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Post by unafied on Aug 23, 2022 13:31:35 GMT -6
Saw this over on the CSN boards. Just one prediction, of course, but it has us #13 out of 14 in the conference. ASUN 2022-23 Season PreviewNo surprise, the author points out that we were horrible offensively last year. Daniel Ortiz can't carry the team alone. At least one other guard needs to be a consistent scoring threat, and we obviously need some production in the paint. We got essentially nothing out of our bigs last season. If I'm being honest, I don't really see this year's roster being any better offensively. Our second leading returning scorer is Will Soucie at 6.5 points per game. None of the newcomers really excite me at first glance (though I'll be happy to be proven wrong). I know a lot of us have a number in mind of games football needs to win for Willis to keep his job. What is the thought on Pujol? If we finish in the bottom quarter of the conference again, would you be in favor of a change? I hate being negative, I really do. It's just frustrating that we haven't built on the run to the ASUN championship game, and have instead seemed to trend in the opposite direction.
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Post by brandon on Aug 23, 2022 14:08:00 GMT -6
Saw this over on the CSN boards. Just one prediction, of course, but it has us #13 out of 14 in the conference. ASUN 2022-23 Season PreviewNo surprise, the author points out that we were horrible offensively last year. Daniel Ortiz can't carry the team alone. At least one other guard needs to be a consistent scoring threat, and we obviously need some production in the paint. We got essentially nothing out of our bigs last season. If I'm being honest, I don't really see this year's roster being any better offensively. Our second leading returning scorer is Will Soucie at 6.5 points per game. None of the newcomers really excite me at first glance (though I'll be happy to be proven wrong). I know a lot of us have a number in mind of games football needs to win for Willis to keep his job. What is the thought on Pujol? If we finish in the bottom quarter of the conference again, would you be in favor of a change? I hate being negative, I really do. It's just frustrating that we haven't built on the run to the ASUN championship game, and have instead seemed to trend in the opposite direction. I don't have a prediction... I think college sports, with the transfer portal and NIL, it has made predictions a coin toss. I can say, after last year that we would be horrible again... But, after the year before, I would have thought we would be contenders again last year... Sooooo.... There is that... My biggest issue, for years now, is we can't shoot when it matters. We are not outmatched in many other aspects, we just can't shoot...
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Post by unafied on Aug 23, 2022 15:34:22 GMT -6
Saw this over on the CSN boards. Just one prediction, of course, but it has us #13 out of 14 in the conference. ASUN 2022-23 Season PreviewNo surprise, the author points out that we were horrible offensively last year. Daniel Ortiz can't carry the team alone. At least one other guard needs to be a consistent scoring threat, and we obviously need some production in the paint. We got essentially nothing out of our bigs last season. If I'm being honest, I don't really see this year's roster being any better offensively. Our second leading returning scorer is Will Soucie at 6.5 points per game. None of the newcomers really excite me at first glance (though I'll be happy to be proven wrong). I know a lot of us have a number in mind of games football needs to win for Willis to keep his job. What is the thought on Pujol? If we finish in the bottom quarter of the conference again, would you be in favor of a change? I hate being negative, I really do. It's just frustrating that we haven't built on the run to the ASUN championship game, and have instead seemed to trend in the opposite direction. I don't have a prediction... I think college sports, with the transfer portal and NIL, it has made predictions a coin toss. I can say, after last year that we would be horrible again... But, after the year before, I would have thought we would be contenders again last year... Sooooo.... There is that... My biggest issue, for years now, is we can't shoot when it matters. We are not outmatched in many other aspects, we just can't shoot... I agree. Pujol is a defensive guy first, we’ve always known that. Which is fine, but sometimes you HAVE to outscore the other team. We have not had that capability the past few years. The other problem has been turnovers and just general lack fundamentals. Remember the end of that awful, awful Central Arkansas game last year? That’s when I pretty much tuned out of the season. It’s one thing to play hard and smart and come up short because you just aren’t quite good enough. But when you are already less talented than most teams, AND you can’t play fundamentally sound? That’s all on the coaches. I think hiring a defense-first coach was a good idea for the transition. Unfortunately, if we can’t do better than 13th in his 5th year, I want to see a change of philosophy. Hopefully, like you say, we’ll be completely surprised.
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Post by roaringsince96 on Aug 23, 2022 18:53:32 GMT -6
Looks like we may have brought in some perimeter scorers to go along with a couple of slash to the basket type guys. The mix could be good if the develop chemistry. I think we were counting on the guy that really had too many health problems to contribute last year. Also Blackmon who had been that cornerstone type player looked like he checked out and didn’t play close to his potential? Hopefully we score into 60’s for every game and even hit the 70’s when we are hit this year. Scoring in low 50’s is hard to watch, win, or expect the student body to get excited about. I am still waiting for the schedule to be released, crazy we haven’t finished it yet.
