Sure remember those days but then how quickly things got better with Kruger: Cross Birdman Stewart Brown DeClerq And others sure were happy.
I never understood why Golden didn’t pursue Appleby hard to stay ( if reports are true). This team easily wins 20-22 games with him.
I'm not sure we win that many with TA. The ACC was a far weaker league this year than the SEC. Maybe he could've played off the ball more under TG like he did with Tre Mann. Not sure he would've been that much of a difference maker as a PG. He played with a pretty good group of shooters at WF (36% from 3pt range as a team), not sure he would've had that luxury at UF (31% from 3pt range as a team).
Wonder if ETGator will post a thread on another portal target in Charles Pride? Transfer Portal Target: Bryant’s Charles Pride | GatorCountry.com It’s getting hard to keep track of all these potential portal transfer targets for UF
He was easily a better shooter & ball-handler than either of his replacements, to me. I expected more from both after some of the write-ups & comments. Thought we took a couple of steps back at PG. We didn’t play Aberdeen enough to get a feeling for his potential. If play time is any indication of what confidence TG has in him, that’s not encouraging.
Too bad Sherif Gross-Bullock looks like the player on Bryant (he just transferred there). Pride doesn't move the needle for me, rather bring in a young freshman with a chance to develop
Would definitely not say he's a better ball handler than Lofton. Appleby played 2 years in the SEC and had close to a 1:1 Assist to TO ratio. Last year he had 10 games with 4+ turnovers, Lofton had just 2 games with that many. I think the PG play was kind of the same, tbh. We had fewer big scoring games (26 pts, 2 assist) but also avoided more of the dreaded (2-7 FG, 4 turnovers, 0 assist) performances.
I see the stats….and I do understand your assessment of TA, based on the numbers you listed. Maybe it’s just my gut, but TA just brought a little more to the table than either Lofton or Bonham. I take the performance and stats of any PG who played for MW with a grain of salt. For a coach who played the position, he was somewhat heavy handed in his directions and conservative in how he handled the freedom at that position while here.
Understood, I think TA has more potential than Lofton and Bonham for sure. He had the ability to put up 20 against quality teams a few times a season, that's not Lofton's game.
I previously said that I have 5 criteria for the ideal type of player we want: high basketball IQ, unselfish/team player, winner, athletic, skilled. Tyree is athletic and skilled. I don’t see the other 3. He constantly tries to do it all by himself at crunch time. It often doesn’t work. Cleveland State did not win with him at the helm, and WF went 5-9 down the stretch with their offense being completely controlled by him.
It’s gonna be exciting & interesting to see how/who TG & staff can bring in. Much like Billy Napier, you’ve pretty much cleared the deck. What he does moving forward, the ball’s firmly in his court. For all of our fandom, wish him all the luck in the world.
I became depressed this year when watching Houston play. Big athletic players that run, jump, play defense, …. will take us a few years to get to that point. Not an overnight fix. Patience is required
Even with the portal, it looks like too many holes to fill in a single off-season. At what point does it become a challenge to even find enough bodies to plug in at every open peg?