https://collegehoops.today/rothstein-files/sec-offseason-breakdown-4/

I always suspected he was tight with kennedy or someone in our AD, like bruce feldman was with sumlin, and thats why he liked to give us great pub. I was wrong. He knows ball.

SEC Preseason Power Rankings


1. Texas A&M

Projected Starting 5:

G Wade Taylor IV
G Tyrece Radford
G Manny Obaseki
F Henry Coleman
C Julius Marble

Projected Bench: Solomon Washington, Hayden Hefner, Jordan Williams, Bryce Lindsay, Khalen Robinson, Andersson Garcia, Jace Carter, Eli Lawrence, Andre Gordon

Key Newcomers: Bryce Lindsay, Jace Carter (UIC), Eli Lawrence (Middle Tennessee), Wildens Leveque (UMass)

Key Losses: Dexter Dennis

SEC Preseason Player of the Year
Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M

I'm not sure I'm prepared emotionally for this level of hype. I've gotta pace myself or I won't make it to Thanksgiving.

We are already #1. I have nothing to hope for…

Quote:

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Projected Bench: Solomon Washington, Hayden Hefner, Jordan Williams, Bryce Lindsay, Khalen Robinson, Andersson Garcia, Jace Carter, Eli Lawrence, Andre Gordon

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Once Rothstein finds out Gordon is gone he'll drop us to 3 or 4.

he does seem to have a few clerical errors. for instance, im not sure if its better for LSU that trae hannibal is a key loss, or a projected starter.

In national preseason polls we are always behind pigs, vols, kittens, gumps

Obligatory layup line passes drop off not mentioned post.

Absolutely wild to be picked first to win the conference and not have a single player on any of these lists:

5 SEC Breakout Players
10 SEC Impact Freshmen
15 SEC Impact Transfers
10 Impact Under-The-Radar Transfers


But I do love me some JR and the Buzz is quite palpable at this moment

Jordan Williams

I am so ready to be hurt again.

We're gonna go as far as Wade is going to take us.

GrayMatter said:

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We're gonna go as far as Wade is going to take us.

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That's the big question right? The difference on if we're just going to be good or if we have to chance to really be elite is can we find ways to create offense and win games when Wade has an off night or a tough matchup.

When Wade plays well we're very hard to beat. We were last year, no reason to expect that to change this year. Once the switch sort of flipped at the end of non-con and Wade became our unquestioned guy, the only game I'd say he played well but we lost anyway was at Mississippi State.

On the flip side, the only game he was bad but we managed to win anyway was Florida. He had an off game against Penn State, and we got blasted. (He also had a rough game in the SECT against Alabama but so did everyone else and that was a three-games-in-three-days situation against an elite team.)

Obviously we're not going to beat elite teams without him playing well, but finding ways to beat bubble-type teams could make a big seeding difference for us or potentially get us through a first round matchup or something.

I understand the thought that we will go as far as Wade takes us, but I don't understand why we would struggle to beat bubble teams and get blasted by a Penn St when he has an off night.

Am I just wrong to expect Radford and Coleman, among others, to be able to step up on the nights that Wade might be off?

As good as Taylor can be, its going to take him being "on" and for Radford and others to be playing at a really high level to make a nice run in the tournament (Sweet 16 or better).

That was the problem with last year's team. Against anyone worth anything we absolutely could not consistently create offense without Wade Taylor playing well. If we're going to be better than last year, we need to find some options.

Boots can pick up the slack sometimes, especially if the other team is fouling him, but we still need more. We need things we can fall back on when nothing else is working that at least give us a decent shot. Maybe Solo makes a big jump and that's using him in a pick and roll game, or maybe Manny gets better attacking the basket, or Marble improves even more in the paint.

There's a lot of things it could be. Gotta remember last year our season was absolutely on the brink and we sort of remade ourselves halfway through the season, but we should come into this season with a much better idea of who we are so we can develop some of these things in non-conference.

I'm thinking Coleman has a big year.

