Colorado State PG Kyan Evans is Transferring to UNC
North Carolina is one of several schools in contact with Kyan Evans, and a decision could be coming soon.
northcarolina.rivals.com
Last edited:
Colorado State PG Kyan Evans is Transferring to UNC
- Thread starter andrew jones
- Start date
Probably was a non-negotiable to bring in a plus shooter if Trimble is the starting 2.
I don’t know much about him. But he looked fearless during the NCAA Tournament when I saw Colorado State play.
Probably need another guard still. But this looks like a good start on paper.
I don’t know much about him. But he looked fearless during the NCAA Tournament when I saw Colorado State play.
Probably need another guard still. But this looks like a good start on paper.
On paper, you can do a lot of creative stuff with Veesaar and Evans. I hope Hubert doesn’t just camp Evans on the corner for spacing.
Looks like a good find. Made a good jump form year one to two. If he makes that same jump again look out. Take care of the ball a little better and work on handles.
(copied from the other thread)
Good podcast and nice pickup.
Colorado St only played seven games against top-50 teams, losing 4. But Evans did well in most of those games. Which encourages me to think his shooting may continue with us.
Add Catchings and get Drake to return and we seem to be in good shape.
If Drake doesn't return, will we need another player (in addition to Catchings)?
The most encouraging comment from the podcast was that all 3 of our portal recruits come to us well-coached. Getting already-developed players should reassure those fans who think Hubert's ability to develop players is suspect. In fact, it's really smart.
The most surprising comment from the podcast was that Evans committed without a visit. I'd love to learn about his thought process. Maybe in another podcast?
Good podcast and nice pickup.
Colorado St only played seven games against top-50 teams, losing 4. But Evans did well in most of those games. Which encourages me to think his shooting may continue with us.
Add Catchings and get Drake to return and we seem to be in good shape.
If Drake doesn't return, will we need another player (in addition to Catchings)?
The most encouraging comment from the podcast was that all 3 of our portal recruits come to us well-coached. Getting already-developed players should reassure those fans who think Hubert's ability to develop players is suspect. In fact, it's really smart.
The most surprising comment from the podcast was that Evans committed without a visit. I'd love to learn about his thought process. Maybe in another podcast?
Not sure how Tar Heel fans will take this move, I assume it takes Holloman out of the picture, likely Lee as well but not sure we were as strong with Lee as many hoped. Clearly this is a jump shooting PG that does seem to pair well with Seth. If I graded this move think I would put it at around a C, maybe C+.
My bit lower grade is for a couple reasons, first, the assist to TO ratio concerns me, having just come off a season where our starting PG was a TO machine I would have liked to see a better ratio. I am going to have to be sold on his ball handles more than I am right now to feel comfortable. It may set up a very interesting competition for our starting PG role between he and Seth which I don't think would have happened with a more adept ball handler that was pass first but shot similar numbers. What this kid may be is Derrick Dixon with 2yrs experience.
Kid is a bit slight of frame, what I think is a par defender, and seems to want to be at UNC, he called and committed to us in the dead period, just before Holloman was to visit, like that. But folks wanted a legic jup shooter in our back court and he is that for sure.
My bit lower grade is for a couple reasons, first, the assist to TO ratio concerns me, having just come off a season where our starting PG was a TO machine I would have liked to see a better ratio. I am going to have to be sold on his ball handles more than I am right now to feel comfortable. It may set up a very interesting competition for our starting PG role between he and Seth which I don't think would have happened with a more adept ball handler that was pass first but shot similar numbers. What this kid may be is Derrick Dixon with 2yrs experience.
Kid is a bit slight of frame, what I think is a par defender, and seems to want to be at UNC, he called and committed to us in the dead period, just before Holloman was to visit, like that. But folks wanted a legic jup shooter in our back court and he is that for sure.
My guess is he committed as he did because he knew Holloman was set to visit Sat and he was not going to risk Holloman taking the spot from him. I think Holoman may be a slightly better "point guard" but Evans seems to be a better fit to what Seth needs to be paired with.
