Mike Rostampour

A little bit of preview for UNO versus Oral Roberts and IUPUI

acroth86 College Basketball , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

After playing the two teams in the Summit League with the best defensive field goal percentage, the Mavs will now have to play Oral Roberts, who has the 4th best defensive field goal percentage (Western Illinois is 3rd).  Then they have to play wildcard IUPUI.

The Mavs came close to North Dakota State and not so close to South Dakota State last week.  They know they need to move on, but now they have a road test against, historically, one of the best teams in the Summit League.  The coaches and players know and feel that they were a couple plays away from starting out conference play at 3-0, and Mike Rostampour is just pissed, and the senior leader should be.  Nothing comes easy in any conference and after starting league play at 1-3, now is the time to make those plays that would have put the Mavs at 3-1 now.  It is not the time to press the panic button.  NO BODY PANIC!  Actually, I’m not really sure if there is a panic button.  Other than possible CBI and CIT seedings and births, there is not really much of a difference if the the Mavs finish this year in the Summit between placing 2nd and 9th in the standings.  If the Mavs win the regular season, they do get some hardware, but it is not like they are going to get a participation medal for coming in 9th in the conference.  Mom, this is literally a medal for sucking.  But morally, we want to prove ourselves, that we know we belong here.  We’re not quite at the point of trading away all of the assets and tanking for the draft.  I am sorry, I am a Celtics fan, so I am bitter about some NBA things at the moment…  

Oral Roberts

Okay, I am going to throw something at you here.  The Mavs are going to have to go deep into the bench in this game.  Why would the Mavs have to go deep into the bench on a team that has the worst field goal percentage in the entire Summit League?  The Golden Eagles get to the line more than any other team in the Summit League, they shoot nearly 26 free throws a game.  They have the second worst three point field goal percentage in the league at 32.5%, so they are a team that needs to get to the basket, and with two of the best wings in the Summit League, they get to the basket.  Mike Rostampour will pick up a foul in this game, maybe even two, or maybe even five…  So the Mavs may have to get Daniel Meyer, Rylan Murry, and Randy Reed on the court more than they usually get out there.  In case you are curious, when the Mavs win Murry shoots 57% from the field, 55% from downtown and in their losses he shoots 35% from the field and 25% from long range.  So he might actually be a little more of an X-Factor than you might think.  Just saying.

RPI wise, Oral Roberts had the best win of the season against Tulsa to open up their season.  Maybe similar to the Mavs, they realize this was a long time ago, and now that they are 8-8, they have something to prove themselves.  Maybe the Mavs should not run the typical Mavs pace in this one.  The Golden Eagles average 65 points per game (not including their win over Haskell).  When Oral Roberts gets above 65 points they are 7-1.  Maybe UNO does not need to slow down the pace, but clearly, they need to play strong defense for all 40 minutes.

Obviously the Mavs need to shoot better coming off their two worst shooting performances of the season.  Oral Roberts may be in the top half of the league as far as defensive field goal percentage goes, but they have had a few poor shooting nights themselves so far, so here is an incredibly generic thing to say.  The Mavs need to play better on offense and defense.  That’s simple.  Well we are done here.

Here are some other random Mav numbers for you (not counting Iowa Wesleyan):

  • The Mavs are 5-1 when they hit more threes than their opponent, only loss to North Dakota State
  • The Mavs are 1-6 when they hit less threes than their opponent, only win to South Dakota
  • The Mavs are 0-3 when they hit the same amount of threes than their opponent

Hey, remember how Oral Roberts has the 2nd worst three point field goal percentage in the League?  They have also made the 2nd least amount of threes in the Summit League.  But again, they get to the line, A LOT.

  • The Mavs are 0-4 when 40% or more of their field goals taken are three point field goals

So it’s not exactly like they should just start jacking up threes, especially after a 1 of 16 performance, but they need to hit the open shots that they found against South Dakota State but could not convert on.  Seriously, how generic sports talk can this get?

With the talent they have, I am not even sure if they could beat Kentucky right now.  Crap, I am thinking about the Celtics again.

The Mavs do need to contain the wings for Oral Roberts.  Obi Emegano in his last five games has averaged 23 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists,  3.6 steals, and he has shot 50% (36-72) from the field.  He has also made 10 threes overall in the last 5 games after going 9 games in a row without a three.  Korey Billbury in the last five games has averaged 17 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.6 steals, and shot 39% from the field.  Billburry also made a total of 9 threes in the last 5 games, after only hitting a total of 5 in the Golden Eagles’ first 11 games.

This game is a homecoming for Tim Smallwood, a Tulsa native, so maybe he will play better.  Is that dumb to think that?  Seems like guys play better in situations like that, or on their birthday.  Seriously, you should see my career averages on my birthdays.  I was a quadruple 2 guy my whole life, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals per game.  On my birthday, I averaged about 14 points and 5 rebounds a game.  Not to brag, okay I am bragging, but in intramurals at UNO, I had to guard a guy that had played at Midland University and he was about 5 inches taller than me, but I had 17 points with 5 threes that game.  It was literally my birthday.

Like Opponents?

Lost 72-66 to North Dakota State in Fargo.

Won 66-57 at Western Illinois

IUPUI 

Seriously everyone was sleeping on the IUPUI Jaguars before the start of the season, and many still are trying to wipe the morning fog out of their eyes.  They lost 6 in a row at one point, but now have gone on a win a game, lose a game pattern for their last 7 games.  If they continue the pattern, they would lose to South Dakota State and win at UNO.  That is how stats work, right?  They are 2-1 in the Summit with a wins over preseason league favorites IPFW and Denver, so this should have caught the attention of people…who pay attention.  They also took that team I was just talking about, Oral Roberts, to overtime.

There is not much size to the Jaguars, nor is there much experience, and their best players are currently sitting out due to transfer rules.  They do not make many threes, they have made the least amount of total threes in the conference, and they have the worst three point field goal percentage in the league.  They are just a little better than UNO at free throw percentage at 70% to UNO’s 69% but they do not get to the line nearly as much, UNO shoots 27 free throws a game, while IUPUI shoots 18 per game.  They average the second least amount of rebounds per game, after Denver who they defeated, but IUPUI has picked up more rebounds as of late.  The Jaguars also average the most turnovers in the league, so UNO who averages the most steals in the conference should be licking their chops.  Is licking chops still a saying?  What are chops?

