Kenner League starts this weekend. I am excited I think. I am also a bit terrified. This was supposed to be the year we were well positioned to win the National Championship. Then Greg Monroe went pro, got drafted by the Detroit Pistons, and left us with a guard-heavy team and two big men that spend their offseasons pretending they are superheroes.
That said, this will be a fun year for Georgetown basketball. We still return four starters on a team that got to the Big East Championship, beat both National Championship participants, and lost in the first round to the #14 seed Ohio Bobcats. I guess that last fact wasn't as impressive as the others.
Anyways, I am looking forward to Kenner League starting to see what kind of work the players have put in since the embarrassment that was the NCAA Tournament. Granted, I won't actually see any Kenner League games, so I'll be relying on Hire Esherick, itsallthatmatters, lordnick, and you, loyal reader. Well, I won't be relying on lordnick, because he doesn't understand basketball, soccer, sports, love, or life.
This is all a long winded way of me saying that I have some initial expectations from the team during Kenner League, and I am curious to hear what you guys are expecting as well.
(See my expectations after The Jump)
I am expecting Austin not to miss a shot the entire summer
I am hoping that he is well adjusted to his diabetes medication, because he's my favorite player and when he was healthy this year, he was one of the top 10 players in college basketball
Chris Wright:
I am hoping that Chris continues to leave everything on the floor and leads by example
I am hoping he continues to cut down his Wrecking Ball plays
I am hoping his infectious work ethic has rubbed off on the rest of his teammates
I am hoping he starts the summer right where he left off in March, when he was our best player throughout the month
I am hoping he put on 15 pounds of muscle since March
I am hoping his 3 point shooting and ballhandling continue to get better
I am hoping he doesn't rely on his ridiculous wingspan to play defense, rather he gets in better defensive position so that he can be the lockdown defender we all expected him to be last year
I am hoping he improves as much this summer as he did last summer, because he will have a decent shot at the NBA if he does so
I am hoping his conditioning / luck is better this year, he seemed to really wear down by February of last year
I am hoping he continues to engage Casual Hoya in Twitter battles for the summer, it's been pretty entertaining
I am hoping Henry has evolved into a leader for this team. He has been too eager to blend in and make jokes at his own expense, accepting his role as a limited contributor. We've seen flashes of brilliant talent, and if Henry becomes a leader, the players and coaches will expect more from him, and in turn, he will expect more from himself
I am hoping he is more consistent in his work ethic, and gets his confidence up so that he can perform at a high level in games, not just in practices
Hollis is another guy I am hoping put on a solid 15-20 pounds of muscle this offseason
I am also hoping he recognizes the increased need for his scoring this year, and has the mentality that he should be our third leading scorer when the season begins
I know Vee was upset with his limited playing time last year, hopefully he uses this as motivation to continue to improve his game. I agreed with him actually, I think he should have gotten a lot more playing time, especially as it was clear that Austin wasn't himself after the diabetes diagnosis
I am hoping he has polished his offensive skills and continues to have the same chip on his shoulder that he did last year as a spring recruit
I am hoping his work ethic has motivated Sims and Vaughn to be working just as hard as Jerrelle does
Nate Lubick, Markel Starks, Moses Abraham, Aaron Bowen:
I am hoping that you four are the second coming of Larry Bird, Derrick Rose, Shaquille O'Neal and Scottie Pippen, respectively. I expect nothing less
It's exciting that basketball is starting again and I don't have to read lordnick complaining about soccer, Hire Esherick ringing the alarms about conference expansion, CasualHoya talking about headbands, itsallthatmatters butchering the English language and me spamming the site with pictures of the front lawn. Basketball is coming.