I agree, adding this kid and hopefully getting the commit from Catchings would seem to take the pressure off our portal recruitment's. It allows us to be able to field a team that is far more positional balance than last season and wait for someone to enter and yet not be devastated if they don't. I think it as well takes the pressure off the UNC fan base in the event Drake stays in the draft. I still want 1 more big bodies center to be added or we are going to have to rely on either or both James Brown and High for a lot of minutes and I don't know if they are ready for that but Lubin is still there and maybe I am not as high on Lubin as I should be.
On Drake, would you bring in BOTH JPowell AND Catchings if you expected Drake to be back at UNC for next season, don't think I would with Drake being a 3, both JPowell and Catchings are 3s and it is expected that Catchings pops for us either on or very shortly after his visit tomorrow. Just something to think about...
Last edited:
I know people will disagree with me, but if Evans is the PG1, I wouldn't play as much of the traditional UNC system. I would actually play slower (not slow) and initiate offense through the bigs at the high post/elbow consistently and utilize him off the ball a lot. And I mean utilize the bigs to trigger and initiate offense. Not just to finish offensive possessions. Certainly try to score in primary and secondary off misses or when it's available. But on paper, this doesn't look like a "play the fastest pace in the country" to me. I didn't think that should've been the game plan last year either.
I'm personally not someone who thinks your PG needs to be the absolute engine and dominant handling figure to be a good team. I actually think it's more important that you have quality bigs that you can trigger and play through. It appears they have it, and at the least, they've upgraded the bigs significantly from last season.
For me, Evans isn't really a PG so that's dangerous. But looks to be an elite shooter and is a plus shooter off the bounce, which is huge. I like my guards to be able to play without the ball in their hands. Cadeau and RJ didn't have that ability consistently. Not sure if Seth is that kind of player, but he can at least score off offensive rebounds. I think Evans can clearly play without the ball. And there might be enough skill with Wilson and Veesaar where you have to force opposing 4s and 5s to play against skill.
Here's the scary part. It will come down to coaching. How will Hubert utilize all this. Will he be creative enough and layered in his offensive scheme to get the most out of his skill? We'll see. If this becomes Evans camping in the corner for spacing and Trimble isolating 1-on-1 if he gets a big to switch on him in a basic ball screen, then this isn't going to work.
But there is a path for good offense. All subject to change since we're 1/2 a year away from the games mattering. But at least for today, I can let my imagination run a bit.
For instance, stuff like this:
And this:
And if he can really shoot it like he did this season, there's no reason you can't steal a bucket a game on this kind of early offense:
And please have this for Seth next season with Evans as the decoy:
I'm personally not someone who thinks your PG needs to be the absolute engine and dominant handling figure to be a good team. I actually think it's more important that you have quality bigs that you can trigger and play through. It appears they have it, and at the least, they've upgraded the bigs significantly from last season.
For me, Evans isn't really a PG so that's dangerous. But looks to be an elite shooter and is a plus shooter off the bounce, which is huge. I like my guards to be able to play without the ball in their hands. Cadeau and RJ didn't have that ability consistently. Not sure if Seth is that kind of player, but he can at least score off offensive rebounds. I think Evans can clearly play without the ball. And there might be enough skill with Wilson and Veesaar where you have to force opposing 4s and 5s to play against skill.
Here's the scary part. It will come down to coaching. How will Hubert utilize all this. Will he be creative enough and layered in his offensive scheme to get the most out of his skill? We'll see. If this becomes Evans camping in the corner for spacing and Trimble isolating 1-on-1 if he gets a big to switch on him in a basic ball screen, then this isn't going to work.
But there is a path for good offense. All subject to change since we're 1/2 a year away from the games mattering. But at least for today, I can let my imagination run a bit.
For instance, stuff like this:
And this:
And if he can really shoot it like he did this season, there's no reason you can't steal a bucket a game on this kind of early offense:
And please have this for Seth next season with Evans as the decoy:
Losing Davis that is extremely important.