None of their wins have been a beat down.  Of their 6 wins, the biggest amount of points they won by was 6 points to South Alabama.  One thing I have noticed about the Jaguars as compared to other Summit League teams, they have not played an opponent that was not division one.  So that whole thought process of In Order to Get Better You Have to Play the Best Competition might be coming together for IUPUI, as they are finally starting to pick up some wins.

One thing I notice while looking at all 6 of their wins, a low amount of threes taken.  Their three point attempts on wins, 10.6 attempts per game.  Their three point attempts on losses, 17.2.  Clearly, with the poor percentage and total number of made three point field goals, it is an area they struggle in, so they desperately need to get to the basket.  The Mavs need to keep them on the outside, just let them take threes.

UNO has yet to lose to IUPUI as Summit League opponents, and if the Jaguars pick up a win against the Mavericks this year, given how bad their roster is, I may just lose it.  They defeated IUPUI by 28 and 22 points last season.  CJ Carter has averaged 15.6 points, 4 assists, 2.3 steals, and has shot 19-30 in 3 career games against IUPUI.  In his sophomore season, Marcus Tyus averaged 15 points, 3.5 rebounds, and shot 12-22 against the Jaguars.  Mike Rostmapour has 18 and 9 in his first meeting against IUPUI and 9 and 8 in his second match up with IUPUI, and he also shot 9-13 on those two games.  Devin Patterson averaged 11.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2.5 steals, and shot 9-18 versus IUPUI last season.

For real, why do they think tanking for the draft is a good idea?  Has it ever worked out for them before? Drafting players is not their thing, draft day trades is their specialty!  Aw crap, sorry, the Celtics, they are getting to me.

A suggestion from a guy that has no business giving suggestions to a college athletics program:

Bring Marcus Tyus off the bench.

Okay, I hate the idea of it too.  I think Marcus Tyus has been the Mavs most efficient player this season, and has been huge.  It is nothing personal against Marcus Tyus, in fact, I hope this is a compliment.  Really, it should not matter to a player if you start the game or come off the bench, as long as you are on the court at the end, or your team has won.  This team does need a high energy guard off the bench, and Marcus Tyus is definitely a high energy player who can bring a spark off the bench.

You can not really put Patterson on the bench because of his ball handling ability, and for his control of the offense.  No one wants to put Carter on the bench, who has started all but three games in his career, and is the teams’ top scorer.  So unfortunately, Tyus is the nomination.

The 2013-2014 season, the best season for the Mavs so far in division one, Marcus Tyus came off the bench for half of the season.  With injuries to Justin Simmons, Tyus got the nod to start, and he played great, there is no question of that.  Last season, UNO was 8-8 with Tyus coming off the bench and 7-7 with Tyus starting, so it’s not like any of this makes sense with that in mind.  Four of the losses that he came off the bench though:  @ Iowa by 8, @ UNLV by 3, @ IPFW by 4, vs. IPFW by 1.

Whether Jake White gets back into the starting line up or not, the Mavs will have either he or Tre’Shawn Thurman coming off the bench in the post for a key role, but the Mavs do not really have a guard to come off the bench that has produced enough for that second wave of energy and activity.  If Justin Simmons was starting last season, Tyus and Phillips were both coming off the bench.  If Simmons was hurt and Tyus was starting, Phillips was still providing some energy off the bench.  Matt Hagerbaumer was always providing defensive energy in the post off the bench.  Reed and Smallwood have not produced as advertised, Rylan Murry has slipped in the last month, and walk on/great guy Kyler Erickson has been the guy to step up off the bench.  I am not sure who to start between Reed, Smallwood, and Murry.  Reed or Murry would provide more height, and the Mavs could start the game contesting the shots other teams’ 6’4″ – 6’6″ wings a little better, then BAM, Marcus Tyus off the bench for 8 quick points.  I am not saying this is a big time solution to anything, it is just a thought.

Some milestone notes:

  • Marcus Tyus is 11 points away from 700 career points
  • Mike Rostampour is 18 rebounds away from having the 2nd most rebounds since transition
    1. Matt Hagerbaumer – 401
    2. John Karhoff – 384
    3. Mike Rostampour – 366
  • Marcus Tyus is 4 steals away from having the 3rd most steals since transition
    1. CJ Carter – 128
    2. Devin Patterson – 90
    3. Caleb Steffensmeier – 73
    4. Marcus Tyus – 69
    5. Justin Simmons – 69
  • Tre’Shawn Thurman is 22 points away from having the 2nd most points in a season by a freshman since transition
    1. CJ Carter – 303
    2. Marcus Tyus – 185
    3. Tre’Shawn Thurman – 163
  • Tre’Shawn Thurman is 3 rebounds away from having the most in a season by a freshman since transition
    1. CJ Carter – 105
    2. Tre’Shawn Thurman – 102

 

Mavs take on Summit’s top defenses in three days

acroth86 College Basketball , , , , , , , ,

What a great freaking weekend for UNO Athletics for events.  A top 15 match up in Hockey versus Denver on Friday and Saturday nights.  UNO women basketball is at Denver on Thursday, and then they have a week to prepare for South Dakota State.  The UNO men have their first two home conference games against North Dakota State on Thursday and South Dakota State on Saturday, each of these two home games are on ESPN3.

The Red Army says I need to hate Denver.  I don’t know why, but if they need the support I am in on it.  I would still love it if UNO, Denver, the Summit League, and the NCHC could find a way to coordinate a weekend of UNO-Denver basketball & hockey in Denver.  It would be a lot of work, but I don’t know many Omahans that don’t like traveling to Denver.  I highly doubt there are too many Denverans that just love getting out to Omaha though.  So wait, yeah, screw Denver.

Okay, on to basketball.  Last year, Derrin Hansen mentioned that a goal of the men’s basketball program was to get to the same level as North Dakota State and South Dakota State.  Not a bad goal, they are consistently the two top teams in the league and we are all along I-29.  They have each made a name for themselves around the country and both come from the same division two background as UNO.

Much of the weekend’s success depends on the health of juniors Jake White and Devin Patterson.  White claimed to be feeling great before the Mavs took on Western Illinois but Patterson did not play.  Last week, White averaged 12 points and 7 rebounds in his first two games back, so hopefully he’s still feeling great because the Mavericks need that, especially against SDSU’s Cody Larson.  Patterson is especially needed for his perimeter defense, and the offense is completely different without him.  The Mavs do not seem to get out to the same pace that they like to play without Patterson in the line up.  It has been mentioned that Jake White will return to the starting line up at some point and I kind of expect him to be back in the starting five this weekend.

