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Interview of Coach Larranaga on "Marching to Madness"

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Consigliere said:
So throw away this season and bring in no one else? At the very least, find some Joe Thomas types and call it a day. As it stands, Rodney Miller is our starting C. A guy that was perfectly “healthy” yet was chosen to redshirt his third season. A guy that has been beyond atrocious at UM. A guy that was easily outplayed by a raw, extremely undersized and inexperienced player (i.e. Gak).

There have been plenty of opportunities/names this off-season. The fact that we have 10 “active” ships before the season starts is pathetic.

Just to review, as it stands at this moment, there are 11 scholarships being used. Of those 11 scholarships:

1. 1 of the 11 is ineligible as he sits via transfer (Brooks) [hence 10 “active” ships],
2. 2 of the 11 are coming off very serious injuries (Stone and Gak),
3. 3 of the 11 are true freshman (Wong, Bev and Walker), and
4. 1 of the 11 is being used by Rodney Miller. A player that has shown absolutely NOTHING in his first three years at Miami.

From a purely numbers perspective, we’re in deep **** and the season hasn’t started. There is still plenty of time for someone to be thrown out of school or transfer. I just don’t understand how we’re still having these roster issues. Since using 13 scholarships is impossible for this staff, how about 12?

When was the last time we started a season with 11 “active” ships?
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Our front court rotation looks like this:

Sam Waardenburg 6'10 jr
Anthony Walker 6'9 fr
Deng Gak 6'10 so
Keith Stone 6'8 sr
Rodney Miller 7'0 jr

What good would another 6'9 guy averaging 8ppg do us? We've got Some 3pt shooting, experience, girth, and even some athleticism. All another big does(unless he's really good) is keep our inexperienced guys or our guys fresh off injury from getting minutes.

I'd agree with you if the player was special or had potential but I don't think additional bodies for the sake of additional does us any good.
 
HurikaneMarc said:
Our front court rotation looks like this:

Sam Waardenburg 6'10 jr
Anthony Walker 6'9 fr
Deng Gak 6'10 so
Keith Stone 6'8 sr
Rodney Miller 7'0 jr

What good would another 6'9 guy averaging 8ppg do us? We've got Some 3pt shooting, experience, girth, and even some athleticism. All another big does(unless he's really good) is keep our inexperienced guys or our guys fresh off injury from getting minutes.

I'd agree with you if the player was special or had potential but I don't think additional bodies for the sake of additional does us any good.
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How many of those guys have averaged 8 PPG at this level? Because we can use one, who is also healthy. How about someone who can rebound? Actually provide quality burn/minutes?

It would be nice to have an additional big man who actually averaged 8 PPG last year because it would be the ONLY one we have.

Keith Stone isn’t a big man either. He plays around the 3PTL and isn’t a good rebounder.
 
My projected starting lineup:

G Chris Lykes, Jr
G Kam McGusty, Jr
G Harlond Beverly, Fr
F Keith Stone, Grad
F Deng Gak, So

Yours?
 
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hotshot said:
My projected starting lineup:

G Chris Lykes, Jr
G Kam McGusty, Jr
G Harlond Beverly, Fr
F Keith Stone, Grad
F Deng Gak, So

Yours?
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Is Stone even healthy? If not, when?

How about Gak?

Side note: Before Stone got hurt, his burn was being taken by a 6’5 freshman. He also regressed nicely last year before his injury.
 
Consigliere said:
How many of those guys have averaged 8 PPG at this level? Because we can use one, who is also healthy. How about someone who can rebound? Actually provide quality burn/minutes?

It would be nice to have an additional big man who actually averaged 8 PPG last year because it would be the ONLY one we have.

Keith Stone isn’t a big man either. He plays around the 3PTL and isn’t a good rebounder.
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Keith Stone is going to do what Coach L tells him to do. If coach L is pushing for Kam to rebound he's gonna push Keith to rebound. 6'8 250 gives him the size to do it. He never really played a lot of minutes at Florida. He is an ok shooter.

8ppg is a low bar. If the transfer isn't averaging at least 14 ppg he probably won't move the needle on our wins and losses. It would be a step up from what we have though and they'd have to be interested and a Coach L type of player.
 
If Brooks was playing this year I would be marginally ok with the roster. Without him, we have a total of zero proven ACC caliber bigs. At least we had Izundu last year. This year looks worse up front, which is unfathomable.
 
Consigliere said:
Is Stone even healthy? If not, when?

How about Gak?

Side note: Before Stone got hurt, his burn was being taken by a 6’5 freshman. He also regressed nicely last year before his injury.
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Obviously, I'm expecting Gak and Stone to be ready for the season's start in November. I think Gak will be OK at the defensive end. Really good shot blocker and rebounds better for his skinny frame than could be expected. Big drawback with both Stone and Gak is offensive rebounding; something Izundu did well. Walker? Who knows what he might bring to the table as a true frosh? We could use a nice bonus from him being more ready than might be expected.

How will the new 3 point line affect this team? The extended line could open up things more for Dejan and Chris.
 
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Consigliere said:
Yup, the FBI is actually preventing Coach from using all of his scholarships. They’re personally going to throw him in prison if he signs any more grad transfers. They’re going to force him to perform a daily toss salad if he uses anymore scholarships this off-season.
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Yup, that excuse is wearing thin. I can see it now, people still blaming the FBI probe for poor recruiting in the 2035 class.
 
HurikaneMarc said:
Keith Stone is going to do what Coach L tells him to do. If coach L is pushing for Kam to rebound he's gonna push Keith to rebound. 6'8 250 gives him the size to do it. He never really played a lot of minutes at Florida. He is an ok shooter.

