Will your team be better or worse next year?

[shockalot]

I think you make great points and believe DU will be better next season, but only if you have much better point guard play.

[uniftw]

I've been waiting to answer this question....now that it looks like the roster is pretty set, I'll say the Bulldogs will be better:

Who's out: Dominik Olejniczak, Kale Abrahamson, Karl Madison

Who's in: De'Antae "Detae" McMurray (juco point guard), Tyrell "TJ" Thomas (6'8" juco), Kory Kuenstling (6'11") sophomore (redshirted); Johannes Dolven (6'8") freshman (redshirted)

There is no question that Olejniczak is a big loss. But, Giacoletti under utilized him during most of the season, and he only played started playing starters minutes in the last 5-6 games. So, it's not like Drake is needing to replace a guy who was playing 30 minutes per game. At points in the season, he was actually the 3rd string center....with a very large upside.

On the other hand, losing Abrahamson is a huge "addition by subtraction". I'm guessing Drake could have won 6-8 games in the conference rather than 2 if he had been benched earlier than the final regular season game. His numbers in conference games were unbelievably bad, but I don't think they even begin to show just how bad he was, since his non-existent defense didn't show in those stats. The Bulldogs were far better both offensively and defensively without him.

McMurray and Thomas add some much needed quickness, and Kuenstling and Dolven add more size to what is probably the biggest team in the conference.

McMurray could be the key.....Giacoletti has a history of bringing in guys to play point who really aren't point guards (Timmer & Woodward). Not sure how good McMurray is, but lack of a true point guard was probably Drake's second biggest weakness last year (and they had a lot). His juco team was very successful (27 wins), and he was regarded as the leader of that team....that tells me something about him.

At the end of last season, Drake was essentially playing a juco line-up....all freshmen and sophomores.....I feel those guys can't help but get better as sophomores and juniors.

So simply benching Kale would have gotten Drake out of the PIGs for just the second time in over a decade?


Um...no.

[DUBulldog]

I've been waiting to answer this question....now that it looks like the roster is pretty set, I'll say the Bulldogs will be better:

Who's out: Dominik Olejniczak, Kale Abrahamson, Karl Madison

Who's in: De'Antae "Detae" McMurray (juco point guard), Tyrell "TJ" Thomas (6'8" juco), Kory Kuenstling (6'11") sophomore (redshirted); Johannes Dolven (6'8") freshman (redshirted)

There is no question that Olejniczak is a big loss. But, Giacoletti under utilized him during most of the season, and he only played started playing starters minutes in the last 5-6 games. So, it's not like Drake is needing to replace a guy who was playing 30 minutes per game. At points in the season, he was actually the 3rd string center....with a very large upside.

On the other hand, losing Abrahamson is a huge "addition by subtraction". I'm guessing Drake could have won 6-8 games in the conference rather than 2 if he had been benched earlier than the final regular season game. His numbers in conference games were unbelievably bad, but I don't think they even begin to show just how bad he was, since his non-existent defense didn't show in those stats. The Bulldogs were far better both offensively and defensively without him.

McMurray and Thomas add some much needed quickness, and Kuenstling and Dolven add more size to what is probably the biggest team in the conference.

McMurray could be the key.....Giacoletti has a history of bringing in guys to play point who really aren't point guards (Timmer & Woodward). Not sure how good McMurray is, but lack of a true point guard was probably Drake's second biggest weakness last year (and they had a lot). His juco team was very successful (27 wins), and he was regarded as the leader of that team....that tells me something about him.

At the end of last season, Drake was essentially playing a juco line-up....all freshmen and sophomores.....I feel those guys can't help but get better as sophomores and juniors.

So simply benching Kale would have gotten Drake out of the PIGs for just the second time in over a decade?


Um...no.

I don't think I said anything about how Drake wouldn't have been in the play-in game. 6-8 wins would not have avoided PIG (eight could have, depending on tiebreakers). I truly believe that Kale alone was good for 3-5 losses in conference play. He was that bad.

