I think folks who underestimate Kyler are gonna be surprised. He has great hands, good footwork, great court awareness and passing ability and solid moves inside, especially for a freshman. There hasn't been a big man at SIU in years that had those attributes as a Freshman. Who will start or finish remains to be seen but I think Kyler will see tons of minutes. Agreed he is not as athletic as the other two bigs but not sure Ebube has the inside skill that Kyler has and Muila appears to be more of a defensive player. It will be interesting to see how it plays out but at this point I think Kyler is the leading candidate to start. Happy we have the options as I could see some serious Hi- Low action next season.
I think folks who underestimate Kyler are gonna be surprised. He has great hands, good footwork, great court awareness and passing ability and solid moves inside, especially for a freshman. There hasn't been a big man at SIU in years that had those attributes as a Freshman. Who will start or finish remains to be seen but I think Kyler will see tons of minutes. Agreed he is not as athletic as the other two bigs but not sure Ebube has the inside skill that Kyler has and Muila appears to be more of a defensive player. It will be interesting to see how it plays out but at this point I think Kyler is the leading candidate to start. Happy we have the options as I could see some serious Hi- Low action next season.
I agree. I'm intrigued by Kyler's offensive abilities. His defense definitely needs to improve and he needs to learn how to stay out of foul trouble at this level. He now has had a full season to learn and has an entire offseason to get better as well. I think he will be much better defensively next season than he was last year, however I'd still expect Muila to be a bit better defensively. I think that it's Filewich's starting job to lose at this point.
Also, I wouldn't be totally surprised to see them out there together for a few minutes a game. Maybe not much, but it could happen especially if both play well and the matchups are right.
I think folks who underestimate Kyler are gonna be surprised. He has great hands, good footwork, great court awareness and passing ability and solid moves inside, especially for a freshman. There hasn't been a big man at SIU in years that had those attributes as a Freshman. Who will start or finish remains to be seen but I think Kyler will see tons of minutes. Agreed he is not as athletic as the other two bigs but not sure Ebube has the inside skill that Kyler has and Muila appears to be more of a defensive player. It will be interesting to see how it plays out but at this point I think Kyler is the leading candidate to start. Happy we have the options as I could see some serious Hi- Low action next season.
I agree. I'm intrigued by Kyler's offensive abilities. His defense definitely needs to improve and he needs to learn how to stay out of foul trouble at this level. He now has had a full season to learn and has an entire offseason to get better as well. I think he will be much better defensively next season than he was last year, however I'd still expect Muila to be a bit better defensively. I think that it's Filewich's starting job to lose at this point.
Also, I wouldn't be totally surprised to see them out there together for a few minutes a game. Maybe not much, but it could happen especially if both play well and the matchups are right.
I was very impressed by Kyler last year and think he can be a really nice piece for SIU going forward. Love his toughness, floor vision for a big guy and, best of all, ability to put the ball in the basket.
That said, SIU has a long way to go when it comes to defense and rebounding, and the reality is Kyler has some athletic limitations (I'm sure he will improve strength and conditioning as he goes along, but not sure he's going to ever be much of a shot-blocker or offensive rebounding weapon). If he were to play 25-30 minutes a game going forward because his offense is such a weapon, great, but then some personnel changes will be needed elsewhere on the floor, or the Salukis will run into some of the same shortcomings they have the past couple years.
I'm just jacked to have both Filewich and Ebube for the next four years!
I'm going to go ahead and post this now (after re-watching an old highlight film)...... ** IF HEALTHY ** JD Muila will make the all new comer team. He also will be the teams most important player. Having someone of that size, with that athleticism who can also defend will have a huge impact. I'm going to enjoy the remainder of spring and summer, but after that basketball can't get here fast enough !!!!
IF he or any other player on this team is better than a healthy Marcus Domask, then we will be a top 25 team this year. Book it.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
You guys are going waaaaay overboard on JD Muila.
Muila will make a huge difference in rebounding, defense and shot altering/blocking. He is not a big scorer. Filewich will always be more of an offensive threat and better passer, but Mulia has skills and athleticism Filewhich will never have due to his modest athleticism. They will compliment each other and I'm glad we have them both.
I'm going to go ahead and post this now (after re-watching an old highlight film)...... ** IF HEALTHY ** JD Muila will make the all new comer team. He also will be the teams most important player. Having someone of that size, with that athleticism who can also defend will have a huge impact. I'm going to enjoy the remainder of spring and summer, but after that basketball can't get here fast enough !!!!
IF he or any other player on this team is better than a healthy Marcus Domask, then we will be a top 25 team this year. Book it.
To be clear, I didn't say, or mean, that he would be better than Domask. With Domask, we know what we are getting (which is an all Valley team player). And also, my comment was surely NOT a knock on Kyler, as I was VERY impressed with him last year. In my opinion, however, JD will be starting and will provide not only be able to rebound, and score occasionally, but will provide that defensive presence this team was lacking last year.
I'm going to go ahead and post this now (after re-watching an old highlight film)...... ** IF HEALTHY ** JD Muila will make the all new comer team. He also will be the teams most important player. Having someone of that size, with that athleticism who can also defend will have a huge impact. I'm going to enjoy the remainder of spring and summer, but after that basketball can't get here fast enough !!!!
