You know, we really haven't talked much GW basketball lately after excluding discussions about who will be arriving here shortly as freshmen/transfer, who might be joining us in the future, and what the A10 is going to look like.  We're going to start to give our returning players a complex.  So today, I'm going to introduce the first installment of "Will He Get It Or Not".  In this series, I'll pose a single question about a returning player (it's fair to say that each returning player has at least one viable question worth asking and several players I'm sure have multiple questions worth contemplating) and we'll see where the comments take us. 

So as the title indicates, we'll lead off the series with Lasan Kromah.  My specific question concerns Lasan's defense.  As a freshman, Lasan produced extraordinary (for a freshman) steal numbers which was often the result of his intuitively taking chances on where the offense would be taking the ball and coming up with steals in anticipation of this.  Great when it works, lousy when it doesn't as your team is sometimes playing 4 on 5 when you miss out on making the steal.

ML made no secrets of the fact that he does not prefer to gamble on defense.  He wants his defenders to stay between the man being guarded and the basket, old school textbook defense.  Nevertheless, Lasan was guilty a number of times last season of freelancing on defense, sometimes being benched immediately thereafter.

Will Lasan get it?  Will he play defense the way his coaching staff wants him to or will his instincts take over again?

You don't get it, and you're twice his age. Why should he?

Jeebus, I hope this is not a series. What would we call it? "Boring Posts, by the Board's Most Boring Poster?" A single question? Huh? That might be tolerable, but you've already exceeded your own parameters. Billions of electrons are at risk.

I was hoping you'd have left for summer camp by now, and you'd be silent until October.

Sorry. You know I love you. I'm currently reading Frank Deford, and he inspired me to interrupt. Maybe I'll be the one to take off the summer. Being old, infirm, near death, etc.

Come on, CSH. Your turn.

 I think as we become further removed from Hobbs' traps, which resulted in many of Kromah's steals, he'll have fewer opportunities to gamble. It may take getting benched a couple of times, but I think he'll get it.

Ziik, on the other hand, can go fuck himself.

 With Butler and VCU we better hope he is a star.  We need him to go good and a leader.  

Enough of Lasan.  Just applaud when he scores his 15 points.

Enough said!

Really? Obviously a slow day at work for Mr. MV. Apparently no one was using the drive thru lanes at Burger King today.

Will He Get It or Not: The MV

You know we really haven't talked much bloviating lately after excluding discussions about why LFO can't contact MV except via this board, the location of the missing roast beef, and the identity of the following individuals: MO, TH, ER, FU, CK, and ER. We are going to start giving MV a complex. So today, I am going to introduce the first installment of "Will He Get It or Not: The MV." In this series, I will pose a single question about MV (it's fair to say that a lot of folks have lots of questions about the MV mindset and posts so bear with me) and we will see where the comments take us.

So as the title indicates, we will lead off the series with does the MV understand the nature of this board and the right of others to freely express their opinions? Throughout his tenure on the board, in his various iterations MV has posted more frequently than just about anyone and it is fair to say spent a good amount of time soiling Herve's sandbox? Now that his alter-ego or long time nemesis Blue Seats (you decide) has been gone for years, MV continues to adjust his game focusing on other posters.

MV has been guilty on a number of occasions last season of misusing this board for his own purposes, mischaracterizing the posts of others and challenging the integrity and character of good posters. This has resulted in the discourse of this board veering off course, longtime posters avoiding discourse with the MV at times, and threads being hijacked in record numbers.

Herve has made no secret of the fact that this type of conduct is unbecoming. He wants his posters to make an argument not argue with each other so I am told.

So will the MV get it this season? Will he behave himself and abide by Herve's rules or will his instincts take over?

 "It's a long road to wisdom
It's a short one to being ignored"

Geesh, seems a bit harsh to a legitimate question.  I am definitely concerned about Lasan.  Specifically if Savage takes his minutes what his response will be.  I think he is weak mentally, and I don't say that to be mean but I think that as a factor of success Lasan needs work more on that area than his actual physical skills.  Defense, to address MV's question, is more mental than physical.  It is a choice to play hard.  Everybody likes offense, defense however IMO is far more cerebral.  And this is where I hope Lasan has grown and will step up to the challenge. 

STOP IT ALL. Notwithstanding other issues some posters may have with other posters, the question of whether Kromah buy into ML's system is a good one.  The answer may be crucial, as I continue to believe that Lasan is the best overall talent on the team at this point, and we need him to play at an all conference level on both offense and defense for us to show marked improvement over a 20 loss season, at least until the freshman show they are ready to compete at the higher level.    Personally, I think he can do it.   He just needs to give 100% effort and have his head in the game every minute he is on the floor...something he did not do last hear.  If he can do it, he is the type of player that can carry a team on his back for stretches of a game 

Why am I ever surprised by some of the responses I read here?  Thank you to CSH, Neil, Adclub and Long Suffering Fan for providing legitimate answers to a perfectly legitimate question.

If I were you, MV, I'd really stick it to the pantloads by not posting anymore.  Ever.

Barring that, I'd lament everyone else to heed herve's apparently-too-subtle advice.

