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Post by GoYotes on May 27, 2014 12:10:01 GMT -6
Per Coyotes website James Hunter will be a Yote and will be eligible for 2014-15
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Post by canislatrans on May 27, 2014 12:22:51 GMT -6
Yotes and Coyote61 stated it earlier, but so far "on paper" Smith & company's recruiting sure looks like an upgrade, especially given the need to bring in players for this year (2014-15). A lot to look forward to, and excited also to see what they will be able to accomplish for the longer term!
Smith also seems to be the type of coach to get the most out of his players, should be fun to watch!
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Post by Cousin Eddie on May 27, 2014 12:43:27 GMT -6
Count me in the camp that was excited as hell about Smith, but slightly skeptical of what he was able to put together for recruits UNTIL confirmation on James Hunter came through. Getting a guy that can man the center position for 14/15 was essential. We are still lacking in size, in my opinion, but we have what appears to be a glut of athleticism. As was stated before, this will play very well into the GATA style Smith wants to play. Hard defense and running the court. LOVE IT!
Now they will be able to go hard after a couple for next year. We should have at least 4 open spots with Bos, Larson, Pomlee, and Hunter graduating (assuming Larson and Pomlee are back).
By signing 5 guys there will presumably be one more defection from the team, unless, as referred to above, Power actually is a walk-on. Presently the open scholarships are Gruis, Rowson, Thompson and Keita.
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Post by yoteforever on May 27, 2014 16:13:52 GMT -6
Not to be Debbie Downer here, but Hunter isn't exactly a huge get in my eyes. Look at his stats, and he didn't play that much for a lower half PAC 12 team. Granted, the Pac12 is higher rated than the Summit, but I think the Jacks went out and beat them on their floor 2 years ago. His size is good, but I seriously question his overall athletic ability.
Optimism abounds this time of year, I get it. And I'm not even blaming Coach Smith because on my opinion was hired weeks to late. The one thing I can say is maybe he can coach kids "up" to be better players than they are. I hope so.
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Post by coyote61 on May 27, 2014 16:40:05 GMT -6
Not to be Debbie Downer here, but Hunter isn't exactly a huge get in my eyes. Look at his stats, and he didn't play that much for a lower half PAC 12 team. Granted, the Pac12 is higher rated than the Summit, but I think the Jacks went out and beat them on their floor 2 years ago. His size is good, but I seriously question his overall athletic ability. Optimism abounds this time of year, I get it. And I'm not even blaming Coach Smith because on my opinion was hired weeks to late. The one thing I can say is maybe he can coach kids "up" to be better players than they are. I hope so. I think this team makes a ton of progress even this summer, as long as whomever is left hangs around for the summer camps. From his first press conference, he expects the kids to help at the summer camps, so I'm hoping they all buy in to his new way of coaching and way of thinking. I'm hoping the kids will learn just as much from helping coach at these camps as they do the personal coaching from the new staff. Great time to be a YOTE!!
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jackjd
Senior Member
Posts: 657
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Post by jackjd on May 27, 2014 17:44:39 GMT -6
...than the Summit, but I think the Jacks went out and beat them on their floor 2 years ago.... SDSU played U of Washington (not WSU) in 2011-12. SDSU 92, UW 73 at Washington. Washington won the PAC12 that season. Washington State finished ninth.
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Post by johnjuliano on May 27, 2014 19:51:57 GMT -6
Yoteforever, USD facilities are some of the worst in Division 1, yet these coaches have already been successful in upgrading talent at the wing, at point and possibly at the 5. Do you really think Guis would have played for Washington State last year? He averaged mid 5+ in rebounds playing nearly 30 minutes in this league. 6'10" and 30 minutes in this league and you can't average 6 rebounds a a game?
If new guy gets 30 minutes, he's going to get more rebounds than that and will be a better stopper on D. He may be a bit stiff on O, but overall it's a wash AT WORST.
So to recap, new staff has four new guys in 6 weeks (in the spring) one from WSU, one from one of the best JC's in the country, one of the leading scorers from one of the best recognized JC's in this area and another athletic frosh who he can coach up. Again, he did this with some of the worst facilities in D1.
