Rough outing. Maryland standing around the perimeter most of the time and being unable to get anything near the rim. OSU looks average on offense…but compared to the Terps they look like the Globetrotters.
Watching Maryland hurts man
The thing that is really boggling is that this is Turgeon’s seventh year. He can’t say oh gee whiz, what have I walked into, where’s the PG and C. He built this roster…on purpose?
“Positionless basketball” doesn’t mean you can play five wings all the time. And the craziest part is that PG output is by far his biggest calling card at Maryland!! It’s really hard to believe that some 40% usage guy at Stony Brook or whatever didn’t see an opportunity to boost his professional stock playing under the guy who gave us Melo Trimble and Anthony Cowan.
Turgeon signed a pair of 3-star combo guards (Dockery and Smart, neither of whom play) and called it a day?
I just cannot fathom this roster mismanagement.
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IIRC, they tried really hard in the grad transfer guard market. Swung and missed multiple times.
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That makes more sense. Strange that nobody wanted to come aboard.
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In a season full of bad Ts, giving Morsell a T after he throws his mask in frustration while bleeding just above where he got a facial fracture has to rank among the worst.
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I think it was actually at least 3 in a row. 3 and missed a 4th or 2 and missed a 3rd.
the strange thing to me is that Cowan was the last actual PG he signed as a recruit. Neither Ayala nor Hart were true PGs coming out of HS. You’d think at some point over a 4 year stretch he would have landed a single PG.
Talked about this on the pod about MSU’s issues… I think it is really hard to recruit a point guard when you have a freshman starter who is almost certainly going to be there for four years.
The schedule update we’ve been waiting for…
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lol, nice troll job by the official account.
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understandable why it would be tough to recruit a top 25/50 type kid to compete with a freshman starter. But as that freshman becomes a sophomore/junior it has to not be too tough to snag a kid in the 3-4 star range that will be willing to come in and play 10-15 mpg as a freshman and then likely start as a sophomore or junior.
Turns out that is easier said than done, though, given the struggles MSU (Loyer is that guy you are describing) and Maryland (never really found anyone) have had finding reliable PG play after a long-time starter graduated.
Michigan would have had the same issue if it didn’t find Mike Smith. And remember, they wanted Bryce Aiken first… if he was on the roster instead of Smith, I think you’d have a world of issues just given his health. He hasn’t played more than 22 minutes in a game this season.
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I never saw Loyer as a P5 caliber player when he played at Clarkston. Yes, he was a great HS player but his physical profile doesn’t scream P5 caliber to me. He’s small and not athletic. He might be better off playing at D2 level where his size/athleticism would be less of an issue. He’s barely playable if he can shoot 3s. He’s a 35% 3 pt shooter this season and that’s not cutting it for a smallish PG.
I think you’re right about roster construction - which is a similar situation happening in football with QBs right now. So many starting QBs at major colleges are transfers because the days of stockpiling bench talent that’s willing to sit for 3 years are over.
Some ways I think you could address that as a coach when you’re building the roster:
- Make sure that you bring in a good PG when your starter is in their last year so you can groom them for one season in a back-up role. Easier said than done, but should be the goal.
- Take a “combo guard” in alternate years (Brooks) that can fill in some and might turn out to have some PG skills over time.
- Take a flyer on a lower-ranked guy or transfer when you have an established starter. Spike is an example of this when we already had Burke and Walton.
MSU’s problem, IMO, wasn’t taking Loyer when they did since I don’t think they ever saw him as more than their version of Spike (though ridiculously higher ranked for no apparent reason). I think MSU’s problem was a combination of expecting Watts to be able to play PG and not prioritizing a true PG instead of Hoggard.
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It isn’t hard to follow some of MSU’s logic for their post-Winston era. It isn’t entirely unlike what Michigan went through with Burke.
- Loyer as an emergency back-up who can give us ~15 minutes as a steady veteran. (aka Spike)
- Have a “star” SG in Watts that will consume a lot of possessions and take pressure off the PG. (aka Stauskas)
- Bring in your next PG knowing that the first year they will be up and down, but you don’t ask them to do too much because your SG will be the alpha (aka Walton)
The two issues with MSU is that Watts hasn’t just been having a THJ-like slump…he’s been AWFUL. Additionally Hoggard was probably the wrong guy to sign instead of a true PG that you could build with. Now they’re going to run it back and try again next year with Akins in the role of freshman, Loyer once again as veteran, but still unsure of who your alpha playmaker is.
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All that and: Izzo put all his eggs in the Karim Mane basket. Izzo knew he needed something else at PG. But Mane went pro, and then Izzo had no time to get into the transfer game.
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