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Next years team

C

canzag

Active member
So how will the Vikings look?Going to be very hard to replace starting back court but with Waters I feel the PG spot is in good hands.Starting front court all return so does the top back up at each spot (although I have heard rumblings out of BC that Tyrell Mara might transfer to a local university in BC to play for his former high school coach who now coaches there)

There is also the incomimg freshman Chris Harriel and Max Jacobsen to fight for playing time.I believe they have already signed thier letters of intent and the 2 JC commits Melvin Jones and Chehelas Tapscott along with a hopefully healthy Paul Guede and hopefully Dontatas Visockas if he can get his grades in order.

Long story short I see a rotation of

PG-Waters
SG-Guede
SF-Nelson
PF-Coston
C-Jones

Top backups
Melvin Jones(PG)
Wendell Wright,Chris Harriel(SG)
Chelelas Tapscott(SF)
Mara???or Jacobsen or Tapscott at PF
Viscockas at center

There is also a big man transfer coming in correct?I could see the Vikings being competitive with this lineup next year as well.
 
Viks are in great shape to win another championship next year.

Interesting rumour on Mara, as it makes a lot of sense for him, if all he has to look forward to is another year sitting behind Coston on the depth chart....which is likely. I know how driven Tyrell is, and how much he'd like to start.

At Trinity Western, he'd have 2 more years of playing time left, as well. We have 5 years of eligibility up here, vs. 4 stateside. Although I thought I heard you could only transfer after year 2 (and play 3 more) and that you couldn't transfer if you'd already played 3 years in the states.
 
Wright has the potential to be a good player, but doesn't have the long-range shot to play guard at this point. I think the lineup will be very much as you wrote it. I've heard that Visockis may be going somewhere else too. If they're both gone, here's how it would shake out assuming no one redshirts.

The rotation:
PG - Waters, Jones, Harriel
SG - Guede, Harriel
SF - Nelson, Wright, Jacobsen
PF - Coston, Jacobsen, Tapscott
C - Jones, Thomas, Lozeau

Others - Johnson, Lazoff, Lee

Ultimately, I think we'll see 1-2 redshirts. Tapscott, Wright, or Jacobsen would be the most likely candidates.
 
Here's my thoughts on how the team will look next year:

Point Guard
1. Dominic Waters
2. Melvin Jones

Obviously Waters should be good for us, from what I've read he has a great work ethic in the off-season so I think it's fair to expect him to be even better next season. I really like what I've read about Melvin Jones. He's only 5' 10'', but apparently he has huge hops and can throw it down easily. He is also supposed to be a great three point shooter, with his main weakness being distributing the ball. I think that will improve in that area and Dom prides himself in his passing ability so I think they will complement each other. I expect Jones to be a big contributor next year after having two years of JC experience, getting about 20-25 minutes of PT a game.

Scoring Guard
1. Paul Guede
2. Chris Harriel

I think Guede is going to be a really solid player especially on the defensive end. I expect the Viks defense to be much better next year and Guede will be key to that. The height of our starting guards is going to go from 5' 6'' and 6' 2'' to 6' 1'' and 6' 5'' and likely more athleticism at those positions. Besides being a strong perimeter defender it sounds like Guede has a pretty well rounded game with solid shooting and ball-handling skills. Harriel should see a good chuck of the time at the 2 as well. Apparently he is tearing up the highest level of California high school basketball right now so that has to bode well for us. I see him getting 10-15 minutes a game and showing some flashes next year, but perhaps being a star for us down the road.

Small Forward
1. Phil Nelson
2. Wendall Wright
3. Max Jacobsen

I hope Waters gets after Phil this off-season and makes him work his ass off. Obviously Nelson has the potential to be the best player on the team and probably in the Big Sky, but he is ridiculously inconsistent. The zero points in the tourney game weren't the best sign, but I expect him to progress and be first team all conference next season. I think he needs to rely on the three less and go to the basket more, at his size he could dominate in our league with a more aggressive mentality. Also developing a mid range game could make him deadly. I'm not sure what to think of Wendall Wright. He has as much size and strength as anyone on the team, but isn't very aggressive and apparently can't shoot (although I don't know that I saw him take an outside shot all year) I don't see him making more than incremental gains next year, but if he can take after Julius Thomas and get out there and scrap he could be a plus for the team. I think he may start to assume a bigger role on the team his junior year. I agree that Jacobsen may red-shirt, but wouldn't be surprised if he didn't. He has good size and I've read he is a smart player, I don't see more than a few minutes for him this year, but think he will have an excellent career at PSU.