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Post by firstandtenn on Aug 23, 2022 22:04:32 GMT -6
…. . I think college sports, with the transfer portal and NIL, it has made predictions a coin toss. I can say, after last year that we would be horrible again... But, after the year before, I would have thought we would be contenders again last year... Sooooo.... There is that... My biggest issue, for years now, is we can't shoot when it matters. We are not outmatched in many other aspects, we just can't shoot... I agree on the portal. Spoke to someone the other day who detailed the way the portal has completely changed the landscape for low to mid major teams. He said the teams having success likely won’t be the young aggressive coaches that normally made a name for themselves at this level, but instead it’s the big school assistant who has a phone full of contacts to call on and work the portal. Whenever a school like UNA discovers or develops a standout player, you can now just about bet they won’t be around for more than 2 seasons. Last season would’ve likely looked alot different if we could’ve kept both James and Littles. But, the coaches that have success will be the ones who can find the talented kid who is leaving the big school for more playing time. That’s why some AD’s are now pivoting to connected assistants over good high school recruiters, and are placing high value on the connections coaches have to help them in the portal.
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Post by unafied on Aug 24, 2022 5:58:43 GMT -6
I agree on the portal. Spoke to someone the other day who detailed the way the portal has completely changed the landscape for low to mid major teams. He said the teams having success likely won’t be the young aggressive coaches that normally made a name for themselves at this level, but instead it’s the big school assistant who has a phone full of contacts to call on and work the portal. Whenever a school like UNA discovers or develops a standout player, you can now just about bet they won’t be around for more than 2 seasons. Last season would’ve likely looked alot different if we could’ve kept both James and Littles. But, the coaches that have success will be the ones who can find the talented kid who is leaving the big school for more playing time. That’s why some AD’s are now pivoting to connected assistants over good high school recruiters, and are placing high value on the connections coaches have to help them in the portal. Yeah, James and Littles both leaving really changed the team last year. I do think we could have finished middle of the pack in the conference if we had still had them. Without them we had zero threat, offensively or defensively on the inside, and our rebounding obviously suffered too. It will be inevitable that we lose good players to the portal. I think one thing schools like UNA have to do is establish a culture that guys want to stay in, even if they have opportunities to go elsewhere. I mean, Manny Littles transferred to Nichols. They had a decent season with a winning record, but they didn't make it to the NCAA tournament. Obviously who knows what kind of situation he had going on - perhaps he has really enjoyed his time there - but I don't see how that's a significant step up from UNA. If we lose a guy to Bama, or Ole Miss, or even a team like Houston... I get it. I don't like it, but I get it. But losing players to teams like Nichols who play in a one-bid conference similar to ours, really hurts. And we've seen that happen with several other guys, as well (James of course, Christian Agnew, etc.). So I don't know if that's something you blame on Pujol, or our assistant coaches, or just the state of UNA basketball, or what. Maybe its just the way it goes and you can't blame anyone or anything. I don't know.
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Post by mtc13 on Aug 24, 2022 17:46:56 GMT -6
Any predictions for the women's team?
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Post by unafied on Aug 25, 2022 11:32:23 GMT -6
The floor at Flowers got a new paint job. If you were expecting any gold to be used, well, you’re in for a bad time.
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Post by unalions on Aug 25, 2022 18:46:25 GMT -6
Any predictions for the women's team? I was impressed with the transfers last year. Too bad two were just one year players. Hoping for more of that this year!
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Post by unafied on Sept 26, 2022 11:21:37 GMT -6
The men begin fall practice today.
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Post by roaringsince96 on Sept 26, 2022 18:37:18 GMT -6
Coach Pujols is pretty excited about the team, maybe we have some better scoring and rebounding options this year? What is the over under games where we score 70 plus points in conference games this year? I like us to reach into 70’s for 5 conference games…pretty optimistic after watching that team last year. Think we have some help this year.
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Post by unalions on Sept 26, 2022 19:10:24 GMT -6
Coach Pujols is pretty excited about the team, maybe we have some better scoring and rebounding options this year? What is the over under games where we score 70 plus points in conference games this year? I like us to reach into 70’s for 5 conference games…pretty optimistic after watching that team last year. Think we have some help this year. I’d love nothing more than for the team to have a great season. But, you’re spot on. We need offense! I am getting eager to see how the men’s and women’s teams open up this year.
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Post by unafied on Sept 27, 2022 8:24:55 GMT -6
Meant to post this yesterday... the ladies started fall practice as well. Just look at those purple/white/black practice unis!
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Post by unalions on Oct 5, 2022 15:51:03 GMT -6
Lions are last in the ASUN Men’s Coaches Poll and 12th in the Media Poll.
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Post by roaringsince96 on Oct 5, 2022 20:47:31 GMT -6
Definitely expecting a lot from Queens, Stetson, and North Alabama. Hope we shock them all….and me too.
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