North Dakota State

I didn’t pick North Dakota State too high, but they have started conference play off at 2-0, so I feel and look like a stupid head.  They picked up their wins against two of the better, on paper, teams in the Summit League, South Dakota State and Oral Roberts in Fargo.  The Bison only won these two games by a combined total of 9 points, but a roll is a roll, a toll is a toll, and a win is a win.  That’s a Robin Hood: Men in Tights Reference.  If you do not enjoy that film, we would probably have communication issues.

Against Oral Roberts, senior guard Lawrence Alexander scored a career high 31 points, the team shot 11-22 on threes (to ORU’s 10-15),  and as a team they turned over the ball only 6 times.  They also shot 19-20 from the free throw line.  Alexander didn’t get much help from anyone else in the win, no one really shot that particularly well except for sophomore forward Dexter Werner who went 5-9 from the floor for 13 points.

Against South Dakota State, Alexander got more help from his teammates, junior guard Kory Brown led the Bison with 17 points on 8-13 shooting.  The Bison didn’t do as well from three on only 5-17, and they also only shot 17-27 from the free throw line.  But again, the Bison only had 6 turnovers.

As stated before, the Bison are not that deep.  They only play 7, maybe 8 players, when they have to.  Of those 8 players, Alexander is the only senior, two are juniors, two are sophomores, and three are freshmen.  They average the least amount of turnovers in the Summit League, they don’t even average 10, they average 9.2 turnovers a game.  How does such an inexperienced team average so little turnovers?  The Mavs do average nearly 9 steals a game, which is the highest in the Summit, so hopefully they can force the Bison to some turnovers and get them out of their usual rhythm.

I’ve had to listen to the last three UNO games on the radio.  I realized each game I would find myself muttering – why does this (opposing) team make so many threes?  And yes, there were some expletives mixed in.  Chicago State shot 8-16 on threes against UNO, South Dakota was 10-24 from downtown, and Western Illinois went 10-25 from deep.  Looking more into it, UNO has given up the most threes in the conference AND other than Western Illinois they have played the least amount of games at 14.  The Bison are tied at second with South Dakota in the conference in three point field goal percentage.  So this should be a point of worry I would think…

The Bison do not have much size down low, but they do have a lot of size on the wing.  Their main rotation:

F  Chris Kading                       6-8

F  AJ Jacobson                         6-6

G  Kory Brown                        6-4

G  Lawrence Alexander       6-3

G  Carlin Dupree                     6-3

G  Paul Miller                           6-4

F  Dexter Werner                   6-6

So Rostampour, White, Thurman, Murry, and Meyer hold a size advantage in the post.  The Bison have had success with this not being much of a problem, but when the Mavericks get the ball in the paint, they need to capitalize.  With the size of NDSU at the wing position, and lack of size in the post, maybe this means more playing time for Randy Reed this weekend.

UNO has not had much luck against the Bison in recent.  They are 0-5 against the Bison since transitioning and 0-4 in conference play.  The Mavericks have lost 98-65, 95-51, 84-57, 91-69, and 75-59 so it has not exactly been close.  There is no longer a guy named Taylor Braun who had 31 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 assists in the Bison’s last win against the Mavs.  Nor is there 6’8″ Marshall Bjorklund or 6’7″ TrayVonn Wright, so the Bison’s size that always gave the Mavs big problems is no longer their advantage.

Last season Alexander shot 7-24 in his two games against the Mavericks, so maybe the Mavericks have him figured out.  Alexander is also averaging 38+ minutes so far this season due to the lack of the depth for the Bison.  Not sure if the time is now, but that will eventually catch up with anyone.  Do you pay attention to Creighton?  Remember when Greg McDermott played Antoine Young a ridiculous amount of minutes his senior season?  It caught up to Young and it became difficult for him to close out games.  38+ minutes a game against the Mavs pace of play is not a good recipe for Lawrence Alexander.

CJ Carter averaged 14 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists and shot 8-18 in two games against the Bison last season.  Rostampour fouled out each game, and neither Patterson or Tyus did all that well against the Bison.  Patterson shot 4-19 from the field and 2-8 on threes in two games against the Bison, and Tyus shot 2 of 8 from the field in two games against the Bison last season.  Tyus has become a stud recently and Patterson has been hurt, but a bad recipe for the Mavs against the Bison would be if 2 of your top players can not score the ball, and your top rebounder is on the bench with foul trouble.

South Dakota State

The Jackrabbits are always a league favorite, but they have started conference play off at 0-2, with a loss at Denver and before mentioned North Dakota State.  The Jackrabbits were on a seven game winning streak before dropping four in a row, and will play Western Illinois on Wednesday.

Wisconsin transfer George Marshall did not play well against North Dakota State.  He shot 1 of 9 from the field, but he has hit a three in every single game he has played in so far.  At 5’11” he’s not exactly a pure point guard, he’s more a shooting guard, but I would assume that either CJ Carter or Devin Patterson would be assigned to Marshall.

South Dakota State does not really have much height with Cody Larson being the only player that is taller than 6’6″ that gets significant minutes, but the Jackrabbits still lead the Summit with over 4 blocks a game as a team.  They also have the best defensive field goal percentage in the Summit League with teams are only shooting 42% against SDSU.  Actually they are are 42.1% and North Dakota State is at 42.2%, so UNO is playing two of the best defenses in the League in three days.  So that’s fun.  Teams are also only shooting 33% on threes against the Jackrabbits.  In their current losing steak, the only team that has shot less than 33% on threes against them was North Dakota State, who again, doesn’t turn the ball over and defends well.  SDSU was also down by as many as 20 at one point in the first half and ended up only losing by 3.

Omaha!  Omaha!

The health of Devin Patterson and Jake White is obviously a huge key.  No team is going to do that great when you take two of their best players off the court.  Maybe SDSU is not the same away from Brookings, just about every team is better at home.  All seven of their losses have been away or at a neutral site.  But I think UNO will split this weekend, it is tough to pick up back to back wins against NDSU and SDSU.  I don’t believe any team did it last year when the two schools were travel partners.