Power Forward
1. Kyle Coston
2. Julius Thomas
3. Tyrell Mara
4. Chehalis Tapscott

Coston is by far the most frustrating player on the team to me. His play regressed this year as his shooting percentages were way down across the board. We desperately needed Coston's size at this position though as he was our tallest active player, but I would consider starting Thomas at 4 next season. He has different strengths but is clearly the superior player. With the infusion of bigs that we should get next year this would make more sense, but I expect Bone to at least start the year with Kyle in there. As for Thomas he has gotten better every year and he has as much scrap and heart as I have ever seen in player. I think he will benefit from having more size in the front court and have a great senior season. I hadn't heard that rumor about Mara and I think he'll be back, but looking at the depth chart it could be pretty crowed. Mara made big strides this year and has bulked up a lot since coming to PSU. He provided solid outside shooting and some tough defense in the post, but I don't see his role expanding a ton his senior year. He was a solid role player for us this year and I expect that to continue if he's back next year. Tapscott I haven't heard a whole lot about. From what I can find he is an under-sized PF that works hard in the paint. I think he could end up being similar to Julius, but he has a little more size at 6' 6'' and a better jump-shot (although probably inferior athleticism). Also I'm not sure that he'll be on the team next year, I think he may have to spend one more year at community college.

Center
1. Jamie Jones
2. Donatas Visockis
3. Nathan Lozeau

Jones had a good year that was only kept from being great by injuries. He has as strong of post moves as I have seen and is a great rebounder. He can score over players that are much bigger than him, but sometimes gets overwhelmed on the defensive end. He too should benefit from the big men that are coming in and have a great senior year if he can avoid injury. Apparently it's not a sure thing that Visockis will be with the team next year, but considering he was with the team all this year I expect him to be. His size will be nice at 6' 10'' 235 and he should really help us on the defensive end keeping guys out of the paint and changing shots. I expect to see a lot more man defense with our improved size at almost every position. As for his offensive game I don't expect too much out of him. I think I recall reading that he has some decent post moves and european big men can usually shoot the mid-range jumper, but I guess we'll find out more next year. Lozeau I don't know much about either I've seen him listed between 6' 8'' 250 and 6' 10'' 280, but either way he will provide size. I don't expect him to be a very skilled player as he wasn't even rated by ESPN coming out of high school. His value probably lie mostly in defense as well.

Overall I think the roster looks great if it holds up as is. My only complaint is that we don't have a truly big post player with offensive skills, but those are pretty hard to come by. I expect us to at least be in the top three in the conference next season if not the favorites to win it again. I don't know in detail what the rest of the Big Sky will look like though. Anyhow, three straight NCAA bids would be sweet and would make it even harder not to okay a new stadium.
 
A few thoughts ...
Pretty sure Visockis will not return.
Guede will add some much needed toughness, defense and rebounding but is not a very good shooter.
Melvin Jones sounds like he'll be a lot of fun - expect a lot of 3's and more explosiveness going to the basket. I wouldn't be surprised if he played the 1 and Waters started at the 2.
Haven't heard anything confirmed on Lozeau. He is a big guy but was pretty forgettable on USD last year before redshirting.
I'm pretty sure Tapscott is still a year away and grades are still an issue. I'd be shocked if he was on next year's team.
The big question as far as I see it is who provides the toughness that this year's squad often lacked.
 
Its quite a ways away but you might find it interesting that WeberHoops.com has an embedded Twitter page now. This will be a nice feature to know what is going on in the conference games for those that don't watch online. The Weber fans forum never has any game threads so basically thats what the Twitter will do.

I know I'm always interested to see how the other conference games are going while I'm at the WSU games.

Twitter pages can be updated from a cell phone with even having a data plan.
 
psublog said:
A few thoughts ...
Pretty sure Visockis will not return.
Guede will add some much needed toughness, defense and rebounding but is not a very good shooter.
Melvin Jones sounds like he'll be a lot of fun - expect a lot of 3's and more explosiveness going to the basket. I wouldn't be surprised if he played the 1 and Waters started at the 2.
Haven't heard anything confirmed on Lozeau. He is a big guy but was pretty forgettable on USD last year before redshirting.
I'm pretty sure Tapscott is still a year away and grades are still an issue. I'd be shocked if he was on next year's team.
The big question as far as I see it is who provides the toughness that this year's squad often lacked.
Click to expand...

It sounds like Guede should be coming off the bench for defense and rebounding. We need added scoring and I hope Melvin Jones provides that. We'll need both Jones and Waters starting.

Hopefully Jones and Guede add the toughness to next year's team. I have doubts about whether Coston, Nelson and Mara will up their skills much for next year. The boost to the team chances need to come from the new guys.
 
