2022-23 Rosters

[tribecalledquest]

UE's roster is much, much better than the 2 years under Licklitter. Might even be better than McCarty's team that knocked off Kentucky, EXCEPT DeAndre Williams, who got it done.

Gone are the slower, less athletic shooters who struggled in 21-22. Gone is the quick but small and erratic PG.

The new roster has more size and athleticism. Giddy up. Should be a decent year.

Specifically - which current players are clearly better than Juwaun Newton, Shamar Givance and Blake Sisley?

[Purple35]

UE's roster is much, much better than the 2 years under Licklitter. Might even be better than McCarty's team that knocked off Kentucky, EXCEPT DeAndre Williams, who got it done.

Gone are the slower, less athletic shooters who struggled in 21-22. Gone is the quick but small and erratic PG.

The new roster has more size and athleticism. Giddy up. Should be a decent year.

Specifically - which current players are clearly better than Juwaun Newton, Shamar Givance and Blake Sisley?

These sorts of replies are essentially meaningless. To ask somebody who "specifically" is better -- even if they provide proof, you will dismiss it because it comes with nothing other than anecdotal evidence.
Why is it necessary for a fan to SPECIFICALLY prove anything? The eyeball test is what we do in June. Is this team better than the 1999 team? Yeah, since everybody on that team is now around 45 years old. Specifically, I don't have to prove it but I'd say the 2023 Aces will be quicker, more athletic and in generally better condition than the 1999 team.
If your goal is to subvert the claim as a fraud because it isn't filled with data, precisely WHICH DATA is important to you?
I need specifics.

[tribecalledquest]

You made the claim. It should be pretty simple to back it up with names and information as to why you would make the statement.

I’m curious what players you’ve seen play who are better than the three I mentioned. If it’s that obvious it should be easy to name them.

I’ve seen Aces fans on here talk about how much better the team will be but no one can tell me which players will be good.

[AcesAces]

UE's roster is much, much better than the 2 years under Licklitter. Might even be better than McCarty's team that knocked off Kentucky, EXCEPT DeAndre Williams, who got it done.

Gone are the slower, less athletic shooters who struggled in 21-22. Gone is the quick but small and erratic PG.

The new roster has more size and athleticism. Giddy up. Should be a decent year.

Specifically - which current players are clearly better than Juwaun Newton, Shamar Givance and Blake Sisley?

Considering Newton and Givance had terrible years in 2021-2022, and the teams they have been on have been terrible, Coleman and Strawbridge should be improvements. Sisley was only a freshman and didn't get a lot of minutes until late in the season. Hall should provide better minutes athletically and on defense. There is also Smith and Preston Phillips to fill Sisley's role. 1 of these 3 or a combination should do it.

The loss of the 2 other 5th year seniors is addition by subtraction. They flat out could not compete in the MVC. Practically everyone on the new roster should be an improvement.

Going into 21-22, the team had 1 thing going for it: 3 point shooting. That didn't work out. The team shot miserably from 3. This year's team hopefully will shoot fewer 3s, but more accurately, and score more around the rim and in transition. Defense is Ragland's focus. That will be an improvement as well.

[acecard1]

UE's roster is much, much better than the 2 years under Licklitter. Might even be better than McCarty's team that knocked off Kentucky, EXCEPT DeAndre Williams, who got it done.

Gone are the slower, less athletic shooters who struggled in 21-22. Gone is the quick but small and erratic PG.

The new roster has more size and athleticism. Giddy up. Should be a decent year.

Specifically - which current players are clearly better than Juwaun Newton, Shamar Givance and Blake Sisley?

Considering Newton and Givance had terrible years in 2021-2022, and the teams they have been on have been terrible, Coleman and Strawbridge should be improvements. Sisley was only a freshman and didn't get a lot of minutes until late in the season. Hall should provide better minutes athletically and on defense. There is also Smith and Preston Phillips to fill Sisley's role. 1 of these 3 or a combination should do it.

The loss of the 2 other 5th year seniors is addition by subtraction. They flat out could not compete in the MVC. Practically everyone on the new roster should be an improvement.

Going into 21-22, the team had 1 thing going for it: 3 point shooting. That didn't work out. The team shot miserably from 3. This year's team hopefully will shoot fewer 3s, but more accurately, and score more around the rim and in transition. Defense is Ragland's focus. That will be an improvement as well.

Aces twice. Nice reply, and pretty much right on.

[tribecalledquest]

UE's roster is much, much better than the 2 years under Licklitter. Might even be better than McCarty's team that knocked off Kentucky, EXCEPT DeAndre Williams, who got it done.

Gone are the slower, less athletic shooters who struggled in 21-22. Gone is the quick but small and erratic PG.

The new roster has more size and athleticism. Giddy up. Should be a decent year.

Specifically - which current players are clearly better than Juwaun Newton, Shamar Givance and Blake Sisley?

Considering Newton and Givance had terrible years in 2021-2022, and the teams they have been on have been terrible, Coleman and Strawbridge should be improvements. Sisley was only a freshman and didn't get a lot of minutes until late in the season. Hall should provide better minutes athletically and on defense. There is also Smith and Preston Phillips to fill Sisley's role. 1 of these 3 or a combination should do it.

The loss of the 2 other 5th year seniors is addition by subtraction. They flat out could not compete in the MVC. Practically everyone on the new roster should be an improvement.