IF he or any other player on this team is better than a healthy Marcus Domask, then we will be a top 25 team this year. Book it.
To be clear, I didn't say, or mean, that he would be better than Domask. With Domask, we know what we are getting (which is an all Valley team player). And also, my comment was surely NOT a knock on Kyler, as I was VERY impressed with him last year. In my opinion, however, JD will be starting and will provide not only be able to rebound, and score occasionally, but will provide that defensive presence this team was lacking last year.
It’s all good brother!
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
Eric Butler going JUCO
https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/status/1389241050846441478
Eric Butler going JUCO
https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/status/1389241050846441478
Good luck to him. Hope he has a good year in JUCO and finds a good fit with a D1 or D2 bball program following that. Looks like he transferred to a JUCO near his Florida home.
Heff with the tease. Assume it’s bball related.
https://twitter.com/thefferman/status/1389928341818511361?s=21
the Southern had an article about a 6-7 guard Coupet grad transfer from Ark-Little Rock I believe.
Now that we most likely have our roster filled out, I am trying to put together my early guesses at rotations.
I believe that we will see:
Jones/Banks
Brown/Wonders/Harvey/Verplanken
Domask/Coupet
D'Avanzo/D'Amico
Muila/Filewich/Edube/Dembele
I have 13 guys listed here that I could see all fighting for playing time. I highly doubt that we play 13 guys on a regular basis so I have highlighted names in bold that I think could be at risk of not playing much (assuming no injuries). There is 100 different ways to spin the possible lineups and I'm sure at least someone out here will think I'm completely crazy. Also, everyone has 6 months to develop. We are basing this off of previous seasons. Who knows which guys will make the greatest strides before next season?
My main questions for next season are:
1) Is Wonder's defense ready for MVC level competition? If so, he could possibly start at the 2. As usual though, we just don't know what we have in him until he gets on the floor against these guys. Could start...Also could end up not cracking the rotation. Who knows???
2) How big do we play? Domask a 3 or 4? If he is at the 4, I could see Harvey/Verplanken getting time at the 2 and 3 positions. If he plays 3, they may not have as much playing time available.
3) Does Banks start? If so, I assume he must beat out Brown and Wonders as his two main challengers.
4) Do all 3 big men prove to be effective this this year? If so, do we ever play 2 at the same time? i.e. Muila at the 4 and Filewich at the 5. I personally think this one has a low chance because of defensive limitations, but could be wrong.
5) Just how good is Coupet? Does he beat out everyone for a starting job?
6) Does D'Amico get himself regular minutes? Wonders put up the huge numbers, but D'Amico has the highest chance of being a stud in this league I believe. I could see him starting at the 4 if Domask plays 3.
7) Where do Harvey and Verplanken fit in? I like both, and both showed flashes of being really good players at times last year. We just have so much talent at those positions.
I'm looking forward to a fun year! I really think that we could challenge the top teams in this conference, especially at home. The home court advantage should be back! Let's go win the MVC!
Now that we most likely have our roster filled out, I am trying to put together my early guesses at rotations.
I believe that we will see:
Jones/Banks
Brown/Wonders/Harvey/Verplanken
Domask/Coupet
D'Avanzo/D'Amico
Muila/Filewich/Edube/Dembele
I have 13 guys listed here that I could see all fighting for playing time. I highly doubt that we play 13 guys on a regular basis so I have highlighted names in bold that I think could be at risk of not playing much (assuming no injuries). There is 100 different ways to spin the possible lineups and I'm sure at least someone out here will think I'm completely crazy. Also, everyone has 6 months to develop. We are basing this off of previous seasons. Who knows which guys will make the greatest strides before next season?
My main questions for next season are:
1) Is Wonder's defense ready for MVC level competition? If so, he could possibly start at the 2. As usual though, we just don't know what we have in him until he gets on the floor against these guys. Could start...Also could end up not cracking the rotation. Who knows???
2) How big do we play? Domask a 3 or 4? If he is at the 4, I could see Harvey/Verplanken getting time at the 2 and 3 positions. If he plays 3, they may not have as much playing time available.
3) Does Banks start? If so, I assume he must beat out Brown and Wonders as his two main challengers.
4) Do all 3 big men prove to be effective this this year? If so, do we ever play 2 at the same time? i.e. Muila at the 4 and Filewich at the 5. I personally think this one has a low chance because of defensive limitations, but could be wrong.
5) Just how good is Coupet? Does he beat out everyone for a starting job?
6) Does D'Amico get himself regular minutes? Wonders put up the huge numbers, but D'Amico has the highest chance of being a stud in this league I believe. I could see him starting at the 4 if Domask plays 3.
7) Where do Harvey and Verplanken fit in? I like both, and both showed flashes of being really good players at times last year. We just have so much talent at those positions.
I'm looking forward to a fun year! I really think that we could challenge the top teams in this conference, especially at home. The home court advantage should be back! Let's go win the MVC!
Most of the thoughts here, I like, but it's ludicrous to expect Foster Wonders to be playing ahead of Harvey and Verplancken. He should be a solid player for us in the future but some people are making him out to be Kent Williams already and we need to just let him learn and grow for a while. He's making the jump from low level high school competition to a top ten college basketball conference that is stacked with upperclassmen right now. I doubt he plays significant minutes this season and I'm high on what he could be one day, just seeing most of the board go a little crazy on him.
