GAME THREAD - MBB vs Old Dominion, Sat 2/18 4pm

[311neers]

What will this team be like without Gregory? Could be ugly next year

We said the same thing last year but it was delph forrest and almonacy. Will have 7+ new faces again. Lose 4 scholarship seniors, 3 scholarship guys left the team already. 2 incoming freshman. Gotta live and die by the portal!

Seems like I recall that Walker has another year of eligibility, maybe not. I thought it was due to a medical redshirt year at a previous school.

We lose/lost the following guys
Gregory- eligibility
Walker- eligibility
Pearson- eligibility
Boykin- eligibility
Ogletree- transfer
Littleton- walked away/transfer
Eads- transfer
Muse - non scholarship graduation
Hafner- non scholarship, no info but not on roster.

Essentially lose 2 starters, and 6th and 7th men. We are retaining less than 40% of our high school recruits over the past 4 classes (Kerns years).
Lewis, Duhart, Tharrington, RJ Wilson , Sasha, Eads, Littleton, Ogletree. Would like to see us be able to retain guys to have more consistency/stabilization moving forward.

[app97]

What was the attendance?

Listed at 3651 on ESPN app. Not terrible, but the fans just sat on their hands most of the day. this was the only game I’ve made it to this year, but it was the quietest atmosphere I’ve experienced in Holmes over the years that I can recall….sort of weird for the last home game, senior day, tournament seeding on the line, etc.

I’ve been to several games in my region at other schools in recent years and they all have a more involved fanbase (for reasons that we’ve discussed before..alums living in area, etc). UNCA has a better atmosphere right now, but it’s a smaller arena in larger town with more alums in area, and they are winning their league this year. ETSU had a very nice turnout and support when I saw App play there a couple years ago as well.

[bigdaddyg]

Could not get a board/loose ball, terrible from 3, bad T on coach . . . Once again bad performance in front of a big crowd. Took the stairs backwards on this one.

What was the T for?

Ridding/cussing at the refs during play. We had possession, down by 8 I think, game was pretty much over but this sealed it with the two FT makes by ODU. Not a good decision. At the end of the day, I disagree with some on here, I think we did play hard and brought energy, we were just never in position to get a rebound/loose ball, and when were were we would not secure it, typically a fumble out of bounds or to the other team. Cold from 3 and started taking questionable shots. And OMG the free throws again, that alone probably cost us the game despite some bad play. DK was as animated as I have ever seen him. I think he knew the importance of this game and as it was slipping away kinda exploded. Dude is trying so hard to build us into a winner and we just Jeckly and Hyde our way to losses all year. At times today I thought the O looked good, ball movement, hard drives, good dishes . . . then came the other . . . which always seems to happen. We simply cannot win a big game at home, I think that is what frustrated him the most.

I did a fair amount of umpiring Little League/rec and a good amount of travel baseball. I got my fair share of idiots (both parents and adult coaches) who lost their minds over a game. I totally understand that coaches get emotional and some are worse than others. I personally think it's ridiculous for a grown ass adult to curse at an official. It's both immature and sends the wrong message to players and fans.

[hapapp]

If the season ended today, we would be seeded 8th and get ULM. A win there would get us a date with USM.

[Stonewall]

Again , you build a new roster each season now.I hope we can keep our eligible players but regardless , it's year by year these days.

[AppStateNews]

What will this team be like without Gregory? Could be ugly next year

We said the same thing last year but it was delph forrest and almonacy. Will have 7+ new faces again. Lose 4 scholarship seniors, 3 scholarship guys left the team already. 2 incoming freshman. Gotta live and die by the portal!

If you're referring to Ogletree as guys that left the team this year, that's not the case. He never made it on campus. He could not qualify. At the time we recruited him, he was an easy qualifier -- then he seemingly just stopped caring about school and did not take his remaining classes seriously. He had to go JuCo route.

[AppStateNews]

What will this team be like without Gregory? Could be ugly next year

We said the same thing last year but it was delph forrest and almonacy. Will have 7+ new faces again. Lose 4 scholarship seniors, 3 scholarship guys left the team already. 2 incoming freshman. Gotta live and die by the portal!

Seems like I recall that Walker has another year of eligibility, maybe not. I thought it was due to a medical redshirt year at a previous school.

We lose/lost the following guys
Gregory- eligibility
Walker- eligibility
Pearson- eligibility
Boykin- eligibility
Ogletree- transfer
Littleton- walked away/transfer
Eads- transfer
Muse - non scholarship graduation
Hafner- non scholarship, no info but not on roster.

