2008-2009 Starting 5

Anything and everything that is UMass Minutemen Basketball.
UMASSalum
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Post by UMASSalum » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:09 pm

I have no faith in Bonner. He is the goofiest player I have seen play ball in a UMass uniform with rocks for hands. We don't need a 7 ft guy who thinks he can drill the three - we'll have enough threats from the outside. I'll give him that he looked OK on D last night against Koufos, but we need to recruit over him and get a legit bigman, or we are going to average like 25 rebounds a game. I'm OK with letting Groebe go (though I was a big fan of his early on in the year), and have a JUCO big man come in his place.

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xlgman
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Post by xlgman » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:09 pm

Bonner could be a factor next year but I just can't get past the fact that he frequently gets outrebounded by the floor.

He's good to have as a backup big man who can put a body on a 7 footer when needed and provide some scoring options when he is in there. I'm hoping he surprises us but no holding of breath from me.

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Quann
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Post by Quann » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:09 pm

I'm not exactly sure what the starting 5 will be, but assuming Ford stays here, 10 guys will be integral in this high speed offense.

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Post by jrdupe » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:20 pm

MikeUMA wrote:
jrdupe wrote:I don't think we'll lose much with Gaffney vs Milligan.
That's flat out ridiculous.
Not sure if I would call this ridiculous? If Gaffney starts, which he probably will, he will average 8-10 points which is not that far off from what Milligan did for the season...I agree that Milligan stepped up big the last month or so of the season but lets not kid ours, there were several games where Milligan could not keep himself on the court and was a non factor. Gaffney is not nearly as skilled offensively as Milligan is, but he plays with a lot of heart and that gets him a lot of loose balls and subsequent "garbage points" but it doesn't matter how you get 'em as long as you get 'em.

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MikeUMA
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Post by MikeUMA » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:22 pm

dallasminuteman wrote:I look forward to seeing what Gaffney can do next year
I see Gaffney getting slightly more minutes, his rebounding average will go up a little, his scoring average will go up a scosh, but I don't see his game being very different next season.
UMASSalum wrote:I have no faith in Bonner. He is the goofiest player I have seen play ball in a UMass uniform with rocks for hands.
You don't remember Jeff Meyer then :)
Sorry Jeff, nothing personal.
jrdupe wrote:there were several games where Milligan could not keep himself on the court and was a non factor.
Totally agreed there. Dante's biggest drawback was that he couldn't keep himself out of foul trouble, and if you're not on the court you're a non-factor.

In one of our earlier NIT games, maybe Syracuse, it was said on the TV broadcast that Milligan was leading the nation in number of foul outs on the season. I couldn't find stats to back that up, but I didn't doubt it.

umass21
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Post by umass21 » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:28 pm

ktabz16 wrote:my money is on glass playing the non-traditional 4 spot.

lowe
harris
gurley
glass
gaffney

ford's system doesn't like 2 interior offensive players.
That's good because in that lineup there would be 0 interior offensive players.

I think:
PG - Lowe
Wings - Harris, Gurley
PF - Gaffney
C - Pray that someone develops... Could be Bonner, though hopefully Wilcher or Lynch is a stud

I'm not nearly as high on Glass as everyone else seems to be. He's a nice one-dimensional player right now. I don't see him having the athleticism to become much more. Again, good, solid rotation player, but I don't think he's big enough to guard good 4's or quick enough to guard good wings. Hopefully he proves me wrong.

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Post by umass53 » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:35 pm

i think gibbs and gurley will definitely surprise us and be huge leaders along with harris and lowe.

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Post by umass1234 » Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:35 pm

I'm kind of disappointed Coach Ford didn't play the freshman more. Even in the blow out wins over La Salle etc. he didn't put them in other than Lo and Glass. Groebe played some but not much. I hope Glass improves more because he has a ton of potential to be one of the best in the A10 his sophmore/junior years.

78
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Post by 78 » Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:53 pm

1234: Right now, Matt Glass is a good spot up shooter from behind the arc. I do not know how you go from that to being one of the great ones in the A10 in the next few years. I like the guy a lot, but he has a long long way to go before you can start calling him great!
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Post by PintOGuinness » Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:03 pm

MikeUMA wrote:
UMASSalum wrote:I have no faith in Bonner. He is the goofiest player I have seen play ball in a UMass uniform with rocks for hands.
You don't remember Jeff Meyer then :)
Sorry Jeff, nothing personal.
Neither of you were around for the Wilbert Hicks era.
Word to your motha!

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Post by kdogg8173 » Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:16 pm

Without knowing how any of the big guys will turn out, I think its going to be a ton of full court press, even more so than this year.

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DEM
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Post by DEM » Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:48 pm

MikeUMA wrote: That's flat out ridiculous.

Maybe you haven't been watching the last couple months of this season. Milligan stepped up his offensive game in a big way. Gaffney gets his only points on putbacks, he refuses to shoot in any other circumstance.

Last night Gaffney got a touch in the middle of the lane, with no OSU defender near him, and he kicked it out to the perimeter. He's not a scoring threat and all of our opponents know it. Milligan did not fit that bill.
He won't be the scoring threat Milligan was, but I think it's very possible that Gaffney could work on his shooting this off-season and markedly improve his offense.

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Post by throwdown » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:01 pm

Why is everyone so high on Glass? Is it just because he's from VT? I don't get it at all. He's ok, but a projected starter, if he is, that's not good for Umass.

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Umass89
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Post by Umass89 » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:11 pm

DEM wrote:
He won't be the scoring threat Milligan was, but I think it's very possible that Gaffney could work on his shooting this off-season and markedly improve his offense.
Assuming he's 100% healthy, I think Gaffney can be an important part of next year's offense as a transition scorer. I would agree he may not have the best scoring instincts right now (confidence?), but his athleticism could make him a real threat on the break.

That said, I'm in line w/an earlier post:

C - Gaffney/Bonner (...hit the weights big guy! Knock people around in there)
PF - Lynch/Gaffney
SF - Glass/Gurley(?)
SG - Harris
PG - Lowe
Llewelyn Moss: Is uh, Carson Wells there?
Anton Chigurh: Not in the sense that you mean.

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Post by Rudy » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:11 pm

throwdown wrote:Why is everyone so high on Glass? Is it just because he's from VT? I don't get it at all. He's ok, but a projected starter, if he is, that's not good for Umass.
Because he's proven he can get the system, work hard in practice, do the little things and earn playing time, something highly touted recruits like Lang and Groebe couldnt.

Its not so much about being high on Glass as it is overrating new players. Ever since the mid-nineties, this board is full of fans who overhype new guys. We all love to dream. The next new big name is always exciting, but really, how many impact Freshaman or first year guys have there been. They never seem to play 'D'.

Glass has a year under his belt. He'll play within system and play defense and he is coachable.

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