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WFU Hoops: '23-'24 Roster Construction Thread: +Miller, Sallis, Reid, & Canka

warak said:
I was reviewing Ituka's stats again...we think he will play PG? at Wake in the ACC?

at Marist he had an Ast/To ratio of 1.6/2.4.

seems like more of a SG or a poor man's Combo Guard...Cam might be playing some Point Forward again.
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The context is Marist runs one of the worst offenses in D1 hoops.

I'm sure others can expand upon that. It has been discussed before.
 
Jao can play off the ball some too as a slasher, but he's definitely a PG. He was ELITE at drawing fouls on defenders last year, averaging 7.4 FD per 40 mins (7th in the nation).

A 109 offensive rating as a freshman on 35% usage (4th most in the nation) is really good too.

I think Jao will be off the bench/change of pace, but he's got a lot of good skills that will fit in well here.
 
DeacsATS said:
The context is Marist runs one of the worst offenses in D1 hoops.

I'm sure others can expand upon that. It has been discussed before.
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i am sorry if i missed this discussion, would love a synopsis or whatever.

in his 6 games this year, it was more in line with his Marist numbers 0.8ast and 1.7to...that is in 8 minutes a game. quick math it seems like 6tos per 30 min?

i get that he was injured, but IMO we might need another PG
 
He played 51 minutes all year on a knee that basically prevented him from practicing, and ultimately I believe required surgery. My guess is it was difficult to get into the flow of the game without the practice time.

I don't think you can throw it out completely, but I wouldn't draw too much on what he did this year in those minutes.

Now on the flip side, I don't think Forbes is willing to stake his career at Wake on Jao being a replacement level ACC PG given the injury, and that's why Miller is now heading to Wake.
 
Pilchard said:
Don't agree. Think the staff views Miller as a three year starter. He had lots of options. Miller did not select WF to be 7th man.
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I think this has to be it. I mean Miller decided on Wake right away and he had good options out there and probably would have had more. No way Forbes and two assistants and Appleby's pitch was "come be our insurance PG for the rest of your eligibility."
 
well then, call me the devil's advocate...

we have not had enough ball handlers on the team for the last few years and we are putting all of our ball handling responsibilities on Miller and Jao, who neither played more than 6 games last year due to injuries. I think Miller is the real deal, but Jao is a huge unknown (looks like he can score). if one of them goes down, we are in worse condition than we were this year!

BRING IN ANOTHER PG!
 
I would be surprised if Forbes is OK going into next year with a younger guard that played at a KP 300+ team coming off a major injury as the lock starter without anyone else to push him, or at least play serious minutes. Thinking a grad transfer, hopefully, who has P5 experience.

If they think Miller is that guy regardless, then great. That just seems a lot different than the kind of guys we have brought in at PG so far. They must love him.
 
I feel like Jao was quoted as saying the staff told him something similar when recruiting in the portal, and then we still went and got Appleby. But we didn't get Jao until late April, so I think the early commit is definitely a strong indication of how the staff feels about Miller.

Boopie had 9 TOs against Marquette in 22 minutes in one of the four games he played last year, and followed that up with 5, but he did say he had actually hurt his foot before the season started, so yeah, not sure how to read that.

Anyway, seems a little risky to go in with your two pgs having basically not played the year before, but I guess we have to take some risks.
 
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I want to know how Boopie ended up at Central Michigan to begin with. A guy that has impressive mix tapes back to 6th grade and thousands of followers should have had other opportunities out of high school.

That's not me doubting his ability... There just has to be a story.
 
Both Ty and Alondes saw a huge spike in their Assist Rate when they came to Wake Forest. I suspect this has to do more with the type of offense we run (and their roles) compared with any change in their abilities. No reason Boopie (& Jao) wouldn't see a similar improvement.
 
NJDeac’22 said:
This is a more general comment and has nothing to do with Miller, but man the portal has turned student-athletes into commodities. It's crazy the way they are treated / talked about.
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in contrast to the previous recruiting process and NCAA marketing strategy?
 
DeacsATS said:
I want to know how Boopie ended up at Central Michigan to begin with. A guy that has impressive mix tapes back to 6th grade and thousands of followers should have had other opportunities out of high school.

That's not me doubting his ability... There just has to be a story.
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Agree.

Here are some fun facts:

  • CMU hired Tony Barbee in Spring 2021.
  • From looking at his 247 profile, looks like Boopie committed to CMU late... Spring/Summer 2021 after Barbee was hired.


Barbee had previously been the HC at UTEP and then Auburn through 2014. For the previous seven years between getting the ax at Auburn and getting the head CMU gig, Barbee was an assistant at Kentucky. Guessing that Barbee was familiar with Boopie based on his time at KY. Boopie wasn't going to get a KY offer, but after getting the CMU head gig, guessing that Barbee made some promises to Boopie (PT; let's build the program together) as it seems odd for a recruit from Florida to go the CMU that late in the process (and be better than the typical CMU recruit). Miller did start from day one as a freshman at CMU.
 
DeacsATS said:
Both Ty and Alondes saw a huge spike in their Assist Rate when they came to Wake Forest. I suspect this has to do more with the type of offense we run (and their roles) compared with any change in their abilities. No reason Boopie (& Jao) wouldn't see a similar improvement.
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Having Marsh making 90% of his shots and Damari hitting over 40% on threes will help those assist numbers.
 
NJDeac’22 said:
Miller will start. His freshman year was all around better than Jao's especially considering a significantly higher level of play in the MAC vs the MAAC, and they're both coming off of injuries that similarly probably could have had them back on the court before the end of the year but they both chose the medical redshirt option. My expectation as of now would be that Miller starts and play 30-35 mpg, and Ituka backs him up and plays alongside him for a few minutes depending on matchups. Something like 10-15ish mpg for Ituka.
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Counterpoint: two A's not just one
 
DeacsATS said:
I want to know how Boopie ended up at Central Michigan to begin with. A guy that has impressive mix tapes back to 6th grade and thousands of followers should have had other opportunities out of high school.

That's not me doubting his ability... There just has to be a story.
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I wonder if this happened to a lot of the high school senior class of 2021 since COVID fucked up their last AAU summer and their senior HS season.
 
DeacsATS said:
Both Ty and Alondes saw a huge spike in their Assist Rate when they came to Wake Forest. I suspect this has to do more with the type of offense we run (and their roles) compared with any change in their abilities. No reason Boopie (& Jao) wouldn't see a similar improvement.
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we caught lightning in a bottle twice...let's go for the hat-trick!
 
Pilchard said:
Agree.

Here are some fun facts:

  • CMU hired Tony Barbee in Spring 2021.
  • From looking at his 247 profile, looks like Boopie committed to CMU late... Spring/Summer 2021 after Barbee was hired.


Barbee had previously been the HC at UTEP and then Auburn through 2014. For the previous seven years between getting the ax at Auburn and getting the head CMU gig, Barbee was an assistant at Kentucky. Guessing that Barbee was familiar with Boopie based on his time at KY. Boopie wasn't going to get a KY offer, but after getting the CMU head gig, guessing that Barbee made some promises to Boopie (PT; let's build the program together) as it seems odd for a recruit from Florida to go the CMU that late in the process (and be better than the typical CMU recruit). Miller did start from day one as a freshman at CMU.
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Boopie's from Chicago, though, he only went to prep school in Florida. It still seems a little weird, but maybe all of it happening during Covid-times limited his exposure/recruitment?
 
Expect Miller at the one, Hildreth at the two and Ituka behind each of them. If Ituka and Miller have plus speed and quicks we might see a defense to take advantage of those skills and minimize their lack of size.
 
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