Essentially lose 2 starters, and 6th and 7th men. We are retaining less than 40% of our high school recruits over the past 4 classes (Kerns years).
Lewis, Duhart, Tharrington, RJ Wilson , Sasha, Eads, Littleton, Ogletree. Would like to see us be able to retain guys to have more consistency/stabilization moving forward.

Lewis was given every opportunity to stay on the team and he couldn't stop breaking team (and NCAA for that matter) rules. He was also recruited by Fox -- not Kerns. He was signed by Kerns but the bulk of the recruiting process was done by Fox.
Duhart saw writing on the wall once CJ got healthy. I like Duhart a lot, but we don't need two of that type of player and Huntley is better at it.
Tharrington never had a chance at being a star at the D1 level. He's at UNCG now averaging 8 minutes and under 2 points a game. Muse was ahead if him on the depth chart here. Also a Fox recruit -- not a Kerns recruit.
RJ Wilson is at Chowan. Also, not a D1 athlete. Also, a Fox recruit.
Sasha had something a little different going on being from Russia and the stuff going on in that region right now. As far as I know, he isn't playing anywhere.
Eads also has a family thing going on and wants to be closer to home
Ogletree did not qualify. Once he got his acceptance and NLI signed, he essentially decided he was done with high school academics. Really a shame. He has gone JuCo route
Littleton and Lewis are really the only ones that had a chance to be starters. Littleton simply did not fit into the culture. I don't want to say he was a problem in the locker room, but he certainly wasn't helping it. Also, his skill set isn't as good as perceived. Lewis, again, had issues following rules.

I get what you're saying, but the reality is Kerns has 3 recruiting classes to his name where he and his staff were the primary recruiters. Oh those classes, he has signed 10. Of the 10, 5 are or will be all conference performers (Brown, Huntley, Abson, Harcum, Mantis) . That is 50% hit rate -- pretty damn good.

2020 (really his first class) is the class he's lost the most from (Eads, Duhart, Sasha) but of those 3, only Duhart "voluntarily" left. The other two have some pretty extreme circumstances.

As far as constant turnover, that's just the way the game is now. Every coach at every level in NCAA has to deal with it. Heck, we grabbed a conference player of the year this past recruiting class.

I do agree having some consistency is key, but let's not act like every player that is leaving is going to be a superstar for us (only one had potential) and the ones that are staying are scrubs.

[BambooRdApp]

Brown or Mantis being all conference performers is a stretch at this point. They will contribute to App..St., however, I do. It see all conference performers as of yet

[HurricaneYosef]

Lewis was being recruited by Fox and Allison but Kerns and Co is who finished the deal and brought him here. RJ Wilson was 100% a Kerns recruit not a Fox recruit. Tharrington was a high level PWO brought in by Fox and co to help solidify Donovan’s commitment.

I also don’t see 5/10 of those players becoming all conference performers especially with the expansion of the conference. None of those guys are Tavion Kinsey, Austin Crowley, Vado Moorse, etc level guys that the newbies to the conference have brought with them. Browns lack of offense will keep him from and All Conference selection, Huntley is basically Tyrell Johnson 2.0 which is a good player, but Tyrell was never All Conference. Abson has the best chance, Harcum and Mantis maybe. So in reality 2.5 / 10 players brought in have All Sun Belt potential imo

[Stonewall]

Can Harcum and Abson be top 15 in the Sunbelt ? I think so .As much as I love Xavion , he has only one year left I think to develop a shot .Chris would have to find consistency and CJ would have to be a true 4 -mid range post player [and quit jacking the 3s]

[DenverOfTheEast]

What will this team be like without Gregory? Could be ugly next year

We said the same thing last year but it was delph forrest and almonacy. Will have 7+ new faces again. Lose 4 scholarship seniors, 3 scholarship guys left the team already. 2 incoming freshman. Gotta live and die by the portal!

If you're referring to Ogletree as guys that left the team this year, that's not the case. He never made it on campus. He could not qualify. At the time we recruited him, he was an easy qualifier -- then he seemingly just stopped caring about school and did not take his remaining classes seriously. He had to go JuCo route.

This isn't all true - the kid went on the Bahamas trip, was in July summer school and then 'something' happened on the trip that apparently forced the move. Dig deeper big guy and you will find the truth.

[DenverOfTheEast]

What will this team be like without Gregory? Could be ugly next year

We said the same thing last year but it was delph forrest and almonacy. Will have 7+ new faces again. Lose 4 scholarship seniors, 3 scholarship guys left the team already. 2 incoming freshman. Gotta live and die by the portal!