I am wondering why we have to worry about this is such soap opera-like terms. Let me suggest that last year's journey taken by Coach and David Pellom should give us all hope that all of the players will grow and their relationships with the coach and his staff will continue to improve and bear fruit.

You know, each one of the returning players must have a list of improvements that they are chasing after and working on. Lasan was as much a victim of heightened expectations as anything else. I am sure that playing on his recovering foot caused enough issues both consciously and unconsciously that I doubt we need to add to the concerns.
 

I am thinking that we all will be very happy with the results of the players' off season work. Everyone knows that they have to improve to play now. Above all, I don't think that Lonergan is going to take on this season the way that he did the last. Further, I think that we all may be surprised by the style of play this year. I also think that we seem to have a misunderstanding about how we play v. the old days with Hobbs.  This team will have loads of speed and Lonergan will use it. He has already shown an ability to get more out of all of the 5 guys in a full court press.

I am more than willing to wait to see the work in progress. Although, I wouldn't mind our summer reports and our visits from Thomas.

One thing we can count on, someone is really going to step up their game.... it may come from an unlikely place. One never knows.

 He has shown no ability to get anything out of the players from last year. One player got better, Pellom. Everybody else regressed. All of the hype is based on the recruiting class and that's all well and good but we were way worse than we should have been and no revisionist history is needed. I went to most of the games and half the time we barely looked like a functioning basketball team, in part because the coach kept changing the plays before the players got a chance to run them. 

I think Adclub raised some very valid points.  To elaborate, everyone is a year older and hopefully, more mature.  The "sudden" changes from last year are behind us.  Last year, at times, we looked like someone needed to throw this team a pity party.  That's over with.  Anyone feeling sorry for themselves should have left after last season.  Only Dan Guest did and this was likely the result of different circumstances.  In addition, Lasan appears to have more genuine competition for playing time with the arrival of Keithan Savage than he had all of last season.   To echo LSF's comments, Lasan, aside from Nemanja, is the one player likely to give this team "instant offense" than any other.  Hopefully, he "gets it" on the defensive end and I think he will.

Student, are you serious? So, Pellom JUST got better. And, by the end of the season, Smith was tough in the paint and, to his credit, he was smart enough to credit his coach for the process, while Smith and we all know that it was only Smith. THe fact that the team was always in reach of a win doesn't mean anything to you. Sounds like you have been following basketball for 2 or 3 years. Good lad.

I think the question itself is legitimate. I think the fact that it took 4 paragraphs in the context of "will he get it or not"  to ask the question was condescending towards Lasan and worthy of rebuke.

Last year, Lonergan was limited in his options to hold players accountable for not hustling, not playing defense, not executing, etc.   Usually the main tool at a coach's disposal is withholding playing time. 

But last year, when Lasan didn't play defense to the coach's satisfaction or didn't dive for a loose ball, what was he going to do?  There just weren't a lot of options.   This year that will change.

I would expect Garino's presence alone to light a big fire under Kromah (let alone having Savage and Bynes to possibly take minutes).. And if it doesn't, I'm sure he is welcome to finish his extremely promising career in a disappointing role on the bench or at a D2 school like Bowie State.

The other thing I'd like to see Lasan work on is getting stronger and finishing through contact.  Maybe Joe McDonald can set a good example on that front.  It seemed  like last year, it was easy for defenders to bump him off his drives to the basket or just get him off his game with phyiscal play.

FQ, I'd have to believe that coming off of the injury resulted in what you're pointing out.  As a freshman, I recall Lasan taking the ball fearlessly to the hole (as well as having a more reliable outside shot).  He was definitely "man-handled" quite a bit more last year. 

CBO, I'm unconvinced that your post even deserves a response from me.  All I'm guilty of is trying to strike up a basketball discussion in the off-season.  Every returning player on this team has things to work on.  There is nothing condescending in raising these questions nor was anything condescending meant towards Lasan or in the future to any of the other players when I again ask this question of them.  What was condescending was your comment towards me, or do you get a free pass but only point out when you think I'm being condescending towards others?  Not to worry, I can take it.

 Lasan did become a softer player last year compared to when he was a freshman.  Is his injury causing him to be tentative?  It wouldn't be the first time that a season ending injury resulted in a player never being as fierce as he once was.  

1) MV can be too much at times, but why can't he post a legit q&a?

2) Lasan came off an injury that had him out for a long time - there is a ton of rhythm in high level hoops

3) new coach, new system

4) at times an almost complete new cast of co-players who he had little to no feel for their tendencies etc. (he did not play with last year's sophs because he was injured their freshmen year)

5) obvious frustration from all of the above (except MV)

6) expect him to be back on target. 

Will he buy into the idea that he is on a team, and that he doesn't have to put up all-star numbers every night as long as we are winning? Sometimes I get the vibe that as long as he has a good game he doesn't care about the outcome. 

 Although I feel that Lasan does go into funks during the course of the game based upon how he is playing which in turn causes him to play worse (in other words, he would sometimes let an off night offensively impact his defense), i have seen nothing from him that suggest he doesn't care bout the outcome if he is not putting up all-star numbers.  II think that saying he doesn't care is kinda harsh.