Men's Basketball 22-23

[rss77]

Time to start a new thread.  I see that the incoming recruiting class is posted.  Pretty guard heavy.  Was hoping they could bring in some more height.  Maybe a player out of this group can pick up the slack for Jordan Jones's scoring punch (Jones went into the Transfer Portal).

[CAS]

DJ Nix had offers from Boston College & Washington State

[mountainred]

First recruit for 2023-24 has committed:  Jake Fiegen, a 6-3 guard from Illinois.  The report is that he's a sharpshooter and had offers from Navy and Cal-Poly.

[billhoward]

First recruit for 2023-24 has committed:  Jake Fiegen, a 6-3 guard from Illinois.  The report is that he's a sharpshooter and had offers from Navy and Cal-Poly.

My fears, recalling 45 off years, about 5 good years, the sweet sixteen year, is that a 6-foot-3 recruit is coming in as a forward. Fortunately not in this case.

Be nice to have an extra stat (alongside favororite color or astrological sign): Aspirational step-up school if you really develop by sophomore year.

[scoop85]

New recruit for Fall of '23, Ian Omegwu, a 6'9" forward from Blair Academy in NJ. Brings some needed size to the program. Not a big scorer last season at Blair, but apparently has been productive on the summer circuit. He held one other D1 offer from Rider, and apparently had serious interest from other Ivy and Patriot programs.

[Ken711]

New recruit for Fall of '23, Ian Omegwu, a 6'9" forward from Blair Academy in NJ. Brings some needed size to the program. Not a big scorer last season at Blair, but apparently has been productive on the summer circuit. He held one other D1 offer from Rider, and apparently had serious interest from other Ivy and Patriot programs.

Ian Imegwu

[scoop85]

New recruit for Fall of '23, Ian Omegwu, a 6'9" forward from Blair Academy in NJ. Brings some needed size to the program. Not a big scorer last season at Blair, but apparently has been productive on the summer circuit. He held one other D1 offer from Rider, and apparently had serious interest from other Ivy and Patriot programs.

Ian Imegwu

Thanks for the correction

[billhoward]

Ian Imegwu

More typing class practice for above and below the home row

[mountainred]

I thought Blair only produced wrestlers. (Too be clear, I know Blair has a great hoops program).

If his coach's tweets are to be believed, Ian is a lefty "physical stretch 5" (read that as likes to take three pointers) who was getting interest from Elon, Wagner, UMBC, & Maine.

[mountainred]

Men's hoops is picked to finish 5th in the Ivies, behind the usual suspects.  Bart Torvik pegs the Big Red at 7-7 and tied with Princeton for 4th. KenPom agrees at 7-7 and 4th, but tied with Harvard.  Of course, KenPom's info is behind a paywall, so you didn't hear that from me.

[mountainred]

Season begins Monday (tomorrow as I type this) at BC.  Here's a thumbnail of the team for those who don't really follow.  Last year saw Coach Earl change his style completely as the team played at a much faster pace (11th fastest in the nation) and used a ton of players (13 regulars who got at least 8 minutes a game).  And it worked pretty well, 15 wins, 4th place in the league, and the Big Red were the only team to beat both Princeton and Yale, who were the two best teams in the league last year.

Gone to graduation are All-Ivy Guard Dean Noll, captain Sarju Patel, and center Kobe Dickson.  Wing Jordan Jones left the team with the stated intention of transferring, but it appears he remains a Cornell student.  Anyway, here is who remains:

Guards:  Sr. Greg Dolan is a point guard out of central casting; he passes and shoots well.  It would be great if he can make the kind of senior year jump that Noll made last year.  So. Nazir Williams is more of a scorer than a distributor.  He was dynamic at times, other times he looked like a rookie trying to do too much.  Still, he has the potential to be special.  JuCo transfer Max Watson is aiming to be a three point sniper along the lines of Drew Ferry, he shot 40% from behind the arc last season.  Jr. Isiah Gray is a ferocious defender with a high basketball IQ; he was supposed to be the best recruit from the class of '24.  His problem last year was he couldn't shoot at all (50% from the line and 0 for the season from 3).  He will be a difference-maker if he can get those number up, otherwise he's nice role player off the bench thanks to his D.

Wings: Jr. Chris Manon is the lone returning full-time starter.  He's a disruptive force who was second in the league in steals and had the ability to take over a game.  He could also drift into hero ball.  He's uber-talented though and the best best to be all-Ivy because of how he contributes in every category.  Fr. DJ Nix is the most highly-regarded recruit of Earl's tenure and should be part of the regular rotation from the start.

Forwards: Jr. Keller Boothby was among the nation's three point shooting leaders all season, finishing at an outstanding 49.5% (41.7 in league games).  He also rebounds fairly well.  But his offense last year was limited to the 3s as he only took 14 shots inside the arc all season.  His league percentage is probably more sustainable, but over 40% is still outstanding.   Sr. Marcus Filien started to get more run in the league season where he helped on the glass.  Soph. Guy Ragland made 10-16 3's during an early season stretch of 4 games.  Unfortunately, over the rest of the season, a much larger sample size, he was just 14 for 53, and spent far too much time behind the arc for his skill set.  Soph. Evan Williams caught a few minutes here or there and flashed some interesting skills to me.

Center/Post:  Jr. Sean Hansen takes over the post role, a role that remains vital cog in the offense as our high post is expected to distribute to the guards cutting to the basket.  Hansen is a better shooter than was Dickson, but Kobe was a surprisingly efficient passer.  Hansen's ability to make the half-court offense run will be critical.  So. Chris Cain could see some time in the post, as could 6-10 So. Ryan Kiachian, who missed all of last year with an injury.

Should be an entertaining year with the guys in the mix for a spot in the Ivy Tournament.  The style Earl discovered before last year creates match-up problems and hides some of the height problems since less time is spent in the half-court set.  It should also help with recruiting; Nix claimed it was a big factor in his decision.  There doesn't look to be a superteam in the Ivies, but Penn is largely seen as the favorite.

After BC, the team has both of their annual D3 games, two very winnable games with Canisius and Monmouth and a toss-up at St. Francis.  5-1 (or dare to dream 6-0) at the end of the month would be great; 4-2 is fine; 3-3 would be disappointing, 2-4 terrible, and let's not consider anything worse.

Looking at the first game notes, it appears that Williams and Kiachian are outside the projected rotation, while Fr. G Cooper Noard may be in it.  Noard was the main scorer on his suburban Chicago high school team.

[David Harding]

Thanks for the preview.

[Swampy]

Yeah, thanks.

Let's hope they continue improving.

[Trotsky]

Really nice work, mountain.  Thank you very much.

[mountainred]

Happy to help.  If Earl plays the same style, and all indications are that he will, the team is fun to watch.  The game notes also list Williams, Dolan, Gray, Boothby and Hansen as the "probable" starters.  Gray is a bit a surprise, but maybe that portends he's improved his shooting.  Also a surprise to see Manon is likely not starting.  Perhaps he's hurt, or maybe Earl wants to save him for the second wave.  When you play a dozen guys 10-20 minutes, being a starter doesn't mean as much.