USD isn't going to be sad about this hire. They are going to be sad when they can't keep this guy after 2 or 3 years. I'm shocked you aren't over the moon given the results after 6 weeks or so. And I don't think he's done yet.
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Post by notkiotees on May 27, 2014 20:14:39 GMT -6
In reference to Hunter, I think the word is stopgap.
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Post by Yotes on May 27, 2014 20:33:51 GMT -6
Yoteforever, USD facilities are some of the worst in Division 1, yet these coaches have already been successful in upgrading talent at the wing, at point and possibly at the 5. Do you really think Guis would have played for Washington State last year? He averaged mid 5+ in rebounds playing nearly 30 minutes in this league. 6'10" and 30 minutes in this league and you can't average 6 rebounds a a game? If new guy gets 30 minutes, he's going to get more rebounds than that and will be a better stopper on D. He may be a bit stiff on O, but overall it's a wash AT WORST. So to recap, new staff has four new guys in 6 weeks (in the spring) one from WSU, one from one of the best JC's in the country, one of the leading scorers from one of the best recognized JC's in this area and another athletic frosh who he can coach up. Again, he did this with some of the worst facilities in D1. USD isn't going to be sad about this hire. They are going to be sad when they can't keep this guy after 2 or 3 years. I'm shocked you aren't over the moon given the results after 6 weeks or so. And I don't think he's done yet. I can tell you I'm beyond thrilled that we've got Smith. From the day he got hired it's been clear he is going to do great things here, if he lasts five years here I'll be surprised. This hire was an absolute grand slam, Smith will have us in the tourney in the next few years.
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Post by canislatrans on May 28, 2014 8:17:37 GMT -6
I'm no expert, and won't venture a guess as to how to project Hunter's performance in the Summit League, but I will say this: He's 6'10" and he's no "bean pole" and there aren't many of those in the Summit League. He got recruited by the Pac12 (I don't care where WSU finished) they're not giving away roster spots. It will certainly be nice to have 6'10" in the middle of what looks to be a bunch of athletes (just like Cuz said), the coaches will find something for him to do!
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Post by Yotes on May 28, 2014 9:12:25 GMT -6
We are much better off with this guy on the roster, we would have no inside precense without this guy. Hunter is 6-10 and 265 pounds, Flack and Robertson are our next biggest guys at about 6-8 and 200 pounds. His making a Pac 12 roster is kind of negligible, seeing as he was recruited by a coach who ran a healthy Washington State team into the ground and is now unemployed. That doesn't even matter though, we desperately needed someone big underneath, and we got a guy who is huge and capable of playing at the D-1 level. Smith knows how to get the most out of his guys, and we'll see Hunter being a big part of the team this year.
Very excited to see what our team looks like this year. We are easily a top half team this year, especially considering how much the rest of the league is losing. The one big concern I had for the team was the 1 spot, we already have great depth at the 2-5 spots, now it should seem Smith has a complete group of guys to go win some games with. Go Yotes!
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sleuth
Freshman Member
Posts: 55
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Post by sleuth on May 28, 2014 11:25:28 GMT -6
Yoteforever, USD facilities are some of the worst in Division 1, yet these coaches have already been successful in upgrading talent at the wing, at point and possibly at the 5. Do you really think Guis would have played for Washington State last year? He averaged mid 5+ in rebounds playing nearly 30 minutes in this league. 6'10" and 30 minutes in this league and you can't average 6 rebounds a a game? If new guy gets 30 minutes, he's going to get more rebounds than that and will be a better stopper on D. He may be a bit stiff on O, but overall it's a wash AT WORST. So to recap, new staff has four new guys in 6 weeks (in the spring) one from WSU, one from one of the best JC's in the country, one of the leading scorers from one of the best recognized JC's in this area and another athletic frosh who he can coach up. Again, he did this with some of the worst facilities in D1. USD isn't going to be sad about this hire. They are going to be sad when they can't keep this guy after 2 or 3 years. I'm shocked you aren't over the moon given the results after 6 weeks or so. And I don't think he's done yet. Welcome to the board Johjuliano. Now that we have established that you have a connection with James Hunter or one of the coaches (immediate family, relative, friend, james himself. It was pretty easy to determine because at