Both NDSU and SDSU are larger at the wing positions, but both are smaller in the post, so UNO needs to out run and/or post and score in the paint.  I was listening to Jacob Padilla talk on 1620 the Zone Tuesday night and he spoke of how size was an issue for Creighton.  They are starting three guys at 6’2″ and under, and with teams having bigger wing players, opposing teams can shoot right over the top of Creighton’s wings.  UNO definitely has the same issue with Marcus Tyus, CJ Carter, and Patterson all under 6’2″.  When the NDSU and SDSU wings miss shots, UNO’s posts need to grab boards and get possessions.

Free throws have been an issue for the Mavericks recently:

20-38 vs. Chicago State – L

21-30 vs. South Dakota – W

25-39 vs. Western Illinois – L

There was a period of six minutes in the second half at Western Illinois where each team was fouling and it was a free throw contest for that span.  The Leathernecks would continuously go 2 of 2 on each trip to the line, where the Mavericks would only hit 1 of 2.  If both of the games against NDSU and SDSU remain close games in the second half, UNO can not continue with the same free throw issues.  Hopefully the Mavs can overcome this with their best free throw shooter, Devin Patterson, back in the line up.

Mike Rostampour said on 1620 the Zone on Tuesday night that this Mav team can beat anyone and lose to anyone.  That is entirely true.  The Mavs can either win with smart play or shoot themselves in the foot with turnovers, bad defensive possessions, and poor free throw shooting.  Hopefully with Devin Patterson and Jake White back in the line up, the Mavs can return to full strength and we can see just how good this 2014-2015 Maverick team is.

 

 

 

The effect of a guy named Nitro Rostampour

acroth86 College Basketball , , , , , ,

Before the 2012-2013 season the UNO Mavericks men’s basketball team picked up a walk on transfer from St. Cloud State named Mike Rostampour, and no one really thought anything of it.

Nitro Rostampour is working out in the Sapp Fieldhouse when John Karhoff walks in.

John Karhoff:  The name’s Karhoff.

Nitro Rostampour: Uh…Nitro, hi.

John Karhoff:  Interesting nickname, what’s your real name?

Nitro Rostampour:  Nitro…I’m working on a nickname, though.

John Karhoff:  Oh yeah?

Nitro Rostampour:  Yeah.  Listen to this……Mike.

That’s probably not exactly how it happened, but I’m sure it’s pretty darn close.  By the way, if you haven’t seen Down Periscope, we’ll probably never get along.  Also, I don’t care what you say, “Nitro Rostampour” flows pretty well.

I didn’t get to go to any basketball game during UNO’s first transition year because I was living in Ogden, Utah for a big chunk of that year.  My wife and I moved back to Omaha in March after the season.  I got to stream a few of the games and my thoughts were never really negative but kind of bummed that it was going to take so much time to get through this transition process.  Waiting for 2015-2016 was going to be rough, I thought.

By the way, Tre’Shawn Thurman, per the recruiting websites I saw you had an offer to Utah State.  I don’t know how serious they got with you, or if you ever visited, but trust me, Utah is not the place to be.  Before my cable got set up, my wife and I asked someone where a good sports bar was so we could go watch the Nebraska and Oregon football games and they told us Applebee’s.  Freaking Applebee’s!  

Anyway, I began focusing my attention to the recruiting and any player that would be on the roster when the program finally became eligible for the NCAA tournament.  The 2012 recruiting class was kind of cool I guess.  This was sort of UNO’s first actual division one recruiting class.  Justin Simmons, Alex Phillips, Marcus Tyus, Jalen Bradley, Indiana State transfer Koang Dulouny (who would leave the team after 7 games), and Mike Rostampour as a walk on.

I read everything I could about that first recruiting class, tried to find the videos on each of them (that sounds creepy out of context), but there wasn’t much on any of them really.  Marcus Tyus had a few videos, everyone else just had some articles about them.  You really had to dig deep on the internet to find anything on any of them, and the internet isn’t small.  I still thought and hoped that these guys could all help, they could all contribute and help the program improve, and get it to where it needs to be by 2015-2016.  Before the 2012 season started, UNO picked up a commitment from Rylan Murry (and one too from Nick Billingsley), and I was thinking – oh this Murry guy has offers from Central Michigan and South Dakota!  The only guy in the 2012 class I could find with a scholarship offer from anywhere else was Alex Phillips with an offer from Eastern Illinois.  Not that none of the others didn’t have any, they just at least weren’t that widely reported at least.

So I see we have this 6’8″ walk on named Mike Rostampour, and I don’t think much of him.  The thoughts running through my mind were: He averaged 8ppg and 5rpg at St. Cloud State as a sophomore, I’m sure Simon Krych could do that (he’s currently averaging 1.8ppg and 2.2rpg as a junior at St. Cloud State)…Rostampour just came to UNO to say he’s a D-1 player, but he’s not actually a D-1 player…Wait, he can shoot 3s?…Well at least we can have some height on the bench…Look at those tattoos, what a jerk store.  Could he really be better than Rylan Murry, Simon Krych, or Matt Hagerbaumer?…

I don’t remember what I was busy with, but it was difficult for me to get to games in the 2012-2013 season at first.  I finally got to go when they played Western Illinois in January.  I watched everyone in warm ups, I see Rostampour, I think to myself – I’m not excited about that guy, hopefully Jalen Bradley is getting ready for next year… UNO lost that game by 15, they only got out rebounded by 6 rebounds but it seemed like so much more.  Rostampour caught my attention that game.  How did a walk on guy who is red shirting grab my attention?  Every time John Karhoff, Alex Welhouse, or Matt Hagerbaumer got outworked for a rebound, Rostampour had a look on his face as if he was being tortured.  Every time there was a time out, Rostampour was the first to run out and greet his teammates to the bench.  Even as a red shirt, he was doing as much as he possibly could to help everything in the program improve.  The Mavs couldn’t rebound that year and you could tell it was killing Rostampour.

Before the start of the 2013-2014 season, Mike Rostampour is awarded a scholarship and gets the nod to be in the starting line up.  Okay, what?  The walk on?  The Junior College to Division 2 to Division 1 walk on is going to start?  Really, why I am surprised?  A bulk of the roster is former Division 2 players.  Rostampour is in foul trouble in just about every single game at first, but in the time he was out on the court, the team is clearly a better rebounding team.  Matt Hagerbaumer also looks to be a better rebounder, maybe it was self improvement or maybe Rostampour helped him get better, I don’t know.  But rebounding is no longer the team biggest weakness.  Well, it is, but it has clearly improved now, and it’s not going to get them blown out by 30 or 40 anymore.  Once Rostampour adjusted to the speed of the game, and the officials being more touchy with their foul calls, he was able be an impact on the floor.  The Mavs got better and better once he figured that out.

