2019-20 Season

[lawdog]

Although it is early, it is interesting to think about a rotation for next year.

Although Magee, Jackson, and Pegram have been wonderful players and will be sorely missed, it appears we will also have options for a good starting five and solid depth as well.

First, it is logical to assume that Murphy, Hoover, and Aluma will start, since they started this year. Two other logical starters are Stumpe, a versatile experienced player (if healthy and he chooses to return) and Goodwin, who played a lot and gives us size.

Red shirts Jones and Bigelow will also push for starting positions, with their credentials, size, and versatility. How their roles develop will be interesting, since both are quick and athletic but also have size; can they rebound, and defend? Will they be scorers, as in high school?

Early reserves will no doubt be Larson, Theme-Love, and Hollowell, all of whom contributed a lot this year and will get a lot of playing time, especially if they develop stronger 3 point shooting. All three improved their games this season, in my view. These last five may provide depth in the form of a general substitution, as worked for us some this year.

Ervin and Catoor, our recruits, could sub some or be redshirted, for seasoning purposes, as were Jones and Bigelow; these two frosh appear very talented and may push early.

Mr X in all this is our final scholarship recipient, who hopefully will be a talented versatile big player a la Cam Jackson who can step in and provide valuable minutes early. This appears to be important to our success next year.

Also an important X factor will be how all players work and develop before next season. Our players generally show steady improvement, and next year should show surprises (e.g., this year Aluma became a beast and Goodwin really progressed as a key reserve).

Michael and Cottrell, our walkons, both played some this year and have some talent; they should contribute again.

Good defense from all will be essential. It will be fun and exciting to see how this plays out.

[boulder3m]

This off season will be interesting, in that I sense that Wofford has moved to another level in the recruiting wars. Most programs "run off" the players who don't fit or take up scholarships without contributing-sorry, it's just a fact. You wonder if all ours will be there next season. If Keve and Chevez can bulk up and work on their scoring they both can be VERY good. If one of our redshirts can be a slasher to the basket it will open up the shooters. When the smoke clears my guess is that there will be smiles on our coaches faces as they plan the next season.
Speaking of which...who will be on our coaching staff next year? I would think with our success our assistants will have opportunities to move elsewhere and develop. Another speculation is about Mike Young, but that's a totally different topic.

[Atldog7]

The only one I would suspect to be in the mix to leave would be McAuley. I have seen his name come up for a couple of jobs, most notably KSU, given his Atlanta roots.

[jorober18]

Since this is the next season thread, let me throw out that we need to successfully retain talented coaches and that is by paying them.

This requires a commitment from the school and the Terrier Club.

With all the coaches have done, we need to take care of them as their success will certainly translate into more applications and revenues for the coming years!

[boulder3m]

While it is true that we would love to retain coaches, a lot of the reason these guys come to Wofford is to prepare to get to a higher level and perhaps become head coaches. I enjoy following our former players who become coaches-some assistants and some head. Given our budget it would be hard to pay assistants what would be competitive. Unless we were a conference that had multiple tournament teams and could count on paying out $1 million or so each year to each team it is hard to budget more for basketball. Living within the NCAA guidelines and Title 9 is a very difficult process, and it is made much more complex by the cost of a Wofford education and the fact that the athletes also have to be legitimate students.

[youngterrier]

I feel like paying our coaches better requires taking a page out of the Furman playbook: endowing positions.

I think we'll be alright next year in terms of players coming back. I have no inside knowledge, but I don't see any players who saw PT this year transferring. I have some in mind who would, based exclusively on PT, but I'm not throwing names out because that would be speculation based on literally nothing concrete.

What may be problematic is that we had 10 guys who saw significant PT this year + Trevor Stumpe, two redshirts and we have two more recruits coming in. Assuming we maintain the same level of rotation (10-11 players, which is a heck of an assumption), two of the players, either forecast to return or among those entering are not going to get PT. I imagine we won't have much attrition going into next year, but I would be surprised if we didn't have at least one or two going into the year after that.

[Terrier13]

Player development will be huge- Keve came along well this year, developing from a relatively raw prospect to someone who can really impact shots at the rim of defense and give us at least something at the offensive end (something he had difficulty with as a freshman). Cheve has a degree of athleticism that you can’t teach and you could see him putting it all together as the year went on. I really hope Stumpe can make it back. MY had said he wasn’t quite 100% despite getting some playing time mid-way through the season before that fell off. I’m worried he might not make it all the way back which would be a shame because he added so much in the early years of his career. I’m excited to see what the RS frosh can do. While RS don’t normally come into play in high major bball due to one-and-dones, I think it could certainly help us as I believe Cam Jackson’s extra developmental time was the difference between him being a solid contributor and being all-conference this year.

