KAEO: Greg Jones

[MikeUMA]

Built a page for Jones:
https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id=greg_jones

Jones shot an impressive .889 from the stripe in 2019-20 at SCSU. UMass hasn't had a free throw shooter at that rate since Rafael Cruz shot 9-10 in the 1997-98 season. If you expand the sample size, you'd have to go even further back. I stopped looking at 97-98.

Didn't put up stellar numbers at JMU. Best game was against a D3 school in the 2018-19 season opener.

[MikeUMA]

Other schools that have reached out to Greg Jones: Samford, UMBC, UNC Asheville, Sam Houston, Loyola Marymount, St. Bonaventure.

^ Where'd you see this? I saw something about other interested parties, but Bona wasn't one of them.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Other schools that have reached out to Greg Jones: Samford, UMBC, UNC Asheville, Sam Houston, Loyola Marymount, St. Bonaventure.

^ Where'd you see this? I saw something about other interested parties, but Bona wasn't one of them.

https://twitter.com/chasemt_/status/139 ... 72677?s=20

[Juice Stand]

Agree with Insider. Guys with a year left are really competing for minutes and that may help raise the bar for competition in practice. The added depth of a guy with some college experience can't hurt. Unless you can get an impact freshman big guy, not the worst option. Plus he seems like a smart, hardworking kid which can only help the culture.

...

Could be a nice TEAM they're developing if everyone buys in.

I don't know about all this culture business. I thought the group that looked like they were most invested and played for each other was two years ago, when the Woodstock boys arrived, and you also had guys like Sean East, Buggs, Samba Diallo, and they all looked from day one like they were together and vibing. That seemed like a special group.

How are the players that remain from last year (DD, Noah, Javohn, Cairo, Kolton, Preston, Dibaji, and TJ) going to mesh with the new guys (Buttrick, Jones, Kelly x 2, and Steadman)? You've got mostly older guys coming in for one final year, and a younger group of established UMass guys that in a lot of cases also played prep ball together and have built relationships. I don't know how the personalities and the culture will look, but to me it's not a lock that this will be an all-for-one one-for-all team.

[uz2b-len]

That's the coach's job. He accomplished Part 1, getting most of them to come back. Now we'll see about Part 2.

[Juice Stand]

I forgot to say in my post above that the most important ingredient in building culture is winning. People like winning, it makes them feel good. As opposed to losing, which makes people feel bad. If McCall can get some early W's and build momentum, then the culture will be pretty good.

Fair point Len. McCall built the roster, we have to assume he's pleased with it. Now go out and get the W's.

[Floyd]

Just my guess and personal opinion, but I'm not so sure there wasn't a little friction between some players and or coaches back then. A few players I didn't think were all that tight with each other

[Juice Stand]

Interesting. My personal take was that the players on that 2019 team were really tight, but there may have been friction with the coaches. Maybe I'm just thinking of all those times they were dancing and laughing during warmups. I think if that group had stayed together, there was real potential.

[inthescoop]

Agree with Insider. Guys with a year left are really competing for minutes and that may help raise the bar for competition in practice. The added depth of a guy with some college experience can't hurt. Unless you can get an impact freshman big guy, not the worst option. Plus he seems like a smart, hardworking kid which can only help the culture.

...

Could be a nice TEAM they're developing if everyone buys in.

I don't know about all this culture business. I thought the group that looked like they were most invested and played for each other was two years ago, when the Woodstock boys arrived, and you also had guys like Sean East, Buggs, Samba Diallo, and they all looked from day one like they were together and vibing. That seemed like a special group.

How are the players that remain from last year (DD, Noah, Javohn, Cairo, Kolton, Preston, Dibaji, and TJ) going to mesh with the new guys (Buttrick, Jones, Kelly x 2, and Steadman)? You've got mostly older guys coming in for one final year, and a younger group of established UMass guys that in a lot of cases also played prep ball together and have built relationships. I don't know how the personalities and the culture will look, but to me it's not a lock that this will be an all-for-one one-for-all team.

If we're talking about cliques off the court affecting the players on the court, we will never have a chance. Basketball is its own flow and language, you don't chose who you can relate to because they're your friend, but you understand each others game and basketball IQ. I don't care who is friends with who off the court, if they can connect and respect each other on the court, then that is all that matters.

[69MG]

I have spoken with 5 or 6 of my friends who follow UM BB regarding Jones. Granted none of them are scouts, but they are all avid fans and have a pretty good handle on college BB. Not one of them can figure out why we used the last slot on Jones. I certainly hope he plays great and makes me look foolish. Anything that helps the team is OK with me.

What puzzles me is that we couldn't find a freshman center to come in and have a year to learn while Steadman is here. Are we that bad at recruiting now that TB has departed? We had offers out to 3 bigs (Orogun, Phanor and Bryson). As far as I know, none of them have signed yet so it makes me wonder what happened.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

What puzzles me is that we couldn't find a freshman center to come in and have a year to learn while Steadman is here.

You mean, like... oh, I don't know... Brian Mathews?

[Battle Ax]

What puzzles me is that we couldn't find a freshman center to come in and have a year to learn while Steadman is here.

You mean, like... oh, I don't know... Brian Mathews?

EXACTLY

[TheInsider]

That's an odd one.. did they they know the kid was pretty bad (his commitment says yes) and wanted to move on? Maybe a reset to next year freshman class? The move going forward has to be a juco or transfer plus a freshman going forward.. we cant have a full freshman 4/5

[natwam2547]

I think we are wasting our time and energy making a big deal out of Jones getting the last scholarship. Most on here agree that McCall works better with a tighter rotation. If Jones plays more than 50% of the games and at more than 5 minutes a game, I'll be very surprised. And sure, theoretically we could have used that scholarship on a Freshman. How many impact Freshman (either short term or long term) will want to come here and sit and barely play? Jones is OK with that role clearly. We have our guys that will make the biggest impact and play the most minutes already. Doesn't hurt to add the 13th guy off the bench for 1 year as a "break glass in case of fire" player and work on the roster next year.

[PreecherJenkins]

Below is preecher's official statement on the Greg Jones signing:

Matthew Wayne McCall is done signing freshman. Why would he want to spend time developing players when they may transfer after being around for two years. Greg Jones or Mike Jones or Gerald Jones or whatever the hell this kid's name is, keeps the money in the budget and maybe the coaches know something us on umasshoops don't know about his, maybe he will be very good.