Our Very Young 2019-2020 Team: How Will They Do?

I'm really excited to see these kids play. I think fans' expectations will be fairly reasonable, and my prediction is that the kids will significantly out-perform.

I'm especially excited to see if kids like Owens, Carter-Hollinger, Egun and Vazquez get substantial minutes early in the season. I will actually be surprised if they don't. And then there are "wild-cards" like Selcuk, Brown and Jones - I have no idea what to expect from these guys.

Combine this group with the coach and veteran players we have returning, and the new crop of 2020 recruits, and both the present and future are bright for this team.

Good thread!

I predict:

Pridgett will be great. Seniors will act like seniors. Falls will play well. Mack and Selcuk will be sporadic. Walk-ons won’t play much. Freshmen will be even more sporadic but maintain playing time, 0.500 team the first two thirds yet an exciting future realized by fans, gain momentum, be tough at end of year with future arriving early, win BSC tourney, 16 seed, win a round, get crushed by 1 seed. We all get excited for future years.

astutegriz said:

Good thread!

I predict:

Pridgett will be great. Seniors will act like seniors. Falls will play well. Mack and Selcuk will be sporadic. Walk-ons won’t play much. Freshmen will be even more sporadic but maintain playing time, 0.500 team the first two thirds yet an exciting future realized by fans, gain momentum, be tough at end of year with future arriving early, win BSC tourney, 16 seed, win a round, get crushed by 1 seed. We all get excited for future years.

Click to expand...

I think you're spot on. There is a lot of talent, but it is young and inexperienced. The future does indeed look bright.

The Big Sky is a guard-oriented conference. We are young but loaded on the guard line, especially if Gaskin should become eligible this year. But so are Weber and Northern Colorado. The Cats just recruited a top player from the state of Washington, a 6'7" shooting guard with Klay Thompson-esque defensive abilities. So the beat goes on as a guard-oriented conference.

But up front? This is what separates us from the Power Five crowd. We simply can't recruit those quality three-star high-school post players--and didn't this year. Two of our best recent bigs, Akoh and Steadman, transferred in, and Mack Anderson is a Montana kid who flew under the national radar until very late in his recruitment.

So the fate of this year's team rests for me on the answers to any number of questions about our post play:
--How much progress has Mack Anderson made? And will he fill out or is he a perpetual 205-pound bonie maronie?
--Can Jared Samuelson re-adjust to a higher level of competition, and be a solid rebounder immediately?
--How much can Carter-Hollinger contribute as a true freshman, especially on the boards?
--Is Kyle Owens a legit 6'8" and can he help us up front by becoming a rim defender?
--Whither Selcuk? Legit post player? Or more in the mobile, versatile European-type big?

How we develop up front is what I'll be looking for from the Maroon-Silver scrimmage, right through the early schedule. That will be the key to how far this team goes this year.

Another question has to do with how moving the 3-point line will impact the game. I have to think that quality "bigs" will be in even bigger demand than they are now.

Also, I think we'll do just fine in our conference with Owens, Anderson and Carter-Hollinger, complemented by a few other guys in that size range. Hopefully some of whom you can drain the deep ball. :thumb:

Pridgett will be MVP of the league-over 20 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds a game! The freshmen and Egun-the red shirt-will be incredible. Can’t wait to watch the energy! Falls will settle in really well as a leader, and Manuel’s points, rebounds, and contribution will go up! Samuelson and Mack will be so important for the inside, as will Samuelson’s outside shooting! I see him being more important on the inside for us than he was with Rocky! Gonna be an exciting year!

I have heard the coaches have been really happy with Owens progress. Has even grown taller since High School. I suspect we will see the most minutes from him out of the gate for the true freshman.