2019-2020 Season

[DungeonRealm]

We bring back a lot, we will have 1 senior on the team next year Jordan Lyons (if we don't take a senior grad transfer), and he will undoubtedly be the leader of the team

I expect the top 4 from the SoCon this year to be the same schools battling for the title next season, with possibly UTC and Samford being improved from this past season

What are everyone's thoughts moving forward on next season and beyond as it relates to FU basketball and SoCon basketball?

[Paladin91]

ETSU is slated to bring everyone back next year - I suspect they will be the team to beat. I think Wofford will be pretty good too, but losing Magee, Jackson, and Pegram will hurt. UTC should be decent. Samford will be improved if they can keep their players - I think they already have one transferring out.

Our entire offense pretty much ran around Rafferty this season - it will be interesting to see how the offense functions next season since we don't have anyone that can really replicate what Rafferty did this year.

[fufanatic]

I would anticipate us competing for the conference title if the following things happen:

- we lock up Bob Richey.

- Lyons clearly works his tail off and I wouldn’t expect anything different from him this offseason. He needs to average close to 20 a game next year.

- Hunter can bring some more scoring to his already solid job of running the point. Also pick up some of the assists that Rafferty had.

- Mounce and Gurley get more consistent and can pick up Rafferty scoring.

- Bothwell and a FR or two can provide some more depth. I would think the former could be a starter.

- Concerns are again going to be height and rebounding, but not sure what the solution is.

[DungeonRealm]

I would anticipate us competing for the conference title if the following things happen:

- we lock up Bob Richey.

- Lyons clearly works his tail off and I wouldn’t expect anything different from him this offseason. He needs to average close to 20 a game next year.

- Hunter can bring some more scoring to his already solid job of running the point. Also pick up some of the assists that Rafferty had.

- Mounce and Gurley get more consistent and can pick up Rafferty scoring.

- Bothwell and a FR or two can provide some more depth. I would think the former could be a starter.

- Concerns are again going to be height and rebounding, but not sure what the solution is.

If Lyons can improve his 3pt shooting percentage a little to the tune of knocking down 1 more 3 per game he will be right at 20ppg

The freshmen guard from Ohio can really score the ball and the tall freshmen from Florida has good height and an outside shooting touch

We need to find an impact big man recruit for starting at the 5 spot with one of our 2 remaining scholarships, we are rumored to be chasing someone, just needs to provide size on defense and good rebounding numbers. If we can find the right guy to fill this whole we will be in great shape.

Bringing Bothwell, the Ohio kid and Clark off the bench would be good guard depth
Bringing Slawson and the Florida big kid off the bench would be good depth inside

[fufanatic]

I would anticipate us competing for the conference title if the following things happen:

- we lock up Bob Richey.

- Lyons clearly works his tail off and I wouldn’t expect anything different from him this offseason. He needs to average close to 20 a game next year.

- Hunter can bring some more scoring to his already solid job of running the point. Also pick up some of the assists that Rafferty had.

- Mounce and Gurley get more consistent and can pick up Rafferty scoring.

- Bothwell and a FR or two can provide some more depth. I would think the former could be a starter.

- Concerns are again going to be height and rebounding, but not sure what the solution is.

If Lyons can improve his 3pt shooting percentage a little to the tune of knocking down 1 more 3 per game he will be right at 20ppg

The freshmen guard from Ohio can really score the ball and the tall freshmen from Florida has good height and an outside shooting touch

We need to find an impact big man recruit for starting at the 5 spot with one of our 2 remaining scholarships, we are rumored to be chasing someone, just needs to provide size on defense and good rebounding numbers. If we can find the right guy to fill this whole we will be in great shape.

Bringing Bothwell, the Ohio kid and Clark off the bench would be good guard depth
Bringing Slawson and the Florida big kid off the bench would be good depth inside

Forgot about Slawson and Clark. Improving their O would be gravy on continuing to be strong on D. Both are very impressive on that end.

I honestly really like our team next year assuming no injuries, no transfers and no head coaching change. Hopefully Tya or someone else in the know can tell us more about freshmen coming in. I don’t follow recruiting.

[cavedweller2]

We have 2 scholarships. We need to find two 7 footers.

