Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

[alumnifan]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

Did Hatton and Harris transfer? I can't remember. If so, where did they go?

[kdubnation]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

I have no problem with getting 1-2 D1 transfers each year; and definitely this year having 3 or 4 if not more is kind of a necessity if we're going to be able to compete. It will be fun to watch the guys that come in this year as freshman to see how they grow and develop over the next four years. I definitely want to see us come out and compete well in the conference this coming year but even if we don't win a ton of games, as long as we can come out and compete with integrity and maintain our composure that by itself will be a huge step in the right direction.

[Looking For 9]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

I think you will see all of this.

Everyone over 5'8" is gone.

[alumnifan]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

Verbal Commits is outdated. KWC currently has six players. Two of them were non scholarship players last year in Hunter Noffsinger and Erik Bell, the other four are incoming freshmen. Tarik Dixon, Cameron Cartwright, Nick Fort and Nathan Boyle are the latest recruits. Cartwright has the best high school credentials because he played on the Kentucky High School All Star team. I'm sure they are all good players and good students. That seems to be the calling card for the recruits this upcoming season, recruit good kids. I'm curious to see what the rest of the roster will look like. Will the new coach bring in JUCO players, DI players, or continue with the freshmen trend. He has to be looking at the former at this juncture.

[WKYDave]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

Did Hatton and Harris transfer? I can't remember. If so, where did they go?

[Looking For 9]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

Colton Elkins to Georgetown.

I do not think Cooper kicked them off until watching them in practice and on campus. I think MBB will behave much like WBB and the other teams we field. I think the W/L will be about the same as well.

Success in future years will depend on coaching and the system. I think this year's team will be close at half time but lose many games do to lack of 'basketball talent." Speed and strength is just not there. If we can get open shots we do have several nice shooters.

[WKYDave]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

Colton Elkins to Georgetown.

I do not think Cooper kicked them off until watching them in practice and on campus. I think MBB will behave much like WBB and the other teams we field. I think the W/L will be about the same as well.

Success in future years will depend on coaching and the system. I think this year's team will be close at half time but lose many games do to lack of 'basketball talent." Speed and strength is just not there. If we can get open shots we do have several nice shooters.

You are correct about the Coach having a couple of practices first. However, based on what I've heard, his decision was geared towards these "boys" not being good men when they are 35. Not sure I think that is fair to judge someone in their early 20s in college. I think the technical fouls played a role - that's why I listed them. Funny thing about the technical fouls...this year there were 28 Ts in 32 games...previous 28-3 team had 25! Derksen and Jacks led team with 4 each and 9 players got Ted up in 2016-17. This year's team had Hatton, R. Bell, and Warnock Ted up 6 times each and 7 players total got hit with a technical.

You are also correct, and I almost wrote your exact words, that the men's program appears to be headed down the path of the women's program. I love the women's program and coaches, but they aren't going to NCAA tournaments very often. If that is the path KWC basketball is headed I expect to see KWC look at moving games to campus because they will draw less than 750 people to watch year after year of 18-10 teams.

[Looking For 9]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

WBB = grad school, med school, teachers, models etc. MBB = several playing pro ball, several bouncing around looking for work, I think several 'do you want fries with that" I am very happy to not be a decision maker concerning who to sign.

I think you may be wrong about attendance. We need to grow new younger fans and recruiting semi local Ky. players will help do that. I also think students may attend more games with freshmen playing. I attend many away games and WBB family and friends travel to watch when it is not too far. We need a schedule that will allow freshman to get their confidence and system understanding in place.

Looking at the players coming in each has gotten better due to hard work. Also several have done really well in AAU ball. I think with weak defense good shot making comes to the fore front and like I say several are good shot makers.

[WKYDave]

[alumnifan]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

If KWC has a team that can't compete for a conference championship or go to an NCAA tournament, the attendance will continue to drop. The entire athletic program depends on money the basketball program brings in. If there is no money for athletics, the entire athletic department will continue to worsen and their only alternative is dropping to D3? Most of the current faculty could care less about athletics. The president is probably trying to appease the faculty, thus a vicious cycle will continue.

In reality the Board of Trustees make all the final decisions and I know there are some who want the college to drop to D3. And, that is probably where the college is headed. Scholarships cost the college money, and if they drop to D3 the problem is solved. Another scenario to consider is the college abandoning the NCAA all together and moving the athletic program to NAIA. However, if they move the athletic program to the NAIA they will lose their academic prestige, which the college always touts on the main website.

You have THE BOARD. You have THE FACULTY. You have TRADITION. The three all have differing agendas. The BOARD is concerned about finances. The FACULTY is concerned about bringing in the best students possible. TRADITION will be thrown to the wind, and within three years the entire athletic department will be moving to D3.

It's a sad reality, but in the end nobody really cares anymore if they continue to produce mediocre teams. I would rather see the athletic department be competitive as opposed to not making the regional tournament. Still, if Henry David Thoreau could come back from the dead and coach the men's basketball team, the English department would be thrilled to support the athletic department. That is not going to happen, and even if Thoreau could come back from the dead everybody would realize in the current era that THOREAU IS AN IDIOT!

[alumnifan]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

Sometimes, the faculty of a college or university are so stupid it hurts. They maybe able to map out a math equation or a psychology statistic that is forty pages long, but give them a simple machine to turn off or on and they have no clue. During a class that I took at KWC a professor had to utilize his skills in order to turn on a record player. The moron had no idea how to turn on a record player. He was going to call in the audio visual man, whose job is now obsolete, until a student showed him where the on/off switch was on the record player. I know record players are almost obsolete now, but who cares. The point is - Faculty are sometimes idiots.

[Looking For 9]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

Mo has been signed for awhile. At first I thought it was a wasted signing. As I research Mo more..he may be able to help. He will get better as he plays and if Cooper wants he could have three years left. His skill level is better than the on court time Ray gave him.

We have another one of Ray's players coming and he will most certainly help.

[alumnifan]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

Ray is now sending us his rejects. I wonder if he will attend chapel? I assume KWC still has a chaplain.

[Looking For 9]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

Is there any D1 transfer to DII that is not a reject??

[kdubnation]

Re: Kentucky Wesleyan Basketball

Remember how some of us were saying we need to be patient and let Cooper build his program for a couple of years? Yeah, that means longer than the first 2 months of recruiting for his first season.

But no, by all means, go off the deep end, I mean we've signed 6 recruits in total and none of them are expected to be NBA lottery picks, so obviously we are doomed.

FWIW the same source I had that gave me the names of the coaching search finalists reads (or at least used to read) this message board. He told me flat-out that the D3 talk is utter nonsense. The administration (both of the athletic department and the school itself) are dedicated to remaining D2.

As for Cooper and this recruiting class - It looks to me like he's in the very early stages of changing our recruiting to the Bellarmine model. I'm not saying we will ever be "a Bellarmine" but anyone with half a brain can see that recruiting primarily high school players (many of them local/regional/in state) with a light sprinkling of transfers from D1 or JUCO has been a very successful model for them. Is Cooper a Scotty D? It's pretty early to say for certain that he is or isn't, but obviously he is from Scotty's coaching tree and you have to think he learned a lot from him. Cooper was instrumental in recruiting some of the best players to have ever put on a Bellarmine uniform. Again...I'm not saying that he's certain to do so well at KWC, but the only way to know for sure is to give him time! We core fans - the ones who pay for season tickets, who subscribe to the booster club (now Panther Athletic Fund), who are in the seats of the Owensboro Sportscenter every game even when the team is a complete trash-heap as it was this past year - we HAVE to give him time!