[dude]

Next year could be really interesting. It'll clearly be different without Magee and Jackson -- two extraordinary players. But Wofford brings back a whole bunch of players who seem to have strong potential.

You start with Murphy, Hoover, and Aluma. That's not a bad foundation for a team. I expect each to improve and look to score more. Aluma has the most room, perhaps, to improve. He's still pretty raw offensively. But, dang, he is an impressive player to me. He's really tall, strong, and athletic. With even just a couple strong go-to scoring moves, he could be an all-conference kind of player next year, I think. He may never be as smooth offensively as Jackson, but I believe Aluma may develop into a really special player, overall.

Other thoughts:

**If I had to pick one of the guards to maybe have a breakout year, it would be Hollowell. He's really athletic and has a nice shot. I think his ball-handling and decision-making have been a bit iffy. But he seems to have the physical tools to be a very good player.

**Goodwin was so good down the stretch. As with Aluma, I'm not sure he's got great go-to scoring moves -- he seemed to mostly score on rebounds, loose balls, and easy baskets after getting free from defenders. With a solid couple moves, he could be terrific.

**I share youngterrier's thoughts on playing time for guards. With the new guys and returning players, I count something like 8 or 9 perimeter players who have either proven themselves to be solid (or better) or who sound like they have potential. Depth can be great, as we saw this year, but it's important to have guys accept their roles and to work well together. We'll see how that shakes out.

**You never know with freshmen, but it does sound like Bigelow and Jones are players. And that the incoming players, Cattoor and Ervin, have some serious talent, as well. I wouldn't be shocked if we see a young guy or two emerge as a real factor. I believe that at this point, there is one scholarship left. I assume Wofford will try to find another post player.

**Would be great to see Stumpe have a strong role and good year.

**Mike Young has a system that has been working for quite some time now, so I don't really see him making much in the way of changes. But if he's got a lot of dudes who are good enough to deserve playing time AND less in the way of elite go-to scorers, I wonder if Wofford might try to run a bit more, open things up some. I figure that's unlikely, but it's interesting to consider.

[lawdog]

Agree about Hollowell ... could get his confidence, D, and ball handling up and break out. And watch out for Jones; he and Bigelow have had a quality year honing their considerable talents in practice vs. great competition.

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/colle ... 80524.html High expectations. Props from Zion too.

[lawdog]

[lawdog]

More of this? https://twitter.com/WoffordMBB/status/1 ... 68/video/1

https://twitter.com/woffordmbb/status/1 ... 3682994176

Some interior defense and rebounding could go a long way.

[Terrierfan06]

I would doubt we rely too much on Michael. He's likely a really great guy but also a preferred walkon. we have hosted a transfer from a bigger school that would be a great add, and by all accounts he wants to come to Wofford. would add size, skill and athleticism. the hope would be he can play next year and would have 3 left total.

As it stands currently, i'd think we go Chevez/Hoover/Murphy for sure. if I had to guess it would be Tray, as well as either Stumpe/Jones/Bigelow for the last spot.

easier way to look at is we go 9 deep returning (2 redshirts, ryan, storm, DTL, Tray, Stumpe, Goodwin, hoover) with 2 signed. add a big and we are 12 deep. assuming neither freshman played a lot, we still have 10 really good options.

I would think we play more uptempo on defense (jay kind of mentioned this is his interview). I wouldn't be surprised to see some pressure full court playing with less size but more speed and skill .

[lawdog]

T06, great news about the possible transfer inside player ... hope that can work out.

Best case with Michael would be to give us 8-10 good minutes/game.

[lawdog]

Have been checking some film. Messiah is a heat seeking missile underneath ... excellent rebounder, especially on offense, and shot blocker. Good touch inside too. And he has had a year to improve and learn the ropes in practice from competing against Cam. Excited.

[Terrierfan06]

He was a top rebounder in all illinois from what I remember. Seems to have an explosiven perhaps some of our previous guys havent in terms of first step. Also heard really good things on bigelow too though

Then again, what RS guys arent schools talking about that will save next season for their teams