Class of 20Something wrote:I think rebounds on both ends of the court could have changed the outcomes of a lot of games. If you add 3 offensive boards and defensive boards per game, it absolutely closes the gap in a lot of the games we've played.
Remember, every board you get takes away from your opponent. Someone is going to get the rebound.
Look at the company we would be in if we increase our rebound margin per game from 3.8 to 6.0.
https://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-m ... eam/151/p1
This is one of the reasons I am optomistic that we can take a step up this coming year. We had a very solid rebounding team last year playing Scottie and Myo, who are both really PFs in the post. We have added 2 legit post players who were dominant rebounders in HS. Blake Preston averaged over 11 rpg his senior year and Brendan Newton over 14.
People are quick to dismiss Brendan´s numbers because he played in a weak conference in HS, but that is somewhat misleading. Because Faith Christian was so dominant in their conference, many of their games were blowouts, and Brendan often spent the entire second half being the world´s tallest cheerleader. They did play some tougher competition OOC however, with some interesting results. Look at what Brendan did in the prestigious Washington Tournament of Champions his Senior year.
https://washingtontofc.org/records/tour ... ournament/
The record for total rebounds in this tourney is 59, which was over 4 games, for an average of 14.8. Brendan had 52 in only 3 games, for an average of 17.3, which is the tournament record by over 2 rpg. Look at that list and you see the most recognizable name is Zion Williamson, but among the other players who have competed in the WTOC are DeMarcus Aldridge and Anthony Davis.
If Brendan and/or Blake can step up and earn substantial minutes, allowing Scottie and Myo to play PF and with Homesly or Gumbs at the SF, I really believe we can be a dominant rebounding team, and our interior defense will also be a lot stronger.