TheTastyGreek

One thing I've been thinking about is the possibilities if we bring in this Donald Edwards guy from Antelope Valley. He's 6'5" and seems to spend all his time camped out on the perimeter. There were many times, particularly late in the season once Richard Thomas fell out of favor and then left, where we had Shorter bring the ball up court. Imagine the possibilities if we start with a Dom/Josh/Tristan backcourt, but we have a completely different configuration we can throw out. Shorter (6'4" and built thick enough to play inside when needed) handling the ball, Tristan and Williams (both 6'5") at the other two guard spots, Holmen and Odufuwa (or Alonzo Edwards) at forward. We'd have a size advantage at almost every position, most of them being pretty significant. Tristan, Williams, Edwards, and Holmen are all capable of nailing 3's. Shorter could handle the ball and, since he's a slasher instead of a 3-point guy... He could drive the lane for open layups or dish outside to any of the other four guys depending on who gets a clean outside look. I wouldn't want to press Shorter into a ton of point guard service (maybe use Alzee in that configuration instead? Still 6'4" and still a great defender)... But is there any team in our conference that could handle both the small/quick lineup and the large/3-point lineup? We'd be a matchup nightmare for everyone on the schedule, Sun Belt or otherwise.

Looking for a social handout, comrade? A refereeing safety net?

To put that stat in context... The only guy we've had in the JJ era that's chucked up 3's with that frequency is Calvin Watson, and even he only did it in the 06-07 season. And Watson shot his at a .39647 rate as opposed to Williams' .34759. A 5% difference might not seem like much, but it's pretty significant given the volume. At Watson's output in 06-07, it would have come out to more than 33 points over the course of the season (about a point per game difference in scoring average).

Hmmm... This guy seems like he'd be a perfect fit for Troy. All outside shooting, loves the 3 pointer, doesn't seem to drive or get to the line very much. 17.13 ppg, 1.87 rpg. Shot fewer than 3 free throws per game, with a 66.3% free throw rate. Shot 187 3-pointers on the year (almost 6 and a quarter per game), hitting 34.8%. Missed one game, played more than a few off the bench as a big 6th man scoring presence. If he came here, it'd be a culture shift for him. If he was used as an Adam McCoy-type offensive spark on the bench (where we don't have to rely on him if he's having an off night shooting, like his 1-for-9 3 point shooting night), he could be an amazing weapon. He'd have to adjust his game if he wanted to get a lot of minutes in our system. And I think, considering his jump shooting and streakiness, that he'd frustrate the hell out of a lot of our fans. We'd hear the "jacking up 3's" complaints all over again.

And I just found them. Cumulative year stats aren't up (only for 08-09), but game-by-game results are on the Antelope Valley site. He led the team in scoring in 13 out of 27 games. I'll have to calculate his averages by hand.

Scout lists him as a RS freshman... If he redshirted in 2008-09 and played his freshman year at the JUCO in 09-10, then he'd come in as a Sophomore and have 3 full years of eligibility. I like him even more now. Anyone find his JUCO stats yet?

I'd give Holmen a chance at that other starting forward spot (and Kedrick if he's ready to be more of a scoring threat and he's worked on his free throws), and I'd have DJ as the primary ballhandler. Otherwise, I think that's the primary lineup we'll see next year.

I also think we would have seen a lot more substitution and diversity in how the minutes were distributed. Josh and Tristan don't play 35-38 minute games if DJ is healthy, and we mix and match our configurations more within the game.

Terrorist fist jabs all around if everyone avoids the baby mama drama.

Nice. Very nice.

From first hand experience, no. I worked for a city, and we had an alternate retirement plan but it didn't affect our social security benefits (for anyone who had logged time in a private sector job that paid into Social Security). Then, I went to work for a school district, and the benefits system you pay into (TRS) actively cuts into your Social Security payout. It was a big point of contention for a lot of the folks at the campus where I worked, because many of them had spent 20 or more years in the private sector before going into teaching, and every year they spent teaching and paying into TRS also had the side effect of cutting down their future Social Security benefits. Having worked for a municipal government, for a Texas ISD, and for a number of private sector employers... That's been my experience.

If you're wrong, will you take your lumps?

I stopped keeping track of the guys leaving the program almost 6 months ago. APR report comes out in less than a month and a half... I just hope the penalties aren't going to get worse.

Nah, I'm not just trying to be contrary. If JJ goes, I'd say it's pretty much a given that Coach Leonard goes with him. If I knew the other two assistants were sticking around; Foy as HC and Forrest as his top assistant... Then I'd feel comfortable moving forward by promoting from within. If Gillispie doesn't get hired at Houston, I'd roll the dice on his personal issues and take him in a heartbeat. I'm confident he could give us a good chance to take the big step that JJ might lead us through in the next 12-15 months. Gillispie would probably be a 2-3 year band-aid, at best- But he'd probably be a heck of a bridge to the next coach in line. If neither of the first two are options... I might feel pretty good if we could hire Scott Cross away from UT-Arlington. He's obviously got recruiting skills based on some of the guys he's brought in, and he knows the area intimately, and he's familiar with us. But would he leave his alma mater for us? How much is he making there? After those guys, even the very good candidates carry pretty significant risks of disaster. Not because of who they are or what they're capable of, but because of where we are at this moment and what they'd need to do in such a short time to keep us on the path.

