[Minnesota Ute]

That is one of my biggest hopes for Utah basketball is to be seen once again as legit. I feel like we went too long not being in the mix in March, and with a coach whose name just wasn’t known by anyone outside of the local fan base. A staff that just didn’t have NBA credibility and players leaving every year for other college programs rather than leaving for the NBA.

I was surprised and disappointed that Larry couldn’t parlay his success with Poetle and Delon into some sustained success. Part of that I blame on the Pac12 because that conference completely botched the media exposure. The big names (Oregon, Arizona, USC, UCLA) persisted because they could, but it seemed like the rest of the conference labored in obscurity with 10pm tipoffs and limited distribution. But most of it I blame on him not being a very good coach (IMHO).

[Minnesota Ute]

I don’t see minnesota on the list, but there was an article about him being considered by the gophers. He’s a native of Minneapolis.

[Minnesota Ute]

I don’t know much about Traore, but I will be happy if Ezra and Mike stay, and hopeful for Keller if he decides to stay. Keller is a good shooting big, but he needs some significant improvement before I see him playing a lot of minutes on what I hope is a much better team, but I think he has all the tools.

[Minnesota Ute]

I am sooooo happy!! He is going to be a big factor next year!!

[Minnesota Ute]

Wait wait… didn’t you hear?? His defense sucks so we should get rid of him… <rolls eyes>

Ok, I’m a little salty at the other thread. I can not express how deeply f’d this situation is. KD is priority number one, and while we can’t afford to overpay anyone, of all the individuals on this roster, he is one that we need to retain if we can.

In many respects, despite the inconsistent usage, he was the best player on our roster this year. You can pick individual players to show one is better here or another there. But the sum total of his stats are great:
On a per 100 possessions basis:
#1 in eFg at 65.5%,
#3 in ft% @ 75% (in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king)
#1 in Total Reb at nearly 20
#1 in Off Reb at 6.1
#5 in steals at 1.8, and Ezra is the only non-guard ahead of him (2.1)
#4 in blocks behind Lawson, Mike, and Jake
Middle of the pack in turnovers 3.1, but the only individuals that played big minutes that had less were Jake and Hunter with 1.9 and 2.6 respectively. I get that it’s minutes based, but continuity and consistency of playing time plays a role in reducing turnovers.
#4 in points behind Ezra, Gabe, and Mason
#1 in DRtg
#1 in ORtg
Plus in Advance Stats, he had:
#1 in BPM at 8.0
Tied with Hunter for #4 in Defensive BPM behind Miro, Jake, & Mike.
#1 in Offensive win share, defensive win share, Win share, and win shares per 40 min

Again, these are all referential stats that attempt to even out the fact that his playing time was inconsistent and unpredictable. But because I’m a nerd, also graphed several parameters against his minutes played, and it was surprising how consistently productive he was. Nearly just as productive per minute at 15 minutes as he was at 25, which is uncommon.

[Minnesota Ute]

The whole latter part of this thread is patently ridiculous.
KD’s BPM for the game was 14.2, highest on the team for the day. His Game Score was 20.5, which was nearly double the next highest who were Lawson and Ezra at 11. His Defensive rating was the lowest (good) at 113, and his offensive rating was second highest at 166. He was 4 of 5 from 2 and 1 of 1 from 3, and 8 of 9 from the line. He had 11 rebounds including 3 offensive, 1 block, 1 steal, and 1 assist to 2 turnovers.

Every single one of you doubters can bag off. Dude is a cold blooded stud that is probably going to leave because Craig is a moron. Period.

[Minnesota Ute]

That was the team that got me hooked. The 1989-90 school year I was in Austin Hall on the same dorm floor around the corner from Bryon and Tyrone so Phil and Barry (Ute Dub below forgot Barry Howard who was a defensive stopper on that team) were always around too. Other plyers would come around time to time too, Walter threw a fastball to me out on the quad that scared the s**t out of me, he had a hell of an arm. They were all super nice guys. Byron once borrowed my mitt for a coed softball game and accidentally left it at the field so he bought me a new one, I never expected that and wouldn’t have cared if he didn’t.

That next year they were unstoppable, what fun!!

[Minnesota Ute]

Agreed, it was great to see him fix that aspect of his game. It was obviously such a glaring hole, that had he not fixed it, I would have had to question his seriousness. Ezra not making free throws was worse than Gabe not making 3s. His whole game is getting to the basket and getting fouled, so to leave points on the floor because he couldn’t make a 15′ unguarded shot was painful to watch. More painful even than watching your designated 3-pt shooter go 19 of 67 (28%) over the last 6 games while the team went 1-5.

Interestingly, he was only 32.2% from 3pt range on the year, which was only good for 6th on the team.
Zach 40%
Mason 38%
Jake 35%
Hunter 35%
Keanu 34%
Gabe 32%

[Minnesota Ute]

Sorry, for overreacting, it’s just been an open wound for me for about the last 8 to 10 weeks. And while being one of the best defenders on this team may be a low bar, it’s only a low bar because that’s apparently where Craig set it. My point is simply that because he has distinguished himself on this team in nearly every statistical category despite the headwinds, there is no reason to doubt that he’ll be one of (if not the) best player on next year’s team. And if that includes gritty defense (as I hope it does), then he will be a defensive stopper.

My apologies, I know we all want the same thing.

[Minnesota Ute]

RE Dawes, I work so haven’t watched game yet, so I’ll reserve judgement on today’s performance. But on the season, his defensive rating was quite high, in fact highest on the team per 100 possessions. Couple that with his outstanding rebounding, and I don’t think you can point at that for his lack of minutes. In fact, rebounding being 75% effort and 25% technique, I would think with the right coaching, he could be an excellent defensive stopper because if his D is bad, it’s not for lack of effort.

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