KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

So I caught some blowback when I called the Thompson redshirt proposition and from all accounts that appears to be a done deal. You could argue the injury had something to do with that but we don't know that for sure.

On the Layssard topic, Bill Koch who has been at almost every practice this summer as well as the tweets from other individuals who have seen practice, the very early front court projection reads like this. Four guard rotation takes away playing time from the front line with Akele looking like the 4 when they go with a taller lineup. Langevine looks to be a lock at the 5 with Berry appearing to back him up and Preston sucking up potential minutes as well.

That leaves Tertsea and Layssard with extremely limited opportunities for minutes if at all. Without having any inside knowledge and just going by reports and the T leaves, I think Tertsea will be ahead of Layssard due to his 6-11 shot blocking frame which would leave URI in position to redshirt and work on Lyssards game and additional maturity heading into 18-19.

I know the we don't redshirt players crowd will chime in but I think this makes too much sense if they really believe in Lyssards potential.

What if someone gets hurt? Do we really want to risk a 10 man team?

adam914 wrote:What if someone gets hurt? Do we really want to risk a 10 man team?

You can always play him if need be down the stretch. Just don't play him during garbage time at the beginning of the season and see how the season plays out injury wise. Realistically we'll play 8-9 guys. If you redshirt him, that leaves 11 vying for 8-9 heavy rotation minutes.

He will play this season at 21. No way. There is no logjam at his position. He either contributes at this level or he doesn't. A redshirt year with this staff has a specific purpose; it is not something that just kind of happens, as you wait to see how things shake out.

ace wrote:He will play this season at 21. No way. There is no logjam at his position. He either contributes at this level or he doesn't. A redshirt year with this staff has a specific purpose; it is not something that just kind of happens, as you wait to see how things shake out.

No log jam at his position? Ok how does the frontcourt rotation go then?

I was really hoping Tertsea would be a player by now being our biggest player. Layssard too.

Sorry but I don't see him redshirting. I actually think he'll get 8-10 minutes a game for no reason other than we have some VERY foul prone bigs between Cyril and Berry. I don't see us going 4 guards plus Akele on the floor. So Layssard will get minutes out of necessity IMO.

I like Tertsea's upside. Going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

Dre3000 wrote:Sorry but I don't see him redshirting. I actually think he'll get 8-10 minutes a game for no reason other than we have some VERY foul prone bigs between Cyril and Berry. I don't see us going 4 guards plus Akele on the floor. So Layssard will get minutes out of necessity IMO.

From reports, the way things seem to be shaking out are when we go four guards, we'll see Cyril at the 5 with Berry and Preston backing him up. When we go three guards, we'll see Akele at the 4. I don't see how many minutes of any are left considering the strength of our guards corps driving Dan to play significant minutes with four guards.

After seeing Preston in person at basketball camp a few weeks ago, I put him in the same category as Nicola, in that he's a 4 not a 5. Although reports are that he's 6'7" I'm not sold. I'll be at the practice on Saturday to get a better feel but I highly doubt he'll play the 5. Though admittedly, right now that's not based on a lot of info.

Dre3000 wrote:After seeing Preston in person at basketball camp a few weeks ago, I put him in the same category as Nicola, in that he's a 4 not a 5. Although reports are that he's 6'7" I'm not sold. I'll be at the practice on Saturday to get a better feel but I highly doubt he'll play the 5. Though admittedly, right now that's not based on a lot of info.

Yea I'll be interested to hear your thoughts. Not many teams actually play with a real 5 anymore anyway so maybe that's Dan's thoughts as well.

Preston sure doesn't look like a five.
If he's the most athletic guy they've had in Hurleys tenure then it would be silly to stifle him down low, instead of taking advantage of his athleticism.
I wanna see Laysaard on the court next year.

Yea only championship teams play with real 5s

I see Laysard picking up splinters this year no redshirt garbage time only

It's still crazy to hear Preston being more athletic than Hassan.

If Layssard can't play, why would you want him here for 5 years? Is it possible that the staff just missed on this kid?

From what I'm hearing from practice is Tertsea is not playing his way into the rotation. Layssard still has a chance to earn minutes. Trip is important for him.

Billyboy78 wrote:If Layssard can't play, why would you want him here for 5 years? Is it possible that the staff just missed on this kid?

Totally agree.

Rhody15 wrote:It's still crazy to hear Preston being more athletic than Hassan.

Especially since he was relatively unheard of until word of his commitment came down.

