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  • Yeah, really sad for a team that looked like they had the parts to make a solid conference tourny run. COVID struck at the worst possible time. I was confused how Sisson and Hopewell were present but not dressed. Is there potentially a rule for COVID recovery time? All that said, we had some guys gut it out last night. I'm proud of a team that doesn't lay down and die when things are stacked against them. Really going to miss Jo. 40 minutes of hard fought basketball for that young man on his senior night was fitting, just wish he would have seen a W.

    Guess we just look forward to next year. Graduating 3 starters is tough. Hopefully Wyatt is a big leader next year and Coop brings in some transfers to fill some gaps.

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    • Former KWC player and assistant coach Cardell McFarland has been arrested in Evansville for rape. Christ.

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      • 2021-2022 Roster is updated on the website. Quite a different look this year. Not as many returners as I expected

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        • Originally posted by pantherfan View Post
          2021-2022 Roster is updated on the website. Quite a different look this year. Not as many returners as I expected
          Drew's first Freshman class of 7...1 flunked out during season, 1 left at end of season, 2 left at end of sophomore season, and 2 left after junior season...leaving 1 to graduate

          His 2nd Freshman class of 2 is already down to 1

          His 3rd Freshman class of 3 is already down to 2 after 1 year

          Not looking like the 4-year guys we thought would occur

          He's not recruiting many Freshman...Year 4 of his coaching tenure includes 4 Freshmen and 4 transfers

          And those Freshmen he recruits don't stay.

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          • Funny how the ones that don't stay are the ones that aren't able to break into the lineup to get any playing time. It's almost like the one and done culture we're living in now has taught a lot of these kids that whatever level they sign at they should be able to walk onto the court and be a starter day one without having to work their way up to that and pay their dues.

            Our other recent coaches didn't recruit nearly the number of 4 year players as Drew does. Happy had a few in his tenure, most notably Ken-jah Bosley, but the vast majority of his recruits were 2 year players out of D1 or juco. Todd Lee brought in more freshmen than Happy did, but most of them either left early or rode the pine most of their careers. There were exceptions, of course. Chris Williams and Patrick Neel, were two really good examples. Williams played a little bit his freshman year, but it took him a year or two to develop into the really solid player he was when he graduated. Then Pat Neel, watching him develop over the course of his 4 years was great - he came in not even looking like a basketball player and got a little better every year until by graduation he was a workhorse. It was great seeing Pat on the court again this past weekend at the alumni pickup game. James Herzog is another great example of this kind of player.

            You have to wonder if these guys that are leaving early now are putting in the same commitment and dedication to improving that those guys did when they came in as frosh. I'm not saying they aren't, because I don't know...but when you see a player that comes in as a freshman, then you see him the next year as a soph...then the next as a junior, and he literally looks no different, plays no different, doesn't seem to have gotten stronger or really developed at all ... then they expect they're going to play? Compare to the 1 original freshman from Cooper - Nathan Boyle - who's going into his senior year. Nathan is a local Owensboro product, had a nice career at Apollo HS, but came in a very skinny 6'5" and honestly looked like one of those kids that sign with their local school because they want to stay at home and they ride the bench for 4 years and call it a career. Fast forward to beginning of his Soph year - he looks COMPLETELY different. Has bulked up. Gotten quicker and stronger - still skinny but not rail thin anymore - taken his shooting to another level - and lo and behold, he's in the lineup draining 3's. Not starting or getting huge minutes, but he's playing! And wow...look at that, he stays and I'm sure he's going to be playing plenty this last season.

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            • All valid points. I loved Tarik, but I heard he left because he knew his time would be cut by the new guards transferring in. If you look at a guy like Nick Fort- came in and got to play a few minutes. Transferred down to Asbury and is arguably their best player. Some guys just don't rise to the challenge of D2 ball like Boyle did. I guess you can't always predict that in recruiting. Maybe batting .500 on that isn't too terrible given the current culture.

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              • One week from today KWC plays against UK in Rupp. I fully expect that game to be ugly. But regardless of the score I just hope all of our players come out the other side healthy and better for having played it. The fam and I have tickets for the game the following week against U of E in the Ford Center. I didn't expect to have to jump through as many hoops (nor pay quite so much) to get those tickets, but it will be fun nonetheless. I am SO happy basketball is almost back, and almost back to normal again. With the players we've got coming back plus the new additions this team has a lot of potential. Here's hoping they live up to it! #GoPanthers

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                • Anybody know when we can expect to be able to get our season tickets?

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                  • Sure don't. There's still 3 weeks before the first home game, so they still have some time. I'm assuming they will be mailed out again this year but haven't heard anything for sure.

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                    • After that Kentucky game I don't think there can be any doubt that Cooper is going the right direction in rebuilding the program.

                      Previous D1 exhibitions that we've played during his tenure we've come out looking woefully unprepared and, frankly, scared to death. The final score doesn't reflect it, but this KWC team was something entirely different from that. They played hard, put in 100% effort from opening tip to final horn, and looked like they belonged on the court.

