cscsbballcoach said:
ISU needs bigs and needs them badly.. they will struggle against wsu and utah in these next 2 games, not because of guard play but because their bigs are just not that good at the moment and need development and strength. Interior defense and rebounding weaknesses will be tested. that leads me to my next point, I would heavily, I mean HEAVILY focus on recruiting Big defenders ,rebounders and just BIGS in general in the coming years, I think we are set on guards for the short term and long term. Boyd and Chivichyan will probably be the best backcourt in the big sky in the coming years. Telfair, ALi, Nwosuh, luzcando along with those 2 will provide good guard play, but im worried about the bigs in these next few games... they might get out-rebounded by 25+ ... guards going to need to get in the key and get dirty.
I agree that ISU's front court is likely going to be an issue as the season progresses. In talking with the coaching staff, as of today (who knows what will happen with transfers, etc. down the road), they only have one scholarship to give for next season. I'm assuming that means Clark Wilkinson is coming back off his mission for next season, and will take one of the two scholarships vacated by the two graduating seniors. Clark is a developmental project, a lot like the "bigs" we have in the program right now. Hopefully that means we'll be looking for an experienced JUCO big in the spring signing period. It would be great to get a 6-8, 6-9 power player, but those kinds of guys are in high demand, and I'd settle for another Jeff Solarin, who was about 6-3, but was the best rebounder, inch-for-inch, that I've seen in my 36 years of watching Bengal basketball. (BTW, the only 2016 ISU offer that's been reported by Verbal Commits is Chris Bowling, a 6-5, 170 high school SF. I have to assume we're looking at other options).
So most of any improvement ISU is going to experience upfront in the next year or two is going to have to come internally. I think Topalovic, Smith, Lennox, Ingram and Nicolds all have various degrees of "upside," but they all need skills development, lots of time in the weight room and plenty of coaching. There will be games this season when the Bengals are dominated upfront (I have a feeling Friday's at Wazzu may be one), so the guards are going to have to crash the defensive boards and help out with ball pressure as much as possible.
The Big Sky is a guards league, and I think this team can be competitive with the guards and wings currently on the roster. The difference between being competitive and being a contender, of course, usually resides in the post: Bruenig at Montana, Bolomboy at Weber, Jois in Cheney separate their teams from the rest of the pack. This ISU team has taken a couple of big steps up in two ways: I think they will be more competitive in the conference and they are WAY more entertaining to watch. How much farther they can go depends greatly on the internal development of their young bigs.