Seems like I recall that Walker has another year of eligibility, maybe not. I thought it was due to a medical redshirt year at a previous school.

We lose/lost the following guys
Gregory- eligibility
Walker- eligibility
Pearson- eligibility
Boykin- eligibility
Ogletree- transfer
Littleton- walked away/transfer
Eads- transfer
Muse - non scholarship graduation
Hafner- non scholarship, no info but not on roster.

Essentially lose 2 starters, and 6th and 7th men. We are retaining less than 40% of our high school recruits over the past 4 classes (Kerns years).
Lewis, Duhart, Tharrington, RJ Wilson , Sasha, Eads, Littleton, Ogletree. Would like to see us be able to retain guys to have more consistency/stabilization moving forward.

Lewis was given every opportunity to stay on the team and he couldn't stop breaking team (and NCAA for that matter) rules. He was also recruited by Fox -- not Kerns. He was signed by Kerns but the bulk of the recruiting process was done by Fox.
Duhart saw writing on the wall once CJ got healthy. I like Duhart a lot, but we don't need two of that type of player and Huntley is better at it.
Tharrington never had a chance at being a star at the D1 level. He's at UNCG now averaging 8 minutes and under 2 points a game. Muse was ahead if him on the depth chart here. Also a Fox recruit -- not a Kerns recruit.
RJ Wilson is at Chowan. Also, not a D1 athlete. Also, a Fox recruit.
Sasha had something a little different going on being from Russia and the stuff going on in that region right now. As far as I know, he isn't playing anywhere.
Eads also has a family thing going on and wants to be closer to home
Ogletree did not qualify. Once he got his acceptance and NLI signed, he essentially decided he was done with high school academics. Really a shame. He has gone JuCo route
Littleton and Lewis are really the only ones that had a chance to be starters. Littleton simply did not fit into the culture. I don't want to say he was a problem in the locker room, but he certainly wasn't helping it. Also, his skill set isn't as good as perceived. Lewis, again, had issues following rules.

I get what you're saying, but the reality is Kerns has 3 recruiting classes to his name where he and his staff were the primary recruiters. Oh those classes, he has signed 10. Of the 10, 5 are or will be all conference performers (Brown, Huntley, Abson, Harcum, Mantis) . That is 50% hit rate -- pretty damn good.

2020 (really his first class) is the class he's lost the most from (Eads, Duhart, Sasha) but of those 3, only Duhart "voluntarily" left. The other two have some pretty extreme circumstances.

As far as constant turnover, that's just the way the game is now. Every coach at every level in NCAA has to deal with it. Heck, we grabbed a conference player of the year this past recruiting class.

I do agree having some consistency is key, but let's not act like every player that is leaving is going to be a superstar for us (only one had potential) and the ones that are staying are scrubs.

This above quote is all wrong. And this is NOT normal with this much consistent turnover, not suppose to be with signing high school kids, the staff has made mistakes in Basketball EVALUATIONS and or Character Evaluations with this much change. Throwing noodles on the wall hope they stick.

Fox never recruited Kendall Lewis.
Fox never recruited RJ Wilson, Kerns signed him to Presbyterian and then swindled him to Boone then ultimately cut him loose.
Fox slightly recruited CJ Huntley and his teammate Jackson Threadgill who plays for Charlotte, Kerns signed Huntley.
Fox last signees were Dononvan, JC and a junior college kid that Kerns cut loose.

Kerns is responsible for all players going or coming since spring of 2019, only one kid on that roster knows who the previous coach is. You can find all this on verbalcommits.com.

[AppStateNews]

We said the same thing last year but it was delph forrest and almonacy. Will have 7+ new faces again. Lose 4 scholarship seniors, 3 scholarship guys left the team already. 2 incoming freshman. Gotta live and die by the portal!

Seems like I recall that Walker has another year of eligibility, maybe not. I thought it was due to a medical redshirt year at a previous school.

We lose/lost the following guys
Gregory- eligibility
Walker- eligibility
Pearson- eligibility
Boykin- eligibility
Ogletree- transfer
Littleton- walked away/transfer
Eads- transfer
Muse - non scholarship graduation
Hafner- non scholarship, no info but not on roster.

Essentially lose 2 starters, and 6th and 7th men. We are retaining less than 40% of our high school recruits over the past 4 classes (Kerns years).
Lewis, Duhart, Tharrington, RJ Wilson , Sasha, Eads, Littleton, Ogletree. Would like to see us be able to retain guys to have more consistency/stabilization moving forward.

