Maybe for a bit. But you have Cenac, Sakho & McFarland to protect the paint, too.
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Just based on the design, to me, it was meant to be Harwell. But Harwell has missed so much of the offseason. I don’t think he’s played any pickup games, any 4-on-4. And to be that as a freshman, I really have a hard time seeing Sampson wanting to put that as the starting lineup.
So right now, I think Kingston would start but I don’t think that was the design. If Harwell picks up a basketball sometime in the next couple weeks and is able to learn the system fast, it’s Harwell’s job to lose if he can pick up the system fast enough.
It could be Mercy too. If you look at the video I posted earlier of him and those scrimmages, in the Drew League, he’s actually gained a ton of muscle. Like he looks like a whole different player than he did when he came in. He is going to be comfortably the best driver on the team at attacking the basket. He’ll probably be passable as a shooter too. The thing that shies me away from saying Mercy is going to be the starter is that there’s been almost no buzz about him coming from within our program. I’m not talking about his own people, but like within the program. I’ve heard a lot of buzz about McCarty, a lot of buzz about Kingston from Rothstein. I’ve heard a buzz about Harwell, he hasn’t even really played yet. I think that if he was going to be the starter, there would have been more buzz about him being the breakout starter. I’m not getting any news from within the program that has that kind of messaging.
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Kingston,if not a starter, should get lots of minutes.
We have at least 8 players who could start.
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I think we have a loaded top 8 but would feel comfortable with 1-11 starting and all of them (1-14) would find a way to contribute.
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I know I’m just jonesing so I watched it.
For the rest of you, these are two different teams from last year with different players. But both are going to be really good and we should be excited to watch it.
Saved the watch for you
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According to the video, we play Auburn on November 16th. Idk if that had been announced already but that’s the first time I’m hearing
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around the 9 min mark they start talking about what we are just talking about
they think the weakness of Houston is the loss of Francis … tugler is foul prone ,Tugler for only 20 minutes a game, is not that bad when you have someone just as elite as Francis behind him. But without Francis behind him, there’s actually a statistical significant drop when atleast 1 of them aren’t on the floor
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25-26 offense jump >>>> 25-26 defense loss
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ehog: Let’s hope that turns out to be true, and I think it will.
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I actually don’t think the overall defense might be worse…
We had no elite perimeter defenders last year… with Harwell and maybe a jump with Milos we might have 2…
And I agree with the Francis point… but the simple solution is Tugler improving his foul rate and staying on the court longer… and just 1 center of the 3 option being able to hold it down for 10-15 mins
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Excited to see what Jacob McFarland can do.
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I don’t have the stats to back this up, but I feel like he did that during the second part of the conference schedule.
There was one game (Baylor maybe) where he just kept making stupid fouls like it was his job and totally took himself out of the game……again. From that point forward, he was generally more focused on the court and was clearly trying to get that under control.
TLDR version - he’s shown that he can do this. 
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We could of used him last season versus bigger teams. Our lack of depth in the front court (getting in foul trouble) was that one weak link we had. It showed against bigger sec teams like Auburn and Florida. That and going on cold stretches on offense in the second half in the Championship game was UH Achilles heel.
Florida wasn’t even ranked as one of the top defenses last season and won the chip. Crazy stat. Also it’s not like Walter Clayton Jr went off he had an off game.
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We didn’t have the elite ball stopper but we had three really good defensive guards starting and a solid one coming off the bench.
Every groups is going to have areas they are stronger in. This year’s version is going to have great strength in strength and size with Milos, Sharp, Harwell, Flemings, Miller and Walker. Add those guys with Tuggler and whomever is playing with him, Cenac, McCarty, McFarland, Sakho and I don’t anticipate a drop off in defense. Time will tell if there is a feeling out period. Our losses early last season had more to do with our inability to get late stops. I always laugh how some fans just seem to remember the developed version of the player who left. Many fans were still complaining about Francis halfway through his SR season. Our program is elite with development and when we bring back this type of leadership, the rest of the Big 12 is in trouble.
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FIFY
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Coach, you’re right they did a great job OUT on the arc. It’s not matchup disadvantages I’m speaking of, but a scheme “issue” of not having a big down low. We would get caught with our bigs out on the arc guarding someone and the other team, if they were good at ball movement, would sneak someone down low for an easy basket. But, like I said, can’t argue with the overall success.
Go Coogs!
Don’t think it’s an accident Rothstein and Fraschilla have said the same thing at 2 different times on random occasions. May end up closing some games for us, I think.
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Good ball movement beats every defense. Have to pick your poison against teams with good ball movement. Super risky to try and generate good ball movement against us because we play the passing lanes and are hounding the ball handler/passer.
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I think I would refer to it as difficult more than risky. Our greatness starts by pushing the ball out past their comfort zone so ball movement is more difficult and takes longer to help us recover. Teams who can spread the court and get us chasing the ball can be successful. I love watching teams take hurried 20+ ft shots to avoid our half court defense.
You can’t take everything away from an offense, but we are better than anyone getting teams away from their areas of strength.
I have always been impressed with how well our bigs have developed the ability to defend the perimeter from Carlton, Chaney, White, Roberts, Francis, Lath and our next Bo Outlaw Jojo Tugler.
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