UT Lawnghorn

What good bigman depth did we have in Shaka's first year? (Or 2nd year for that matter?) Our best bigman missed 20+ games and Ibeh, Lammert, and Cleare made up the rest of that "depth" You’re saying Ridley, Lammert, Ibeh, Cleare isn’t good depth? Lulz. The whole point of depth is that you can sustain an injury to your starting Center and it not immediately end your whole season. Plus, Ridley played most of the year and was a big part of our rating on D in 2015. If Sims went down this year, we’d be in a way, way worse spot than the 2015 team was when Cam went down.

Fiftgwfify (Fixed it for the guy who fixed it for you).

Not really. Houston was always a JAG and Porter was barely a 4 Star even though he had the Katy OL to trump up his film. There were better backs to be had at the time than those two.

The point was that I struggle to pinpoint actual teams we'll be better than because we'll once again be stuck in a big middle grouping of the Big 12 like last year. If we're in a middle grouping, then there's a good chance we'll do better than some and worse than others, so saying there's only one team I can identify that we're clearly better than and also saying I wont be surprised if we finish 6th are not inconsistent statements. I never said we'd finish 9th in the Big 12 only ahead of OU.

Lulz. What part of "I expect us to finish somewhere in the middle of that grouping" are you not understanding? If we're clearly better than 2 teams, clearly worse than 3 and finish in the middle of the rest, then that would be.... 5.5. So why would I bet they'd finish 7th or worse? You seem to be responding to words other than what I (or Camel) actually wrote tonight.

I'm assuming you mean 2016? Yeah, that's why I put the word "usually" that you quoted. Also, Allen > Sims, Cleare > Hamm/Hepa? Again, you've avoided addressing how terrible our front court depth will be next year because you know it hurts your argument.

Maybe I should've added Ok St to the list, but again, I was saying teams we could definitively say we should be be better than. I think we're in that middle group with those 4 or 5 other teams listed. We could finish at the top of that heap or the bottom. I never said we'd be worse than all of them. I expect us to finish somewhere in the middle of that grouping. I don't see how that's very pessimistic when you look at our performance the last two years. Again, we were tied for the second-worst record in the conference last year.

We've always had elite defensive rim protectors and usually good big man depth. We'll have neither next year. A fairly significant drop off should be expected. Go look at Shaka's history. He's had some bad defensive teams. It's not a lock we'll be good on defense next year by any means.

How is it not going to be significant? Bamba's 2017 defense >> Sims' 2018 defense. Sims 2017 defense >>>>> anyone we can sub in behind Sims in 2018. It's not just about plugging in Sims for Bamba. We have no depth behind Sims or Osetkowski. Seriously, who's our third best big man? Royce Hamm? A single front court injury or even just consistent foul trouble from Sims could cause major problems.

One again, you're backing off what he actually said because you know it's an untenable position. What you say above is not the same as what he said. He said we'll be better than those teams and have a chance of being better than KSU and WVU.

Again, he said we would be better than everyone but KU, KSU, and WVU and said we might be better than the latter two. That is a crazy prediction. Your simultaneous defense of Camel and softening of his position because you know it's an absurd take doesn't make sense.

I'm sure you will, but it doesn't really matter. We lose Bamba, Jones (who was our best player while healthy), Davis, Young, and Banks. 4 of those guys were rotation players for us last year. That's a significant loss from a team that tied for the second-worst record in the Big 12 last year. We can lose less than other teams in the conference and still not finish in the top 4 teams next year, let alone top 2 or 3, like Camel indicated. Not only that, but we have less depth than last year. Basically nothing behind Sims if he gets hurt, struggles in a bigger role or is often in foul trouble and not much more at the 4, either. I mean seriously, who's the backup for either Osetkowski or Sims? Hamm, Hepa? Neither of htose guys will be ready to handle a significant minutes load. None of those factors include our level of coaching. We're probably in the bottom 3-4 in the league in terms of coaching. So I'll say it again for you. It's insane to say that we should finish somewhere between 4th-2nd in the Big 12 next year, which is the position you've decided to take up alongside Camel.

fify

That's fine if you want to quibble over the semantics of "reloading," but we lose a lot from our team too and we are adding less immediately-ready talent than most, if not all, of those teams. I'm not saying all those teams will be great, it's more a reflection of our roster and coaching.

I don't have nearly enough confidence in Bocci to go this route, just look at what happened to us in the Big 12 tourney. I like pitching Shugart; don't take any chances on losing game 1.

1. You're focusing on what they lose without focusing on who they brought in. Most of those teams are reloading with transfers and JUCOs while we are bringing freshmen, most of whom aren't expected to be big time contributors right away with 1 transfer becoming eligible who's a pretty big unkown. 2. It's not crazy to say we might be better than 2-3 of the teams he listed (TCU, Tech, ISU, OSU, and Baylor), but to say we'll be better than ALL of them AND to say he's not sure on KSU and WV is fucking insane. Shaka has finished 4th, 10th, and tied for 7th with 2 other teams in his 3 years here. This will be his second-least talented team during his tenure. There's literally no reason to think that we'll we might be the 2nd best team in the conference. Our roster is not that talented and we sure as hell don't have the second best coach in the conference.

Yep. Because Kansas and Texas' rosters are identical outside of their two best players and the level of coaching is also identical. Jesus, you are a dumbfuck.

Yeah, Strong shit the bed on that position. Not to mention he was sitting a sophomore D'onta Foreman in favor of a clearly slow Jonathan Gray.

He did. Thank God that one worked out! Glad to hear Williams is in. He's got a ton of potential.

Would really be nice to get back in it with Higgins. He's a unique talent. He's visited campus plenty, so I'm not sure what effect this will have, but I guess it's better than not having him on campus. lulz.

Idk. Glenn's post at the start of last cycle about TCU signing a Top 5 class is pretty much right in Hamm's wheelhouse.

I was wondering how many responses it would take to get to this one. lulz.

Can I submit a write in for the Amarillo Nob Slobbers?

LaMelo was/is the better prospect. I think you may be confusing the two though, LaMelo was the one who scored 92 points in a game by cherrypicking and never playing defense.