[Paul C]

Key to next year is:

1) continued development of Gurley and Mounce. If Gurley improves as much as Mounce did between his RS Fr and RS So year he will be good. I know the coaches think he has the potential to be special at the 5. And Mounce just needs to find more consistency. And while we are talking about big men developing, Slawson getting stronger and more confident is also high on the list.

2) Jordan needs to work on his shot selection, not his shooting. But we will need his fire, his passion, his leadership and his D.

3) would love to see Alex Hunter develop as more of a threat to drive and dish. He passes up a lot of chances to go to the basket.

4) Bothwell needs a great summer to take to minutes that Andrew Brown played.

5) not sure we should expect much from the Freshman with the exception of Colin Kenney. His ability to play some PG and provide a legit scoring threat at that spot could be a big add. My uneducated view is that Lawrence and Foster need a year to develop.

I think we take a bit of a step back next year. 10-8 in the SoCon and just getting to 20 wins would be ok. Of course I’d love to see us do better.

[Paul C]

UTC’s star Fr Kevin’s Easley has announced he’s transferring. Big blow to the Mocs.

The SoCon will be more balanced next year with the big 4 coming back to the pack.

ETSU should be the favorite but they looked awful in their loss to KenPom #205 Wisconsin-GB the other night.

I’d say

1 ETSU
2 Furman, Wofford, UNCG, Samford
6 UTC
7 VMI
8 Western Car
9 Mercer
10 Citadel

[DungeonRealm]

UTC’s star Fr Kevin’s Easley has announced he’s transferring. Big blow to the Mocs.

The SoCon will be more balanced next year with the big 4 coming back to the pack.

ETSU should be the favorite but they looked awful in their loss to KenPom #205 Wisconsin-GB the other night.

I’d say

1 ETSU
2 Furman, Wofford, UNCG, Samford
6 UTC
7 VMI
8 Western Car
9 Mercer
10 Citadel

Woah yeah that's a big blow to UTC, yeah not so sure about them at all now

[DungeonRealm]

If we can find a contributing big man out there for next season with one of our 2 scholarships left I would actually list us ahead of ETSU to win the league next year, I am just not sold on them having enough shooters

Also Wofford should be easier to defend, with Magee gone teams can focus on Hoover more, plus their two returning bigs Aluma and Goodwin have no shooting ability outside the paint at all

[MNORM]

I would anticipate us competing for the conference title if the following things happen:

- we lock up Bob Richey.

- Lyons clearly works his tail off and I wouldn’t expect anything different from him this offseason. He needs to average close to 20 a game next year.

- Hunter can bring some more scoring to his already solid job of running the point. Also pick up some of the assists that Rafferty had.

- Mounce and Gurley get more consistent and can pick up Rafferty scoring.

- Bothwell and a FR or two can provide some more depth. I would think the former could be a starter.

- Concerns are again going to be height and rebounding, but not sure what the solution is.

If Lyons can improve his 3pt shooting percentage a little to the tune of knocking down 1 more 3 per game he will be right at 20ppg

The freshmen guard from Ohio can really score the ball and the tall freshmen from Florida has good height and an outside shooting touch

We need to find an impact big man recruit for starting at the 5 spot with one of our 2 remaining scholarships, we are rumored to be chasing someone, just needs to provide size on defense and good rebounding numbers. If we can find the right guy to fill this whole we will be in great shape.

Bringing Bothwell, the Ohio kid and Clark off the bench would be good guard depth
Bringing Slawson and the Florida big kid off the bench would be good depth inside

If you're referring to Colin Kenney, he's from Indiana. Marquette Catholic is in Michigan City, Indiana. Bothwell is from Ohio (Cleveland).
FYI, Kenney was just named to the Indiana Senior All-State team. I see him backing up Hunter at PG and moving Mike Bothwell over to his more natural position at the 2. Jalen Pugh will have his work cut out for him if he wants to see playing time (see J. Jean's situation).

Slawson, IMHO, is a diamond in the rough. I'd love to see him spend the Summer working on his post-play and hitting the weight room. Gurley needs to work on his D...he's out of position down low too much and ends up in foul trouble too often because of this. He also needs to hit the weight room.
Losing Matt will be a difficult adjustment to make. That said, I see us being a quicker, slashing, long and athletic offense in the next few years. Improve our outside shooting just a bit and our inside-out game will scare teams away from double-teaming us down low.
I really like what I see for the future. Can someone update us on the other two incoming scholarship guys? I'm most familiar with Colin.

