Post by Coyote Fan on Mar 30, 2015 19:24:44 GMT -6
Another year of Coyote basketball is in the books. We saw Craig Smith's first year and it's fair to say that from beginning to end we definately saw a much improved Coyote program. Now it's onto the off season and eventually the start of a fresh year in 2015-16. It's obvious to point to the losses in the off season and they are substancial with Bos, Larson and Hunter graduating. The holes in the backcourt will be hard to fill but the Yotes have plenty of talent coming for next year. The returners that saw reasonable playing time were Norris, Burnett, S Harris, Thoseby, Kasperbauer, Robertson and to a lesser extent Sparks. D.J. Davis and Mayot return as well but in at least Mayot's case there are some question marks as to how much contributing we will get from these players. Davis was only a freshman so he may have some room to grow but Mayot was a junior and quite frankly didn't show much. I would expect significant contributions from the first 7 and in the others case contributions would be a bonus. Avila and Flack are the two returning players that didn't play this season that draw the most intrigue. With those two the Yotes can run about 9 deep. Of the players that are new recruits it's obvious to look toward Hagedorn and Jech as the headliners. Will both play as freshmen or will one or both redshirt. That is yet to be determined. I would imagine with both of their credentials and hype they both would have a chance to contribute significantly as true freshmen.
The Coyotes are going to be much taller and longer next year. I would expect the Coyotes to remain a very good rebounding team and take a step up, maybe a huge step up in their interior defense. If the Yotes get good contributions on offense from the front court and just find one diamond in the rough at guard that we didn't expect to be a big contributer, things certainly look bright for next year.
It's going to be tough for the Coyotes to unseat the Jacks and Bison at the top but USD will definately be in the running for that #3 spot and if one of the above mentioned stumbles who knows maybe we could even finish higher. Cody Larson and Lawrence Alexander are both gone so who knows how big of an impact replacing them next year will be for either team. We all saw how important it was to try to get as high of a slot in the conference tourey as possible. The Yotes had about the worst draw possible from the #5 spot. They were able to overcome it for a game but it caught up to the Yotes against SDSU. Eventhough the Bison won the tourney I still think the Coyotes would have had a real good chance to beat them in the semi's.
Craig Smith will get an even firmer grip on the program now that he has been around it for a year. He has one year of playing in the Summit League under his belt so he can get an idea of what he needs to do to be a winner in the league. He knows what he has with his players coming back and he knows what he needs to do to improve the Coyotes for next year. Just simply being a better home team could cure alot of ills. If the Yotes can maintain being good on the road and up the level of play at home it could be a good year next year.
The Coyotes are going to be much taller and longer next year. I would expect the Coyotes to remain a very good rebounding team and take a step up, maybe a huge step up in their interior defense. If the Yotes get good contributions on offense from the front court and just find one diamond in the rough at guard that we didn't expect to be a big contributer, things certainly look bright for next year.
It's going to be tough for the Coyotes to unseat the Jacks and Bison at the top but USD will definately be in the running for that #3 spot and if one of the above mentioned stumbles who knows maybe we could even finish higher. Cody Larson and Lawrence Alexander are both gone so who knows how big of an impact replacing them next year will be for either team. We all saw how important it was to try to get as high of a slot in the conference tourey as possible. The Yotes had about the worst draw possible from the #5 spot. They were able to overcome it for a game but it caught up to the Yotes against SDSU. Eventhough the Bison won the tourney I still think the Coyotes would have had a real good chance to beat them in the semi's.
Craig Smith will get an even firmer grip on the program now that he has been around it for a year. He has one year of playing in the Summit League under his belt so he can get an idea of what he needs to do to be a winner in the league. He knows what he has with his players coming back and he knows what he needs to do to improve the Coyotes for next year. Just simply being a better home team could cure alot of ills. If the Yotes can maintain being good on the road and up the level of play at home it could be a good year next year.
