Back Court

Looks like another season with a solid back court with Ito, Thompson, and Carter. As always, I'm concerned about the front line ..... Sherrard Watson needs some help !

How can you say UP has a solid back court when Thompson and Carter should not be on the team. They did not show much last year. You win with upper classmen. This team is too young and inexperienced. Might win 5 games this year. Sherrard does need help as he is the only upper classmen to return. Last year team wins 8 with 2 bigs, 1 very good shooter,Cooper, though hurt much of the year, and a very solid soph, Jones.

The unfortunate thing is that Coach Reveno didn't anticipate having his best returning post(Jones) dropping out due to grades. I think Jamie would've really helped bring along the young bigs. This season will be a trial by fire for those young guys. But I think in the long run this will do far more good than harm.

OK, when you talk about the UP back court, you have to start with Ito and Raivio. I seriously question whether Thompson and Carter will get many minutes at all... they didn't last year, and I really don't see it happening this year either.

Raivio has shown himself capable all summer long and will definitely be the starting shooting guard and most likely the team's leading scorer. He is solid, smooth, and smart.

Ito is a tireless worker who will only improve on his freshman season. He progressed quite a bit as a shooter, and though I don't see him as a scorer per se, I definitely see him as the kind of guy where if you don't mark him he can burn you. And talk about work ethic! The kid wants to excel and win... he will only get better.

After that... who knows? Stohl is a gym rat who can shoot. I think he'll get minutes just based on his scoring ability... the kind of guy who can come off the bench and get the offense going with his range (like Joey Keampf with Santa Clara the past few years).

BJ Porter is raw but super athletic... he'll get a few highlight reel plays, but I think he still needs some development.

So really I see the guard spot as a three-man rotation with Ito and Raivio getting the lion's share of minutes and Stohl getting 15 a game or so. Porter will probably get a look here and there, but I don't see Thompson in the picture.

As for the wing position, Sherrard has it locked down... he is what he is, but he also is a hard worker who knows he has to be the leader of the team. I think he will surprise a bit as he becomes a primary option, but I don't expect too too much. Maybe 10-12 ppg.

As for the post rotation... no doubt losing Jamie really, really hurts. It forces the freshman to step up right away, when I'm sure the coaches would have preferred to ease them along. But Smeulders has been practicing with the team for a year now and has spent the summer playing for various Dutch national teams, so he's got some recent competition under his belt. He should be solid enough.

I've heard Sikma has been playing much better in opn gyms lately... he's got the talent, but he needs to really get after it and not just expect to get away with being lazy like he was able to in high school. Kramer Knutson is big and strong... good defense, not much offense. Should be able to provide minutes at least. Hannibal... not sure. He's huge but has got a ways to go in terms of playing against high level competition.

But 5 wins? No way... I'm thinking more like 10. The WCC is totally wide open, and if the team can improve and gel during the pre-season, they could easily finish in the middle of the pack of the WCC. LMU is very weak, Pepperdine is a huge question mark, USF has had a tumultuous summer and Santa Clara returns next to nothing. Plus, there are some winnable non-conference games as well.

That's my take, anyway!