Any names you can share that Key is bringing onto his staff? Any that he was after but it didn’t happen
KQ- Yes, but that is something I'll share when the full staff is finalized. We are still a few weeks away from that as there is a lot of shuffling going on behind the scenes. The entire recruitment department is being replaced right now for example. Key decided to overhaul that area.
What would have to happen from a basketball roster standpoint next year for you to do a pre-season prediction for the Jackets to have a winning record in the ACC?
Will it take a major acquisition in the portal or just some key carry-overs from this year's team with the new freshman class?
KQ- They need to keep at least Baye Ndongo and Nait George and build around that. Hopefully keep Miles Kelly and some glue guys like Sacko and Reeves and maybe Gapare. They need real help in the post. Cole Kirouac is going to need some significant S&C work and Ibrahim Souare is also a project so they need a big man. They have plenty of guard types coming in that should be able to play. Finding a real post-player to compliment Ndongo is key. If they find even a Ja'Von Franklin type that would probably be enough with Ndongo.
I think ideally you would add Doryan Onwuchekwa and a transfer player like a James Banks/Nick Jacobs/Ja'von Franklin type. That should be enough to get them over the hump into the middle of the ACC pack.
I noticed we flipped the front page to '25 commits. Any imminent news on that front? What do you think the proposed / discussed changes to the timing of ESD will do to affect our recruiting?
KQ- That stuff is done nationally and not by me. @Russell Johnson can answer on the other stuff.
Do you think they’ll be any fallout from CPJ’s Shanks interview with the GTAA, or is it at the “water under the bridge” stage at this point?
KQ- What are they going to do? Literally, every person he talked about was fired or left GT. As I said I've heard all this from PJ since December of 2018. I still talk to him pretty regularly. I had a couple of people at GT and a couple of people I trust who are close to the program to hold back from doing that scorched Earth PJ interview until Brent Key was able to clear the air with PJ and also get his feet under him as head coach. So we are probably closer to that happening now. PJ understood where I was coming from with that as well. He wishes Brent well, but PJ is like a pitbull on a chew toy, you better be careful what you ask or what you get into when talking to him.
My takeaway from last years season is that we were explosive on offense but not always consistent. What I mean by that is we went into some games with back to back three and outs and in certain games it caught up with us as our defense could not get off the field. Bowling Green comes to mind. One way to overcome a less than stout defense is to do what Paul Johnson did and eat clock.
While I thought our RBs did well towards the end of the year, do you think we will try to pound the ball up the middle more next year given we may have more of a compliment to Haynes and others (i.e. Carrie) and an even more improved OL?
Don’t get me wrong. I was very happy overall with the offense last year. But of course you always want to build off your success.
KQ- I think if they had Dontae Smith free and clear all year at his best from day one last year you would've seen more of that early on. They realized pretty quickly the limitations of Tre Cooley and Jamal Haynes for all of his abilities shouldn't be running the ball more than 15-20 times max if you want him to hold up for a season. They had to adapt. I think Haynes King had to figure out his role running the ball as well and he became a more willing runner despite dealing with a foot injury later in the season because he wanted to win. I think also if they had more time to work in the running packages with Zach Pyron that would've helped but the defense was so bad I think that Key and Buster felt like they couldn't risk trying a lot. That put a lot of pressure on the offense and King wasn't sharp all the time and the WRs outside of Singleton and Rutherford and occasionally Leary were pedestrian. It is a bad recipe, but they still won with it.
What are your thoughts on the proposed summer signing day? Do you think it will come to pass?
KQ- I'll be honest with you, I have no clue. I know that is what CPJ wanted to do. Let kids visit in the summer, sign and then play their senior seasons.
Can you picture Scooter actually having some success in his new position with the Tarholes or will it be the train wreck we all want to see?
KQ- They have underachieved so much there that maybe he can channel it into something. I have never been impressed with him as a DC and if you've been on here long enough you've probably seen me talk about it years ago when he was a DC. He does well with really dynamic talent and walked into some impressive defensive rosters as a DC. It will be very interesting to see how he does and more of an indictment of him as a HC if he does well IMO.
Any place I can find total snap counts for the season? RW.com didn’t have it that I could find
KQ- They would never have something like that. I realized I never did a final season tally for GT. So I'll try to get to that this week.
After basketball season ends (soon) and you have some time (which may be never), could you do a recap of how the guys who transferred out from last year did at their new schools? I believe Jalon Moore and Deivon Smith have been contributing at Oklahoma and Utah, respectively.
KQ- I can give you a quick one right now.
Doing well
Deivon Smith (Utah) starting PG 11.8 ppg, 5.6 RPG, 6.1 APG, 43.7% FG, 67% FTs, 32.6% 3FG, 1 SPG in 27.3 MPG, all career highs except RPG and SPG which tie his GT numbers
Jalon Moore (Oklahoma) starting PF 10.7 ppg, 6.4 RPG, 1.0 BPG, 0.7 SPG in 24.4 MPG, shooting 55.5% FG, 42.2% 3FG, 75% FT all career highs for him, this one hurts badly
Rodney Howard( WKU) sixth man C 10.2 ppg, 5.2 RPG, 54.7% FG, 68.3% FT in 20.2 MPG this hurts because they gave up on him and ended up only being able to get Ebe who is much worse than Rodney
Doing meh
Tristian Maxwell (Hampton) starting SG 6.6 PPG, 35.4% FG, 32.6% 3FG, 59.1% FT, 2.2 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1 SPG in 24.5 MPG
Cyril Martynov (Eastern Michigan) backup center 2.6 PPG, 52.9% FG, 51.9% FT, 2.4 RPG in 13 MPG
Doing poorly
Freds Pauls Bagastkis (UT-Arlington) he has only played in two games back in November averaging 6.6 ppg, I guess he got hurt or something, not much information out there.
Walk-on Jermontae Hill ended up at a Tyler JUCO in Tyler, TX. Not sure what the hell happened with that kid.
The CPJ interview got my wheels turning… how would you describe Key’s program management compared to CPJ? Is there a HC inside the program or outside that you’d compare to? My initial thoughts are CPJ was an offensive mastermind and obviously called every offensive play but was hands off on defense and ST.
CBK I feel is more diplomatic across the program and relies on his staff to make tactical calls while focusing on the strategy. Is that accurate?
KQ- Key knows his role, he knows he is not some great tactician when it comes to scheming up things and yes he gets involved with a bit of everything, but both let their guys coach, the main difference there is CPJ was hands-on with the playcalling and installation and execution of his offense. Key works the room. CPJ was actually more controlling of the recruiting side of things than Key is in a weird way. Key runs everything, but CPJ had to sign off on every single offer and was micromanaging every offer, Key will give his guys a bit of latitude from what I've seen and heard until they lose that privilege.
Key is more focused on what it takes to be a modern-day coach. I think CPJ was of his era, but would hate everything about CFB right now and the shit that Key has to deal with every day. He has told me as much.
Would we take 5 HS guys if Doryan O and Pippen both want to come.
O/U 50% chance of that happening
KQ- Yes and there is a pretty decent shot of it happening. It is hard to put a percentage on it right now since Doryan just reopened and Pippen is still blowing up.
Will there be a big board of offers for hoops 2025
KQ- Yes, was waiting for the end of the regular season.
Do you think we land a big time center or bucket better in the portal
KQ- Hopefully for everyone's sake who has to watch the team play including myself.
