I know it's pretty silly to even talk about at this point in the season, but what team in the country has a better resume than us today?
There a few teams I would rank ahead of us right now...but our team is brand new. Give them a year to play together and by tournament time we cou!d be a top 4-8 type team and one that No ONE wants to play.
Either that, or after a long season they start to get tired legs, the defense isn't quite what it is now, and we stay relying on offense. Key is to stay healthy and rotate a lot of guys throughout the season so we can keep up the defense for 35 to 40 games.
Gatkek is interesting as well. Not sure if he's a diamond in the rough or another Osifo type project. With his height and wingspan, he could be very good if his skills match. A little bulk up would help, too.
My feelings exactly. When we played the first four games, including of course the California team, we played these three. They were not as good yet as the starters, but they contributed to keeping this team fresh. All three will,with some playing time will improve. This would help us become even stronger. Kennedy is young but he has talent scoring. Reeves has a stars body and as he gets more into our system of defense and being part of our offense, he will shine. Jitoboh is a work in progress, but if the coaches could show him, a little hook shot and become consistent when and how to use with this team, it would ease the stress put on Castleton. Of course we are seeing Felder becoming a strong player with a great all round game. We have depth, let use it, even Gatkek is quick, can defend and get rebounds and put backs. I Think during the season, we are not going to lose many games with this team, of course avoiding major injuries. So if any of the depth players fail, it will be a learning experience, and make the team stronger. At the NCAA tournament, we will have a good seed and win “some games”. No Oral Roberts are going to knock off this team. CMW don’t shorten the bench which is your tendency, with careful consideration of the backups getting as many minutes you can spare, to keep this team motivated and rolling along!
I have no doubt Reeves will get into the regular rotation as the season progresses. Gatkek will get spot duty here and there, depending on matchups. I think CMW didn't want to put too much on them against a veteran OSU team.
Hmmmm . . . Debbie Downer alert. I feel the opposite re: Depth. I mean, we need it, sure. But the likelihood that Jitoboh and Reeves will play more in the SEC schedule is minimal, imo. Reeves looks out of sorts early on and needs time (like a year or more) for the game to slow down. Jitoboh will spell Castleton at times, but if we can go small and have Felder on the court instead of JJ, we're a stronger unit. I'd love for those two to develop a readiness for conference play, but don't see it right now.
All I can say, they have to get real live time experience. What’s wrong with 3 to 4 minutes a game for each of them. Let’s not follow Dan Mullen’s path. Go into a season with hardly any experience with the QB’s which hurt us mightily. I understand there will be some tight games, let’s not be tired and beat up when we get to the tournament.
It's 3 to 4 more minutes that we could have invested in Fleming, Felder, etc. Football analogy not withstanding, I agree about being fresh come tourney time.