                      Some specific positives:

                      -Jomel Boyd ... whoa. Is that the Boyd that's going to take to the court all year for us? If so, look out G-MAC. It was only one game, but if that's the way he's going to play all season he would easily be the best big man we've had since Todd Lee left.

                      -Only 12 turnovers against a top 10 D1 team that pretty much used full court pressure the entire game. If we can protect the basketball like that all season that's going to be huge.

                      -Jamil Wilson looks very confident running the team and shooting. Our tandem of PGs is going to be a big advantage for us this year as we've got Wilson and Thomas who are true PGs and then a few other guards that can step up and run the team when needed (Battaile, Roland, Mitchell, etc).

                      Some specific negatives:

                      -Jordan Roland did not play well at all. Or at least he didn't shoot well. He did take a lot of shots and did so confidently, so I think it was just a matter of him being bothered by the athletes he was playing against, so hopefully he's able to shake that off and make those shots going forward.

                      -Only 8 assists. Usually when our offense is clicking we will get a lot of assisted baskets. Again, I think that was just a product of the defense we were facing, but you hope that on 30 made baskets you'd have more than 8 assists.

                      -Sasha looked awful. Couldn't even catch the ball, let alone do anything with it. He was the only one that had that deer-in-the-headlights look about him from past years when playing on the big stage of a D1 exhibition. With Boyd and Sisson around, not to mention Edward Jones, I'm not sure how much Sasha will end up being in the normal rotation, especially if he's going to play like that. I'd almost rather see Preston Murrell get the playing time and experience when we need to go deeper into the frontcourt bench. Which is a real shame, I was hoping to see Sasha have a breakout senior season.

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                      • I sure hope that is the Boyd we get all season! That boy had a swagger about him and then was so humble in the spotlight after the game. If he can perform like that 2 times a week, I don't know that there are many guys in the GMAC that can even contain him.

                        Sasha just never can put it all together. He'll presumably have his 4 game stretch in the middle of the season where he looks like it has all come together and then he'll be back to missing layups and getting beat on rebounds. The kid is talented, but it just never all falls into place.

                        I thought Wyatt played particularly poorly. 2-10 from the field, and led the team with 3 TO. I'm hoping that was just a product of trying to shoot over guys that were significantly taller than GMAC opponents, but didn't love his stat line at all. He has the ability to be a huge contributor to this team. I imagine he'll be a 28-30 minute a game guy. If so, he's got to tap into the game changer he has the potential to be.

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                        • Yeah, I almost mentioned Wyatt's line in there as well. I'm not as worried about his performance because #1 we've seen what he can do against D2 competition so I think he'll be fine. And #2 coming into the game he was our top returning scorer and I have to think that if UK did any game prep at all it was "stop #2". He missed some open shots that he usually knocks down, and took some that were maybe ill advised - a particularly deep 3 comes to mind from the first half.

                          The best news, in my mind, is that we don't have to depend solely on Wyatt for our scoring. With the players that we lost from last year that was a definite question - will we have scorers other than Battaile? The answer is yes. This feels like a team that may or may not have any one player that scores 18, 19, 20 ppg, but instead has 5 or 6 guys that are threats to score 20+ on any given night. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we end up with 5 guys averaging 10-15 points per game. Unless, of course, Boyd truly is as dominant on the offensive end as he seemed to be against UK, in which case I say pound it to the big guy and let him put up 25 a game

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                          • Well, last night started off shaky (again) but once we started hitting some shots it became obvious that we could play with those guys. Wyatt had a much better game. I think getting swatted early on in the game must have p*ssed him off because he ended up getting 3 big blocks of his own after that. Sisson and Boyd are going to be one heck of a frontcourt tandem this year in our league. Sasha went 0-1 shooting (a 3), got 0 rebounds and 3 fouls. Just God awful. Roland still can't hit a shot. He's got some kind of weird side-spin on the ball when he shoots...I don't know if that's normal for him or if it means his mechanics are out of whack...but they need to get him on track. It felt like he was forcing it, so maybe the coaches can just get him to relax and let the game come to him he'll be OK.

                            I'll be interested to see how UE does in their league this year. They've got some quick guards and some guys that can really shoot the ball from deep. But I'm not sure they will be able to win a lot of games when matched up against teams that are as big as they are. They might, though.

                            Regarding our coming out flat in games...I've been saying ever since Cooper took over the program that our guys don't get hyped up for the start of the games. Our teams under all the other coaches I've seen have always gone out there and been getting pumped up in the starting lineup line, and then chanting and doing whatever they do in their big huddle and dancing around and stuff. Under Cooper they just kind of look like "ok we're here, now what?" I feel like if they would get hyped up and start building that energy before the tip they wouldn't come out so flat and take 3 or 4 minutes of game time before they're ready to play. But then again, what do I know?

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                            • Anybody get tickets yet?

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                              • Dang! That was a good showing against UK! Looks like lots of positive to build on.

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