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Post by johneaztec on May 5, 2024 18:56:00 GMT -8
My exact sentiments. Addition by subtraction. I think Gwath will take advantage of his opportunities. Looking forward to it. I predict that Compton will start over Gwath Very well could be, so I'll add the prediction that Compton will take advantage of his opportunities, as well!!! |
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Post by standiego on May 5, 2024 19:03:37 GMT -8
Should be an interesting battle between the two of them at the 4 - thought there were reports that MG had a decent outside shot while Compton likes to play close to the basket
both of them could be difficult match ups for opponents
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Post by aztecking on May 5, 2024 21:07:15 GMT -8
Well it’s hard to assess without knowing the last transfer. If it’s a good player who is going to be starting at the 4 it could be a better team overall.
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Post by sdsustoner on May 6, 2024 0:57:09 GMT -8
I definitely agree that Butler was our biggest loss in the portal. He was the only one who had an elite skill set (defense). Parish was average everywhere and maybe a bit above average on defense. I wasn't bummed to see him leave. I think Byrd will be at least equal or better next year. Saunders hurts, but he should have been a much better rebounder with that body. Replacing Ledee's scoring is our main concern, but we became pretty one dimensional down the stretch when Waters got hurt and no one else could make a three. If Waters can return to his early season form and Boyd can get back to the 40% shooter he was before last season we'll be a pretty dangerous team. I'm optimistic next years team will be better than last.. One last comment. I hope Waters takes a cue from LeDee about working out in the offseason. Waters played more minutes in games than he ever had. He was effective as USC's 6th man, meaning he only had to play in spurts. Here, he just ran out of gas. He was playing on two bad ankles It was more of a wheel issue than one of gas. His game started slipping as soon as he hurt the second one |
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Post by aztecanthony on May 6, 2024 6:45:01 GMT -8
One last comment. I hope Waters takes a cue from LeDee about working out in the offseason. Waters played more minutes in games than he ever had. He was effective as USC's 6th man, meaning he only had to play in spurts. Here, he just ran out of gas. He was playing on two bad ankles It was more of a wheel issue than one of gas. His game started slipping as soon as he hurt the second one Waters will be very good next year once he’s healthy. Magoon and Compton, we haven’t seen either yet but they appear to be completely different players which should complement one another. I expect Compton will start at PF since he has more playing experience, but I hope Magoon develops quickly and gets more minutes from Jones, Compton, resting. Once we see the final transfer portal pick up, probably a versatile wing, we’ll have more depth in our bigs. I’m very optimistic about our guard depth, I think it is most likely the best ever, could be poised for another deep March run. |
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Post by LostAztec on May 6, 2024 7:01:16 GMT -8
So the majority of the dust has settled (I think), with who’s coming and going for SDSU men’s hoops. Here are my thoughts now that the surprise of players leaving has left. Parish: I’m fairly impartial here, he was a solid contributor for us but I definitely wouldn’t call him a game changer. If he proved to be a 40% 3 point shooter this would be a big hit but his consistency just wasn’t there. Loved his heart, though, had an attitude that I didn’t see in a lot of our players last season. Butler: It always stings to lose a 4 year player, especially one that left it all out there and always played the right way. It’s hard to pass up an opportunity from a place like Kentucky, though, and I could see him having a decent season there, but I don’t see him being a focal point by any means. Question I have for all of us…if he didn’t hit “the shot”, would any of us had expectations that he was actually an NBA level talent? I never saw it myself, just doesn’t have the skill level to be a guard in today’s NBA. Think of how hard Malachi has had it, and he and Butler are on completely Different levels. I do like Coach Pope, and I hope Lamont has a great super senior season at UK. Saunders: again, it stung a little because we did see flashes of a really good stretch 4 at times, and there was a lot of reason for optimism for the future. It sounds like personal stuff played into his decision to leave, as well as the arrival of a touted fresh at the 4 spot that he’d have to contend with. This clears the deck for Compton to come in and get his growing pains out of the way early and get the freshman jitters hopefully in the rear view by conference play. Would love it if Saunders would have been a 4 year guy, but that’s just not the reality these days. Boyd: I liked his game against us in the ‘23 final 4, plays with an edge and a confidence that fits the mold of an Aztec player. Hope he can shoot upper 30% from deep and average 3-4 assists a game. Curious to see if he plays more of a combo role with BJ sure to see more PT at the point this season. Coleman- Jones: Jaedon Ledee he is not, but he does bring a really solid skill set to the post, and I think his ability to stretch the floor as well as play back to the basket is a huge plus. From what I’ve seen he appears to be a really good passer. Which is something Jaedon was not. Once the guys build some continuity that aspect is a big deal. McKinney: The guy is a dog, and we need a dog. He’s a great replacement for Trammel, and has a little better size but plays with a similar chip on his shoulder, and has great confidence. He plays with a swagger and an edge which I like a lot. Great pickup. Overall I don’t know if there is a star in this group of transfers, but it’s very, very solid. We’ll have another good team next year. To be honest, we were way over-reliant on LeDee last year. Really hope for a more balanced offense this year. He was the only consistent scorer and rebounder we had. |
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Post by LostAztec on May 6, 2024 7:04:51 GMT -8
I am quite happy at landing Boyd, JCJ, and McKinney.