So I know the rumor is that Visockis will not return, but isn't it a little odd that he's been with the team the entire season if he really is leaving?

Just seems odd to me.
 
Makes sense if he had a scholarship - that would require regular attendence at games, I'd guess. But I agree - why would he waste all that time with the team if he weren't going to play in some capacity next year?
 
pdxfan said:
Makes sense if he had a scholarship - that would require regular attendence at games, I'd guess. But I agree - why would he waste all that time with the team if he weren't going to play in some capacity next year?
Click to expand...

Visockis may simply not be good enough to make the team next year. I have heard that the Athletic Department is helping him find a home. It was good to have him at practice though.

I see Jones starting at 1 and Waters at 2.
Nelson SF
Jones PF
Coston PF

Main contribution off the bench will come from Thomas, Guede and Harriel.
 
They need Guede in the lineup for his defense. Don't be surprised if he averages 10 points even though he doesn't have a great outside shot. He has a knack getting to the line. People don't realize how much Murray mattered in that respect. Shared interests in keeping Visockis around to have a big man for practices this year. I hope they find him a home at a lower level if possible. Perhaps he can go to Concordia, or something like that as was the case with Tiefenthaler.
 
Viks look for bigs

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=123801720415832000

• Portland State has played (and lost) two NCAA Tournament games under coach Ken Bone, who sees one trend.

“What we’re missing is a real (tough) big guy, or two or three,” says Bone, whose team finished 23-10 after losing to Xavier, a year after losing to Kansas.

The Vikings signed two big men for 2008-09, but 6-11 Jason Conrad opted to not attend college and 6-10 Donatas Visockis had eligibility problems and then couldn’t make his way off the bench. Bone says Visockis probably won’t be back.

“I thought we had (in Conrad and Visockis) what we needed for presence on the defensive end,” Bone says. “When it comes to defense and rebounding, we need big guys.”

Bone wants to add two bigs, and Nathan Lozeau, a 6-10 transfer from San Diego, plans to sign with the Vikings.

A big guy or two would complement what the Vikings have returning in guards Dominic Waters and Paul Guede, forwards Phil Nelson, Kyle Coston, Tyrell Mara, Wendell Wright and Julius Thomas and post Jamie Jones. A prep guard, Chris Harriel, has been signed, and it’s expected that junior-college guard Melvin Jones will also join the Viks.

“We’re going to have to get tougher,” Bone says. “We’re going to have to live in the weight room. Sometimes guys didn’t bring it, didn’t play as hard as they needed to. They just need to get stronger; then you get more aggressive.”

What about a three-peat as Big Sky champions and another NCAA berth? The expectations will be there.

“That’s all right,” Bone says. “I’d rather have that than the alternative. We don’t mind expectations. I have them on myself and the team.”

• Jeremiah Dominguez led PSU to a 46-20 record in his two seasons and was one of the Big Sky’s top stars. The 5-6 guard wants to play pro ball, and Bone says “he’s too good of a player to not make a paycheck playing basketball.”

Adds Bone: “A lot of times overseas they are looking to put people in the stands. And people like watching him. They like seeing guys who can do things that other people can’t do. If he goes against guys like on Xavier and Kansas every night (in the pros), he’ll have a hard time. But that’s a high level; I think he’ll play at a (pro) notch below that.”
 
Should Coach Bone leave, I hope that the kids he recruited don't leave for other schools because thay may not want to play for or feel they won't fit into the coaching philosophy of another coach. It could set back the progress our team has made in the last couple of years and return us to a rebuilding the program all over again.
 
That is one advantage of promoting assistants - they are more likely to retain recruits since they are the people who usually had the most contact with them anyway. I'm not in favor of promoting an assistant to replace Bone, but that may be one silver lining to doing so.
 
I almost missed a quick part about Mara leaving in the Portland Tribune article that was just posted about Gevin:

"Another expected returnee, Tyrell Mara, will finish college this year and won’t return to the team."

If true, he will be missed. Tyrell really brought a toughness to the team. He was sure fun to watch, I wish him the best!
 
With the loss of Coston and Mara could the power forward be more of the traditional back to the basket power player?Sounds like Phillip Thomas could be a good fit in that spot.

Right now I would look at
Waters and Melvin Jones as starting gaurds with Guede and Harriel giving them backup minutes.
Nelson would be the starter at SF with Guede also backing him up.
Phillip Thomas and Max Jacobsen at the 4
Jones and Thomas splitting time at center with Thomas maybe getting some minutes at the 4.
What is the status of Nathan Lozeau?
 
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