Give Robert McCray more PT

[Deaconblue]

The Portal is part of the new reality in college sports. Transfer players have immediate eligibility. No more "wait 'til next year." I expect to regularly see impact transfers arrive at Wake.

I see general categories of players.

1. Guys who weren't highly rated coming out of high school who explode with a little more maturity (physical and/or mental). Most of these guys are likely to be from non-P5 teams. Jake LaRavia and Damari Monsanto are guys in this category.

2.Guys coming off serious injury who want a fresh start and new scenery.

3. Guys whose playing style is not a good fit where they are, but Forbes and staff think will fit what they want to do. Probably bench guys at P5 schools. Also guys who have a coaching change at their former school. Example: Manman.

As high school players give Wake more attention, I expect fewer portal guys. However, any current coach who doesn't search the portal is handicapping himself needlessly.

 

[BacktoBack]

The Portal is part of the new reality in college sports. Transfer players have immediate eligibility. No more "wait 'til next year." I expect to regularly see impact transfers arrive at Wake.

I see general categories of players.

1. Guys who weren't highly rated coming out of high school who explode with a little more maturity (physical and/or mental). Most of these guys are likely to be from non-P5 teams. Jake LaRavia and Damari Monsanto are guys in this category.

2.Guys coming off serious injury who want a fresh start and new scenery.

3. Guys whose playing style is not a good fit where they are, but Forbes and staff think will fit what they want to do. Probably bench guys at P5 schools. Also guys who have a coaching change at their former school. Example: Manman.

As high school players give Wake more attention, I expect fewer portal guys. However, any current coach who doesn't search the portal is handicapping himself needlessly.

That's essentially what Forbes has said about his approach to roster management

 

[PhDeac]

Be curious to see if we ever get off the portal addiction. The instant fix seems to limit class signings and player development. Brave new world out there.

To be it’s the balance of hiring right out of college and hiring with some experience.

 

[bluefish]

Didn’t he play at just a regular public school in Raleigh?

I didn’t realize I was being controversial by saying ranked recruits play a lot of games with guys they don’t typically play with. That’s a basic fact.

I don't think it's controversial. I just wonder how much you think his years in Raleigh and his year at Brewster influenced his recruitment as opposed to AAU.

 

[PhDeac]

I think it's a common sense thing to say about the recruiting process and I'm not sure why you're trying to make it specific to Whitt.

 

[bluefish]

Not a big deal. It seemed to me that you were putting AAU above all others, when some recruits don't play AAU at all.

Not that I blame them considering how corrupt some AAU programs are.

 

[bluefish]

I think it was you who made it about Whitt.

I think that players are scouted for recruiting purposes more often in their HS and Prep games (with the same players) than any AAU camp.

So I guess I just disagree with your statement.

 

[PhDeac]

The thread is about Whitt. I made a general common sense statement about how prospects get noticed in camps that applies to Whitt and any other ranked recruit.

You seem really focused on AAU which is somewhat similar to HS/prep in that kids have teams although those teams change more often than a HS team.

I’m amazed that we are still discussing a one off statement that merely reminded us of something we all already know.

 

[bluefish]

And I disagree. You said "he made a name for himself" by showing up at random gyms and playing with people he didn't know.

I don't think that's how he made a name for himself. It's simple.

 

[PhDeac]

That’s how almost every ranked player makes a name for themselves. It’s a common part of the recruiting process.

 

[Pilchard]

For the L'ville game, Forbes took Whitt out of the rotation, but didn't play McCray either. He went heavy in with Cam (17 minutes) and little light on Monsanto (6 minutes). If the State is close throughout, expect the same.

 

[wakelaw13]

For the L'ville game, Forbes took Whitt out of the rotation, but didn't play McCray either. He went heavy in with Cam (17 minutes) and little light on Monsanto (6 minutes). If the State is close throughout, expect the same.

I expect to see more of Cam than Whitt from now on because he’s far better offensively and is playing tough defense. I still think Whitt has a role, but unless Davien is in foul trouble we won’t see much of him for the rest of the year. I do expect more PT for Monsanto. Only 6 mins was really surprising.

 

[BeachBumDeac]

If the State game is close throughout I’ll be pretty disappointed.