Method Man said:

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I'm thinking Coleman has a big year.

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How do I report a TexAgs account has been hacked?

rlb28 said:

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Jordan Williams

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Didn't both Jordan Williams and Andre Gordon leave?

Wait so did KK, right?

Would Manny then be the difference to between last years results and taking a big step forward?

If we accept that Radford, Coleman and Marble have hit their ceiling, would Manny be the player who hasn't, but is capable of doing so?

You never want to pin your hopes to that kind of thing, but what other player on the roster has the raw tools that he does? Solo has a huge upside but is a totally different player.

Why are we accepting that anyone is at their ceiling?

Why would we assume those guys have hit their ceilings? They definitely should not have peaked at this point.

I don't know. Radford has been playing college basketball for 5 years at this point. When it comes to Coleman I haven't see much consistency in his two years here.

I could be 100% wrong about it, and I'll be happy If so.

Belton Ag said:

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I don't know. Radford has been playing college basketball for 5 years at this point. When it comes to Coleman I haven't see much consistency in his two years here.

I could be 100% wrong about it, and I'll be happy If so.

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Most athletes don't peak at 22-24 if they keep training and practicing.

MarcAg said:

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Belton Ag said:

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I don't know. Radford has been playing college basketball for 5 years at this point. When it comes to Coleman I haven't see much consistency in his two years here.

I could be 100% wrong about it, and I'll be happy If so.

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Most athletes don't peak at 22-24 if they keep training and practicing.

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Fair enough. I certainly don't disagree with that for the guys that go on to play beyond D1 basketball, and I hope that applies to everyone on the team.

Sorry. I was trying to be positive. All he has to do is make 50% more of the easy layups he misses and grab 50% more of the rebounds he touches but doesn't possess.

I think part of the issue with Coleman is that sometimes he's so physical that the foul calls takeaway from his game.

He was actually a lot better at this last year. He fouled at half the rate that Marble and Garcia did.

I think Radford is who he is at this point, any improvement from him is probably going to be incremental. I think what you're really asking is who has room to get significantly better, and I'm not sure Radford does, but Coleman and Marble definitely do.

I think Coleman especially could get a lot better by just improving a couple of simple things that are fairly easy to improve.

When you look at guys who can make a huge jump, Manny and Solo definitely stand out because of their athleticism, but the clock is starting to tick on Manny. I actually expect Solo to be a much better player this year, I'm really excited to see what he looks like by the end of the year.

Manny needs to mature to reach the next level but is undeniably talented and understands that being on the floor is a precious opportunity but isn't quite as effective at applying his talent as he thinks he is. His upside is out of sight .

Sol and Garcia both have shown flashes and you want them to reach a next tier level because you can feel it's possible.

Coleman has intangibles but the notion he will get a lot better at the college level runs against his progress so far. If he gets lost it's because he's a college big and the NBA will punish his size and lack of a shot unless he adds something to his game we haven't seen yet. Most obvious is an outside shot and I doubt that's in the cards. The other is on-ball defense against lankier 3-4 style players. But he doesn't look quick enough.

I think he plays well this year and could within his current game have a breakout year, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that makes leaps forward. Sometimes, though, what you learn clicks and you synthesize a LOT together at the same time. So it very much COULD happen. But I think he will grind and make meaningful but not huge changes.

Marble can bring motor and leadership and should. If there is more he has inside he should unleash the Kraken and then harness it.

Whoa

Coleman's improvement can be made by being more consistent. I don't know how much he's ever going to improve on his skill and ability while he's here, but he can be the kind of player we need to help take the next step just by being more consistent from game to game.

Consistency will come if he can make the simple plays. It almost seems like he's too amped up sometimes around the basket. Hopefully he's been working on having softer hands and slowing the game down a bit when he gets the ball in the paint.


Sometimes players can really improve on that, sometimes they just can't.

I do think because of his size there's going to be some natural inconsistency just based on matchups, but just being good at the simple plays would make a huge difference for him.