I’m not sure anyone will say next year is the year. They have no shot next year.
2022-23 PSU MBB Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
If Shrewsberry can't turn this program into a perennial NCAA team it will never happen.
Agree and my guess is he will get hired away soon. Obviously really good basketball players don’t want to come to Penn State….it is what it is.
That’s as endlessly hopeless as thinking “next year is the year”.
PSU basketball is equivalent to Kansas football.
I read several of your posts and you’re spot on. Defense is not fun, pretty or easy to sell to potential NBA prospects. However, a team that doesn’t play defense is forced to out score their opponents, a very difficult task! Yes, they out shot and beat Michigan, but to keep repeating that performance is tough. Not sure if you agree, but coach Shrewsberry’s number one recruiting priority should be a solid rebounder who can dictate policy in the paint.
No. I have a number of friends who are Pitt alums and they have always shown respect for Penn State, even during the height of Sandusky. I try to show my respect in return. Pitt is a great school. That said, I understand this is a Penn State board and a certain amount of Pitt trashing is expected. I've done myself. But when I think it's gotten out of hand, I may post a contrary view.
I've said that should be the #1 priority for the last 6 yrs. PSU was fortunate that Harrell developed like he did, but there was no true big 5 recruited behind him. This team will never contend without a big man who wants to rebound & defend the paint.
Well Kansas football did have a turn around this past season.
One would hope that was the year of the weight room and development that njie and lilley will be a solid defensive tandem next year.
Yeah, I thought about that as I wrote the analogy but I still used it. I don’t think PSUs outlook is that positive. I have zero confidence PSU will ever be any good in hoops.
Well Kansas football surprised a lot of people this year, probably it’s best year in the past 15 years!
Not the nicest guy in coaching but Mark Mangino had Kansas kicking butt in the B12, even going to a BCS bowl and winning the game! Back then BCS bowl games were a big deal. Not sure what happened after his tenure.
Yep. In 2007, under Mangino, they went 12-1, losing only to #3 Missouri, and beating Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. They finished #7 in both polls.
Coach Schrews rotations confound me...I know options are limited, but what the heck he is doing sometimes makes no sense.
He finally wised up and removed Njie from the starting lineup and inserted Henn, which was OK, as Henn at least provides something on offense can shoot the 3 ball and plays tough defense. Wynter has been absolutly awful as well and he lost his starting job, but still plays major minutes off the bench and was a complete disaster yesterday and should not have been playing. He was terrible on defense and just kept getting burned and seemed to have no answer and on offense he's not close to playable at this point. Dread has lost his shot as well and Mahffey is our best wing or frontline player and he has been basically removed from the rotation the last several games, which makes no sense...He is better than Henn, Dorsey or Njie. Yes, he will make freshman mistakes, but at least he plays hard and fast and is athletic.
....but alas looks like another failed year!
He finally wised up and removed Njie from the starting lineup and inserted Henn, which was OK, as Henn at least provides something on offense can shoot the 3 ball and plays tough defense. Wynter has been absolutly awful as well and he lost his starting job, but still plays major minutes off the bench and was a complete disaster yesterday and should not have been playing. He was terrible on defense and just kept getting burned and seemed to have no answer and on offense he's not close to playable at this point. Dread has lost his shot as well and Mahffey is our best wing or frontline player and he has been basically removed from the rotation the last several games, which makes no sense...He is better than Henn, Dorsey or Njie. Yes, he will make freshman mistakes, but at least he plays hard and fast and is athletic.
....but alas looks like another failed year!
The major problem with our defense is our offense. The fact that we shoot so many 3's, and don't make them, leads to long rebounds which absolutely destroys any teams transition defense. Coaches have a saying, "Long rebounds means a long nite." It also wears a team out physically because you are constantly sprinting back and chasing after these long misses. This is how a lousy team like Nebraska can put up 70+ points. All one has to do is look back one week and ask, How did we beat Michigan by 20? Simple...WE MADE SHOTS! It is so much easier to get back on D when the opponent is getting the ball out of the net and having to inbound the ball. Again, our lack of post play, our inability to have a guy in the box where we can toss the ball inside and flatten out the opponents defense just kills us. Njie actually played better as far as rebounding, but he and Henn just simply can't score inside. Frustrating as all get out...as I said in other posts, if we had the big from Wisky or Rutgers we could be Sweet 16 good. No inside game....hello NIT.
Mahaffey is a fouling machine. He can’t get many minutes because he gets way too many fouls. Wynter is just not a very good player and Dread is useless when he’s not making threes because he won’t even attempt any other type of shot. Shrew needs to cut down on the subbing…at this point in the season these guys should be able to play most of a game….Pickett does it and I’m sure the rest can as well. Lundy should be on the floor as much as Pickett.
Mahaffey is likely a "fouling machine" because they're playing him out of position when he does, in fact, play. He's a wing, who can also man a guard spot, but he's forced to act as a big most of the time he's in there.
I think Shrews took a gamble by loading up on big-minute/starting senior transfers and not letting the youth play, struggle and develop. I'm guessing he thought he'd bring in these transfers, win a bit immediately, and that would attract better young talent. Unfortunately, he's at risk of that not happening ... and then what do we have? An inexperienced roster full of non-elite talent ... so what's he going to have to do, again, if he wants to win? Target transfers ... at some point, the young guys will leave, or just not develop, if they don't get the opportunity to play.
What do we have for next year ... Dallion Johnson and Caleb Dorsey are the only non-frosh folks logging minutes who are eligible to return, right?
DJohnson (SR), Clary (SO), Brown (SO), Shrews (FR), Imes (FR) at the guard spot
Mahaffey (SO) alone at the wing
Dorsey (SR), Njie (SO), Lilley (SO), Booth (FR) at the bigs
This year we have 16 on the roster. That's only 10 returning/incoming kids. He's going to have to bring in a bucketload of transfers just to fill out the roster. We need to replace 80% of our points and 72% of our minutes from a team that may very well not even make the Big Dance. I just hope Shrews doesn't top-load with the transfers, and allows the kids to play next year, with the following year finally being the year something good happens for this program (I know, I know ... lather, rinse, repeat with that sentiment).
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I agree partially with your take on Mahaffey, but he also plays out of control and picks up stupid fouls that aren’t necessary. Hopefully he learns to control that, but he hasn’t so far. And he has to play the older guys, it’s the only chance they have to win. They’ve been competitive in most of their games and they wouldn’t have been if they played the younger guys, they’re just not ready. Next year is going to be bad unless he lands a couple of stud transfers and I don’t see that level of player coming to PSU.
He was presented with a crap situation, with the departures when he hopped on board, and then the whole covid mess ... and I'm not quite sure how he pulls this one out. At some point he either needs to thread the needle perfectly of giving the youngsters PT and getting them developed while supplementing with some experienced transfers, or he needs to bite the bullet and suffer through a crap season, and hope he can still recruit some top talent while the team is struggling on the court.
I thought Mahaffey was starting to play really well and gain some control over himself, and right then they decided he'd be a primary defender of bigs and he basically had to play out of control a bit in order to compete. And then he just disappeared. He's a real high upside dude, and I think he needs to play a lot to learn when and where to let that energy out, and when to dial it back ... it'll be ugly at times, but it could really pay off down the road.
Respectfully it seems like almost every game going forward is a MUST WIN for any NCAA Tournament hopes.
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