fanofzoo said:
AZGrizFan said:
Definitely his best work. Wish they hadn’t faded down the stretch....
There was a discussion here once on whether they folded or over achieved during the season. Nobody plays 3 freshman in the rotation except maybe Kentucky.
In my opinion, by far DeCuire's best coaching season. It's difficult in the Big Sky to rely on 4 FR/FR RS in your top 9 rotation, with only 1 true post defender (Anderson) and be in contention. Offensively, teams can adjust without much of a paint presence. Defensively, it isn't easy to win consistently to be a contender without much size.
I am learning though, DeCuire does manage to get great rebounding from his 1,2,3 (PG, SG SF). This season Pridgett was among the best rebounders in the conference. Falls, Manuel, and Vazquez all contributed a few boards per game. DCH had a couple big games on the boards, despite not being very tall. Eddy Egun, is a terrific rebounding wing as well. Like DCH, he is always in contention for a rebound. It was good to see Egun get more minutes at the end of the season.
This upcoming season, the GRIZ will have 3 or 4 legitimate sized post players, depending on the contribution of Henderson. Steadman, Anderson, Henderson, and Owens are all 6'8" plus. Steadman and Henderson already have the muscle. Owens and Anderson have the length, but need to put on some muscle. It would be nice to have Anderson put on another 15 to 20 lbs of muscle. Owens, getting over 200 lbs would be beneficial as well.
Either way, the 20/21 GRIZ will be more skilled and deeper in the post. It will be interesting to see what coaching moves DeCuire can do with multiple bigs, to go with a lot of guard depth. I honestly expected the GRIZ to hover around .500 in conference play, because of the lack of size and so much youth. Granted, I was disappointed how the last 6 games played out, this season. I have to keep in mind though, this team overachieved overall this season.
Decuire proved, he doesn't rebuild, he reloads. I really hope, DeCuire can by miracle, stay here to see the 2020 recruiting class through their SR year. Then again, if he does land his dream PAC 12 job, Coach Cobb is ready to take over. Great job and great year Coach DeCuire!
