Houston has the pieces to be good again — very good. Get used to it

I’m with you that one of the reasons Dejon struggled last year was lack of spacing for him when he would drive.

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Mills weight gain is probably all related to the 2 inches he grew. I’ll expect him to still be skinny still but who cares? Give him the ball.

a couple thoughts i had from the article

  1. i really wish we could have just found a way to find JUST ONE big when we had the chance. even 1 “honroable mention 4th team all conference big” nothing amazing and id have feal comfortable saying we are a “favorite” for a final 4…that how good i feel about the rest…just 1 chevez goodwin, or justyn mutts or yor anei …and id have gone full homer

  2. if dejon is really 6’6 “without shoes”…meaning almost 6’7 with shoes (actually measures that with pro scouts, not just coach speak) i can almost guarantee he will get a shot in the nba regardless of how the season goes

  3. not the most encouraging read about powell expectations for next season…with his size (compared to the overall roster size) even mediocrity should have landed him tons of minutes, but talks about using this year to develop him without pressure to play…

  4. i cant see a magical season without gorham’s impact being felt in someway

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Small ball is Houston

I like this from the article:
All told, Houston should get five to six opportunities at résumé wins in the nonconference.

“I think that’s where our program is,” Sampson says. “If you’ve got a program that’s nationally ranked, you should play a nationally ranked schedule.”

Looks like we can be expecting a bunch of high profile games at the FC in the coming years. When you have a really good team, other good teams will schedule them to help build their resume. Even if they lose, a road loss against a ranked team is better than a blowout of Pelahatchie Tech at home.

I’m also really glad to read about the maturation of Jarreau and his leadership. Senior leadership – especially from the point – is so important.

All said, that article bolsters my already high expectaions for the Coogs this season.

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I think a lot of folks are going to be surprised by the intensity he plays with…he is going to be a stud before he is finished here…

What the name of the freshman from Indiana?

kiyron powell

Butch, I’m still sort of struck by that comparison. Do you think he’s going to be one of the most athletic wing players in the history of college hoops and the NBA? I know some of you saw him a lot more in high school since I don’t follow it as much. Based on his vids I love his game but that comparison seems crazy to me just based on the highlights I’ve seen.

I didn’t see anything discouraging about my expectations for Powell. I think he is still who I thought he was and I am very excited about him.

He is a guy who will come in and block a few shots, throw a few down, probably get pushed around in the paint early on in his career. I see him developing and providing assistance against certain matchups this season. Honestly I see Roberts and Chaney mixing it up at center quite a bit this season. By Spril he may be ready to give some big minutes.

As for Mills, of course he will be skinny, like Jarreau he will never look stacked. What he has done is add strength, no just height, which will help his durability and those weak legs we saw on certain shots and the end of some games last season. And a guy with his kind of ball skills adding another inch. He is going to be tough to handle

I don’t think I compared him to anyone TJ. I just love his game and the fire he will bring to the court.
Much too early to be calling him a high draft choice at this point…but he will be a kid who will stand out very soon in his Coog career

The post you responded to compared his athleticism to Vince Carter, which seems like a good bit of hyperbole going solely based on his video I’ve seen. I’ve seen you discuss seeing him in person a number of times so was curious if you agreed.

Anei would have been huge but it’s not like we were ever really in the mix for him. If we’re fantasizing I’ll go with Olivier Sarr!

Goodwin would have been nice. As for Mutts I wouldn’t feel any different about the season if he was coming instead of Chaney (assuming he gets a waiver) and could see Chaney turning out to be the better player. Chaney is a house. This could be a great fit for him and he could also turn out to be better for us than Goodwin would have been.

Not me TJ… better go back and look. Not sure he is quite in that league yet lol

Lol,

Matt Jackson wrote that Mark is a Vince Carter level athlete with a better scoring mentality and you responded to his post to just generally say that Mark is going to be very good. Wasn’t trying to put Matt’s projection on you lol just curious as to your thoughts on his athleticism.