He's only 6-2, and I wish he was taller. But he is young and could add another 10 pounds or more of muscle.
The difficulty judging Lubin is that he seldom strayed from the basket much. So will he just back up in the post or will he play more PF? I seem to recall AJ hinting that Lubin could stay in the middle with Henri being the PF when they are on the floor at the same time. Or, who knows, maybe Lubin has some shooting range that we don't know about. I'm not too worried. Lubin proved his worth last season. He should still get decent PT.
As for Drake, yeah, I'm not expecting him back. BUT, I do think you go after both JPowell and Catchings even if you have Drake. JPowell can play SG for lots of his minutes (if necessary) and Catchings can play PF for some of his. If Drake returns, my guess is that mainly means fewer minutes for JPowell and maybe Denis. I'm OK with that. Drake will start and be a star. The more stars the better.
With Drake...
Evans - Dixon
Seth - JPowell - Denis
Drake - Catchings - JPowell
Wilson - Catchings - High
Veesaar - Lubin - Brown
Without Drake...
Evans - Dixon
Seth - Denis - JPowell
Catchings - JPowell
Wilson - Catchings - High
Veesaar - Lubin - Brown
Just guessing, obviously.
BTW, while I don't expect it, we could still take another PG, just to be safe. If we take a better PG than Evans, Evans can easily move to SG, based on his outside shooting. Whereas if Evens is the better PG, at least we have a proven backup.
ETA: Sorry, I left out Cade. It would be awesome if Cade recovers his form and earns good minutes, but at this point I have no idea how he fits in. If we lose Drake and whiff on Catchings, I'm hoping Cade is able to step up.
Last edited:
Better than having 2 guards in the backcourt both under 6 feet and 1 of them that couldn’t shoot for shit and turned the ball over a lot and picked up silly fouls all the time…
Nobody cares what you would do. We care what Hubert will do
Seth Trimble is in no way a starting caliber 2 guard at the University of North Carolina. That isn’t going to cut it. With the frontcourt Carolina is going to have we need guys that can knock down outside shots. Every time the ball goes in the post,the player guarding Trimble is going to double the post. Trimble is a nice bench piece not a starting 2 guard.
There is a lot of statistical similarity between the two - especially the slightly less high scoring version of Paige his last two seasons. Evans shot even more efficiently than Paige, but not quite at the same volume. And of course, Evans was doing it in the MWC vs Paige in the mid 2010s ACC - different caliber of leagues. But if you drop Evans' Soph year per 40 minute averages into Paige's 40 mins averages for his career and hide the crazy shooting % numbers Evans put up - you'd be hard pressed to know who was who.
My bad it was not his fault I forgot…The refs picked on him…The turnovers were because his teammates weren’t ready for the ball….He would have had more assists but the stat guy at UNC was cheating him and of course the blown assists stat…The FT shooting had to be Hubert fault also holding him back…Poor fella I hope he finds his way up North…
Seems unlikely that watching them play will change the fact that they are statistically very similar. My post was about the results, regardless of how they are arrived at. That said, I certainly only saw a little of Colorado St this past season - I am very much looking forward to seeing a lot more of Evans this coming season. If he can continue to give us Marcus Paige like results while doing it in his own way, that will be fantastic!
He isn't Paige IMO. Evans isn't really a PG. I think he's a tweaner like Holloman, but Evans looks to have an NBA level quality jump shot with NBA level range.
It isn't the way I would've constructed the roster. However, if you have limited shooting with Trimble, I'm guessing limited shooting in Wilson, and a low volume shooter in Veesar, you can't have an unwilling shooter like Cadeau running the PG. That isn't going to work unless you're an absolutely dominant offensive rebounding team.
If Seth is the SG1, then a plus shooting PG is almost a necessity. Also, I can easily name you a SG trapped in a PGs body and it turned out ok: Mark Sears of Alabama. Evans isn't that, but I'm just saying the PG doesn't need to be this specific prototype kind of thing.