[DungeonRealm]

I would anticipate us competing for the conference title if the following things happen:

- we lock up Bob Richey.

- Lyons clearly works his tail off and I wouldn’t expect anything different from him this offseason. He needs to average close to 20 a game next year.

- Hunter can bring some more scoring to his already solid job of running the point. Also pick up some of the assists that Rafferty had.

- Mounce and Gurley get more consistent and can pick up Rafferty scoring.

- Bothwell and a FR or two can provide some more depth. I would think the former could be a starter.

- Concerns are again going to be height and rebounding, but not sure what the solution is.

If Lyons can improve his 3pt shooting percentage a little to the tune of knocking down 1 more 3 per game he will be right at 20ppg

The freshmen guard from Ohio can really score the ball and the tall freshmen from Florida has good height and an outside shooting touch

We need to find an impact big man recruit for starting at the 5 spot with one of our 2 remaining scholarships, we are rumored to be chasing someone, just needs to provide size on defense and good rebounding numbers. If we can find the right guy to fill this whole we will be in great shape.

Bringing Bothwell, the Ohio kid and Clark off the bench would be good guard depth
Bringing Slawson and the Florida big kid off the bench would be good depth inside

If you're referring to Colin Kenney, he's from Indiana. Marquette Catholic is in Michigan City, Indiana. Bothwell is from Ohio (Cleveland).
FYI, Kenney was just named to the Indiana Senior All-State team. I see him backing up Hunter at PG and moving Mike Bothwell over to his more natural position at the 2. Jalen Pugh will have his work cut out for him if he wants to see playing time (see J. Jean's situation).

Slawson, IMHO, is a diamond in the rough. I'd love to see him spend the Summer working on his post-play and hitting the weight room. Gurley needs to work on his D...he's out of position down low too much and ends up in foul trouble too often because of this. He also needs to hit the weight room.
Losing Matt will be a difficult adjustment to make. That said, I see us being a quicker, slashing, long and athletic offense in the next few years. Improve our outside shooting just a bit and our inside-out game will scare teams away from double-teaming us down low.
I really like what I see for the future. Can someone update us on the other two incoming scholarship guys? I'm most familiar with Colin.

Yes the Indiana kid is who I was referring to, lol, thanks for correcting me!!

[Jasper]

If we can find a contributing big man out there for next season with one of our 2 scholarships left I would actually list us ahead of ETSU to win the league next year, I am just not sold on them having enough shooters

Also Wofford should be easier to defend, with Magee gone teams can focus on Hoover more, plus their two returning bigs Aluma and Goodwin have no shooting ability outside the paint at all

From what I saw of Wofford's bench last night, they have some very able replacements coming along. That is what a good program does. There is no question that they will miss Magee and Jackson - even Pegram places a big role but we are losing one of the great players in school history. His value was never more apparent to this team than against Wichita State. Who knows what ETSU will suit up next year. And UNCG is not going away. They have a lot coming in I am told. Another solid program. Furman should be in the mix for league leadership but I cannot see FU as favorite to win the league.

[DungeonRealm]

If we can find a contributing big man out there for next season with one of our 2 scholarships left I would actually list us ahead of ETSU to win the league next year, I am just not sold on them having enough shooters

Also Wofford should be easier to defend, with Magee gone teams can focus on Hoover more, plus their two returning bigs Aluma and Goodwin have no shooting ability outside the paint at all

From what I saw of Wofford's bench last night, they have some very able replacements coming along. That is what a good program does. There is no question that they will miss Magee and Jackson - even Pegram places a big role but we are losing one of the great players in school history. His value was never more apparent to this team than against Wichita State. Who knows what ETSU will suit up next year. And UNCG is not going away. They have a lot coming in I am told. Another solid program. Furman should be in the mix for league leadership but I cannot see FU as favorite to win the league.

Oh as far as favorites go it will be a tossup, generally the SoCon just lists last years champ as favorite in the preseason polls by default so they will have Woff there. Their bench guys they will be relying more on next season are not great but they are decent so we shall see, but looking over the landscape I like our chances if we can land a solid big man on the recruiting trail here which I think is a real possibility for us. Should be fun!

[soconjohn]

1. ETSU
2. Furman
3. UNCG
4. Wofford
5. Western Carolina
6. VMI
7. Samford
8. The Citadel
9. Chattanooga
10. Mercer