The truly inexplicable thing to me is what Giacoletti's thought process was regarding Kale. He spent all of the 2014-15 season telling everybody how great Kale was. Played him ~ 30 minutes per game for the first 29 games of the season, despite his dismal production for the last 17 of those games. Then, completely benched him for the season finale and gave him 3 token minutes in the first half in Arch Madness game (I think Drake was minus-8 in the 3 minutes he was out there....lost by 2). Then, told him he wasn't welcome back next season.

Not sure how a guy goes from getting preferential treatment (nobody else on the team could have played that poorly and kept their minutes), to getting completely benched to being run off within a 2-3 week period of time.

[veeny009]

It's impressive how uniftw can take a long thought out post and transform it into something it wasn't at all saying with 1 stupid sentence. Bravo.

[kcmsaluki12]

I'm of the opinion that SIU will be worse next season. Losing Beane is huge and I simply don't believe SIU recruited anyone with enough scoring to offset his loss. SIU is not only losing one of the top scorers in SIU history, but their go-to guy. It'll be interesting who SIU will turn to now to fill that role. Looking at the roster, I don't see anyone who can. SIU desperately needed to sign a scorer this spring, and failed to do so.

Even with the core of the team returning, I think this team will really struggle to score. Vincent, Smithpeters, and Weiher are all really good shooters, but I'm not sure how well they'll actually be able to create their own shot. Of the three, Vincent is the most likely. However, whereas this past season they were largely an after-thought in opponents' scouting reports, they'll now become the focus.

Point guard is another position I'm concerned about. As of now, the only point guard on the roster is Mike Rodriguez. The back-up was going to be incoming freshman Aaron Cook, but he recently had surgery and will be out at least six months, so the best course of action for him at this point would be to redshirt.

I think the key for SIU this season will be Armon Fletcher. He has probably the highest ceiling of any player on the team. If SIU is going to have a good season, Fletcher is going to have to build off of his solid freshman season and become a consistent scoring threat.

I'm looking at probably a 5th or 6th place finish for SIU. I expect Hinson will remain on the hot-seat all throughout the season. It'll be his 5th season now at SIU, and a middle-of-the-pack finish in a weak MVC is not acceptable at this stage of a rebuild.

[PantherSigEp]

Has Abrahamson found another program yet? Boy I'd love it if he went to Creighton and blue birds had to suffer through him and his family, if only for a year.

All Giac had to do was drive 10 miles to West Des Moines and ask people about Kale to find out that this would happen. Stinks for Drake but this will be addition by subtraction as everyone is saying

[MoValley John]

Has Abrahamson found another program yet? Boy I'd love it if he went to Creighton and blue birds had to suffer through him and his family, if only for a year.

All Giac had to do was drive 10 miles to West Des Moines and ask people about Kale to find out that this would happen. Stinks for Drake but this will be addition by subtraction as everyone is saying

I don't think he can transfer to Creighton, his clock may be running out. I think it's D-2 or nothing.

[DUBulldog]

Has Abrahamson found another program yet? Boy I'd love it if he went to Creighton and blue birds had to suffer through him and his family, if only for a year.

All Giac had to do was drive 10 miles to West Des Moines and ask people about Kale to find out that this would happen. Stinks for Drake but this will be addition by subtraction as everyone is saying

Abrahamson will be at Duquesne next season

[MoValley John]

Has Abrahamson found another program yet? Boy I'd love it if he went to Creighton and blue birds had to suffer through him and his family, if only for a year.

All Giac had to do was drive 10 miles to West Des Moines and ask people about Kale to find out that this would happen. Stinks for Drake but this will be addition by subtraction as everyone is saying

Abrahamson will be at Duquesne next season

Is that six years to play four?

[Khan4Cats]

Has Abrahamson found another program yet? Boy I'd love it if he went to Creighton and blue birds had to suffer through him and his family, if only for a year.

All Giac had to do was drive 10 miles to West Des Moines and ask people about Kale to find out that this would happen. Stinks for Drake but this will be addition by subtraction as everyone is saying

Abrahamson will be at Duquesne next season

Is that six years to play four?

No, that only works for Gibbs