I do appreciate the analysis though!

He is very athletic and very emotional. He is a fiery type player who will get the Coog fans fired up.
He is an excellent shooter within 20 feet of the bucket and has great handles and not afraid to drive the lane.
Very smooth on the offensive side and a future leader as a Coog.
I think his 3 point shooting will improve and will not see the double teams at UH like he did with Dickinson.
And yes I think he has the talent to make it to the next level.
IMO he picked the right coach to help him get there

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mutts had a 30 point games, numerous numerous 20 point games.and before you not the competition…he had 13pts 5rbs vs pitt (as a freshman)…8pts 11rbs vs vill as a soph…id take those stat lines at UH

when we are about to get a commit (and we looked like we were the obvious choice for mutts
at the time) i watch a ton of their film…mutts wasnt a shooter but was extremely athletic and a crazy explosive first step as a scorer…him and a big trying to defend at any distance from the rim was auto point as he’d just blow by them… mutts starts at houston…chaney doesnt…besides liking houston, what about chaney to you says he’ll be better…

Per 40 averages were better for Mutts but not a massive difference and playing in the SEC is much different than the CAA overall. Chaney’s TS% was much better. Mutts seems to have a little more lift but Chaney seems to have a body much more suited to bang with 5’s in our league. Idk if it’s accurate but the Ark board was talking up Chaney as a really versatile defender who can hold his own when he switches on to guards. Chaney’s shot blocking numbers are very good from his freshman year.

Mutts seemed to have a better handle and quicker first step but not sure that’s what we really need and not sure he’d be able to translate that effectively to our league. Mutts didn’t seem like a floor spacer. If he was my opinion on this would be a lot different. If we’re going to be playing 4 guard lineups based on the little I know of both guys Chaney seems like a potentially better fit for that.

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your selling points for chaney, are mutts selling points but without the offense and less atheltic. delaware and high point both switched on everything, no matter the matchup…mutts defends guards and bigs equally, and was delawares best defensive player (delaware was a decent team)

you dont have to watch these, its not that serious, but if you want reference
mutts game highlights vs Charleston (he was defending both bigs, and projected 2nd round draft pick grant riller- who is an elite scoring guard, see 1:06)
https://twitter.com/ZachMilner13/status/1240748485554536449
mutts game highlights vs pitt as a freshman (you seem him guarding bigs and guards)
Justyn Mutts @ Pitt - YouTube

the TS% point is almost silly when you look at the film, chaney only does open dunks and semi-open layups, mutts had to take on legit defenses and create offense for himself (you can use both clips above as reference)
also delaware was a spacing team…mutts was used to stretch the floor (you can see he is rarely in the post from the 1st clip)…in the article in this very thread it says chaney isnt a floor spacer … dont take this the wrong way lol but most of your response was “i like houston”

By floor spacer I meant can hit from 15+, not can take a couple of dribble with secondary penetration and finish. Maybe he could do that here but doing it against Wichita State, Cincy, etc. is a lot different than College of Charleston.

When I said Chaney could switch on screens I didn’t mean that Mutts can’t but it’s a plus for Chaney to be able to do that on top of having a body much more suited to bang with 5’s in our league than Mutts does.

His minutes were up and down but Chaney played plenty of minutes for an SEC team that had a good shot at making the tourney and his numbers were fine for the minutes he played. It’s not crazy to feel like he could be better for what we need.

Also, I’m very hesitant to bring something like this up, but I had some questions about culture fit for Mutts too. Our team of course has plenty of guys and staff members very passionate and vocal about social justice and that’s great, but Mutts was retweeting things like Antifa-type accounts giving advice on how to attack police officers wearing riot gear. I generally don’t want to hold someone’s personal beliefs against them and won’t overreact for a tweet. Also, he graduated in 3 years so he has to be a fairly sharp kid, but that to me seems like questionable judgment to tweet even if he feels that way and doesn’t give off a Sampson-culture vibe just in my opinion.

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