I figured it was a good time to look ahead at the roster in the next couple of years....
2012-13
After this season, we are losing Evan Ravenel due to graduation, and more than likely DeShaun Thomas to the NBA. We currently have 2 commits, PG/SG Kameron Williams & SF/PF Marc Loving. I would like to see us go after another guy to play the 3rd G spot.
2013-14
We should have a very experienced group, but we lack a true scorer. Q Ross has the potential to be, but he's got to take a huge step from this season to next season. Here is how our roster should break down:
PG: Aaron Craft, Shannon Scott SG: Lenzelle Smith Jr., Amedeo Della Valle, Kam Williams SG/SF: Sam Thompson SF/PF: LaQuinton Ross, Marc Loving C: Amir Williams, Trey McDonald
As I mentioned before, we could use another guy to back up Thompson and we definitely have scholarship spots available....
2014-15
We will have a pretty young team, but it should be a fun team to watch. We lose quite a bit of talent but we have some coming in as well. We will definitely need to add another PG as we currently only have Shannon Scott at the point, though I suppose Kam Williams can play there in a pinch. Here is how our roster should break down:
PG: Shannon Scott, TBD SG: Kam Williams, Amedeo Della Valle SG/SF: Sam Thompson, Jae'sean Tate SF/PF: LaQuinton Ross, Marc Loving, Keita Bates-Diop C: Amir Williams, Trey McDonald, Dave Bell
We are going to have some nice athletic wing players coming in the next 2 years with a couple more spots to fill.
Del Valle will never be athletic enough to play D1 basketball. Will be shocked if he is even on the roster next year
Have you ever even seen him play? How could anyone say he isn't athletic if all they've ever seen him do is sit on a bench. This is his first year and he is still learning the system and hitting the weight room. You really have no way to back this statement up.
Watched him play 5 minutes in about 4 nonconference blowouts, and he gets beaten to the ball each time + not strong enough to handle the ball against anything but token pressure
Diebler couldn't play defense as a freshman, Thomas couldn't...but as he matures he will get better...I hope. But if he is enough of a shooting threat than it may make up for his defense. We have too many players on this team that are strictly offensive or defensive players. Basketball u play both ways...u need to make yourself not a liability on either end.
"Anything less than flagrant is just playing grab ass!"
All true.
Diebler was probably 50 pounds bigger though and developed a modest post up game when they tried to box and one him with little guards. He was still the worst defender on the court at most times, but there was not a huge gap as there is when Del Valle is in. He also hit hundreds (?) of 3's. I've seen Del Valle make 1.
Nice kid. Not a D-1 basketball player
I know stats are overrated, but lets give this 18 year-old a chance... and I'm fairly certain that Diebler wasn't 230-240lbs coming into college..
Freshman Ht/Wt:
50 pounds?... But was Diebler rated 50 points higher by the recruiting sites than ADV coming into college? Probably. For the record, he averaged 21 mins/game and made 48 3's (29%) his freshman season on a team that needed his sharp-shooting.
Keep Calm and Ignore the Trolls.
You make a good, well supported argument.
But I'm going to stay with the eye test. Del Valle appears to be outmatched in all respects every time he steps on the court.
Thanks. I will add that if Matta pulls a big 2014 recruiting class, I agree that ADV will get buried on the depth chart and may never get around to seeing significant minutes. Who knows, maybe Coach Marotti will get a hold of him this summer...
Keep Calm and Ignore the Trolls.
I loved Diebler... but this "modest post up game" that you speak of escapes me. Diebler was a lights out shooter who could pump fake, one dribble, shoot, or make a cut to the bucket when he was overplayed. He was an average-ish defender by the time he left, but his ability to spread the floor was immensely valuable.
I think people forget how rough of a freshman year Diebler had - perhaps next year will be Amadeo's "learning year" and then we get 2 years of him knocking down treys at a frightening rate.
...after he adds 50 pounds, of course. s/
Brady Hoke's reaction to the Urban Meyer hire: "Not good."
