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Post by longtimelionfan on Dec 15, 2015 21:24:09 GMT -5
Winter,
One of the two early signees was Joshua Sykes from Fresno CC. Sykes is supposed to by 6'8" or 6'9" (that means you always use the smaller figure) and a very athletic. The story was CMD beat a number of Pac 12 schools and SDSU for him. And, by my count, there is still one scholarship available. I too hope that scholarship nets another big.
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Post by lmu2015 on Dec 16, 2015 10:30:10 GMT -5
We did beat out a lot of big schools such as the ones you mentioned as well as West Virginia and Memphis. I have seen some highlights of him and he has a build and the athleticism of Mornar (maybe even a better athlete). What interests me about him is he is listed as a G on the roster, but is under 60% from the FT line and 0-1 from threes on the season which means he most likely isn't a threat to score unless he is close to the hoop. I would guess he is like Mornar on offense but without the shot, but better ball handling and ability to drive to the basket. His numbers on offense really aren't that great, so I would also assume that he as a very good defensive player. As for other big guys we are recruiting, Kalif Young from Canada is probably our top target. He is 6'9"/6'10" and is described as a man child (listed at 250-265lbs). He has also been putting up some big numbers vs. elite prep schools, but according to verbal commits his only other offers are St. Bonaventure and Pittsburgh. Here is a video of him dunking: http://instagram.com/p/9j8LBMEKgsS6Y0R61qhpTTwMcibtOQBZK83pk0 We are also recruiting Thik Bol, who is a 6'7" community college center who is a shot blocking machine. He is as athletic and lengthy as they come. Here is his freshman year mistape at CC:
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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 16, 2015 20:11:59 GMT -5
pumpfake - thanks for the clarification on Jacko. Like Winter, I thought he sat out last year to work on academics but his bio clearly references back-to-back championships. So we have him only one more season.
Re Sykes, I was hoping he was more a player in the Zach Randolph mold rather than another Mornar without a shot. Recruiters saw his upside in their recruiting (must have) as his current stats are not impressive and I read that room to grow physically as well as talent wise.
Kalif Young looks like a handful and a good candidate for Dunlaps Fitness and Diet counseling.
This Thik Bol fellow certainly seems to play bigger than his 6'7" height - he's a leaper. If he can play defense without fouling, we could use him inside as our guys tend to get in foul trouble.
With only one scholarship still available, I could see Dunlap dropping one or more current scholarship players to bring in another (fourth) recruit if he finds the right player.
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Post by lmu2015 on Dec 18, 2015 21:12:55 GMT -5
Triple double for Sykes,
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WCC Watch
Dec 18, 2015 21:29:11 GMT -5
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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 18, 2015 21:29:11 GMT -5
10 blocks - that's a lot!
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WCC Watch
Dec 19, 2015 2:45:13 GMT -5
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Post by thx4leavinjimlynam on Dec 19, 2015 2:45:13 GMT -5
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Post by lmu2015 on Dec 19, 2015 11:54:46 GMT -5
A team with a 1-8 record banning themselves from postseason play... Wouldn't call that much of a punishment. The loss of the 6 scholarships is too bad, not to mention the players who will likely transfer because of this. They will have a very difficult time keeping their current commit and it will be almost impossible to get any others. This also hurts the conference with the bad publicity, and also how this just hurts the strength of the conference as this almost guarantees the WCC to have one of the worst teams in the country over the next couple years.
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Post by lmu2015 on Dec 19, 2015 12:27:46 GMT -5
Their one commit, Malachi Flynn, just reopened his commitment.
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Post by slblions08 on Dec 21, 2015 2:05:14 GMT -5
Two weeks ago I wrote this long thing and then my internet got jacked up and it got all deleted. I was depressed and never wanted to write here again.
Okay anyways, here's a little recap thus far.
St. Mary's
Right now, I'd have to say that they are the best team in the league. Yes, the Gaels are playing classic basketball and with a solid 8-1 record lead the conference. The only trick, however, is that they don't have a great win except for an ESPN midnight madness marathon blow out over Stanford. Last week, they came up against Cal who boasts two future NBA first round draft picks, and played them tough, losing just by 4. We don't know yet if they are top 25 worthy, but they have a shot. Emmett Naar and Joe Rahon make a tough tandem.
Gonzaga
They looked good early on. Although they lost a heart breaker in the Bahamas a top 25 Texas A&M team, they followed it up with a win over UConn. Then they lost to their nemesis Arizona at home in the Kennell. However, the bad loss was against a UCLA team, also at home. While I don't think UCLA is a bad team (they had just beaten Kentucky), I think Gonzaga needed to protect home court to solidify a top 25 ranking. Unfortunately for them and our conference, they failed at this and now dropped out of the top 25. If the WCC is to get 2 or 3 NCAA teams, Gonzaga can't fail like that against their non-conference opponents. At least they held on to beat Tennesse. Although without Cuonzo Martin, I don't see the volunteers anywhere near the tournament.
They have one decent game left against SMU in February which is a must win if they want to be taken seriously. Not having Karnowski has exposed their inexperienced backcourt. The graduations of Stockton and Pangos have been serious. Right now, I'd take St. Mary's in a close win.
