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#4
#4
If Santi and Z stay healthy, and someone else is the leading scorer, it bodes well for our offensive versatility.
 
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#6
#6
I think it's likely one of Santi/Knecht/Dilione, but I think a darkhorse candidate could be Awaka if he's able to play 25-28 mpg, which is possible with our lack of post options. If Phillips redshirts, Estrella struggles to get much PT following the finger injury, then that leaves us with only Aidoo and Awaka in the post as true big men.

Awaka's rebounding ability is going to give him a lot of garbage baskets the same way Tshiebwe scored a lot of his points on putbacks.

Admittedly, he's a darkhorse, no doubt. But that's at least an answer that deviates from the standard assumed trio. It wouldn't surprise me if he tripled/quadrupled his production in year 2 based off of his potential and offseason growth. He's likely to shoot a bunch of FTs, as well, so if he can get to 70% from the line, he could really bump last year's numbers up.
 
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#7
#7
cncchris33 said:
I think it's likely one of Santi/Knecht/Dilione, but I think a darkhorse candidate could be Awaka if he's able to play 25-28 mpg, which is possible with our lack of post options. If Phillips redshirts, Estrella struggles to get much PT following the finger injury, then that leaves us with only Aidoo and Awaka in the post as true big men.

Awaka's rebounding ability is going to give him a lot of garbage baskets the same way Tshiebwe scored a lot of his points on putbacks.

Admittedly, he's a darkhorse, no doubt. But that's at least an answer that deviates from the standard assumed trio. It wouldn't surprise me if he tripled/quadrupled his production in year 2 based off of his potential and offseason growth. He's likely to shoot a bunch of FTs, as well, so if he can get to 70% from the line, he could really bump last year's numbers up.
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I like the idea, and I think there’s a chance his per minute production is monster, I’m just not sure I see him getting 25-28mpg. All signs point to an almost exclusive 4 guard lineup, meaning Aidoo & Awaka will be limited to the 5. If that is indeed the case I see it likely being about a 20/20 split for minutes between those 2 or even 22/18 for Aidoo. Again I think Awaka’s per minute production will be huge, just not sure he’s likely to get the minutes to put up big numbers.
 
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#8
#8
bleedingTNorange said:
I like the idea, and I think there’s a chance his per minute production is monster, I’m just not sure I see him getting 25-28mpg. All signs point to an almost exclusive 4 guard lineup, meaning Aidoo & Awaka will be limited to the 5. If that is indeed the case I see it likely being about a 20/20 split for minutes between those 2 or even 22/18 for Aidoo. Again I think Awaka’s per minute production will be huge, just not sure he’s likely to get the minutes to put up big numbers.
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Yeah, that's the thing that is unknown. Like I said, I think it's more possible if Phillips redshirts and Estrella is slow to get acclimated. At worst, I think Awaka and Aidoo split the minutes at the 5, so he'd only need to get 5-8 minutes at the 4 to meet that mark. Guard depth and the learning curve for the newcomers there will probably determine whether that happens. Iagree though that his per-40 numbers will be among the team's best in both scoring and obviously rebounding.
 
#9
#9
JJJ will be the leading scorer IMO barring another injury plagued season because of the many different ways he can score the ball. I would say Santi with a bullet, but he disappears for long stretches at a time sometimes.
 
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#11
#11
Shadowboxer said:
JJJ will be the leading scorer IMO barring another injury plagued season because of the many different ways he can score the ball. I would say Santi with a bullet, but he disappears for long stretches at a time sometimes.
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Nice to meet your Mr/Mrs. James. Glad to have your son be apart of this team for the past 5 years.
 
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#12
#12
Shadowboxer said:
JJJ will be the leading scorer IMO barring another injury plagued season because of the many different ways he can score the ball. I would say Santi with a bullet, but he disappears for long stretches at a time sometimes.
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An interesting choice. I think even if JJJ is healthy for a full season, Knecht just seems like a better version of JJJ. In a vacuum, it seems like DK shoots it better and drives it MUCH better, albeit against lower competition. We will see how well that translates to the SEC, I guess.
 
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#13
#13
People sleep on JJJ because of the shoulder issues he's had which caused him to play at a level way lesser than he's capable of. Dude has a pretty decent all-around offensive game when he isn't essentially one armed. Knecht has some really decent film, however it's against inferior competition. Doing that on SEC and the high level out of conference teams would be impressive and with the crap luck we've had with transfers, I just don't see him averaging more than 10ppg. I might just be seeing that with my BVS orange glasses.
 