The late losses of Butler and Saunders took the luster off of the acquisitions.
It's time for the young kids to step up a year earlier than planned.
In Dutch we Trust
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Post by waxxon on May 6, 2024 7:52:37 GMT -8
As has been said before, it's addition by subtraction. With Saunders leaving the Aztecs lose someone with experience in the system, a 90% FT shooter, someone who has shown brief 3 pt shooting ability. So the Aztecs really didn't lose much other than potential. Other than experience and FT%, Heide, Compton and Gwath should be effective replacements, and it will be interesting watching their development. Losing Butlers leadership and D hurts, but overall the backcourt appears to be improved, and this is what makes a team go as evidenced by the Aztecs record vs other MW teams with strong guard play. Can't replace what LeDee brought, but a more balanced attack keeps teams from focusing on shutting down a LeDee or Bradley from the prior years.
Without having seen the 24-25 team play yet, I like what's shaping up. My prediction is Waters, Byrd, Boyd, Heide, JCJ, McKinney, Gwath, McKinney, Compton will have a better record in MW conference play than the 23-24 team
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Post by heuschele on May 6, 2024 8:08:37 GMT -8
You bring up some good points. And, yes, the future is uncertain and it will be interesting to see who steps up next season. As for some guys plateauing, yes, that's a thing. most college hoopsters make their biggest jump from sophomore to junior (which is why the xfer of Saunders stung.) I don't recall Butler getting blown up by anyone on D -- except maybe a couple of UConn guys. LeDee wasn't a big surprise for me, and probably a few other fans who were paying attention. He hit a clutch 12-foot jumper that put us into position for Butler's dramatic buzzer beater against FAU. And he was our second-leading scorer down the stretch that season in limited minutes. Here are his stats for for '23 MWC Tournament and NCAA Tournament games (I omitted a couple games in which he played only a few minutes.) wyo: 10 pts/8 reb, 19 min. usu: 13 pts/10 reb, 19 min. charleston: 8 pts./10 reb, 25 min alabama: 12 pts./6 reb, 18 min. FAU: 12 pts./8 reb., 14 min. I really thing Gwath is going to be a revelation. Looking forward to seeing him play. Hopefully, he'll be able to hold up to the pounding of college hoops. I went back and just looked at last MWC 12-15 games. In all but 3, leading scorer in those games was a guard. Here are some of them- House 28, Thomas 29, Anderson 16, Amery 17, Brown 25, House 22, Blackshear 22, Clifford 20... not sure Butler guarded all of them, but do remember him on at least half. And if he wasn't he should of been moved to the hot hand if possible? He had some great games , but I felt he had at least an equal amount of not so great games. Just showing examples and like I said, gave us 4 years, just maybe time to move on? Aztecs switch on screen until opposing player is scoring too much. This implies butler has a primary player but typically is not full time assigned to that player. I remember one game down stretch that we were getting torched by a player. They switched up to have butler fight through the screen. It helped. Butler is an elite on ball defender. His primary defensive responsibility is typically the oppositions best offensive player. The Aztec defensive success is in large part due to butler’s defensive capability. |
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Post by heuschele on May 6, 2024 8:29:54 GMT -8
One last comment. I hope Waters takes a cue from LeDee about working out in the offseason. Waters played more minutes in games than he ever had. He was effective as USC's 6th man, meaning he only had to play in spurts. Here, he just ran out of gas. He was playing on two bad ankles It was more of a wheel issue than one of gas. His game started slipping as soon as he hurt the second one Waters indicated multiple times that his ankles were 100% healed. No way to know if he was exaggerating, possibly to continue getting minutes. He certainly did not use the injuries as an excuse. However something seems to have impacted his shooting. Early in the season, off balance would go in, open looks almost always went in, over 40 FTs in a row to start the season. To not taking off balanced shots (did not mind this but it shows less confidence), missing some/many open looks, and the constantly declining FT percentage. Whatever the cause of the decline, we need the early season Waters and I am optimistic that we will get that player next season. Go aztecs |
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Post by docmm on May 6, 2024 8:56:42 GMT -8