 

The added toughness in general was also needed to add to that roster.  Before Rostampour, the body language on the players was basically screaming – why the hell are we out here, what are we even playing for?  Rostampour changed that when he was on the court, there was more fight in everyone’s eyes.  You also have to credit Justin Simmons and Devin Patterson to adding some fight in the team, but a lot of it did come from Rostampour.  The boy band needed a tough guy.  Without Rostampour, the 30-40 point beat downs from Big 12 and Big 10 teams would’ve continued.  Rostampour gave them a fighting chance.  Rostampour came to UNO at exactly the right time.  When UNO goes up against South Dakota State’s Cody Larson or IPFW’s Steve Forbes we’re not sitting there saying, “oh well that guy will murder us down low,” instead we’re saying, “that’s okay, we have Rostampour.”

During the Marquette game, I showed someone the score on my phone that UNO won the game and they instantly said “have you seen UNO’s center?  He’s a freak.”  After a home loss to Denver last season, I was hanging out in the bar in the Ralston Arena after the game a little while with a friend.  We were walking out and we walked by Rostampour, we couldn’t help but stare, partially out of fear that he may want to fight us.  He noticed us and thanked us for coming out to the game, even though he had a look on his face as if the Pioneers just stole his puppy.  I don’t think anyone should ever be afraid of saying anything bad about Rostampour, in a way, I think it feeds him to get better.  Like, someone said something bad about me?  I’m going to go kill a basketball by squeezing it to death.

Yeah, Rostampour brings attention to UNO,  people want to see him.  He’s UNO’s first legitimate rebounder since transition.  Barring some injuries, he should end up with most career rebounds since transition.  He’ll have more than Matt Hagerbaumer and John Karhoff, and they had 3 years to his 2 years in that time frame.  His 21 rebounds against North Dakota in the CIT was the most any Maverick had in a division one game, his 239 rebounds his junior year is the most rebounds any Mav has had in D-1.  His 7 double-doubles are the most for any D-1 Mav (yeah okay the D-1 history is young, but still).  But my perception is that Rostampour never thinks he’s better than anyone else, I believe he thinks he constantly has to prove himself and proving himself is showing everyone how hard he works.  His driving force is the need to get better and improve in anyway he can.  You ever look at his twitter?  At first it was all about him taking pride in him and the Mavs working to improve.  His description is:  C Team-Juco-D2-Walk on = Current OMAHA POWER Forward.  You ever have a truly awful job and when you first start out they tell you a success story about how the CEO started exactly where you are, as just a regular part-time employee and worked their way up.  That’s Rostampour, he’s the CEO that remembers when he had to clean the bathrooms. I’m probably way off, but that’s just what I see.  By the way, I really hope no one makes the walk ons and red shirt players clean the bathrooms.

 

I think the first thing I ever saw him do was air ball a 3.  I thought, along with everyone around me, oh well this is a transitional team, we can’t get the good guys yet.  Each and every game Rostampour improves.  He hears a few people comment on his air balls, or his fouls, or all the tattoos, and he works to improve it.  He’s Mike Rostampour, he’s always ready to go.

When the Mavs are on the road, he’s the one the home team’s fans hate the most…  How can that guy be good?  He wouldn’t even start if he played for us… When Rostampour first started at UNO he said he wanted to be the Mavs’ Chris Andersen – The Birdman.  Probably my least favorite player in the NBA, but if you want to be Chris Andersen, you’re going to be the player the opposing team hates each and every single time.  Yeah, okay, if he played for a Nebraska, Creighton, or a Minnesota he wouldn’t be getting the minutes that he gets at UNO, not too many people are going to argue that, but you can’t tell me those teams wouldn’t be better with Rostampour coming off the bench and giving you everything he possibly could in his time on the court.  The Birdman – or Nitro – doesn’t care about the amount of minutes, he cares about making the most of those minutes.  He’s not worried about the skills he doesn’t have, he’s concentrated on how to make the most of the skills he does have and making damn sure the team benefits from those skills.

“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop those skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals”  — Larry Bird

A few Nevada post game notes/pregame Kansas State notes

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Post game notes for UNO-Nevada

  • I watched Nevada’s Michael Perez in shoot around before the game, I seriously thought he had to be a walk on with that form on his shot.  I think he went 1-15 in warm ups…ended up going 4-12 with 0-5 behind the arch.
  • Player of the game?
    • Mike Rostampour – 17 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal
    • Tre’Shawn Thurman – 18 points, 3 rebounds, 5 blocks
    • Devin Patterson – 10 points, 9 assists, 5 steals
  • Thurman’s 5 blocks are the most by any Mav since transition, he really got to show off his skills in this game
  • Everyone sitting around me kept saying “Thurman is just a freshman, I can’t believe we got him!”
  • Jake White suited up, was in for warm up drills, hopefully he is back soon
  • When Jake White returns, does UNO go with a starting 5 of Rostampour, White, Tyus, Carter, Patterson OR Rostampour, White, Thurman, Carter, Patterson?
  • Can Thurman play the 3?  He handles the ball well and seems to be able to do a little bit of everything…just looking ahead into the future (obviously a lot can happen with players coming and going) but could the Mavs have a starting front court of Meyer or Pirog/Murry/Thurman in 2017 & 2018?
  • Tim Smallwood scored 9 points, he looked comfortable out there, hopefully he’s going to become more consistent and be a huge weapon off the bench
  • Daniel Meyer can move really well without the ball
  • Devin Newsome guards the ball really well
  • What’s a better 3 headed monster?  Rostampour/White/Thurman or Rostampour/Karhoff/Hagerbaumer

A few pre game notes for UNO-Kansas State

  • I honestly don’t know much about Kansas State because Frank Martin is my least favorite coach in college basketball and Bruce Weber is my 2nd least favorite coach
  • There is not much height to the Wildcats, in their rotation they have: Thomas Gipson a 6’7″ senior (13.7ppg/4.7rpg) and Wesley Iwundu a 6’7″ sophomore (6.6ppg/4.8rpg) in the starting line up and Stephen Hurt a 6’11” junior (6.2ppg/4.3rpg) off the bench,
  • Iwundu’s 4.8 rebounds per game is the most on the team
  • Against a somewhat similar opponent, Kansas State did beat UMKC 83-73 and outrebound the Kangaroos 29-22.  Thomas Gipson had 21 points and 9 rebounds in that game.
  • This will be Kansas State’s first home game since UMKC, they’re 2-0 at home and coming off a tournament in Maui in which they went 1-2 with a win over Purdue and losses to # 3 Arizona and a 70-47 loss to Pittsburgh
  • Marcus Tyus is shooting 13-16 over the last 3 games.  He has shot 53% from the floor and 47% from three point range in 8 careers games vs. Power 6 teams.
  • Devin Patterson has averaged 18.5ppg, 5.3rpg, 4.0apg, 2.0spg, and shot 47% from the floor in 4 career games vs Power 6 teams.

