CJ Felder….an interesting topic on its own

Inside for offensive rebounds?

Is he tall enough to shoot over his defender regularly? Do you think a 5-on-the-perimeter offense is a better choice?

 

Well it sure couldn't hurt to have Felder shoot more threes, given that Jones, Lofton, Richard, Bonham, Reeves and CC were a combined 1 of 12 behind the arc in the UConn game.

 

Off topic but I just noticed we don't have one game on CBS this year. All the games are on ESPN, ESPN2 or SEC channel. Don't we usually have one game on CBS, like against UK?

 

Yeah I assumed as one of the few people with actual bulk and strength he was being used down lower for that purpose.

what I do find interesting though, and I truly don’t mean it as anything other than an observation, is how willing you are to question this staff’s decisions vs. the last one. I actually enjoy seeing questions like this from you, it’s good convo.

 

would a game against Ky even be somewhat competitive this year?

 

Donovan came in with a high ceiling and some things to learn, and did a great job. Sometimes we forget his first couple of years (and the years between his first two final four teams) because he did so well at learning on the job.

 

Yeah we did go 13-17 in his first year,. But Donovan was good pretty quickly. I remember in his second year we went to the NIT, and lost to Georgetown at home. After the game. John Thompson said something like “when he gets his players into his system, watch out”. And that happened with the 1998 class, we never looked back.

 

Most of those criticisms were from me, I took care of it for the board in the early years. .
I try not to get emotionally attached to coaches, but I do feel much more hopeful about TG than MW. He just seems to get it. Very early on MW’s rigidity and lack of an overarching plan became clear. Seeing the exact same problems year after year game after game with zero self awareness or adjustments drove me crazy. TG definitely has a plan, we will have to see about his adaptability when it inevitably needs adjustments. But like you I am willing to let him learn a bit if he shows the capacity to do so.
I do think most of the criticisms to date I have seen are fair though. No switching on defense, not calling timely timeouts being the biggest two for me so far, but this thread is an interesting one too. But when you hear him after the game, it is 1000 percent obvious he was aware of exactly what was happening, what was working and what wasn’t. That alone gives me hope he will grow, hopefully quickly.
We will see.

 

I got the impression sometimes that he doesn't care for guys coached by CMW, with the exception of the two 5s due to necessity.

 

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Truth!!!

 

He's given Jones a relatively long leash, including time at the point. As for Felder, he needs to step up and show something. Starting Fudge is a no-brainer at this point. Can Felder get something going and begin contributing more?

 

You have to question how Golden is using not just Felder but a lot of other guys in the rotation also.

The non-conference part of the schedule has been ugly, especially being completely non-competitive in a couple of the losses. And I know the portal makes things a lot different but the fact we play a bunch of SRs who will be moving on after the season and only signed one guy in the early signing period makes me a bit nervous about the next couple of years also.

 

Watched Bama and Houston playing today. Height, athleticism, defense. We just don’t have that on our roster. The speed, jumping ability, rebounding, …. Golden has a makeshift roster, but our bigs are not top college program worthy. We also lack the team speed and defense of top programs. After watching Bama and Houston, UF teams plays lazy defense comparatively.

 

He’s tall enough and plenty quick enough and is got solid weight/size that will benefit him against majority of guys trying to guard him.

 

TG has said he wants a more aggressive CJ, I personally think this has to do with CJ and not the way they use him. I have seen him open and not put the rock up.

 

We have plenty of time between now and the first game with Kentucky to improve.