As has been said before, it's addition by subtraction. With Saunders leaving the Aztecs lose someone with experience in the system, a 90% FT shooter, someone who has shown brief 3 pt shooting ability. So the Aztecs really didn't lose much other than potential. Other than experience and FT%, Along with Heide, Compton and Gwath should be effective replacements, and it will be interesting watching their development. Losing Butlers leadership and D hurts, but overall the backcourt appears to be improved, and this is what makes a team go as evidenced by the Aztecs record vs other MW teams with strong guard play. Can't replace what LeDee brought, but a more balanced attack keeps teams from focusing on shutting down a LeDee or Bradley from the prior years. Without having seen the 24-25 team play yet, I like what's shaping up. My prediction is Waters, Byrd, Boyd, Heide, JCJ, McKinney, Gwath, McKinney, Compton will have a better record in MW conference play than the 23-24 team Very brief. In the last 6 games of the season, ones that really counted, the full MWCT and MM, Saunders was 4-20 from 3, a robust 20%. Add that to the fact that he also wasn't getting his share of rebounds and his leaving doesn't feel that bad. The final three games of the regular conference season he was 9-17 from 3. Take away those three games and he shot 29% from 3 for the rest of the year. I was upset when he left but I think it was more that it was such a surprise and I had hoped he would become more of a real 4 on the boards next year and get to the line more also. But I think he is who he is and that's fine but I really like the Compton/Gwath combo instead. It's kind of like you're going out with someone that's Ok and you like them, but you're hoping it turns into something better. And you see other potential partners and think, "wow, maybe we'd be a better match", but you stay with your original partner anyway. But then they dump YOU and suddenly, they seem really wonderful and you miss them. But after you start dating again, you find people that seem to be much better suited to what you want and need. I wish him well but like our new options much better. |
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Post by Den60 on May 6, 2024 9:08:38 GMT -8
To be honest, we were way over-reliant on LeDee last year. Really hope for a more balanced offense this year. He was the only consistent scorer and rebounder we had. Yes, but I think we will be better next year offensively. Teams figured out that, to stop SDSU was to stop LeDee and he got fouled a lot though on the road his FT attempts were less than at home. |
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Post by 🥸 Hopeless Aztec on May 6, 2024 9:42:52 GMT -8
Aaaah heckk! We all have these same thoughts every year once the season is over. Then every season we have people step up and surprise us. Every year there has been a new "go to scorer" and we just win. I am not worried at all and just look forward to seeing who steps up. It will most likely be a combination of players this year. However, I still expect the same result and that is winning games.
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Post by Boise Aztec on May 6, 2024 10:25:28 GMT -8
Per 40 minutes (career)
Boyd 15/5.9/3.9 2.0 ast/to
Butler 13.2/4/4.4 1.5 ast/to
Boyd is a better scorer, rebounder and has a better ast/to ratio… maybe against lesser comp, but pretty comparable players and having a PG that can get off a screen and one who can hit FTs is a plus…
I could do the same for McKinney and Trammel, pretty similar shooters, Wayne is a better rebounder and DT is a little better passer, but WM is a much better defender, at least a few inches taller… I would choose Mck over DT…
JCJ is a better offensive player and rebounder than Saunders… a little TO prone, could be the team he was on… question will be about defense…
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Post by rockshow on May 6, 2024 10:35:37 GMT -8
If we had some rich booster who could step up and pay Arthur Kaluma (Seiko's brother) about a half million extra dollars in NIL for our last open schollie, and he could step in as a switch everything stretch 4 for us, then our team would no doubt be better than last year's...
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Post by aztec00 on May 6, 2024 11:12:10 GMT -8
As has been said before, it's addition by subtraction. With Saunders leaving the Aztecs lose someone with experience in the system, a 90% FT shooter, someone who has shown brief 3 pt shooting ability. So the Aztecs really didn't lose much other than potential. Other than experience and FT%, Along with Heide, Compton and Gwath should be effective replacements, and it will be interesting watching their development. Losing Butlers leadership and D hurts, but overall the backcourt appears to be improved, and this is what makes a team go as evidenced by the Aztecs record vs other MW teams with strong guard play. Can't replace what LeDee brought, but a more balanced attack keeps teams from focusing on shutting down a LeDee or Bradley from the prior years. Without having seen the 24-25 team play yet, I like what's shaping up. My prediction is Waters, Byrd, Boyd, Heide, JCJ, McKinney, Gwath, McKinney, Compton will have a better record in MW conference play than the 23-24 team Very brief. In the last 6 games of the season, ones that really counted, the full MWCT and MM, Saunders was 4-20 from 3, a robust 20%. Add that to the fact that he also wasn't getting his share of rebounds and his leaving doesn't feel that bad. The final three games of the regular conference season he was 9-17 from 3. Take away those three games and he shot 29% from 3 for the rest of the year. I was upset when he left but I think it was more that it was such a surprise and I had hoped he would become more of a real 4 on the boards next year and get to the line more also. But I think he is who he is and that's fine but I really like the Compton/Gwath combo instead. It's kind of like you're going out with someone that's Ok and you like them, but you're hoping it turns into something better. And you see other potential partners and think, "wow, maybe we'd be a better match", but you stay with your original partner anyway. But then they dump YOU and suddenly, they seem really wonderful and you miss them. But after you start dating again, you find people that seem to be much better suited to what you want and need. I wish him well but like our new options much better. I’m sorry you got dumped, Doc. Glad it worked out in the end. |