 

[Haros]

I expect to see more of Cam than Whitt from now on because he’s far better offensively and is playing tough defense. I still think Whitt has a role, but unless Davien is in foul trouble we won’t see much of him for the rest of the year. I do expect more PT for Monsanto. Only 6 mins was really surprising.

I was surprised by Monsanto as well, but after some thought my guess is it made some sense coming off his injury following by far his highest minute total to date — 31 against Clemson. He had 23 against Duke, and had been between 11-19 in all the other games since joining other than 8 against NC State.

 

[wakelaw13]

I was surprised by Monsanto as well, but after some thought my guess is it made some sense coming off his injury following by far his highest minute total to date — 31 against Clemson. He had 23 against Duke, and had been between 11-19 in all the other games since joining other than 8 against NC State.

Good point. I just figured we would see more of him when UL went to a zone. Speaking of which...

The next time we go up against a zone defense, I would really like to see Williams in the middle, with Monsanto, Jake, and Davien on the perimeter and Walton inside. ManMan has the most consistent mid range shot on the team, he's obviously the best driving, and he's our best passer. It's confusing to me that we haven't put him in that position, especially when Monsanto is an upgrade waiting to catch and shoot.

 

[scooter84]

I was surprised by Monsanto as well, but after some thought my guess is it made some sense coming off his injury following by far his highest minute total to date — 31 against Clemson. He had 23 against Duke, and had been between 11-19 in all the other games since joining other than 8 against NC State.

With Monsanto, Forbes could be playing a 'is he hot' game with his minutes. Monsanto seems streaky with his shooting. If he makes one early, leave him in and see how many he can get - if he misses his first two or three, maybe he doesn't get as many minutes...

 

[DCDeac]

Manman does a lot of things incredibly well for us, but stick him in the middle of a zone and you're asking for a season high in turnovers. He's got an outstanding midrange game, but his style is to go hard at the bucket, then pull up on some jumpers when he's got his defender on his heels. Passing out of pressure with his back to the basket has not been good for us.

LaRavia on the other hand is made for that role. Great passer, good midrange game, can see over the defense. I think Forbes summed it up best in the last presser, we're just not great against zone full stop. Our shooters are best in transition except maybe for Daivien but he runs very hot and cold. We get it to Jake plenty at the free throw line but our bigs just aren't the type of players to muscle inside a defender and throw down a lob like Duke did with Mark Williams when he threw down like 4 dunks in 3 minutes over the top of Syracuse. We're not a great offensive rebounding team against zones because we're kind of a rebound-by-committee style team.

This team has an established identity and a lot of older guys on it. Really doubt you're going to see Forbes make any crazy changes, start moving guys around position-wise, or start giving Lucas/McCray a bunch of playing time all of a sudden. Our guys know what to do against a zone - think it was Notre Dame who threw zone at us and Daivien immediately nailed two open corner 3's to get us going. We just have to execute better and hit shots.

 

[Complacent Deac]

Hildreth coming on now is big.

Marsh hustles, Curry is such a tough matchup for him (or anyone).

Sy will be back, hopefully for ACCT.

And McCray is a little loose with the handle, not real strong, but looks skilled and very quick every time he gets out there, understandably in the final 3 minutes.

 

[SC DEAC]

I'll be surprised if Whitt gets any non-garbage time meaningful minutes the rest of the season. Hildreth has passed him and I don't see him losing that spot. As for the garbage time the other night, Lucas Taylor was ....not good. A horrible shot, a turnover, and a blown assignment on defense that resulted in a layup. I know it was garbage time, but I was hoping to some potential there with him.

 

[wufu bufu]

LaRavia on the other hand is made for that role. Great passer, good midrange game, can see over the defense. I think Forbes summed it up best in the last presser, we're just not great against zone full stop. Our shooters are best in transition except maybe for Daivien but he runs very hot and cold. We get it to Jake plenty at the free throw line but our bigs just aren't the type of players to muscle inside a defender and throw down a lob like Duke did with Mark Williams when he threw down like 4 dunks in 3 minutes over the top of Syracuse. We're not a great offensive rebounding team against zones because we're kind of a rebound-by-committee style team.

This is what frustrated me the most at Syracuse. Jake was super timid. He showed vs. Louisville that he should absolutely be taking that 8-10 footer at the top of the key, but he kept dribbling back to the 3-line.

I think Cam also has a good drive & dish potential, and Monsanto also has a sweet ass mid-range that we might want to dip into.