By the way, I consider the Power 6 to be: ACC, Big 12, Big 10, Big East, SEC, and Pac 12.

 

 

So you’re telling me there’s a chance?

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I was in Lincoln on Saturday and a Lincolnite struck up a conversation with me about college basketball, more specifically on the local spectrum.  He was wearing a Husker shirt and watching the Huskers not having a fun camping trip to Rhode Island, he was quite possibly suicidal from the Huskers football loss earlier in the day as well.  At this point in the day I am guessing he had at least 16 beers inside of him, but he made some sense.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are the best college basketball team in the state, on paper, he claims.  Those two teams from Omaha, Creighton and UNO, are awful match ups for the Huskers, he adds.  This guy is saying all the words I have been thinking to myself for a while, oh and this guy when he gets up and goes to the bathroom looks like Bambi trying to walk on a frozen lake.  I contact my friends who are both huge into college basketball and present this guys’ ideas as if they are mine, honestly some of them were things I was thinking but afraid of looking stupid if I said them.  His random thoughts on how Dude, Where’s My Car is the funniest film all time, those don’t sit well with me.

The main reason Creighton and UNO are terrible match ups for Nebraska:  Walter Pitchford vs. (Creighton) Artino/Hegner/Hansen and Walter Pitchford vs (UNO) Rostampour/White/Thurman.  Due to lack of options down low, Nebraska is playing a 6’10” shooting guard at center.  Their 6’10 “post player” has taken 16 shots on the year and 11 of them have been for three.  In his short tenure at Nebraska, he has never looked good defending down low, last year Leslee Smith was counted on a lot to come off the bench and guard the other team’s big men when Pitchford just couldn’t handle it.

If Mike Rostampour and Jake White are both in on this, they are going to eat up Pitchford.  Pitchford wont be able to guard them, Terran Petteway, Shavon Shields, and David Rivers are going to have to help out, it’s going to cause issues for the Huskers.  All the threes Pitchford takes, they do not open things up in the post, a 6’10” that can hit from three is a huge weapon, but it doesn’t open things up for things to happen if he’s just planting his feet and waiting for someone to pass him the ball the whole time.  If he misses, UNO is better at rebounding than Nebraska, if those threes aren’t going it, it will be a disaster for Nebraska.  I’ve never said UNO was a better rebounding team than anybody, NEVER!

A big reason UNO was able to pick up a win at Marquette was because of the hot start they had, and they were able to keep that lead.  Nebraska has had some slow starts in this young season so far, if they don’t come out and grab a lead early, Nebraska may find themselves in the same situation as Marquette did on Saturday.

Something else that doesn’t work in Nebraska’s favor is the pace.  Yes, Nebraska has Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields who can both put up a lot of points.  With Pitchford’s current shooting struggles, they don’t really have a 3rd scorer.  Most of the teams that beat Nebraska last year could score the ball.

  • UMass won 96-90
  • UAB won 87-74
  • Ohio State won 84-53
  • Creighton won 82-67
  • Michigan won 79-50
  • Cincy won 74-59
  • Michigan won 71-70
  • Ohio State won 71-67
  • Purdue won 70-64
  • Iowa won 67-57
  • Illinois won 60-49
  • Penn State won 58-54

The most points that Nebraska scored in a win: 83 vs. South Carolina State who the Mavericks beat 91-59 and 83-67.  Nebraska, doesn’t like the high scoring games.  It’s not them, it’s not what they like doing.

I love Tim Miles, I think he’s the biggest advantage for the Nebraska, and I don’t think there is a long list of guys that could have turned Nebraska into a tournament team as quickly as he did.  When I lived in Utah we got this Mountain West channel and all the games I got were all of Colorado State’s basketball and football games, and I thought then if Doc Sadler got fired at Nebraska that Tim Miles was the right man for the job.  Tim Miles is no idiot, it didn’t take him seven years to graduate high school, he has been the head coach of a transitioning team that beat Marquette and Wisconsin, and he knows what this game means for the Mavericks and what it would do for them.

I don’t want it to seem like I’m the guy that thinks the Mavericks totally have this.  I’m not the Husker football fan saying before the (and every) season that they’re going to win the national championship because the 1995 ‘skers were the best football team of all time.  A lot can happen.  Pitchford can start hitting his shots finally.  Rostampour can pick up two quick fouls and the Mavericks could lose their rebounding advantage, especially if Jake White is out.  Petteway of Nebraska and White of Omaha are both game time decisions, those are two huge decisions for this.

One large X-Factor in this is CJ Carter.  Someone like Carter has been waiting to pick up a win in Lincoln for a long damn time.  Per twitter, Tre’Shawn Thurman has also been waiting for something like this for a long time.  Carter though, he’s played a college basketball game in Lincoln, and it didn’t go that well for him.  6 points and 4 rebounds on 1-6 shooting against the Husker in 2012.  In fact, pre-Marquette win, Carter had struggled against the Power 6 conferences.  In 7 games from his freshman to junior year, Carter averaged 7.3ppg, 2.7rpg, 1.9apg, 30%fg, and 25% on threes.  Tonight’s game against Nebraska is Carter’s shot at redemption in front of his fellow Nebraskans.

CJ+Carter+Nebraska+Omaha+v+UNLV+RI9q4yg0I81l

 

The Huskers need this game for respect, they know that.  Before this game, the locals all had the Nebraska is Going to Steamroll Creighton and UNO feelings.  Now things have changed, Nebraska knows they need this game for respect, they were the best show in town and now that’s been taken away from them.  By the way, it’s been 15+ years since going into a season that there was a consensus that the Huskers were the best college basketball team in the state.  Are they used to all these mixed emotions?

