Tanner and EJ stay - Mo exploring his Pro options

[NickZepp]

Mo has a good quick release but I'm not sure he can defend at the NBA level and he's not that big. I think he's probably better off staying in college.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Mo has a good quick release but I'm not sure he can defend at the NBA level and he's not that big. I think he's probably better off staying in college.

I’m guessing he isn’t talking/thinking NBA. More likely he is gauging which overseas leagues might be interested.

 

[allday92]

How about Alondes? He was on our bench and went out and proved to be the best player in the ACC.

Boulder is right, many of our fans don’t have a great eye for talent.

So last year we had the ACC player of the year, Manek, and an NBA'er, and we put THAT team on the floor?

How does that happen? Lon that bad of a coach? Or maybe, regardless of the year they had this year, some of those guys aren't (or weren't) all you are making them out to be.

I think it's more just a role and fit thing.

Alondes was really successful this year, but he also had a higher usage percentage than Reaves had last year for OU. 28.9% vs 27.7%. Maybe the best role for Alondes was to be the primary ballhandler and Lon envisioned that for him. It just wasn't going to happen with Reaves and Harmon above him in the pecking order. It would have been interesting to see a Harmon/Alondes backcourt if Lon didn't retire. As great as Alondes was he still couldn't lead his team to an NCAA tournament bid.

Manek had a great year, but he played in a less physical conference and finally played next to a legit center. Armando Bacot is 6'10 240lbs. He's a better fit next to Brady than someone like Kuath or McNeace. And this is UNC's starting lineup outside of Brady:

Caleb Love - 5 star, 14th best prospect class of 2020
Leaky Black - 4 star, 71st best prospect class of 2018
Armando Bacot - 5 star, 27th best prospect class of 2019
RJ Davis - 4 star, 50th best prospect class of 2020.

Brady is going to look and fit better next to the talent at UNC compared to the talent at OU. Happy for him he found a situation that accentuated his shooting skill.

 

[dksooner]

I think it's more just a role and fit thing.

Alondes was really successful this year, but he also had a higher usage percentage than Reaves had last year for OU. 28.9% vs 27.7%. Maybe the best role for Alondes was to be the primary ballhandler and Lon envisioned that for him. It just wasn't going to happen with Reaves and Harmon above him in the pecking order. It would have been interesting to see a Harmon/Alondes backcourt if Lon didn't retire. As great as Alondes was he still couldn't lead his team to an NCAA tournament bid.

Manek had a great year, but he played in a less physical conference and finally played next to a legit center. Armando Bacot is 6'10 240lbs. He's a better fit next to Brady than someone like Kuath or McNeace. And this is UNC's starting lineup outside of Brady:

Caleb Love - 5 star, 14th best prospect class of 2020
Leaky Black - 4 star, 71st best prospect class of 2018
Armando Bacot - 5 star, 27th best prospect class of 2019
RJ Davis - 4 star, 50th best prospect class of 2020.

Brady is going to look and fit better next to the talent at UNC compared to the talent at OU. Happy for him he found a situation that accentuated his shooting skill.

Great take here

 

[Stikboy]

Great take here

Yep. I'd been thinking about that regarding the Brady part. Well said.

 

[skyvue]

Brady was also healthy this season. Big difference from last season.

 

[colston15]

We got better the less Harkless played IMO. He was terrible for much of the year. You like the +/- calc. He was terrible in conference, and was one of the worst starters OOC.

He is 100% replaceable via the Portal IMO.

But it shoudn't be weird that a P5 starter at a school that missed the Dance had interest to be a starter at other P5 schools.

This is such a clueless take. We went in the tank following his injury. But I guess that's just coincidence since he had some bad games (like every player) before that.

He's an average offensive player right now, (I expect him to improve next season) but is very solid defensively and we would not just easily replace him in the portal. Many thought that about Manek, Kuath, etc. and how did that turn out?

 

[mict085]

When are we going to know if Mo is coming back or 100% gone? We have to add through the portal quickly.

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

It already has.

You know even the pro players are obsessed with playing on super teams.. thats the natural progression here and itll be kansas, Kentucky, Duke, UNC that lead the charge in the cheating/lame/dumb pay for play

UNC isn't leading a charge in anything. They have zero 5 stars coming in next year, and while they're hitting the Portal. They won't have close to the talent the others have next year. Bacot and Love are gone, and those are the only 5 stars UNC has this year.

 

[WichitaSooner]

This is such a clueless take. We went in the tank following his injury. But I guess that's just coincidence since he had some bad games (like every player) before that.

