, but Craft wasnāt hurt last season. His injury occurred during his freshman year, he had a successful surgery but worked with Miller to go the medical redshirt route to not rush back and save a year of eligibility even though he was on track to be ready by the start of the season.
I do think people are sleeping on Potter. He came in at the hardest position for mid-major freshmen with no offseason to get up to speed, played through injury, and ended up with more than respectable stats. Also pushed out an all-MAC incumbent for most of the season after he was eligible. Some cherry-picked numbers (percentiles are across all D1 centers): 78th in pts/40, 94th in 3p%, 90th in assists/40, 61st in dreb%, 60th in blocks/40, 63rd in fouls drawn/40, 93rd in assist%, 94th in usage%, 59th in ast/tov. A lot of those percentiles climb when looking at conference-only numbers as he got healthier through the year. He struggled with his lack of weight/strength at times, but based on the podcast Steele did, heās gained a good amount of muscle this offseason.
Elmer has a ton of potential and became one of the teamās best players towards the end of the season.
Iām pretty curious about how Kotecki has improved. He showed a lot of flashes, but some flaws were also exposed.
This is the most excited Iāve been for basketball in a looooong time.
More related to the thread, I do expect the last scholarship to be used. Unsure if we see an international recruit, a late bloomer showing out in AAU, or another transfer, but Iād be somewhat surprised if we start with 12 on scholarship.
My mistake. I thought the injury occurred last year. Either way he just hasnāt played a ton of competitive basketball in the last two years and weāre going to be relying on him quite a bit. Not that I donāt think he can do it.
On Potter, he showed real flashes last year. Clearly the skill is there and I think the rim protection is real as well. Itās more just the physical part of the game which as you said according to Steele he has taken steps to improve. Honestly his best attribute last year was his shooting from three. Excited to see what his ability to stretch the floor can look like with increased strength on the interior.
And to get back on topic as well curious what you think they should do with the final scholarship? Unless it is a true difference maker transfer Iād think theyād want to go the developmental route and take a freshmen. It would essentially be the last man on the roster.
You are clearly more plugged in to what is going on with the program than I am.
However, didnāt Coach Steele state that he was not a big fan of using up the full scholarship allotment of 13 based on the current landscape of college basketball?
Too difficult to keep that many players happy and engaged in the transfer portal era.
My only counterpoint to that is he gave one of the 12 schollies to a walk-on. I think that Steele and Miami are classy enough to āuseā all of the 13 scholarships because the program is funded fully in that way and we wonāt go cheap and just save $$. In other words, even if Steele only recruits 11 or 12, we will grant 13. I think we should be at 12 fully recruited players - that means using #13. Steeleās concern was with playing time - 11 recruited to truly play, a walk-on practice player, and a freshman that gets redshirted unless we incur a lot of injuries.
At only 11 with true D1 talent, a couple key injuries at the wrong position could spell trouble. Just my concerns - maybe I am alone on this.