I remember reading he was in Spain, but we had reached out. It's hard for me to believe the staff would bring in Yaxel, Alvaro, and Mgbako all at the 4 spot. I'm sure Mgbako and Alvaro could/would play some 3. But I would expect Oweh to take most of the minutes at the 3 spot. Anyways, I've been huge on Alvaro from the start. He seems like much more of a fit here than Mgbako ever would be. Maybe no news is good news idk. I remember the talk was that we could potentially add 2 pieces before the court stuff on April 7th.
News has been really quiet on the Alvaro front
- Thread starter Jgrass34
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I heard Alvaro was ready to commit this week. Of course, I also heard Magoon was committing as well and that fell through. So now who knows. I feel confident that at some point both were imminent. Haven’t heard anything more on Alvaro since.
I doubt Mgbacko is being recruited as a 4. Probably a 3 who can play the 4 if necessary. Having 3s who can play the 4 and 4s that can play the 5 is an easy way to increase your depth without taking additional hits against whatever money you’re working with.
A 3 who doesn't shoot it well, or a 4 who doesn't rebound well. Oh, and not known for his defense either. At least Almonor could make 3's.
I’d be willing to bet that this kid could be much better in Popes offense. Not saying I think he’s a priority, but he has some talent hiding in there.
don't think coaching can make a kid play harder or shoot better
shooting especially is just a god given talent, playing hard is attitude
shooting especially is just a god given talent, playing hard is attitude
If shooting is a God given talent then why are there shooting coaches? Why do players put up thousands of shots a day if not to improve?
Not being a smartass. Genuinely curious. I never played basketball, but I did play sports 6-12 and intramural in college. If practicing something didn't help, we didn't do it.
I'm like 99% sure we had a ton of smoke aeound Brea when he first hit the portal, then it went radio silent for weeks, then picked back up right before we landed him.
The staff works in mysterious ways.
I would say there’s very little daylight between Mgbacko’s 33% and what I would consider a good 3PT shooter.
Lots of players have worked on their shots / mechanics and gotten better. That is silly. Also, lack of effort could be a locker room thing (we have no clue what the team / coaching dynamic was for Indiana last year, they did massively under perform so,,,,). Funny, he didn't have issues his freshman year with effort and shooting. Also, he would be a lot better in a more spread out offense. Indiana didn't have that. Hardly ANY spacing. That could be PART of his increase in turnovers. He has talent, a believe a change of scenery and a more positive environment would help him greatly where ever he ends up. JMO, not stating it as fact.
2 and 3 is interchangeable in our offense, so not sure why that matters much.
Mgbako is certainly a 2/3, as is Oweh. Neither are great shooters but can fill it up offensively. Also doesn't matter as much when your 4 and 5 can shoot, which Alvaro and Yaxel can.
Alvaro would be the 4 and Yaxel a small ball 5. That is of course we get a mystery 5 we dont yet know about, making Yaxel a 4 which is probably more natural for him, at least defensively. Offensively him at the 5 in our offense does make a lot of sense though.
Mgbako is certainly a 2/3, as is Oweh. Neither are great shooters but can fill it up offensively. Also doesn't matter as much when your 4 and 5 can shoot, which Alvaro and Yaxel can.
Alvaro would be the 4 and Yaxel a small ball 5. That is of course we get a mystery 5 we dont yet know about, making Yaxel a 4 which is probably more natural for him, at least defensively. Offensively him at the 5 in our offense does make a lot of sense though.
I’d love to have Yaxel and Alvaro both but if both are only playing PF it won’t work both are too good not to play 25+ mpg. Of course you take Yaxel if you can only have 1 so is Alvaro locked up and we are waiting for him to get back to the US or are we waiting for the better of the two? Idk and nobody else does either but Alvaro had all the smoke and now dead quiet, don’t even hear other teams in on him. Anyone know if Alvaro played any 5 in the past?
I don't know but he has inside moves and can hit the three from the 5 spot. Rebounds great and can pass the ball. Everything Pope is looking for from the five. When not at the five can play the four. A very valuable recruit that would make our team a lot better with him on it IMO.
Pearl MAKES his guys play hard, all of them. It's an expectation he's set. That's one of the things that makes him a great coach, Pope could maybe try it?
I hope so he’s ranked the #2 overall stretch 4 in analytics
I think his quick release and smooth form on his 3 point shot is great. He should be able to shoot on a similar level as Z’s brother.
I think Lendeborg and Folgueiras would be tremendous together on offense. And they both rebound really well. No reason two PFs who rebound like they do couldn't man the frontcourt instead of having a traditional Center, right? Eric Daniels and Chuck Hayes were excellent doing that. However, defending 7'ers in the post one-on-one may or may not be an issue.
When Sampson went to Houston his first three teams were ranked around 180th on defense, give or take some. The last 5 years his teams have been ranked top ten on defense. You are right, some coaches demand tremendous defense. That is why we lost to TN in the tournament. Their players played twice as hard as ours. They wasn't any better than us. They wanted it more. Pope even insinuated as such saying that they basically brought it to us and he was disappointed we didn't fight back as hard. Yes, Auburn is the same way as Houston. They are made to play that hard. It is hard to find that many players that naturally play 110 miles an hour every second. And when you run into a team that you know they are going to leave it on the floor it is not easy to overcome even if you are a little more talented.
Wtf is taking so long in getting a commitment? I know that probably the hold up is he's in Spain. Super happy with the backcourt he's reeled in. It's no secret we need some front court pieces. I'm hoping we can at least pickup 2 more.
There is 0 noise about any other program, so I wouldn't have any worry about him committing.
I wonder if the staff doesn't have enough irons in the fire at the same time in order to put pressure on players to commit. As much as I despise Calipari, wasn't he a master at playing recruits off one another?
I’m sure he will visit campus as soon as he gets back but no idea when that will be. It may be foolish after some stuff we have seen but in my mind he’s already on the team. Everyone else we talk to and didn’t get were on another team in a matter of days. Been dead silent on him since we talked I’d say that means something.
People on Twitter are saying UK has backed off Mgbako, no idea if true
Little of both , some people just cant move and aim at the same time so jumping and keeping your equilibrium is kind of you can do it or not. If you cant do it well your next choice standing on the ground shooting which is easier for taller players, gets shots blocked for shorter players. But even with any gifts, great coaching can improve your mechanics , instill discipline etc. lot of people need to be constantly reminded "follow through" , more than you think should be possible given they choose to play ball and should think it every shot.
Well I don’t like the big orange T being there
Drew on KSR just said prediction was for UK, but with low confidence.
Let’s crank that confidence meter up, pay zee man his 💰.
I thought it was providence until the BG stuff started coming out, I think if BG does leave then we could be back in the mix over providence.
Info gets leaked cause they want it to or doesn’t get leaked because they don’t want it to so interesting to see what happens cause it’s been awfully quiet with this one.
Other than Auburn, there wasn't that many "big bodies" in the SEC. There was length.
At 6'9 I'm ok w/ that length at PF.
AF is much more offensively skilled than BG, and is a much better rebounder.
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