He's an average offensive player right now, (I expect him to improve next season) but is very solid defensively and we would not just easily replace him in the portal. Many thought that about Manek, Kuath, etc. and how did that turn out?

He is not an average offensive player. He is a below average shooter, passer, and handler. What other offensive skills are there?

And we lost 9 of the last 11 games he played. We then lost the first two he missed (and there is no way we were going to be the only team all season to win at Tech even if he played that game), then won four straight once we settled into a new lineup. It's also notable that one of the two wins in that 11-game stretch before his injury came when he was benched and only played four minutes at West Virginia.

 

[hoopsaustin]

UNC isn't leading a charge in anything. They have zero 5 stars coming in next year, and while they're hitting the Portal. They won't have close to the talent the others have next year. Bacot and Love are gone, and those are the only 5 stars UNC has this year.

I was speaking more on the fact that they were willing to do the test cheating scandal so i imagine that they will be doing everything.. and not necessarily next year

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

He is not an average offensive player. He is a below average shooter, passer, and handler. What other offensive skills are there?

And we lost 9 of the last 11 games he played. We then lost the first two he missed (and there is no way we were going to be the only team all season to win at Tech even if he played that game), then won four straight once we settled into a new lineup. It's also notable that one of the two wins in that 11-game stretch before his injury came when he was benched and only played four minutes at West Virginia.

Wait. Manek is a below average offensive player? Is that what I'm reading from you? A man that was named to an all Regional team. A man that has averaged 21.5 points per game (a March Madness best), and 8 rebounds is an average offensive player? Is that what I'm reading from you?

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

I was speaking more on the fact that they were willing to do the test cheating scandal so i imagine that they will be doing everything.. and not necessarily next year

I thought it was fake classes?

Anyway, they had to pay 15 million dollars to have the NCAA shut up. And from the looks of Hubert Davis's recruiting. They aren't doing "everything" by any means.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Wait. Manek is a below average offensive player? Is that what I'm reading from you? A man that was named to an all Regional team. A man that has averaged 21.5 points per game (a March Madness best), and 8 rebounds is an average offensive player? Is that what I'm reading from you?

Nope, it's not what you are reading from me, or should be, if you can follow the thread.

 

[Eielson]

Wait. Manek is a below average offensive player? Is that what I'm reading from you? A man that was named to an all Regional team. A man that has averaged 21.5 points per game (a March Madness best), and 8 rebounds is an average offensive player? Is that what I'm reading from you?

I think he's talking about Harkless.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I think he's talking about Harkless.

Bingo. Thought that was obvious given (a) which post I quoted, and (b) all of the info in my post was clearly about Harkless and this year's team.

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

Bingo. Thought that was obvious given (a) which post I quoted, and (b) all of the info in my post was clearly about Harkless and this year's team.

Ah, gotcha. Harkless is fine. He's limited offensively. But he's okay.

 

[colston15]

He is not an average offensive player. He is a below average shooter, passer, and handler. What other offensive skills are there?

And we lost 9 of the last 11 games he played. We then lost the first two he missed (and there is no way we were going to be the only team all season to win at Tech even if he played that game), then won four straight once we settled into a new lineup. It's also notable that one of the two wins in that 11-game stretch before his injury came when he was benched and only played four minutes at West Virginia.

And yet the man paid millions of dollars to run the program wanted Harkless back and said it was huge to lose him during the season.

I think I'll trust Moser on talent ID/development.

 

[WichitaSooner]

And yet the man paid millions of dollars to run the program wanted Harkless back and said it was huge to lose him during the season.

I think I'll trust Moser on talent ID/development.

I notice you don't respond to the points I made but instead set up a strawman. I didn't say he isn't a useful player or that I don't want him back. He is a good defender and plays with great energy. If you think he is average or above average at the three offensive skills that I listed, I don't know what to tell you. And as for Porter's comments, he also said multiple times that we played our best basketball the last two or three weeks of the season.

 

[colston15]

I notice you don't respond to the points I made but instead set up a strawman. I didn't say he isn't a useful player or that I don't want him back. He is a good defender and plays with great energy. If you think he is average or above average at the three offensive skills that I listed, I don't know what to tell you. And as for Porter's comments, he also said multiple times that we played our best basketball the last two or three weeks of the season.

He was the only player on the team capable of creating his own shot for a majority of the season, which meant he was thrown the ball with the shot clock dwindling and asked to do something countless times. Totally unfair to him.

He's a good rebounder for his size, offensively and defensively as well.

I would like for him to improve his outside shot. He was 32% last season...if he can get to 35-37% that would be awesome.