Every roster needs a pure 3pt shooter...sure, you may only be able to use him situationally based on the match-ups etc, but even in the pro's they have a decent amount of mainly 3pt threat guys who are defensive liabilities. Kerr, Paxton, back in the Day, and Ray Allen, Kyle Korver types today...these types will always have a roster spot and get some very important minutes of they can hit clutch shots on the perimeter. I think, I think Thad and the coaches think Del Valle can develope into this type player.
D. Anthony
Kam Williams is a true scorer. He's like Ben Gordon. Hopefully he can play D well enough as a freshman to play.
Q has indicated that he will leave after this year. Not sure if we should be counting him in for next year or not. Can't imagine his draft stock will be very high, but who knows. I would bet against him being at tOSU for the 2014-2015 season, for sure.
Wow I hadn't heard that...
I really think that would be a mistake. I know there have been a couple of reports lately where he is quoted as saying he has matured and has a better perspective after some soul-searching following the first *ichigan game. Hopefully the idea of leaving was before he started to figure things out. Where is he going? Not the NBA at this point in his career.
LaQuinton Ross has a much better NBA career ahead of him than DeShaun Thomas. I think Q needs to stay another year as well, but he has the ideal NBA body and skills to be a stud. DT needs to leave after this year to maximize his earning potential. His draft stock will never be higher than right now, yet I still don't see him as a lottery pick at all.
Oh, I agree that Q will eventually be in the NBA but I don't see him getting drafted this year.
Now just lock up Okafor and Tyus Jones. What a class that could be...
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
Couple of things where my opinion is different:
2013-2014
We will see more of Craft and Scott on the court at the same time. Craft and Scott with rotate at 1. At the 2 and 3 spots, you will have the other of Craft and Scott, as well as a Thompson, Ross, and Smith. Essentially between the 1,2, and 3 spots, we have 5 guys with experience to rotate and I wouldn't be surprised if we rotated a few more through like de Valle and Williams. Essentially, the 1-3 spots could be 7 deep, but most likely it will be a steady diet of the 5 experienced guys unless someone really maks strides in the offseason. Our problems will once again be at the 4-5 as it is this year. If we're going small, Ross might be a 4, otherwise we only have Williams with experience - he's going to be the full time 5. MacDonald can rotate to the 5 (small lineup) but will probably be a 4 when we go big and Williams plays with him and Loving may see some time, but he's listed as a SG and may not be ready to go low just yet - kinda of as I think Ross is now - starting to get the feel for it but much better facing the hoop of the dribble. So we have 3 guys with potential as a 4 - Ross, Loving, and MacDonald, and a the 5 Williams and MacDonald.
2014-2015
We will be loaded with experience this year, only losing Craft and Smith from 2013. But where Craft and Smith come out of the equation, we will have guys ready to be plugged in. Scott will command the 1 position, while Thompson will have the 2, Ross at the 3. We will need, and I expect this will happen, recruits to step up for depth here - looking at Williams and deValle and maybe some of the 2014 recruits if they are ready early. MacDonald and Loving to split the 4 and Williams to be a full time 5. Again, we will need big guys so hopefully our newest commit can come ready. This is all assuming that no one leaves early, which, who knows.
The one thing I'd say here is that Trey McDonald is not, and probably will never be, a "4" on a Thad Matta team. He's not a threat to shoot the ball, and other than getting a few minutes a game against a team with a lot of really good bigs, I don't see him ever playing the 4 spot for OSU.
Also, there is probably a great chance that Ross is gone after next season. If he develops like we believe he can/will, then he'll probably head to the draft. He'll be, by far, the most multi-dimensional scorer next year, so I would expect him to put up pretty decent offensive numbers. The nice thing is Marc Loving has a similar style of game from everything I've seen of him, so he could pick up in '14-15 right where Ross left off.
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
Don't be surprised to see some of the incoming freshmen play right away next year. Kam Williams I think will be counted on to put some points up from the 2-spot and I really think he will be able to. He's got himself an arsenal on offense. Loving is going to be very good as well. I think the 2014 class has a chance to be one of the best in the country. From what I'm hearing about the Columbus area talent for the 2015 class...that could be a major haul of a class for tOSU.