the first sign of his name being brought up a new poster gets an account and starts bashing the old center and bragging up Mr. Hunter. You could have been a little more subtle about it). Back to my original thought though. No one knows how this kid is gonna turn out because nobody has seen him play in person, at least any coyote fan, so lets no get our panties in a bunch over something nobody can predict. Gruis' stats were not mind blowing by any means and he definitely wasn't the flashiest, most explosive center to play the game, but he wasn't as bad as you insinuated johnjuliano. Beings you brought some stats into the equation I decided to look up his statistics from the Coyote athletic website. Here is what I found. Total PTS: 1340 (11.1 avg/game) Total RBS: 767 (6.3 avg/game) Total BLKS: 112 Total STLS: 76 Total AST: 191 (1.6 avg/game) After watching him for 4 years, his statistics don't do justice for what he did for the U. He managed to score 1340 pts on one of the most guard oriented teams in the summit league. He had better floor sight/passing ability than any post in the summit. He was also a leader on and off the court (ask his coaches). My point is, is that there are more to these players than their statistics. They bring intangibles that can't be measured by numbers. No one on this board can pass judgment on James until they have seen him play, so go easy on bashing coyote players of which you have never see play. I for one hope this kid comes in here and averages 15pts and 10rbs per game which will make life a lot easier for our guards but time will tell. I feel the same way about some of the Juco kids that are coming in. The Harris kid looks like he can distribute the ball pretty well, other than that he doesn't look like a huge scoring threat, hopefully he proves me wrong. Burnette looks like he probably has the most potential (8.1 pts 4.7 rbs 2 ast) but who knows, he could end up being a bust. Davis dominated in HIGH SCHOOL and Smith says he is a pretty good defender, will he transition to the college level the same way? who knows. Same goes for the Power kid, great in high school but will he be able to hold his own in the summit? Yoteforever had a great point, "optimism abounds this time of year", and rightfully so. New coach, new players, and the thought of a summit championship. Don't let that optimism blur the reality that not all of these kids will pan out. Look at Rico Thompson, Kieta, Bartling, Nick Mabutt, nimrod Hilliard, Allen Saint-Gelais, KC Rodenburg, and Conrad Krutwig. These guys just didn't pan out as everyone had hoped. I have high hopes for the incoming guys but im also gonna be realistic about what im gonna expect from them. Let the kids play and then judge how good they actually are. Andrew Wiggens was talked up to be they best thing since Lebron James. He looked every bit of the 18 year old kid he was. Many times he faded away in crunch time while his freshman counter part Joel Embid rose to the moment. That is a perfect example of why talk is cheap.
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Post by johnjuliano on May 28, 2014 13:59:07 GMT -6
Thanks for the welcome. No connection to James Hunter or any of the coaches.
And I looked up his rebounding average on the stats list on the official website. 5.8.
I'm just a little surprised that you all aren't ecstatic about what has happened in the past 6 weeks given what appears to be the facts of the USD program up to this point. Perhaps I am missing something.
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Post by golfingyote on May 28, 2014 14:32:35 GMT -6
JJ, I think most of us are ecstatic and have been since the hire of Smith. I personally think James Hunter will be a Huge get for what we are going to be asking of him. Is he here to be a 20 and 10 guy? absolutely not. He will be a role player. with his size alone, he could become a 10 and 10 guy for us I think. He will be the guy asked to do the dirty work- guard the other teams best interior player, set big hard screens at the top of the key, and mostly just be BIG physical presence inside, something we have been lacking since Tyler Cain. And I am not saying those 10 points are going to come from an array of great low post moves. Based on the way Smith is recruiting, we will be built on speed and penetration, leading to what should be 3-4 dunks, layups and putbacks a game for a big guy like Hunter. Let's be honest, at 6"10 270 it doesnt take much of a seal to get an easy layup with the big men in this league. Also, comparing him to Gruis doesnt make alot of sense. 2 guys with completely different builds and styles. lets compare anthony davis to Shaq while we are at it (Maybe a stretch there).
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Post by johnjuliano on May 28, 2014 14:43:22 GMT -6
great points golfingyote. I don't expect him to be a double double guy. I'm just a little surprised the fans aren't a little more hyped about what is going on with the program.
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