By the way, Mavs fans need a #hashtag for this game.  #breakthebank is too cliche.  We need something…

Post game UCA Notes/pregame Seattle notes

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Central Arkansas Post Game Notes:

  • Player of the game is seriously up for debate, could be either:
    • CJ Carter: 22 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 6-11 FG, 4 threes
    • Devin Patterson: 22 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 8-12 FG, 2 threes
    • Mike Rostampour: 13 points, 14 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block
    • Jake White: 9 points, 11 rebounds (9 offensive)
  • Devin Patterson was and is apparently playing with a broken big toe
  • UNO had more offensive rebounds (26) than UCA had total (25)
  • Jake White left the game limping and came back out on crutches, but is apparently OK
  • Rostampour & White are going to give teams fits in the post, by far the best rebounders UNO has had
  • Tyus’ shot didn’t seem to have the same arch as normal, maybe having some issues?
  • Carter, Patterson, & Rostampour all played 30 minutes or more, White probably could have gone for more than 30 minutes had he not left the game…but Randy Reed & Tre’Shawn Thurman look like they will for sure be the top bench guys as of now
  • None of the freshman seemed nervous, which is great
    • Maybe Rylan Murry did at first but then he was taking threes with confidence
    • Thurman looked ready right away
    • Devin Newsome looked comfortable running the floor
    • Daniel Meyer didn’t get much playing time, but when he got in he didn’t look nervous at all and had a good post move from what I remember
  • As a Millard South guy, it was great to see Kyler Erickson get out on the court
  • The team’s new intro video was great, showed off the campus a bit, just looked great

Seattle U Pregame notes

I feel like it should be worth noting that the UNO Mavericks will be playing more games in Key Arena than the NBA this year.  I hate being the dude that says that playing later on the west coast is a disadvantage for the Mavericks, but you know what, it really could be.  My wife is from Washington state, and the area is incredibly beautiful, but it rains constantly and is obviously two hours behind.  Every time I’m there it takes me a couple days to adjust to the time change.  I’m sure a D1 athlete gets enough adrenaline to where it doesn’t really affect them, but wouldn’t it be an issue for a bench guy that uses that adrenaline to sit for 10+ minutes before entering the game?  In reality, college students are probably pretty used to being up late.  If I were traveling to see the game, I would probably fall asleep at half time…and I love college basketball.  As a traveler, I wouldn’t look forward to flying from Omaha to Seattle and then to Milwaukee all in the same week, combined with having to work my ass off, but yeah I am kind of lazy.  Here are some game notes just based on lazy observation:

  • Seattle lost their first game at home to Texas State 62-53
  • Former Omaha Bryan player/current Texas State guard Ethan Montalvo (who UNO offered) played 11 minutes, missed a three pointer
  • Hopefully Jake White is healthy and ready to go, well hopefully everyone is healthy and ready to go but the entire team didn’t limp off the court on Sunday
  • UNO beat Seattle last year in Omaha 76-69 and it was one of the more chippy games I attended last year, in that game:
    • CJ Carter – 17/2/3
    • Devin Patterson – 12/2/2
    • Mike Rostampour fouled out in 15 minutes and had 3 points & 3 rebounds
    • Marcus Tyus – 4/6/4
  • For Seattle, these dudes had:
    • Jack Crook – 4/6/2
    • Jarell Flora – 5/4
    • Deshawn Sunderhaus – 7/5/2
    • Isiah Umipig – 35/3/4
  • Feels like the main threat from Seattle is Isiah Umipig, as noted he had 35 points against the Mavs last season…he averaged 19.5 last season and had 23 in the Redhawks’ opening game this season
  • Looking at the two teams on paper, UNO definitely looks like the better team but curious if playing on a Wednesday night on the west coast could cause issues of for the Mavericks
  • Since going D1 UNO is 1-4 playing in Pacific (& Hawaii) time…but are a better team as compared to when they first started, they went 1-2 last season beating Nevada and losing to UNLV & Hawaii but were competitive in both games

Possible starting line up

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So we’re finally a month away from when the UNO Mavericks men’s basketball starts the season against Central Arkansas, and losing 7 players you’ve got to wonder what the starting lineup is going to be, right?

The returning starters

G CJ Carter, 6-1, Senior

There is something you should know about CJ Carter, he’s pretty freaking awesome.  When healthy, he is the best player for the Mavericks.  CJ led the team in points per game in the 2013-2014 season was named All Summit Honorable Mention, he’s also been picked preseason 2nd team All Summit for this upcoming season.  He also already has over 1000 points, 250 assists, and 100 steals for his career.  He can do a lot for sure.

There are not many guards in the Summit that are as good as Carter at getting to the rim, and he hit so many big shots last season.  Whenever the game was on the line, I would just be sitting there saying, it’s okay, CJ Carter is on the freaking court.  If you need the Mavs need a clutch 3, he’ll shoot it, he’s not afraid of that.  If the Mavs need a defensive stop so they can get that clutch 3, he’ll force the turnover to get the possession.  Carter has had a few injury issues he fought through his sophomore and junior seasons, so you hope he can stay healthy so those clutch moments can be all game every game.  If you don’t hope for that, then you’re a monster.

In my previous post I spoke of how all the graduating players that never had a chance at the NCAA tournament needed to have their jerseys hung in the rafters, yeah Carter’s needs to be hung for sure.  I’ve been told he had a scholarship offer to Wichita State but instead stayed in Omaha to play at a school that had no shot.  It’s sad to think that he’ll never get the opportunity to play in the Summit League tournament.

G Devin Patterson, 5-11, Junior

So he’s fast.

When you hear a team has recruited a guy that averaged 6 ppg at a Junior College, you think maybe the team got a decent bench guy.  Instead, Devin Patterson comes to UNO, starts, averages 10 ppg and 1.8 spg.  As a sophomore, he was a veteran leader already, a true point guard, and he became the first true point guard UNO had since transitioning, which I guess is kind of needed in basketball.

He wasn’t afraid to yell at an upperclassmen that was doing something wrong, he wasn’t afraid of guarding a bigger player, or being guarded by a bigger player.  He just played.  Many people from Nevada praised Patterson after he had 18 points and 8 assists at Nevada.  He played pretty consistently until he had an injury against South Dakota and I’m not really sure how much that affected him, but he did seem lose some of his aggressiveness after that.  It also did seem to take him a while to get comfortable shooting from long range.  He was 1-10 for 3’s in his first 5 games, but ended the year as a 35% three point shooter.

