Cook is a great player and due to no other options, i figure he'll be back. same with Moss. weird to think either would transfer at this point.
the team should be legit good next year. in the end, when remembering how abysmal last year was, the improvement is about what you would hope for or reasonaably expect from last year. won a lot more games. pulled some out at the end. the defense went from perhaps the worst defense most of us have ever seen a power conference team play to merely an embarrassment.
i expect similar incremental improvement for next year considering we lose close to nothing. i think mid 20 wins and a 3-5 slot in the big ten next year is reasonable expectation for this group. basically what we all tricked ourselves into believing this year was after our soft non-con.
Losing Baer is not a big deal. i think he was an overrated defender. for a white guy former walk-on, i think he displayed pathetic hustle on defense. he was our only shot blocker, and that will be missed. but overall i noticed him with his arms down on defense, him with his back inexplicably turned from the ball, him with lazy close outs, as much or more than anyone else. i think Nunge will replace the shot blocking.
Garza is fools gold in my opinion. his 3 point shots are basically a turnover at this point. hes very efficient in post offense, but considering we already have Cook who is similarly efficient down low, he's value down there suffers tremendously from diminishing returns. The real problem with Garza is that his 12 points or whatever a game is easily offset by his mind boggling slow feet and lack of jumping ability on defense. a true liability on that end of the floor. on a team already bad at defense, this is a killer. it's tough for me to even guess who is the bigger defensive liability, Garza or Bohannonn, but it's clear i think that on a team bereft of guard talent, bohannon HAS to play. Garza does not. I think Garza seems like a wonderful guy and great teammate but i think he's a net liability and doesn't bring anything to the table that more well rounded players do not already bring. In short i hope Nunge gets a lot of his minutes next year. i think his shot blocking will be an incredible boost to the club.
Cook is highly flawed. but he is still very good and doesn't deserve the trashing he gets. i blame the coaches for using him improperly.
