AAC preview: Houston is unanimous pick to hold off

I see the vets starting
Gresham Jarreau and Grimes
The other guard spot will be skills or Sasser and it really just goes to combinations
Gorham may start but will he be surprised at all if that guy is Chaney.
He looks skilled in the paint from what I have seen and reminds me some of Pollard.
In that case Gorham has s the first guy off the bench and Chaney slides to center or Roberts comes in as well.

Not sure if this was a typo, but I can certainly get on board with Calebā€™s nickname being ā€œSkillsā€ :joy:

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May have typoed into a pretty good name for him

                          ā€œSKILLSā€
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There are quite a few pieces I am looking forward to seeing this season

I believe Grimes and Jarreau are going to have explosive SR seasons

Year #2 for Mills and Sasser

Gorham after a year of experience at this level.

How will Tyson fit into what we are doing?

Will Roberts be providing that WOW factor CKS mentioned.

Mark loaded and ready?

Shead giving us a much better garbage time team this season.

I suspect big things from Chaney

Gresham I hope becomes the top defensive big in the conference

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Grimes is only a junior, but might as well be a senior. I think most people believe heā€™s going pro after this year unless things go horribly wrong.

Iā€™m hoping Powell gets some really good experience this year since itā€™s a free year for everyone. He will be key to our front court after this season.

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Have it seen that it is a free year for basketball.

Powell certainly get some time and at some will play some key minutes in big wins for the team.

Yes, itā€™s a done deal on the extra year of eligibility.

This is major for cougar football :football:.

I think it doesnā€™t change anything for basketball as far as seniors goā€¦ But who knows.

Speaking of who may be starting and what combinations we use.

I think Mills may be the starter if the other guard is Jarreau.

I think there is better balance this way with Jarreau able to be the starting PG and Grimes/Mills playing off the ball.

Sasser can then come off the bench to run the point with Mark and/or Tyson playing off the ball.

It also balances a couple other scenarios . Having Mark and Mills coming in together would be having two guys wanting the ball to fill it up.
It would also significantly impact the defensive end having them come in together

I see Mills taking Nateā€™s spot and likely why he went pro. When Grimes and Deeky go to the basket or run a fast break, Mills becomes that 3 point shooter. If you collapse on the penetrator, then Mills will punish you. As those guys sub, it also keeps offense on the floor.

Having a good 3pt shooter who can also drive and create his own shot is huge, and precisely why Mills is getting so much preseason attention right now. He is a special scorerā€“even more so than Rob Gray in my opinion. My biggest hope for Mills right now is that he worked on his behind the back dribble in the offseason. It was not smooth last year and every time he did it, I was scared he was going to turn it over. Best case scenario is that it slowed down his drive and gave his defender an opportunity to regroup. If he can smooth that move out and alternate it with his cross-over, thereā€™s no defender in the country who will know how to guard him.

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Can anyone speak to what features might distinguish Sasser and Shead this year? Maybe someone who followed Sheadā€™s recruitment and AAU performances more than I did (which was not really at all). From what I do know, it seems Sasser has more range, but Shead can get to the hoop better and is probably a better defender, at least naturally a better defender and overall athlete. Sasserā€™s defense improved greatly throughout the season last year and I expect him to continue improving. I also think Shead is probably more of a pure PG than Sasser is. Just trying to figure out if those 2 guys will be on the floor at the same time any this year, or if thereā€™s too much duplication in their games to afford having 2 very small guys out there at the same time. Or maybe they become the next Galen and Corey. Who knows?

both are extremely good on defense, that why sasser started over grimes and mills last yearā€¦
sampson made a similar comment he made about mills (on offense) about shead (on defense)ā€¦
that for how good they were coming in (before any development), shead is the best defensive guard heā€™s ever recruited

to your main point: both are bulldog hardnosed type them on the floor together isnt an issueā€¦it wont happen because shead likely last on the guard depth chart and probably not playing heavy minutes this year. but if it did weā€™d be fine

differences: sasser is a drastically better shooter and creating his own shot, naturally not a true point but developing into oneā€¦shead is more a true point, really good passer, way more atheltic than sasser. shead also a better driver. shead handles likely arent as clean as youd hope for a point, something heā€™ll look to improve ā€¦ jamal will shoot if he has space but isnt at a level where he is creating his own shots off the dribble like sasserā€¦and not sure itll translate to D1 but shead was good on the boards in high schoolā€¦

but i see shead as a sign of the growth of the programā€¦if this was 3-4 years agoā€¦shead would have been the highest rated recruit weā€™d have had under Sampson (rivals and espn 4*), and with being good at defense he would have been a starter day 1ā€¦a few years later we arent even projecting him in the line up ā€¦a few people here are suggesting he redshirted for most of the offseason

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Thanks, Pesik. Thatā€™s exactly what I was looking for. I always get really excited when CKS lands guys who are really good defenders in high school. With his emphasis on defense, these guys have the potential to be elite defenders in college for 4 years (or as long as we have them). Galen and Corey showed us how far elite defense can take you even when opponents are way more naturally talented. Iā€™m thinking this year might be the most balanced weā€™ve been offensively and defensively in a very long time. At least since Iā€™ve been regularly following the program (since 1998).

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That a pretty good description pesik .
The more I hear about Shead the more I think he may be too good to keep off the floor.
With all this depth I think we will see different rotations from game to game. For instance, if Grimes or Jarreau are struggling then we have other options. If our shots are not falling, enter Tyson.

I will miss the early season OOC games because everyone would have gotten minutes.

The numbers for guards are going to be hard to juggle and Shead seems most likely to be the odd man out. If that turns out to be the case, since this is going to count as a free year itā€™s great that we donā€™t have to worry about whether to redshirt him and heā€™ll still get game experience and also be ready if either Sasser or Deeky have issues with injuries and/or performance or if we have a situational need to lock someone down at PG.

But Pesik is right, there are plenty of years in the past where weā€™d have projected Shead to come in as a starter and play 30 minutes a night as a true freshman.

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I will venture to say Shead would have been a fr starter in most years since Goldwire which goes back about 30 years.

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Think about this.
3 seasonā€™s ago UH goes 14-4 in AAC and season ends on a last-second near mid-court shot by Michigan, which goes all the way to the NCAA championship game.
2 seasonā€™s ago UH goes 33-4 and 29-2 in regular season. Let that sink in. 29-2. And the season didnā€™t end until the loss to Kentucky when UH held a late lead. KENTUCKY. Which plays mostly 5 or 4 star players.
And last seasonā€™s 13-5 AAC record in which four of the losses were by a combined total of 6 points.
Think about all that.
This program is one of the best in the nation and built to sustain success.
Thank you Sampson family.

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Excellent post @Chroniclewriter!

I love the future for the program. CKS is setting us up for a long term run and whomever take the baton, CKS2 maybe, will be inheriting a team with a solid foundation and a winning culture.

I canā€™t remember being as excited for our program since PSJ days.

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