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Post by docmm on May 6, 2024 11:19:08 GMT -8
Very brief. In the last 6 games of the season, ones that really counted, the full MWCT and MM, Saunders was 4-20 from 3, a robust 20%. Add that to the fact that he also wasn't getting his share of rebounds and his leaving doesn't feel that bad. The final three games of the regular conference season he was 9-17 from 3. Take away those three games and he shot 29% from 3 for the rest of the year. I was upset when he left but I think it was more that it was such a surprise and I had hoped he would become more of a real 4 on the boards next year and get to the line more also. But I think he is who he is and that's fine but I really like the Compton/Gwath combo instead. It's kind of like you're going out with someone that's Ok and you like them, but you're hoping it turns into something better. And you see other potential partners and think, "wow, maybe we'd be a better match", but you stay with your original partner anyway. But then they dump YOU and suddenly, they seem really wonderful and you miss them. But after you start dating again, you find people that seem to be much better suited to what you want and need. I wish him well but like our new options much better. I’m sorry you got dumped, Doc. Glad it worked out in the end. Thanks for the empathy but she eventually came back to me, we got back together and then I broke up with her because while we were apart, I realized there were much better fits out there for me. I thought about that when I saw that for some bizarre reason, we were still in Saunders Final Five. But now that I'd had a chance for some more objective perspective, I didn't want him back either. |
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Post by 84aztec96 on May 6, 2024 11:22:23 GMT -8
Man, some life lessons going down on Aztecmesa!
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Post by aztecm on May 6, 2024 12:15:41 GMT -8
Not ready to give my final judgement on transfer portal moves until we fill that final roster spot. I do think we're going to feel our transfer losses directly on the defensive end, at least initially.
Boyd when healthy is advertised to be able to do a little bit of everything to impact winning on both sides of the floor. Excited to see what he can do for us. I think he's looked at as a DT replacement due to shooting, but with better height.
I think JCJ is great because he gives a different look to what Heide brings (based off last season) in scoring touch and passing. Hopefully he gets up to speed on Aztec defense/rebounding fast.
Mckinney is as good of a local kid fill-in as we can get for Lamont. But he's not going to be MW DPOY (more than happy to eat my words) and his scoring #'s I take with a grain of salt because he was one of the main guys at USD. If Lamont was in a situation to shoot as much in a lower conference he very well could have similar #'s. Happy to have him on board though.
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Post by longtimebooster on May 6, 2024 12:22:03 GMT -8
Man, some life lessons going down on Aztecmesa! I dumped a girl in h.s. once. She was a couple grades lower than me. Kinda cute and fun, but a little too tall and skinny for my liking. I was certain there were better fish in the sea. She was crushed, and I was kind of a jerk. Come to think of it, she's the only girl/woman I've ever broken up with. I've been the dumpee on couple occasions. Flash forward about five years, and I'm strolling down the main walkway at SDSU toward the bookstore and walking in front of me is what I can tell to be even from behind an absolutely beautiful woman. Tall, lithe, graceful, with long, silky auburn hair. I'm mesmerized. Finally, I slap myself out of my trance and veer off into the bookstore. I'm searching the stacks for a book I need for a class when I turn a corner, look up, and there's the auburn-haired goddess standing right in front of me, smiling. Then she says my name in a soft, low voice. I'm stunned. I shake my head in disbelief, squint for a second and then get walloped with a sudden realization. She's not just any goddess, but rather, the tall, gangly sophomore I dumped in h.s. I smile, laugh awkwardly, exchange pleasantries and tell her it's so good to see her, knowing full well what a d*ck I was to her five years earlier and hoping she'd somehow forgotten. Oh, she tells me, she was recruited to do some modeling her senior year of high school, but got busier and busier with it to the point where she moved to L.A. to be a model full-time rather than going off to college. She then spent four years traveling the world and had lived in N.Y. and Paris. But now she decided she wanted to take some time off to go back to college and earn her degree. I was flabbergasted. We continued chatting for a few minutes until I took out a piece of paper, wrote down my phone number for her, and asked her to call me, saying I'd love to go to dinner some time, catch up and also that I'd be happy to show her around campus or around town. Sure, she said, that would be fun. Never heard from her again. I'm pretty sure she approached me in the bookstore just so she could twist the knife a bit. Moral of the story: Be careful who you dump and when. You may come to regret it. More life lessons for the fodder on Aztecmesa. |
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