A rundown of some of the major notes from the interviews yesterday.
McCarthy says he’s been given the mantle of the leader of the bigs and he’s been running with the bigs. He intends to play the 3 and the 4 this coming season, which is a transition he came in as a 2 and a 3. He thinks he can easily guard any 1 through 4, and depending on the 5, he feels he can guard them, (likely having to do with weights, noted he guarded cenac.) Trying to improve as the driver, knows its an improvement areas.
Mercy’s main focus this offseason has been shooting, especially on catch and shoot when it’s open.
Harwell has gained about 10 pounds of muscle since being on campus. He has ambitions that he thinks he can win Defensive Player of the Year this very season. thinks he can shoot 40% from 3 and 90% from the free throw line.
That is exactly how I felt in 1983…I have no intention of reliving that game or the one in San Antonio.
However I feel differently about our most recent finals loss. I am so proud of this team and what it accomplished and see a bright future for our program. Nothing will ever make that '83 loss sting go away.
Our future is bright…this year Sharp hits a jumper at the buzzer and Coog fans go wild after our first title…
In 83 we were the darlings of college basketball with the media and heavy favorites to win it all. We beat what most people thought to be the next best team and lost the last game on a fluke play.
The 25 team got everything you could ask for from a team. There were a good 5 teams who had stacked rosters and numerous others who could matchup up with us talent wise. But, they couldn’t beat the Coogs. We had one of the toughest journeys to a NC game in tournament history and played a loaded Florida team to the last possession. I wanted a win for many reasons, the program, the players, the fans, Coach Sampson and my Dad, but there should be zero regrets on the results and what that team accomplished.
Absolutely, Gonzaga, Purdue, Tennessee and Duke were as good of a group anyone faced in this tourney. Also it should be noted that in Indy we faced a hostile crowd in both games…
Your last paragraph I think helps make a compelling argument for maybe why this next season might be “the year” this time. I don’t think we’ve ever seen a more loaded Final Four heck even Elite 8 than last year. I tend to believe that might be a fluke year of all those teams being possibly all-time teams good.
Could I be wrong? Sure but I have a hard time believing that we’re going to see another year of 4+ uber elite teams.
The talent is there. I’m in a wait and see mode with some of the young guns, though. They are certainly talented but we’ll have to see how productive Cenac fighting for boards and scoring in comparison to Roberts, who was pretty consistent. Harrell and or McCarty very well turn out to be great replacements for Cryer but we’ll see.
So I think you’re hoping Sharp and Milos step into Cryer’s consistent scoring role. Harwell and McCarty turn into Sharp’s second option role with leading scorer potential.
Cenac is going to have a new role to carve out. He’s not J’Wan as a strong man down low, but he can space in ways Roberts never could/would. But for our team that’s almost a brand new role or one we’ve had very little of. But it does mean the guards are going to have to be absolute bullies on the glass
Sounds about right. After years of watching Sampson put different lineups on the floor with great success, I’m banking he does the same with the newbies.
Cant wait for the season to start. I suspect the team will have growing pains early on but will be really tough to beat by mid season. Just like last year.
Pulling for Mercy to break out and be a consistent 3 point threat. Needs to get into the LJ Cryer program and shoot 3 every day until his arm falls off.