Was it mentioned that Patterson is fast?  Per basketball statisticy stuff that no real person understands, UNO had the most uptempo offense in all of college basketball and much of that was due to Devin Patterson’s speed and defense.  Who needs an offense when you have Patterson or Carter stealing the ball, then the opposite player sprinting down the court for an easy layup?  That’s a solid plan to me.

F Mike Rostampour, 6-8, Senior

Rostampour proved so much his junior season.  If you didn’t know Rostampour has continuously moved his way up in the basketball world.  After high school he started his collegiate career at Grayson County College in Denison, Texas averaging 8 ppg and 5 rpg, then he transfers to Division 2 St. Cloud State in Minnesota and again averages 8 ppg and 5 rpg.  Then UNO became division 1 and he transferred to Nebraska-Omaha shortly after.

I’ll be the first to admit, when Rostampour was red shirting after transferring, I wasn’t excited.  I was thinking to myself, Oh there’s a dude that just heard some school reclassified so maybe he thinks can get some easy bench minutes and just say he was a division one player just to say it.  Then I started to follow him on Twitter, which he doesn’t really tweet much, but when he does it’s always intense and memorable.  Just by following him on the Twitter machine you can tell he cares about improving himself and is all about hard work.  He went from being a walk on to earning a scholarship from that hard work, even earned himself a spot in the starting lineup.  With his rebounding and toughness, he provided exactly what was needed to a team that was transitioning.

His junior year started out kind of as expected, didn’t really score too much at first and grabbed a few rebounds and picked up A LOT of fouls.  For a while, I thought his role was just to foul out for the attention.  Then after adjusting to some stiffer college basketball officiating he scores 19 points and grabs 9 rebounds in a win on the road against South Carolina State.  It was just kind of a Oh This Guy Is Useful moment.  After that though, he kind of played a little inconsistent 9 points this game, 1 point that game, 2 rebounds this game, 9 rebounds that game.

Then against Peru State, yeah I know it’s Peru State, Rostampour on 10-10 shooting had 24 points and 12 rebounds.  It was against lesser competition, but things did change for Rostampour after this.  What’s pretty impressive is that before this win against the Charlotte Bobcats of Nebraska, Rostampour averaged 7.1 ppg and 6.4rpg and after he averaged 12.6 ppg and 9.5 rpg.  So that’s cool.

Rostampour has a motor that never stops running and I don’t see how that cant fuel other players in practice and in games.  When everyone sees a senior leader playing out of his mind, others will find a way to contribute and do what they can to get that senior a win.  Rostampour finished 2nd in the Summit in rebound last season, so why not go lead the league in rebounding his senior season?

G Marcus Tyus, 6-1, Junior

So it’s still unclear if Marcus Tyus will start as a junior.  He started 16 games in the 2013-2014 season due to injury problems to Justin Simmons, and UNO has gotten some bigger guys coming in to compete for minutes and a starting role.  Regardless he did up his offensive game his sophomore year, he came out with some more moves and it appeared to be a lot easier for him to get to the rim and score.  He shot 36% on threes in his freshman and sophomore year, so he’s been solid from there.

The obvious issue with Tyus starting is his height.  The Mavs have a really small lineup with Patterson, Carter, and Tyus in the starting five.  Regardless, it’s not a bad lineup, just short.  If he’s not a full time starter, Tyus will provide a big threat off the bench.

So who is going to take these remaining full time starting spots?  I guess it’s possible that Carter, Patterson, or Rostampour could get moved to the bench, but I highly doubt it.  Then again, I didn’t expect Patterson to come in and start over senior guard Alex Phillips, but he did and he played great.  So who’s going to be in the starting lineup?

F Jake White, 6-8, Junior

So it feels like this should be an obvious answer for White to start, but he did have a knee injury and had surgery last year while he was sitting out.  From everything I’ve heard, he’s ready to go.  White was one a key bench player on Wichita State’s team that made the final four in 2012-2013.  So that makes sense right, key bench player at Final Four Team = starter for transitioning team?

G/F Randy Reed, 6-6, Junior

Reed was a third team JuCo All American last season averaging 21 ppg and 7.5 rpg.  He did only shoot 25% on threes last season, and UNO likes threes.  But it’s not like they don’t have three point shooters around.  He’ll provide some size at the wing that they haven’t had and that really hurt them in games against bigger teams like South Dakota State and North Dakota State.

F Tre’Shawn Thurman, 6-7, Freshman

Every high school basketball person I talk to says “Tre’Shawn can play,” and those words are always in that exact order. They talk about how he can do everything; score inside, outside, rebound, pass, defend, and how he will be an excellent replacement to Justin Simmons.  If he doesn’t start this year, he should hopefully be a key contributor off the bench and have a great four years at UNO.

G Tim Smallwood, 6-2, Junior

Okay so this guy can score apparently.  He averaged 19 ppg as a freshman and 16 as a sophomore in junior college, but he did sit out last year, so who knows if he’s ready to go this year?  Actually Derrin Hansen’s staff probably has a good idea.  Smallwood, like Tyus, provides for a small lineup, but again it doesn’t sound like a bad lineup.

 

Either way, UNO lost a lot of players, but look at what’s coming in.  There is clearly some more size and it appears to be more talent.   Aside, from the players previously mentioned, UNO added a 6-9 post player Daniel Meyer who transferred from Wright State and is eligible immediately, and 6-7 Rylan Murry who red shirted last season.  The team will also have Junior walk on guard Kyler Erickson available and freshman point guard Devin Newsome who could likely red shirt due to being behind Carter, Patterson, Tyus, and Smallwood.

So size wise the roster went from

6-8 John Karhoff

6-8 Mike Rostampour

6-8 Simon Krych

6-7 Matt Hagerbaumer

to

6-9 Daniel Meyer

6-8 Mike Rostampour

6-8 Jake White

6-7 Tre’Shawn Thurman

6-7 Rylan Murry

6-6 Randy Reed.

Holy crap, that’s good for at least one rebound a game!  Clearly we still have to see how all the new talent will blend together.  This sounds and looks like the most deep deep the Mavs have had since transitioning.  It’s not like their overall record really fully matters this year, but with 5 juniors, and at least 3 freshman in the lineup it will provide for many minutes of this team meshing and learning to play together to start the next season off right – the first year they are eligible for the the conference tournament.