Lewis was given every opportunity to stay on the team and he couldn't stop breaking team (and NCAA for that matter) rules. He was also recruited by Fox -- not Kerns. He was signed by Kerns but the bulk of the recruiting process was done by Fox.
Duhart saw writing on the wall once CJ got healthy. I like Duhart a lot, but we don't need two of that type of player and Huntley is better at it.
Tharrington never had a chance at being a star at the D1 level. He's at UNCG now averaging 8 minutes and under 2 points a game. Muse was ahead if him on the depth chart here. Also a Fox recruit -- not a Kerns recruit.
RJ Wilson is at Chowan. Also, not a D1 athlete. Also, a Fox recruit.
Sasha had something a little different going on being from Russia and the stuff going on in that region right now. As far as I know, he isn't playing anywhere.
Eads also has a family thing going on and wants to be closer to home
Ogletree did not qualify. Once he got his acceptance and NLI signed, he essentially decided he was done with high school academics. Really a shame. He has gone JuCo route
Littleton and Lewis are really the only ones that had a chance to be starters. Littleton simply did not fit into the culture. I don't want to say he was a problem in the locker room, but he certainly wasn't helping it. Also, his skill set isn't as good as perceived. Lewis, again, had issues following rules.

I get what you're saying, but the reality is Kerns has 3 recruiting classes to his name where he and his staff were the primary recruiters. Oh those classes, he has signed 10. Of the 10, 5 are or will be all conference performers (Brown, Huntley, Abson, Harcum, Mantis) . That is 50% hit rate -- pretty damn good.

2020 (really his first class) is the class he's lost the most from (Eads, Duhart, Sasha) but of those 3, only Duhart "voluntarily" left. The other two have some pretty extreme circumstances.

As far as constant turnover, that's just the way the game is now. Every coach at every level in NCAA has to deal with it. Heck, we grabbed a conference player of the year this past recruiting class.

I do agree having some consistency is key, but let's not act like every player that is leaving is going to be a superstar for us (only one had potential) and the ones that are staying are scrubs.

This above quote is all wrong. And this is NOT normal with this much consistent turnover, not suppose to be with signing high school kids, the staff has made mistakes in Basketball EVALUATIONS and or Character Evaluations with this much change. Throwing noodles on the wall hope they stick.

Fox never recruited Kendall Lewis.
Fox never recruited RJ Wilson, Kerns signed him to Presbyterian and then swindled him to Boone then ultimately cut him loose.
Fox slightly recruited CJ Huntley and his teammate Jackson Threadgill who plays for Charlotte, Kerns signed Huntley.
Fox last signees were Dononvan, JC and a junior college kid that Kerns cut loose.

Kerns is responsible for all players going or coming since spring of 2019, only one kid on that roster knows who the previous coach is. You can find all this on verbalcommits.com.

Lewis verbally committed to Fox (well, really it was Allison) in the summer of 2018. Kind of crazy to do if Fox didn't even recruit him.

I did mess up with RJ Wilson. That was the Presby flip. I thought he was the JuCo commit that never made it.

I do agree there seems to be some evaluation issues -- both skill and character though.

[agentpaul001]

ODU has most tiebreakers with us now. Two App Wins & ODU or Troy loss is enough for a 5/6 seed in most scenarios.

[hapapp]

ODU has most tiebreakers with us now. Two App Wins & ODU or Troy loss is enough for a 5/6 seed in most scenarios.

Troy has ULM and Coastal. ODU has USM and Marshall. Obviously, if ODU were to drop both and we win both, we jump them for 6th. We do hold the tie break over Troy. On the other hand the team right below us in the standings, USA, holds the tie breaker over us. They travel to TX State and UL. GS, one game behind us, would have to win both games which includes our game and Coastal. If we beat Ga State but lose to them, they jump us. We could realistically be seeded anywhere from 5th to 9th.

[Saint3333]

Anything above a first round bye and 1-1 record in the tournament would be viewed as a success.

[spacemonkey]

I have said for years I thought these big conferences were going to hurt attendance. 5th place is not a bad year but it sure doesn't feel like a good year.

I love our conference and I wouldn't change a thing but top 4 is going to be a really good year going forward. Mathematically we shouldn't win the conference but once every 14 years. Same for the ACC and other big conferences. It used to be 1 out of 8 years.

My measuring stick is Conference play + ECU and UNCC we should never be below them in the net ratings. Embarrassing!!!!!!!! We are above ECU....so we've got that going for us.