I disagree completely. There's only one guy out there who I feel confident could come in and immediately bring in the sort of recruits that JJ could get us in April and November: Billy Gillispie. And he's got serious baggage. And, he seems all but signed down in Houston according to all the rumors surrounding Penders' exit. There are a lot of good candidates out there... But nobody else that I feel sure could avoid a possible recruiting dropoff at this critical juncture. We need a solid signing next month, and we need to get at least 3 or 4 top notch signees in November during early signing. My sphincter clenches when I even start to think about what might happen if we don't lock in half our class early, then a new coach takes over a roster of guys he (probably) doesn't have a relationship with or any experience managing. Especially with young, surging programs at Arkansas State and Florida Atlantic. If we lose JJ, I'll wish him the best. But if we can just put it off one more year... Just one year exactly, not even through next April and the regular post-season signing period... I'll feel a lot better about our prospects for the future. Bring in whoever he chooses to sign next month, ink half of our class in November on the wave of our tournament appearance and the high hopes for the new season... And if we lose him next March, I'll take it and be happy. But if we have to make a transition right now, when we're about to turn over the entire roster, and the closest thing to a recruiting "sure thing" seems about to be hired in Houston... We could backslide TERRIBLY. It took a decade for JJ to get us to this point. It's a fast, slippery slide back down, and it's very hard to make it higher from here. If we lose him now, at this critical point in our program's development... We could fall a long way, very fast. I hope he stays forever. But I'd settle for just 12 more months. 13 if possible... But if we get 12, I'll be grateful for the reprieve.

My vague recollection from researching a trip recap is that K-State plays Wabash Cannonball because of it's historical significance for their band. If I remember right, their band facility was destroyed by a fire just before a game of some sort, and the only piece of music they had available for that game was The Wabash Cannonball. It's a story that was interesting enough to read once, but not enough to Google again.

Kaspar is an oversight, I definitely should have included him. I didn't put Marlin on there because he's got 12 years at SHSU and I don't know that we'd be enticing enough to get a guy to leave after that long of a tenure. Huntsville sucks, but roots can grow pretty deep in 12 years.

I really, really hope you're right. I'd take a bullet for just one more year (if we sign at least 4 in November).

For the past 3 years, every time I hear about a decent candidate getting fired elsewhere (or a name mentioned in regards to another job on our level), I've noted names. I was hoping to keep it in my pocket for another year or two. EDIT: This is just a list of guys if we decide not to promote from within. I'd be very happy to see ANY of our 3 assistants considered for the job if they don't follow JJ when he does move on.

Not that I've given it a lot of thought or anything, but... Tommy Amaker Todd Bozeman Jeff Bzdelik Joe Cravens Scott Cross Cliff Ellis Rob Evans Tim Floyd Ray Giacoletti Billy Gillespie Avery Johnson Larry Krystkowiak Dale Layer Dave Leitao Ritchie McKay Steve Robinson Jeff Ruland Quin Snyder Russell Springmann Ronny Thompson Brooks Thompson Jeff Webster (best link I could find) Tim Welsh Listed alphabetically, with varying degrees of appeal and plausibility.

There's nothing funny about HotHoopsaholism. It tears families apart, and wakes up the creepy caretaker.

Yeah, I went back and forth on it and finally decided to go with a one-and-done. I think the political threads here would be a lot less "make me want to stab myself and/or others in the face" if they wrapped up more quickly. And everyone realized in advance that half the people are going to disagree with them, and pretty much nobody is going to change their mind.

I'm going to start by saying that this isn't meant as a joke; I know tone is tough to interpret online and I generally aim for humor, but I'm not trying to make a cheap joke. And I'll point out that I really don't have much of a rooting interest in this concept. As most people who have met me already know, I don't even drink. But, suppose I have a taste for something that generally gets produced in a Latin American country. Bananas, for the sake of example. If I have to import the bananas I eat from Belize, but Belize doesn't have any traffic lights because of a governmental decision to not bother regulating vehicle intersections... There will probably be a lot of car accidents in Belize. Many of them will involve banana trucks. Many of them will cause the deaths of people uninvolved in the banana trade. Now, suppose that the government of Belize makes it a policy to arrest anyone who tries to manually direct traffic at any intersection that banana trucks drive through. Who really bears the ethical responsibility for the deaths of any people uninvolved in the banana trade? Me? Or the government of Belize?

Tom Penders already PASSED US BY in this regard. Or, at least, he will later this afternoon. Press conference scheduled.

Baylor also just landed Nolan Dennis last year. Babb would transfer and play as a junior during Nolan's junior year, if he went that route.