8ppg is a low bar. If the transfer isn't averaging at least 14 ppg he probably won't move the needle on our wins and losses. It would be a step up from what we have though and they'd have to be interested and a Coach L type of player.
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Cool, he can tell him to be Shaq. It doesn’t mean he can be Shaq.

You also missed some of the points of my prior post. We need QUALITY PROVEN depth, we have none. Since it is unlikely to get any of those, we hardly have any depth or real big men. At the very least, bring in some fillers who can play 5-10 MPG. We’re relying on one who hasn’t done that in his first 3 years at Miami to start.

Sam isn’t a big man. Neither is Keith. Gak isn’t healthy, today. Walker is a true freshman, maybe he can be ready when the season begins. Miller, nothing more needs to be said.
 
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Consigliere said:
Cool, he can tell him to be Shaq. It doesn’t mean he can be Shaq.

You also missed some of the points of my prior post. We need QUALITY PROVEN depth, we have none. Since it is unlikely to get any of those, we hardly have any depth or real big men. At the very least, bring in some fillers who can play 5-10 MPG. We’re relying on one who hasn’t done that in his first 3 years at Miami to start.

Sam isn’t a big man. Neither is Keith. Gak isn’t healthy, today. Walker is a true freshman, maybe he can be ready when the season begins. Miller, nothing more needs to be said. rebounding numer
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My point is that Stone played on the 3pl because that was his job. If his coach didn't want him there he wouldn't be there. By virtue of doing that his rebounding would naturally suffer.

Secondly you can't just go around deciding who is a big man and who isn't. Their size and position define that. Sam will play the stretch 4. Stone will not be playing small forward for the same reason that Sam won't, they can't defend the position. For better or for worse these are our bigs. Could more competition make them better? Sure.

I've got to believe that if Coach L saw somebody he liked who could help that was also interested in being here, he'd be here. One of these criteria isn't being met.
 
hotshot said:
My projected starting lineup:

G Chris Lykes, Jr
G Kam McGusty, Jr
G Harlond Beverly, Fr
F Keith Stone, Grad
F Deng Gak, So

Yours?
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Starters
PG Chris Lykes S
G D J Vasiljevic
G Kam McGusty
F Sam Wardeenburg
C Rodney Miller

Bench

PG Isaiah Wong
SG Harlond Beverly
SF Keith Stone
PF Anthony Walker
C Deng Gak and Nysier Brooks

Coach L is old school and he always talks about coaching older guys. That is the oldest, healthiest team he can start the season with. Will the lineup change during the year, absolutely but that is who I project to start our first game against Louisville.

Stone and Gak are not currently cleared from the ACL surgeries. College recovery and injury rehab is totally different from the pros. ACL tear generally take a year to fully recover physically and mentally. Brooks neeed to get a waiver, which we have not heard that is the case.

Two grad transfers (wing and big) would help get Miami through the first two months of the year as technically, Miami only has 8 active, healthy bodies.
 
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I think you meant Anthony Walker, not Mack.

Without Brooks, that frontcourt is scary thin on experience (and arguably talent).

I really like our backcourt, but we need our bigs to be at least serviceable.
 
Gables Canes said:
I think you meant Anthony Walker, not Mack.

Without Brooks, that frontcourt is scary thin on experience (and arguably talent).

I really like our backcourt, but we need our bigs to be at least serviceable.
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Thank you. Definitely meant Walker.

It is funny though. Some fans say they want 3 star guys who will stay 4 years and develop. Then they see Anthony Mack play and they want the talent level to be upgraded on the roster. Some fans don't know what they want.

I say, if you are one and done or leave early to be a first round pick then congratulations, thank you for your time and represent Miami to the fullest in the pros.
 
I thought it was definite that Brooks was sitting out this year. No waiver requested. Thought I read that somewhere.

November is still a ways off in terms of Stone and Gak possibly being ready.

I like Vasiljevic coming off the bench. Instant offense. Beverly can do a lot more -- the star of the recruiting class.
 
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Da_Lucky_One said:
Thank you. Definitely meant Walker.

It is funny though. Some fans say they want 3 star guys who will stay 4 years and develop. Then they see Anthony Mack play and they want the talent level to be upgraded on the roster. Some fans don't know what they want.

I say, if you are one and done or leave early to be a first round pick then congratulations, thank you for your time and represent Miami to the fullest in the pros.
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Agreed to a certain extent, but Anthony Mack was god awful and no where near being an ACC caliber talent.

Ideally, the 3 star guys who stay and develop are more along the lines of DJ, Anthony Lawrence, Izundu types.
 
hotshot said:
I thought it was definite that Brooks was sitting out this year. No waiver requested. Thought I read that somewhere.

November is still a ways off in terms of Stone and Gak possibly being ready.

I like Vasiljevic coming off the bench. Instant offense. Beverly can do a lot more -- the star of the recruiting class.
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I would expect Beverly to start at some point during the season. I would be shocked to see Coach L start a freshman over a senior for the first game of the season. It will probably change a month into the season though.

Another Cincinnati player got a waiver to play this season and he used the coaching change as his reason. Miami should apply for the waiver, the worse case scenario is a no but the best case scenario is that he plays. Sit one to play one makes no logical sense to me.
 
Gables Canes said:
Agreed to a certain extent, but Anthony Mack was god awful and no where near being an ACC caliber talent.

Ideally, the 3 star guys who stay and develop are more along the lines of DJ, Anthony Lawrence, Izundu types.
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Truthfully, development is up to how hard a player works and the coach expanding a players role and minutes each year. Good point though. You want a high 3 star and not a low 3 star.
 
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