This Laysard thing is a mystery.
Talked with someone today, who said Laysard was
too slow to play in Hurley's system.
So, the question is, why was he even recruited, and
subsequently signed?
Same with Tertsea, if he's such a project?
For Laysard, last year was wasted, and that should have
been his red shirt year.
Now, talk of red shirting him this season, making two
wasted years.
Again, it all points to lack of talent evaluation with big men.
Now I'll await the "Hurley is Infallible" crowd to attack.

Rhody15 wrote:It's still crazy to hear Preston being more athletic than Hassan.

Going to be interesting to follow his development and to see how that athleticism plays out in games, as well as to track Khris Lane in-conference.

I have kept and eye on Tertsea and I can tell you to me he looks more athletic and quicker than Layssard.

KevanBoyles wrote:I have kept and eye on Tertsea and I can tell you to me he looks more athletic and quicker than Layssard.

Who knows what Tertsea's path is, but there's precedent in someone like Youssou Ndoye in the A10 to go from inexperienced basketball player to solid contributor by his senior year. Ndoye likely exceeded expectations, but the arc for development, even if less overall, can be there.

rodfromcranston wrote:This Laysard thing is a mystery.
Talked with someone today, who said Laysard was
too slow to play in Hurley's system.
So, the question is, why was he even recruited, and
subsequently signed?
Same with Tertsea, if he's such a project?
For Laysard, last year was wasted, and that should have
been his red shirt year.
Now, talk of red shirting him this season, making two
wasted years.
Again, it all points to lack of talent evaluation with big men.
Now I'll await the "Hurley is Infallible" crowd to attack.

Maybe you think I am in that crowd, but I don't think I am. My response here is not that Hurley is infallible, but rather that recruiting big men is hard. The ready-made, sure-fire big guys are going to the biggest programs. Everyone else is more or less getting a lottery ticket. So you can point to a good big man at another school that you think URI should be able to compete with for recruits, but in most cases it will have been obvious to nobody beforehand that that specific player would turn out to be so good; for every guy like that, college basketball is littered with similarly regarded high school players that didn't pan out. So much of the development for big guys happens after they're already college-age, and some of that is obviously coaching but a lot of it is just where a guy ends up physically in terms of strength, agility and coordination.

Having said all of that, these two guys are still in their relative infancy as college basketball players. They've played a combined one year and have a combined seven years of eligibility remaining. Even if they don't take a huge leap this year, you're still looking at five more years of eligibility between them to recoup something from the investment you made in them. A little patience is probably in order.

Hurley doesn't want to make the same mistake twice.

He played Berry and he dominated. Then Hurley had to hear about Andre Berry.

Now hes keeping Layssard under wraps. Hoping he doesn't just show up and dominate Dayton @Dayton for the victory.

rodfromcranston wrote:This Laysard thing is a mystery.
Talked with someone today, who said Laysard was
too slow to play in Hurley's system.
So, the question is, why was he even recruited, and
subsequently signed?
Same with Tertsea, if he's such a project?
For Laysard, last year was wasted, and that should have
been his red shirt year.
Now, talk of red shirting him this season, making two
wasted years.
Again, it all points to lack of talent evaluation with big men.
Now I'll await the "Hurley is Infallible" crowd to attack.

This post makes two pretty big assumptions. One, that the guy you talked to is right and two, that Layssard can't get better

TruePoint wrote:

rodfromcranston wrote:This Laysard thing is a mystery.
Talked with someone today, who said Laysard was
too slow to play in Hurley's system.
So, the question is, why was he even recruited, and
subsequently signed?
Same with Tertsea, if he's such a project?
For Laysard, last year was wasted, and that should have
been his red shirt year.
Now, talk of red shirting him this season, making two
wasted years.
Again, it all points to lack of talent evaluation with big men.
Now I'll await the "Hurley is Infallible" crowd to attack.

Maybe you think I am in that crowd, but I don't think I am. My response here is not that Hurley is infallible, but rather that recruiting big men is hard. The ready-made, sure-fire big guys are going to the biggest programs. Everyone else is more or less getting a lottery ticket. So you can point to a good big man at another school that you think URI should be able to compete with for recruits, but in most cases it will have been obvious to nobody beforehand that that specific player would turn out to be so good; for every guy like that, college basketball is littered with similarly regarded high school players that didn't pan out. So much of the development for big guys happens after they're already college-age, and some of that is obviously coaching but a lot of it is just where a guy ends up physically in terms of strength, agility and coordination.

Having said all of that, these two guys are still in their relative infancy as college basketball players. They've played a combined one year and have a combined seven years of eligibility remaining. Even if they don't take a huge leap this year, you're still looking at five more years of eligibility between them to recoup something from the investment you made in them. A little patience is probably in order.

I think this post is spot on. That's why redshirting might not be a bad idea and will allow us three more years with both of these guys developing and getting older. With continued work he could get to the point where he becomes the player we need and then everybody will wish he had one more year of eligibility left.