Going into 21-22, the team had 1 thing going for it: 3 point shooting. That didn't work out. The team shot miserably from 3. This year's team hopefully will shoot fewer 3s, but more accurately, and score more around the rim and in transition. Defense is Ragland's focus. That will be an improvement as well.

Thanks.

For sure the Aces will be different. A good thing for sure. Coleman and Strawbridge aren't very good offensive players but certainly longer and more athletic perimeter defenders than the Aces have had.

Strawbridge is from Rockford, IL and was never really an MVC level player but he makes sense for a rebuilding UE team as a veteran guy.

[BEARZ77]

Considering Newton and Givance had terrible years in 2021-2022, and the teams they have been on have been terrible, Coleman and Strawbridge should be improvements. Sisley was only a freshman and didn't get a lot of minutes until late in the season. Hall should provide better minutes athletically and on defense. There is also Smith and Preston Phillips to fill Sisley's role. 1 of these 3 or a combination should do it.

The loss of the 2 other 5th year seniors is addition by subtraction.

Not here to beat up on Evansville, and I certainly agree that jettisoning a number of the less athletic players from the roster will help. Getting anything resembling an inside game would be a vast improvement. But if you think Coleman/Strawbridge are improvements over Newton and Givance , I think you'll be disappointed . You forget both Givance and Newton had to play in that bad offense you describe w/o the benefit of much of any inside presence to take some of the load. I can tell you as an opposing team, Newton and Givance were always worrisome for the Bears . Just looking at stats though , it doesn't add up either. Even using Coleman's best season from 3 years ago and Strawbridge's last year at Alabama St, and given neither played in a conference as competitive as the MVC, they still don't match what Givance and Newton did in what you describe as terrible years . PPG is 26.4 to 17.9 and G/N rebounded and assisted more as well. None shot the ball particularly well, but it's comparable. Defense is always a bit more subjective, but even if S/C prove better defenders, they aren't defensive stalwarts by history and can't [ and hopefully won't have to] carry the offensive weight G/N had to. I think Evansville will be improved, and that's where they have start, but they're gonna have to recruit a lot better over 2-3 years to make a big jump. That said, I fully anticipate they'll win some games this year they didn't last and be a real threat on their home court.

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

Considering Newton and Givance had terrible years in 2021-2022, and the teams they have been on have been terrible, Coleman and Strawbridge should be improvements. Sisley was only a freshman and didn't get a lot of minutes until late in the season. Hall should provide better minutes athletically and on defense. There is also Smith and Preston Phillips to fill Sisley's role. 1 of these 3 or a combination should do it.

The loss of the 2 other 5th year seniors is addition by subtraction.

Not here to beat up on Evansville, and I certainly agree that jettisoning a number of the less athletic players from the roster will help. Getting anything resembling an inside game would be a vast improvement. But if you think Coleman/Strawbridge are improvements over Newton and Givance , I think you'll be disappointed . You forget both Givance and Newton had to play in that bad offense you describe w/o the benefit of much of any inside presence to take some of the load. I can tell you as an opposing team, Newton and Givance were always worrisome for the Bears . Just looking at stats though , it doesn't add up either. Even using Coleman's best season from 3 years ago and Strawbridge's last year at Alabama St, and given neither played in a conference as competitive as the MVC, they still don't match what Givance and Newton did in what you describe as terrible years . PPG is 26.4 to 17.9 and G/N rebounded and assisted more as well. None shot the ball particularly well, but it's comparable. Defense is always a bit more subjective, but even if S/C prove better defenders, they aren't defensive stalwarts by history and can't [ and hopefully won't have to] carry the offensive weight G/N had to. I think Evansville will be improved, and that's where they have start, but they're gonna have to recruit a lot better over 2-3 years to make a big jump. That said, I fully anticipate they'll win some games this year they didn't last and be a real threat on their home court.

I’m interested to see Newton now that he isn’t on Evansville. SIU is certainly no powerhouse on offense. In fact, sometimes their offense looked flat out bad last year. But they do have multiple scorers that were better than Evansville. Newton may show Evansville fans that he wasn’t as terrible as they think.

[Purple35]

I don't think saying one player or two players replacing one or two different players is anything more than a dining room table discussion. Every team in the Valley wants Shamar Givance's game. Newton is an asset in the right offense. Neither is good enough to turn a 6-win team into a 12-win team.

I think this is less about players than rosters at this point. For the Aces, the lack of a quality big player may be the result of poor recruiting, poor attitude, poor coaching ... or because Shamar Givance didn't play in an offense that gave that player a reason to exist.

Individually, removing G/N from the Aces roster means 'next man up' and since the guy orchestrating that is not the guys who got us here, what is this all about?

Does Strawbridge average 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal? Does he play 18 minutes or 29 minutes? Does he get 3 fouls by halftime? Does he clank 5 of 8 free throws?

Where I am going with this is that a college roster for a rebuilding team is what comes together to show the fans, the staff, the recruits about how to play as a competitive team.

What we KNOW about the Aces is that with Givance and Newton on the court, they were one of the worst teams in the country. I ain't saying it was all on them, but even if it is wrong, so what ... it's not like these guys really mattered.

[tribecalledquest]

What we KNOW about the Aces is that with Givance and Newton on the court, they were one of the worst teams in the country. I ain't saying it was all on them, but even if it is wrong, so what ... it's not like these guys really mattered.

I do agree that you finished last with Givance and Newton so you can finish last with them. It can't be worse.

I get the decision 100% to move on.