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#14
#14
Shadowboxer said:
People sleep on JJJ because of the shoulder issues he's had which caused him to play at a level way lesser than he's capable of. Dude has a pretty decent all-around offensive game when he isn't essentially one armed. Knecht has some really decent film, however it's against inferior competition. Doing that on SEC and the high level out of conference teams would be impressive and with the crap luck we've had with transfers, I just don't see him averaging more than 10ppg. I might just be seeing that with my BVS orange glasses.
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I'd agree on a healthy JJJ if he were a more willing driver and a better finisher in traffic. He was never good at finishing at the rim before his injuries, either, so I dont chalk injuries up to a contributing factor. In reality, he has turned himself into a spot-up shooter, and I just don't think he's a good/consistent enough shooter across 31+ games to be our leading scorer. I'm open to being wrong, though. I'm certainly pulling for JJJ to play well and stay healthy.
 
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#15
#15
cncchris33 said:
An interesting choice. I think even if JJJ is healthy for a full season, Knecht just seems like a better version of JJJ. In a vacuum, it seems like DK shoots it better and drives it MUCH better, albeit against lower competition. We will see how well that translates to the SEC, I guess.
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Offensively maybe. If Knecht can defend close to JJJ-level I’ll be over the moon
 
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#16
#16
Shadowboxer said:
JJJ will be the leading scorer IMO barring another injury plagued season because of the many different ways he can score the ball. I would say Santi with a bullet, but he disappears for long stretches at a time sometimes.
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Actually he is very good at lots of different things on the basketball court. Most of those are defensive. His primary limitation is that he is not versatile offensively. That is not harsh. It is simply reality.
 
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#19
#19
Last year we did NOT have a leading scorer, per se. Yes, I know by the very nature of the comment, it is not technically accurate.
But if you will allow me ... we had 4 guys with 10 to 12 points a game. (Okay, it was Santi.) We had 2 more with 8 points per game. 60 points between those 6 players. That was 85% of the scoring.
We got something from the portal, but the benefit provided to the team was limited. Injuries left us a cobbled together shell of the team we hoped for.
We played 10 guys double digit minutes, but only the top 6 played 20+ minutes. Three of those top 6, struggled (or had surgery) due to injuries.
The nature of our lineup did not lend itself to playing break neck speed basketball.
I am proposing that Santi disappeared partly due to number of minutes on the floor and also because the supporting cast was not strong enough to make them pay for taking SV out of the game.

Fast forward ... to 2023-2024 season ...
We have a faster, more guard oriented team. And RB said he wants this team to play at a faster tempo ... if you are sitting in the doubting Thomas boat, I get it.
However, I think RB has always wanted to play fast, but you have to have the horses ... I believe he has the thoroughbreds to do it in 23.
We will have SV, ZZ, FD, DK, JM, JG, CC as guards this looks a lot like the SDS team who made it to the championship game in 23.
I do see JA and TA sharing the post time.
The 4 is the most interesting position to call .. it would be JJJ JM or DK, but none of them is really a true 4. So, like BTO, I see a four guard offense and lots of up and down the floor. (Hey, BTO and I do agree occasionally. :^) )
Therefore, I am predicting player's minutes will decrease on the top end: Santi, JJJ, ZZ in order to help them become more productive when they are on the floor and because the supporting cast is stronger than last year, I expect their minutes to go down. @ BTO and others ... feel free to offer your dissenting opinion.
Expecting 6 guys to average between 10 and 14 ppg. So, no true 'leading scorer.' You may call that a cop out, but basically I am saying exactly what most are saying, but then they throw out a token name. Ok, Dalton Knecht. Leading scorer will be whoever the other team decides to leave open.
I see 7 players averaging 20 mpg (and I will unashamedly round up anybody with 19 minutes). I also do not see anybody playing 28 mpg. (We had two that fit that bill last season.)
@ BTO ... feel free to blast me on this one ... you have been correct on this one and I certainly missed the boat on this one last season. Additional acknowlegement from 23, Uconn, the defending national champion had 4 players who averaged playing 29 mpg. (I rounded.)
Estrella with finger is going to severely limit his cohesion to the team and thus he involvement this season will be delayed. Cade Phillips is going to get pushed around, if he does not redshirt, and DJ needs to find his way out of the doghouse.
Circling that Oct 29th date.
 
#20
#20
Stoked said:
Easy and boring answer is probably Santi, maybe even Dilione... but my prediction is Dalton Knecht. 3 level scorer who likely shoots 40% from 3 this year. We haven't had a guy that can slash to the rim like him in a while either imo.
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Vescovi, Aidoo and Knecht should all lead the team in scoring at some point during the season.


JJJ will be the glue guy and defensive anchor of this team.
 
#21
#21
It will be Knecht as long as he is given the latitude to be aggressive and make mistakes. Since he signed with UT from Day 1, Barnes has talked about how skilled he is offensively. Some things you can’t teach. I just hope he doesn’t settle for perimeter shot all the time and will go to the bucket. His is a 3 level scorer if he stays aggressive.
 
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#25
#25
Said it before, I’ll say it again

Knecht, but it’ll be a battle worth Santi.

Going to be fun watching them both rain 3s.

When is the last time we had two really proficient 3PT scorers?
 
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