BYU
The next team that should be representing us well, the Cougs, are also a mystery. They might be better than the other two at the top, but a bad loss to Long Beach State costs them. I know, that game was like at midnight or 2AM BYU time. I also know it was by 1, and LBSU isn't terrible. In fact, that must be Gabe Levin's second win over BYU right? But top WCC teams shouldnt lose to Big West teams. Now thus far their other two losses are to Utah and Colorado the new Pac-12 guys. At first, Utah was looking bad, but then just on Saturday, they beat Duke pretty easily at the Garden. Now their loss to Utah doesnt seem as bad on their resume. Their loss to Colorado might be forgivable if the Buffs can make it to the tourney. I see both Utah and the Buffs as bubble teams, so we'll see about BYU.
I don't see one dominate team out of this top 3, and it could go down to the last two weeks in February, and then a wild WCC tourney.
Okay, now the rest of us
Pepperdine is everyone's trendy top 4 pick, but they lost some questionable games during their non conference slate. Murray State is down and as is Drake. At fresno state isn't terrible, and of course to UCLA isn't bad either. I guess you could say that they won games they should have won and lost games they should have lost? Seems eerily similar to us.
LMU, well we don't need to recap ourselves, but if I had to say one thing, it's that games we should have won we did, and games we should have lost, we did.
San Francisco is probably everyone's next team in line. I hope nobody is paying attention, but Devin Watson is averaging nearly 20ppg. And he's only a sophomore which means they'll have him for three seasons including this one. Unless of course Rex Walters chases him off as well. They scare me the most.
The next tier has to be Portland and San Diego. Portland, who knows, also lost to Colorado State and Boise State, but those games were not as close. Meanwhile, San Diego is an extreme wild card. They beat San Diego State...but then SDSU went off and lost to Grand Canyon. Maybe Steve Fisher is getting too old. San Diego then lost to Denver.
As far as the bottom squad, it has to be Santa Clara even know they had a sneaky close game against Arizona. Now, I went to see LMU versus Fullerton where that Wooden Classic was played. What a small gym made me feel okay about Gersten. Maybe Arizona had problems getting up for a game in that high school gym. SCU is basically Brownridge. How does Kerry Keating have a job.
Finally, no team should be losing to Pacific this year. How sad, but their move to the WCC has been disastrous.
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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 21, 2015 11:28:07 GMT -5
Good analysis slb - no arguments with your ratings. I would add I think both Gonzaga and BYU have shown signs of being "beatable" this year. While the Zags pulled out a good win over Tennessee, the did manage to lose a 19 point first half lead, which they have tended to do this year. And BYU doesn't seem to have that killer player to carry them this season.
BTW, Pacific is favored over Santa Clara tonight - which I find surprising. Maybe Santa Clara is really bad?
Re your frustrated post, I have had the same occur to me so now I write them out in word first and then cut and paste onto Lions' Den in case there is a computer snafu. My blood pressure is down now.
Go Lions!
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Post by lmu2015 on Jan 3, 2016 13:04:01 GMT -5
After watching USF and Gonzaga last night, I think St Marys might be the best team in the conference. Devin Watson can flat out play and will be a first team all conference player for the next 3 years, we really screwed up not being able to recruit him (his high school coach for 4 years became our assistant). Playing vs USF will be a great test for us with their fadt tempo and ability to score. UOP already has more wins in conference than I thought they would and USD is the worst team in the conference.
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Post by vadlion on Jan 3, 2016 13:40:19 GMT -5
Watson is a stud. The guy can shoot and as quick. USF looked pretty good last night and I was impressed. They just could not hold it together. Gonzaga's maturity got them the win. Great game. We may have trouble slowing down USF. They can score in bunches. We will need to see if our defense shows up.
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Post by slblions08 on Jan 4, 2016 16:22:03 GMT -5
ESPN's Joe Lunardi released his first Bracketology today.
Has Gonzaga pegged as an 8 seed Has St. Mary's as a 10 seed
BYU has a Next Four OUT, or one of the top 8 teams to not make the tourney field.
Seems pretty fair.
Meanwhile Gonzaga's Karnowski is out for the year with back surgery. Looks like he's going to seek a medical redshirt.
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WCC Watch
Jan 4, 2016 16:49:27 GMT -5
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Post by ALioninWinter on Jan 4, 2016 16:49:27 GMT -5
I agree. I think that's a pretty fair assessment. BYU, to make the tournament field, needs to dominate WCC play against the lesser teams and look real good against Gonzaga and St Marys. Both the Bulldogs and Cougars are under performing based on their available talent. Hopefully both teams can improve their cohesiveness and playing efficiency before March.
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WCC Watch
Jan 11, 2016 2:53:15 GMT -5
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Post by ALioninWinter on Jan 11, 2016 2:53:15 GMT -5
I watched the Santa Clara at San Diego game Saturday night. It was about as ugly as our game. Santa Clara has a few tools. San Diego has nothing. We certainly need to win both games against them.
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