West Liberty Hilltopper Basketball

[Columbuseer]

Add Landon Butler from Coker

Great find. Thank you.
6-4
20 mins per game at coker.
7.8 ppg , nearly a 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio.
will be a jr with 2 years to play.
All the butlers have a deep understanding of the game.

[Layton]

Add Landon Butler from Coker

[Columbuseer]

Add Xavier Harris from Coker

Good info. Thanks.
He played as frosh at Western Colorado. Then he played last year at Coker. I think he is a PG.
Looks like wlu roster is filling up.

[Layton]

Add Xavier Harris from Coker

[TopperNation]

Yep...Better 3 point shooters replacing less good ones...experience in the system...HC of a team that should have won at least 25+ games and been a shoe in for the tourney last year AND was one of the Top 30 Coaches Under 30.

Better players...better experience ..better coach. Can't help but be a better team. I'd be shocked if we lose even one game!

Hahahaha, well let me book my hotel room for downtown Indianapolis then, who wouldn't sign up for an undefeated season Boat!

[boatcapt]

Okay, so we aren't rebuilding then, we are reloading!!! Well here comes another top 10 pre season ranking, lol.

Yep...Better 3 point shooters replacing less good ones...experience in the system...HC of a team that should have won at least 25+ games and been a shoe in for the tourney last year AND was one of the Top 30 Coaches Under 30.

Better players...better experience ..better coach. Can't help but be a better team. I'd be shocked if we lose even one game!

[Columbuseer]

Okay, so we aren't rebuilding then, we are reloading!!! Well here comes another top 10 pre season ranking, lol.

I am not quite ready to predict a top 10 pre season ranking.

Positives:
1. All the non-frosh transfers have at least 1 year in the system.
2. Hurray reminds me of D'Augustino in build and in attacking the rim, and in addition he is a great shooter. Leading scorer in North Catholic history and all conference freshman team.
3 I will be surprised if opponents will out rebound us as much as last year with a 6-9, 6-8, 6-7 roster.
4. Dante is leading by example.

Concerns:
1. They still have to learn to play together, so one player does not zig when teammate thinks he is going to zag.
2. The freshmen are talented and have promise, but they are still just freshmen.
3. We may have some losses in Dec, especially since we have some tough out of conference opponents.

[TopperNation]

Okay, so we aren't rebuilding then, we are reloading!!! Well here comes another top 10 pre season ranking, lol.

[Columbuseer]

Great to hear. Did the open gym include the incoming freshmen? If so, any read on them?

They are classic wlu players. High bball iq, great 3 point shooters, strong fundamentally, unselfish, very high motors. They have deep 3 point range but can also drive to the rim. I was surprised how well they fit in. Maybe their hs played the same style. Very good mechanics on 3-point shot. When they miss on 3s, it is not by much as there were few long rebounds on their misses from three (which is a good thing). One of them hit 4 threes in a row in the open gym.

[Topper_Hopper]

I have watched wlu in open gym. They had 6 on a side.
The ball was not sticking. Rapid ball rotation led to open 3s.
incredible intensity and pressure.

We have deadly 3 pt shooters. One new guy hit 4 in a row. Since so many guys had played in the system, things came much more naturally than last June.
Coach has found those rare tall, long guys who are great 3 point shooters and can run. We are starting to resemble nova se in terms of size profile.

I talked with one very basketball savvy person who closely followed coker last year, and whose opinion I respect, said they were very young and they would have been favorites to win the conference this year, before the coaching change occurred. After watching them play, I can see his point.

I think we are in very good hands.

Great to hear. Did the open gym include the incoming freshmen? If so, any read on them?

[boatcapt]

I'm convinced now! I feel an undefeated season coming on. The three Coker players are far better than Daugastino, Dragas and Woodard could ever hope to be! Our incoming freshmen are absolute 3 point assassins are ready NOW...NO growing pains with this class! They will be competing with each other for Freshman of the year honors...they are ALL that good. We are going to scorch the nets from 3 point range at an elite 40+ percent rate...we are going to get 40 assists per game...20+ steals per game is going to be the norm...our full court press will be devistating...we will average 100 points per game and our margin of victory will be over 50 points per game! Getting rid of Howlett was a master stroke of 3D chess...got rid of a coach that was holding us back and got perhaps the best proven HC in the nation!!!

It's a great day on the Hilltop boys with our path to a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP not just clear but a certainly!!!

[Columbuseer]

I have watched wlu in open gym. They had 6 on a side.
The ball was not sticking. Rapid ball rotation led to open 3s.
incredible intensity and pressure.

We have deadly 3 pt shooters. One new guy hit 4 in a row. Since so many guys had played in the system, things came much more naturally than last June.
Coach has found those rare tall, long guys who are great 3 point shooters and can run. We are starting to resemble nova se in terms of size profile.

I talked with one very basketball savvy person who closely followed coker last year, and whose opinion I respect, said they were very young and they would have been favorites to win the conference this year, before the coaching change occurred. After watching them play, I can see his point.

I think we are in very good hands.

[Columbuseer]

Judd Coan moves well, has good handles and very good shot mechanics. He is a wiry 6-8.

[Columbuseer]

The coker guys have experience in the same system so i count them as experienced. Imho that is a much better situation than bringing in 5 guys from other systems. We saw those growing pains last season.

also all 3 freshmen are on campus and they are deadly 3fg shooters.
We are at 12 players.

I will leave it to those with Columbo-like investigative skills to determine their names. Lol

[boatcapt]

Yes, finally someone said it. 1 or maybe 2 from Coker, but more then that and now we are rolling the dice.

Anytime you are returning only two players with playing time, you are rolling the dice...anytime the majority of your team is brought in after June 1, you are rolling the dice...anytime you are a consistent Top 5/Elite 8 level team and you are relying on at least 3 of your top players coming from a team that failed to crack 20 wins the last two seasons and whose biggest accomplishment is being ranked number 17 for a couple of weeks this year, you're rolling the dice.

We're sitting at approx 9 players under contract (,excuse me for not believing we have upwards of 4 guys that we are keeping secret). Not a big problem when it's April 15th...BIG problem when it's June 22 and you've got about 60 days till school starts! We've been told the portal is full of 5 tool WLU Style players and that there are equal numbers of elite level WLU Style HS grads sitting at home just waiting for a call. So why haven't we called them?