Basketball Wrap up...a prescription from an unlicensed physican

So there's really only one thing left in our (seemingly) relentless review of this year's men's basketball season.  We need to look at the players, and they do an Rx for what the team needs to do to compete next year.

I'm always cautious about talking about players individually too much.  I mean, their Mother could read this, and I don't want to be that blog, the one that is ripping some 20 year old who is doing all he can and then leaving those words on the Internet forever.  I just tend to talk about the team--which is more interesting to me anyway--and talk players here and there.

With that in mind, I wholeheartedly concur with the individual reviews done on Falcon Fodder, the blog on the Blade by John Wagner.  If you read them, you can see how each player performed and how they need to improve in posts that are "Mother-safe."

Scott Thomas
Craig Sealey
Torain Oglesby
Danny McElroy
Luke Kraus
James Erger
Jordan Crawford
A'uston Calhoun
Dee Brown
Cameron Black

One thing really stands out for me when I read those profiles...the common thread is shooting.  If you look back on the statistical reviews I did over the past couple of weeks, I think it is even clearer.  This team has to score more efficiently, and the most important step to that is to shoot better.  We play inside out, and we really need the OUT part of that equation to be functioning.  If Calhoun can continue to grow as a player, he is going to draw coverage, and we need to do better hitting the open shots that will result.  If they can be 3s, so much the better.

Speaking of Calhoun...I believe the real key to this team for next year is for Cam Black to develop into the contributor he can be.  We saw glimpses early, and then he didn't get as many minutes later, and there were some indications that he wasn't healthy (someone on AZZ.com said that his mother told them he grew 2 inches this year).  That's all conjecture, except to say this.  If Black can handle the 5, Calhoun is incredibly dangerous playing 4 in our league.  He's less so against the 5s, but I think he's deadly at PF.  To me, the single thing to help this team compete next year is for Black to become a really good player--which I think he can do.

Here is what I think is important.  There is an assumption that BG will be able to compete for a title next year simply because we were OK this year, and we only lose one regular, and he wasn't even starting for most of the year.

I don't see it that way.  Kent, who beat us twice, is only losing one regular, too, and yes, they need a new coach, but there are plenty of players coming back from an already good team.  Akron loses three good players but has some good players back and adds at least one very interesting transfer to the mix.  Miami loses Winbush and Ballard, but Mavunga is back...you get the point.

This is a young league right now.  Everybody is on the vector BG is on.  The key for BG to compete next year is how much better players develop.  You could argue that Dee Brown and Scott Thomas were better plays as juniors than sophomores, but they weren't a lot better, and Joe Jakubowski was probably more productive as a freshman than he was at a senior.  And that makes me worry as a fan.

It is a test of our program.  Our guys have talent and ability, and I do think we have a good coaching staff.  But, we finished behind teams who have that, too, and we need to pass them, and to do that, we need players to get better from year to year, not just older.  After four years under our Coach, I think fans are expecting to see some real progress and that's not unreasonable at this point.