Seawrightspostgame wrote:Hurley doesn't want to make the same mistake twice.

He played Berry and he dominated. Then Hurley had to hear about Andre Berry.

Now hes keeping Layssard under wraps. Hoping he doesn't just show up and dominate Dayton @Dayton for the victory.

An equally drunk guy in a holding cell took down a Dayton big the other day. I don't think that should be as difficult this season.

Berry certainly has good hands and is intuitive around the basket. His offense of skills are obvious. His weight has held him back because he can't move quick enough to play defense. Hopefully with losing more weight he'll be able to play better defense and see more playing time. Does anyone know his current weight?

A point on Laysard.
If speed and quickness is the main issue,
I'm not sure anyone can teach that.
Rebounding technique, post moves, shooting,
can be learned, but not speed.

Another player I like is Akele. You have to love his effort and if you look at his numbers; 49% from the field, 40% from three point line, and 78% from the free-throw line, he compares very favorably with even our most heralded players. In fact, he had the highest three-point percentage and free-throw percentage on the team last year. In addition, he was second on the team (to Hass) in field-goal percentage. Granted, he didn't see as much time and these numbers could fluctuate with more playing time, you have to give credit where credit is due and play the players that bring the most to the table.

Like Rod, I talked to someone today who is an avid reader of this board. He really wondered why this Rod guy is so negative and ..............

!	Message from: ATPTourFan
	Eli has earned a 7 day timeout for trolling despite two warnings

I just don't think Laysard will contribute at least this year . We may be able to get something from him by his senior year hopefully

KevanBoyles wrote:I have kept and eye on Tertsea and I can tell you to me he looks more athletic and quicker than Layssard.

Athleticism is not the issue

rodfromcranston wrote:This Laysard thing is a mystery.
Talked with someone today, who said Laysard was
too slow to play in Hurley's system.
So, the question is, why was he even recruited, and
subsequently signed?
Same with Tertsea, if he's such a project?
For Laysard, last year was wasted, and that should have
been his red shirt year.
Now, talk of red shirting him this season, making two
wasted years.
Again, it all points to lack of talent evaluation with big men.
Now I'll await the "Hurley is Infallible" crowd to attack.

If Layssard is too slow how about Berry? They had to go zone every time he played. I don't think more weight loss will make Berry quicker.
ARD really built Layssard up so maybe we should be questioning his evaluation skills.

Ah, Mister Status Quo, deflects blame to a coach who's no
longer here.
So, Hurley and the rest of his crew had zero input, and
ARD just went out and signed Laysard all by himself, right?
Get real.

Iggy1979 wrote:

KevanBoyles wrote:I have kept and eye on Tertsea and I can tell you to me he looks more athletic and quicker than Layssard.

Athleticism is not the issue

Iggy1979. Please explain your comment.

I don't know if he's improved it since, but Tertsea had lots of trouble catching the ball last year. So much of Hurley's schemes are positioning and timing, and you have to catch the damn ball.

If you want to have any type of post game,
your center needs to have good hands.
Hands of stone can be a huge drawback.

ATPTourFan wrote:I don't know if he's improved it since, but Tertsea had lots of trouble catching the ball last year. So much of Hurley's schemes are positioning and timing, and you have to catch the damn ball.

Langevine had the same problem last year although he got better as the year went on.

KevanBoyles wrote:

Iggy1979 wrote:

KevanBoyles wrote:I have kept and eye on Tertsea and I can tell you to me he looks more athletic and quicker than Layssard.

Athleticism is not the issue

Iggy1979. Please explain your comment.

Rod would never say please!
I don't want to trash the kid too much but he's lacking in quite a few intangibles.
Never know when the light will go on, but he's not taking advantage of the opportunity the way Berry is.

I don't know how much you can tell at an open practice, but it'll be interesting to see the front court guys. I can't wait.

Same...will be a fun way to start a summer Saturday...then go watch some LEAPFESTers....will be a good day.

https://www.leapfest.com/

Iggy1979 wrote:

KevanBoyles wrote:

Iggy1979 wrote: Athleticism is not the issue

Iggy1979. Please explain your comment.

Rod would never say please!
I don't want to trash the kid too much but he's lacking in quite a few intangibles.
Never know when the light will go on, but he's not taking advantage of the opportunity the way Berry is.

I'm from Lincoln, not Cranston.

Whatever that means.

It's a joke Rod.

Ah, that's fine, Kevan.
We need a comic font and a sarcasm font here, because
it's hard to tell what's being said sometimes.

I agree. I always like to give my friends from Cranston a hard time.