I do have a concern that this team isn't elite anywhere. I didn't think Cadeau was elite anyway. But I thought they needed to upgrade talent throughout. They got better in the frontcourt. We'll have to see what the rest of the roster looks like.
Any more bluster you want to spout to cover a tired inaccurate narrative?
SMDH.
The primary Paige attribute i'd like all players to have is his stare-down competitive focus.
MJ said regarding why he didn't go into coaching: “I have no patience for coaching. My biggest problem from a competitive standpoint is the focus of today’s athlete and the focus where I saw the game, how I pursued the game — it changes and it’s totally different."
“For me to ask an individual to focus on the game the way I played the game, in some ways would be unfair for that kid that would have to endure that.”
Paige would've been able to be coached by MJ IMO. But I guess it is a tall task to find players like that.
MJ said regarding why he didn't go into coaching: “I have no patience for coaching. My biggest problem from a competitive standpoint is the focus of today’s athlete and the focus where I saw the game, how I pursued the game — it changes and it’s totally different."
“For me to ask an individual to focus on the game the way I played the game, in some ways would be unfair for that kid that would have to endure that.”
Paige would've been able to be coached by MJ IMO. But I guess it is a tall task to find players like that.
Actually, I only rarely use that one... but in this case, yeah. you can take your lame and wildly misplaced attempts at sarcasm and do just that...
Curious what your assessment of this get is? I haven't watched Evans at all. I was as disappointed as you were to see EC leave, but based on the available PGs/CGs out there, where do you think Evans ranks with who the staff could have realistically gotten?
All good…
Andrew Platek
Do you still feel he was better than Coby White at the PG position…
I need the answer….
Brother, I appreciate the questions, and I'm gonna slough the first one. The kid is gonna be a Heel so I'll pull for him to do well, although folks calling him a "PG1" might be, shall we say, a stretch. But hey. let's hope he surprises.
However, your second question perfectly frames the issues that got ourselves into this place, i.e., "who the staff could have realistically gotten?" Quick answer, he was pretty much it (and this is why I've been salty about this whole damn thing).
So... I'm gonna go as far as I can without betraying confidences, and I'll tell ya, I'm tempted to @ some mofos on this board who need to hear this, but I'm sure they'll read it. So here's the skinny:
You know all those PG names that have floated by in recent days? Our GM/staff talked to every damn one of them, and they turned US down ---- and (other than Wright who was on a shopping spree and destined elsewhere) it was NOT the first bit about money.
Now, I could leave it here and let you do the math, but this needs to be made clear for a lot of reasons. So, why would these guys turn down a chance to play for "Point Guard U"?
Easy: They looked at what we did on the floor --- the clunky system we morphed into and SPECIFICALLY our gross mishandling of EC.
Y'see, unlike far too many fans (who like to fall back on lazy narratives) these guys actually do know what's up. These PGs come up playing against each other and they know first hand that Eliot ain't normal, so allow me to paraphrase the gist of the conversations that have gone down, something to the tune of 'if y'all hamstrung Eliot mf-ing Cadeau, then why TF would I want to come here?'
Again, pardon my saltiness, and again. that's a paraphrase, but I can tell ya that is in fact the gist of what has (somewhat more politely, of course) been said. And for those who want to doubt me, this is coming from several horses' mouths. And BTW, don't blame the social media posts from EC's camp --- like many of us, these guys have eyes.
Had Hubert come up with the right answer for that question ("we're not gonna do that anymore"), we might've nabbed a higher profile PG --- but then, if he had come up with that right answer about a week ago (or sooner), Eliot might still be here and we wouldn't be having this conversation.
Oh, and another BTW, don't believe the spin on this whole thing that's coming from a certain part of our staff (not going any further with that).
PS: As it happens there's an unexpected entry into the PG pool that a certain UNC recruit would love for us to be in on. But unless that answer changes or we get really lucky, well...
(hope that answers your very good question)
What you need is to grow TF up and read what I just posted right above this ITT and maybe actually learn something.
Similar threads
