Quentin Coleman on the USA U18 National Team
Dan
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Next USA game is Saturday (time to be determined) vs tonight's Brazil-Dominican Republic winner.
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I watched it once it was over Started to watch the whole thing, but ended up fast forwarding through the most of the parts where Q was on the bench...
A lot of sloppy, selfish play... but not by our boy. You don't have to tell that kid to play hard or pass to the open man. He's cutting while everyone else stands around, and crashing hard every time the ball goes up.
He is going to need to work on finishing with his left hand. He had another layup attempt where he did a 180 and put it off the glass with his right, rather than just going up with his left. It worked last night, but it won't in NCAA ball. I foresee a lot of left-handed layup drills in his plans this summer... If he has any dreams of being one and done, he's got to get it comfortable with it.
Boricua Illini
- Puerto Rico
I agree on the left-hand finishing. That's probably the most obvious area where he can add another layer to his game as the competition level increases.
That said, it's worth remembering that Ty was also extremely right-hand dominant around the basket and still found ways to be highly effective.
Based on the limited film I've seen, Quentin actually reminds me quite a bit of Ty in a lot of ways: relentless motor, high basketball IQ, outstanding rebounding instincts, and a knack for producing despite not being the biggest guy on the floor.
The difference, at least from what I've seen so far, is that Quentin appears to have a much more developed outside jumper at the same stage. If that's real and continues to improve, it could open up parts of his game that Ty didn't rely on as much (understatement).
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He should start. Like, full time.
25-26:
Wagler 18
Boswell 20
Stojakovic 21
Mirkovic 19
T.Ivisic 22
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J.Davis 20
Humrichous 23
Z.Ivisic 22
Avg age of starters: 20.0
Avg age of top 8: 20.6
26-27:
Vaaks 21
Coleman 18
Stojakovic 22
Mirkovic 20
T.Ivisic 23
----------
J.Davis 21
L.Morillo 19
Z.Ivisic 23
Avg age of starters: 20.8
Avg age of top 8: 20.9
To your point, we will in fact be "older" next season than we were this season, and perhaps a better way to illustrate this is through KenPom's "D-1 Experience" stat.
Last year, our average D-1 Experience was 1.64 years, which was good for #130 out of 365 D-1 teams. The KP calculation is proprietary but I was able to replicate 2025-2026 in an excel model that I then used to project 2026-2027's D-1 Experience, and using the assumptions below, I calculated 1.95 years, which would have been good for #63 in D-1 this year. Of course, the more our older guys play, the higher our average D-1 experience goes next year.
I've written about it on here some, but above-average continuity and retention have been good indicators for a championship team in recent history. Of the last 5 champions, the lowest average D-1 experience was Kansas in 2022 (2.1 years) and the lowest minutes continuity was Michigan this year (31.6%). The only team to fall below the D-1 average in either stat was UConn's continuity in 2023 (33.2%).
Find a bit more about these stats in what I wrote during the final four here:
The Final Four
Wildly over-reading Kenpom imho There was an equivalent gap between teams in Torvik, in Haslam, and in EvanMiya. There was a clear top 8 for much of the year, and it effectively played out in the tournament, aside from Iowa State being minus their best player and Duke being minus an effective...
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is Quentin Coleman ty Rodgers with a shot? the rebounding, playmaking, athleticism and dawg factor is impressive from the highlights
Coleman can create his own off the bounce pretty effortlessly. Ty is a no-show outside of 12 feet.
Ty and Q are at opposite ends of the body type spectrum. And they rebound differently. Q is very quick and gets to the ball before others and then busts out to fly down the court. But he also gets bounced around a lot by his own age group opponents.
Ty is muscular and a fighter and will battle for every ball. Two or three inches taller, he'd be a great power forward. Two or three inches taller, Q would be a great wing.
The only thing comparable is their hustle. Oh and the GREATEST difference is only one of them can shoot!
That's why Ty is now playing down a level and we're still looking for a 4th front court player.
Can't speak for the comparison, but the rebounding stats alone so far are off the charts for a guard. Just for reference, this is how he stacks up against the top rebounding guard for other USA U18 teams:
RBG
Quentin Coleman (2026) - 12.3
Trey McKenney (2024) - 5.3
Anthony Black (2022) - 7.8
Josiah-Jordan James (2018) - 6.0
Matt Coleman (2016) - 4.6
Here's how he stacks up against the top rebounder for each roster (so far):
Quentin Coleman (2026) - 12.3
Morez Johnson Jr (2024) - 9.0
G.G. Jackson (2022) - 8.0
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (2018) - 8.5
Jarrett Allen (2016) - 9.0
We'll see where his average ends up after the end of the tournament, but so far the hustle stats he's been able to put up so far are beyond encouraging.
So, he has 37 rebounds thru 3 games.
He only needs 13 more (in the remaining two games) to average 10 per game -- which no one on that list has done.
And he only needs 8 more to get to 9 per game (which would match Morez and Allen).
Keep in mind he's a 6"4 guard.
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FIFY...and that is somewhat of a concern. Much depends upon how quickly the freshman can become dependable and confident. From what we have seen from QC, he brings a big head start in both to the table and is quite coachable. Brown will be challenged physically, but who knows. Morillo remains a mystery but convinced the staff that there is a reason to have him on the roster. He may be the most intriguing mystery, along with Vaaks. A lot of coaching to be done and pieces to fit together.
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Interesting
Coleman will be same age this season as Wagler was
You know what's crazy is sophomore Stefan Vaaks is a year older than senior Boswell was last year
Andrej and Jake also a year older
Morillo will be 19 in October, but he's more toward the back of the rotation