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WFU Hoops: '22-'23 Roster Construction Thread: +Ituka/Carr/Appleby/Bradford

PhDeac said:
Yeah. Less accomplished and more of a work in progress. I'm not crapping on the class. I think last season's class would be hard to top.
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And I'm not necessarily saying this will be in line with that. Acc poy and second team all acc is hard to top. But I trust them to identify what skills they want in players to make their system work. How to fit the pieces together. Sometimes the sum will be greater than the parts.
 
DeacsATS said:
Last year’s crew definitely more experienced, but not sure they had racked up a ton of accolades (aside from LaRavia).
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Monsanto also was SoCon FrOY and 3rd-team all-conference. Ituka has the most similar resume, although I'd say Monsanto's eclipses his.

LaRavia was 2nd-team All-MVC and doesn't really have a good comp. Carr is the closest, but his All-Tourney team performance isn't as impressive.

Sy and Walton were established guys on solid or better teams. Appleby seems to fall in that category. I would have put Alondes here pre-season, but we all know how that turned out.

Bradford is the biggest unknown of any of those guys, but if last year had never happened, I feel like everybody here would be thrilled to get him.

Hopefully Klintman is next. High school recruiting still needs to improve, but it's hard not to be pleased with Forbes's work in the transfer portal and internationally.
 
PhDeac said:
Yeah. Less accomplished and more of a work in progress. I'm not crapping on the class. I think last season's class would be hard to top.
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Can we all just remember that last spring people had a lot of question marks about the transfer class? Someone repost Pilchard’s assessment of Alondes as a one dimensional dunker. Dallas had no knees as far as I could tell.

This group seems like it fills a lot of needs. Forbes knows how to assemble a roster. I’m not a sunshine brigader, but I also think there is a lot to be happy about here.
 
ipitytheblue said:
So what's the case for Bradford?[/Fun fact about Bradford:

On February 23, 2021, K State beat Oklahoma 62-57. In that game, Alondes Williams played 6 scoreless minutes had one board and one TO; looks like Lon Kruger also massively misevaluated Man-Man . Brady Manek 22 minutes scored 2 points (1 for 7 from the field) and had 1 board.

For the victorius Purple Kittens of K State, freshman Davion Bradford had 13 points (6 for 7 from the field) and 8 boards (4 offensive). That year, the Big 12 was a super strong and deep conference (Baylor won the Natty; Cade Cunningham went #1 in the NBA draft), and Bradford had several solid games against really good and talented teams. He's got some potential.
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Cool, sounds good. I trust Forbes and Co., just didn't have time to do a deep dive past cursory season stats so was curious what I might look forward to.
 
PhDeac said:
Yeah. This is different though. Every other transfer under Forbes was coming into their 5th or 6th year or had some All-Conference honors. This group is less accomplished and more of a work in progress.
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On the flip side, this group offers the possibility of a bit more roster continuity, which I think would be good.
 
Esteban said:
On the flip side, this group offers the possibility of a bit more roster continuity, which I think would be good.
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Agreed. These guys will be able to grow together.
 
PhDeac said:
Agreed. These guys will be able to grow together.
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Unless one or more blows up like Jake and goes off to the NBA. That would be good news, good news, bad news situation.

Good news: some guys had stellar seasons. Leading to good news: Wake had another great year.eadi g to bad news: guys went into draft and replacements from the portal are needed once again. I'm ok with this scenario. Get more wins!
 
Bradford seems like a decent recruit. He has shown flashes and is large. He understands he needs to lose weight, get into basketball shape and will have a legitimate opportunity to earn minutes. I like the idea of two 7', 250 pound centers sharing the 5. They should both benefit from practice competition and improve as the season progresses. Center could become a position of strength.

Bobi Klintman has some skills and offers good size (6'9", 215 pounds) for a wing. A good fit for this team. Will visit this weekend.
 
Klintman looks awfully good. 6-9 can shoot from deep…. Def fits Forbes’s mold……. Says he down to 2: Wake and Seton Hall. Only has one visit left, and taking it at Wake.
 
Let's be honest

Let's be honest guys, this team as constructed won't be able to guard. I'm expecting a bottom 4 finish. This team has no wing defenders. It's going to be a s*%* show.
 
I’ll disagree. It’s typical Forbes recruit offense and teach defense. There will be a lot of competition for playing time. The guys who step up on D will get the lion’s share of PT. A guy like McCray who is crazy athletic may step up. Forbes was very honest that he loves the kid, but he didn’t step up on D, which is not unusual for freshmen. Hildreth played with a lot of energy on both sides. There will be some spirited practices with the depth we now have. I’m sure we’ll find some guys becoming strong defenders. If they want to play.
 
We have 3 guards that will play bulk of the minutes at 6'1. Come on man. Bottom of the ACC period. None of the guys from last year besides Cam have no experience. Teams will shoot over us. Quote this - WE WILL BE BAD AGAIN. Forbes is not a magician. Last year team you had bigs that could stretch the floor, defense on the perimeter, rebounders, wings that could shoot. It could very likely be a 12 win season in my books. He will put a soft non conf schedule this year with maybe 2 teams at most that can hoop.
 
From the games I watched, our last season was not cut short by poor defense but lousy ballhandling and lots of lazy cross court passes that were easily picked off. Far too many turnovers per game to have made a serious run.
 
Even if we go with your assumption that Appleby and Ituka can’t guard, and Davien doesn’t come back or can’t guard the wings, there is still Monsanto and Hildreth with some size. And I expect McCray to take a big leap this year, and hoping Taylor does, too. Carr is likely to see a lot of minutes. We have options if we run into a hot shooting team shooting over us. But, yes, we were exceptionally tall last year. That’s just not going to happen often. Backcourt size may be a weakness, but no way this group finishes anywhere near the bottom. And the upside is very good with so many scorers.
 
Last year was a complete rebuild and Forbes did his thing. This year we still have some talent that is coming back and the transfer portal guys won't need to provide as big of an impact IMO. Looking for Monsanto and Hildreth to have a break out year and Marsh to step up his game.
 
I've gone from nervous to very excited about this year. If we can land Klintman, we have a couple solid Frosh recruits, bigger guys who can help for a few years. All of the transfers have the ability to be gamechangers for us. They all won't be (spoiler alert) but if 2-3 play well we have come away with a good class. We have some solid pieces remaining. The main thing for me, is Monsanto needs to step up and be the unquestioned best player on this team. His attitude needs to reflect that, and he needs to be the star that he can be.
 
Esteban said:
On the flip side, this group offers the possibility of a bit more roster continuity, which I think would be good.
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This, I really just want a core group of players that wear a wake uniform and get decent playing time for 2-3 years. I thought we would have Jake, Whitt, Monsanto, Hildreth for 2+ years and knew that Williams, Williamson, Walton were short term rentals. Whitt bombed out and Jake decided to see if he gets an NBA contract. It's hard to get excited with such massive roster turnover unless you're Duke or Kentucky and competing for titles. Sounds like we have a set of transfers with some eligibility but lower ceilings.
 
deacfan123 said:
I've gone from nervous to very excited about this year. If we can land Klintman, we have a couple solid Frosh recruits, bigger guys who can help for a few years. All of the transfers have the ability to be gamechangers for us. They all won't be (spoiler alert) but if 2-3 play well we have come away with a good class. We have some solid pieces remaining. The main thing for me, is Monsanto needs to step up and be the unquestioned best player on this team. His attitude needs to reflect that, and he needs to be the star that he can be.
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I don’t entirely disagree but I think that’s a massive ask of Monsanto. I hope he’s ready to be Batman but think it’s more likely we find success if has a running mate his caliber
 
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