We were the most talented team, when healthy, last year. Shoot, we might have the best collection of talent this year too. Doesn't help though, that no matter what combinatorics you try - there isn't a group of 5 that actually compliments each other well.
I'm not really following. You spent the entire year pushing back against people saying that exact thing -- that the roster construction made no sense -- and insisting that if we were healthy, we'd have been a top team. Now you're saying that the talent didn't matter, because of the roster construction. That's what everyone was saying last year and you were arguing against.
Even last year I was begging to move Elliott to his natural guard position and fill the SG spot with a true 3pt shooter, and then go bigger at 3/4/5 to help with defense and rebounding (but that moves boy wonder to the bench). Nobody liked that idea.
Who would have been the bigger option at the 3 last year? Elliot/AJB (presumably the shooter)/???/Hadaway (for the brief stretch he was healthy) / Clayton. Who was on the roster that allowed for that option?
And it’s basketball season. Graff contradicting himself and hating Pavs.
How am I contradicting myself? Compare what I wrote in this thread above and what I wrote at the end of last season in the "Breaking Down the Disappointment" thread.
Definitely a frustrating and disappointing season.
This team was hard to watch because they never did the little things, or important things, required to win well. Defense. Rebounding.
They were never healthy at the same time.
They never really got on a roll.
And at times it seemed even Boals was frustrated with the play - but even moreso - the lack of a true leader.
We had a bunch of really nice guys who will go on to great success in life. That's more important than basketball. But for this basketball season it just wasn't enough.
Not making the semis in Cleveland shouldn't be acceptable. Boals needs to put a team together that makes it to Saturday next year. Otherwise, 26-27 could get interesting as far as his job.
Also, Vic Searls needed to play more. He was our best big this year. Sure, he turned the ball over 3 times a night. So did half our guards.
As for offseason departures we know we're losing Clayton, Searls, Reef. I think it's possible we see Nicol move down a level, or that Ajay Sheldon moves somewhere else - but honestly, the one guy I can see transferring right now is Elmore James. The next guy might be Pavs.
Regardless, when looking at the roster, I think we see a MUCH different team next year. Especially if we land a big in the portal.
Hypothetical world where EJ4 is the only remaining departure. Here would be my ideal lineup for next year:
PG - Elijah Elliott - 6'3 So
SG - AJ Brown - 6'4 Jr
SF - JJ Kelly - 6'6 Fr (Dude looks like a freak)
PF - Aidan Hadaway - 6'8 Sr
C - Portal TBD
PG - Pavs - 5'10 Sr
SG - Jordan Fisher - 6'5 Fr (Can he develop into that Nick Kellogg role?)
SF - Jesse Burris - 6'5 Fr (He's better than ppl credit but gets forgotten)
PF - Kiir Kuany - 6'9 Fr (I think he could be our best backup big)
C - Ayden Evans - 6'9 So (He makes a jump next year, at least on D)
G - Ajay Sheldon
F - Zay Mosley (He could fight for minutes. Seems like an undersized PF to me)
F - Ben Nicol
I see 3 ballhandlers (Elliott, Pavs, Sheldon)
3-4 good and athletic wings (Elliott, Brown, Kelly, Fisher)
And 4-5 bigs (Hadaway, TBD, Kuany, Evans, Mosley)
That roster is going to have a LOT of new faces and a lot of new guys getting minutes. That means we won't be pre-season picked for anything (fine by me) and we should improve over the season (fine by me). And honestly, given how poor this season's team was, I'm good with next year looking drastically different.
That post was from March 14, before the departure of Brown and before the transfer in of Simmons, Breath and Conners.
With the new additions, my lineup above gets modified into:
PG - Elijah Elliott - 6'3 So
SG - (insert best shooter of Conners/Burris/Fisher - default option seems to be Conners based on experience and defense so far)
SF - JJ Kelly - 6'6 Fr (Boals obviously doesn't think he's ready yet. Based on fit/skills he's the best option for this position IMO but likely won't be starting there Game 1 vs. Ark State - hopefully he gets enough minutes to grow and be the guy here come March).
PF - Aidan Hadaway - 6'8 Sr
C - (insert either Javan "Burrito Buggy" Simmons, but he's not a true 5 - or Jalen Breath). Neither of those fit what I wanted out of an All-MAC center. We needed a DW3. At least Breath can play defense and rebound.
*Side Note: I said it as soon as we landed Simmons. I like the player (before he showed up 30 lbs overweight). The problem is "fit". He's a PF not a C. Problem is - so is Hadaway. Aidan is a PF not a SF. So now we're either playing one/both of them out of position, or relegating one of them to the bench when in reality they're 2 of the 5 most "talented" players on the team.
PG - Pavs - 5'10 Sr
SG - Ajay Sheldon - 6'0 Sr (Fisher would be my ideal backup, but similar to Kelly he doesn't look ready yet in limited scrimmage minutes - defaults to Sheldon, or can STAY Sheldon if he magically regains his shooting stroke)
SF - Jesse Burris - 6'5 Fr (He can shoot and he can rebound. Can he defend?)
PF - Kiir Kuany - 6'9 Fr (Mr. Zany Energy. Both good and bad. He'll both get a dunk and trip over himself 3 times and foul out in 8 minutes)
C - (the 2nd option of Simmons/Breath)
C - Ayden Evans - 6'9 So
SG - Jordan Fisher - 6'3 Fr
The difference is, even in my new lineup above, I don't think that roster is good enough to win the MAC this year. A lineup of Elliott/Reef/Brown/Hadaway/Clayton (when healthy and if they actually played this lineup) had the talent to win it all last year. Boals never went to it, and we were never healthy together. It didn't happen.
Bottom line is March in Cleveland. Whatever lineup we roll out there, we make it to Saturday and Boals gets another year. We win it all and Boals gets another 3-4 years. We don't make it to Saturday and his seat is hot/in question IMO.
Last Edited: 10/27/2025 1:19:00 AM by GraffZ06