Cupps is awful
- Thread starter edub72
- Start date
Just physically outmatched by virtually every team. He's a competitor and trying like hell, but I don't see a whole lot of improvement so far this year.
Reminds me of Lander.
I had hoped he would be a guy who would eventually develop into an All B1G type of guard by his Junior and Senior year, but I have my doubts. If he can't at least block Smith's straight drives to the basket, what good is he? And that includes Galloway, who played like a spaz last night.
The difference is, Smith had his shot last year. I think Smith is way overrated and any decent guard should be able to get 10 assists a game, passing the ball into Edey. But give him credit - he knew if nobody was going to guard him, he could take it to the basket every freaking time.
It's like we didn't even guard Smith last night - frustrating is an understatement.
Most of these are because NW was double or triple teaming Edey. I would hope to God that any D1 guard can find the open man when the other team is worried about a dominating player who gets foul calls when the other team so much as breathes on him let alone he can dunk from 8ft out. As I said, next year will be a prove it year. Did you even watch you're own clip?
I did watch it. Purdue will be fine next year. Top 25, top 4 in the big ten. If people come out on shooters, Kaufman will cook. See Illinois for details. Illinois being a game where Edey played 23 minutes and smith still had 14-6-6
He is going to be a good one for IU. The mentlity, drive and motor we need. He has to relearn his shooting mechanics however.
For about six minutes they didn't outside of the perimeter.
I understand the thought that he struggles creating his own shot but I am pretty sure he can make uncontested layups...which he did.
Dumb defense on the part of Woody.
Smith can at least blow by defenders and shoot a contested 3/looks to shoot it. He also gets out and runs and is a pretty good passer. Would love for him to play with guys like Ware…But it’s going to be fun watching him play alongside Catchings, Harris, Heide and Colvin and 2 7 footers who can shoot the 3.
This is absolutely true. Woody made Smith great tonight by the way he chose to guard the pick and roll. Stupid. He chose to allow Smith to have wide open layups over leaving Edey to help and rotating. He's an idiot.
Smith is good in pick and roll, especially with Edey. He doesn't have a lot of shake and bake or blow by speed imo. He is a solid shooter though and can make contested jumpers.
And he's one of those PG's that is allowed to carry the ball on nearly every dribble. That certainly helps him in his production. A lot like DeAngelo Russell the way he carries the ball while dribbling.
Again, it all boils down to system. Smith isn't blowing by defenders without a 7'4" 300 lbs dude setting screens for him and in Indiana's system he would be "blowing by dudes" into a lane with 2 to 3 guys clogging it at any given moment. He also isn't getting passes out of the post for open looks. He is standing around watching Reneau go 1 on 3 just like Cupps.
He is good but there is an Edey effect to that team just like there was a TJD impact to IU last year. Everybody for Purdue is guarded differently without a good player who is very much protected by the league taking up space like Edey does.
He’s not Jaden Ivey quick or even Lance Jones quick, but I’m confident he will be able to get by ppl next year without edey. But was more so saying he is quick enough to get to the hole, unlike Cupps. However, I don’t think Cupps has had much opportunities to show if he’s capable due to the offensive scheme he is in.
And EVERYONE carries/palms the ball these days. It’s insane how every level of basketball does it. Used to be called a lot back in the day, but unless it’s so outrageous, it’s never called.
Sometimes I think he puts some hot dog on his passes. A little drama thrown in so a standard pass looks special.
Yep, agreed. Next year we will see how he does without edey. But pretty sure Purdue is going to be getting up and down a lot quicker with probably the most athletic team Painter has had.
In a foot race, probably neck and neck.
In some sort of lateral quickness shuttle type drill, Gabe might even beat him by a little.
With a basketball in their hand, making basketball moves…Smith is A LOT faster and quicker and than Cupps. Partly because he just has a more attacking/aggressive mentality. But he’s also a little thicker/sturdier, and that helps him hold his driving lines better. Gabe gets pushed off his lines pretty easily right now. That will change/improve for Gabe as he gets older.
But I doubt he’ll ever be as fast with the ball as Smith is.
Defensively though…as Gabe gains some weight and muscle…he could become a much faster, quicker, better defender than what Smith is.
They’re not remotely the same type of player. I think Cupps could have an Aaron Craft type finish to his career if he has better coaching and teammates. Smith is basically the exact opposite kind of player to what Craft was. Much more dynamic offensively. Much less solid defensively.
Well then we will agree to disagree on that front with the quickness and speed of Cupps vs Smith! 😂
Good points. It’ll be interesting to see if Smith is able to become a better defender as he gets older…it’s a part of his game that’s missing.
Theoretically, he should get more relief as the primary ball handler next year so maybe he will be able to exert more energy on the defensive end and focus more on clamping down on ball. He’s a ball hawk off ball and reads the eyes of the passer well…sometimes his gambles don’t pay off though and it puts the other 4 on defense in tough position 😂
Dog, just go away if you’re going to post this ignorance. I can’t stand Purdue and I like Cupps in the future but Cupps hasn’t had one game this year close to the way Smith performed last year.
The very first time Smith drove to the basket uncontested, Woody should have called a TO and dressed down whoever was supposed to guard him and then put his ass on the bench.
I've never seen a 6' guard drive the lane with no challenge as many times as I saw last night. Disgusting display and if the team's not embarrassed by that, then they shouldn't be playing. I'm pissed with their total lack of awareness.
Yeah, that was an absurd take.
Smith averaged 9.7 pts a game as a frosh, along with 4.6 assists and 4 boards while shooting 37% from 3 on over 100 attempts.
Cupps is average 2 pts and 1 assist per game and has attempted 24 3s total.
They're not in the same ballpark.
Night and day difference. Cupps would be a nice Mac player
Cupps is stiff and isn’t creative. Smith is a better athlete with better footwork and is clever with the ball. And Smith has significantly better court vision than Cupps. The comparison here is absurd. It would be like comparing Furst to Malik.
Really! Look how bad MM has played at times this year and he’s a top 10 player. Cupps was 100+ and you expect him to dominate. Fans on here are just ridiculous with expectations sometimes.
Not dominate but maybe impact the game some how in a positive way.
Plenty of other more tiresome schticks. If we ban people for being wrong might as well shut down the forum.
Mostly agree. Cupps is way quicker laterally right now, he's also the better defender, by a lot. I do not believe Smith is way faster and quicker with the ball. I don't think we have any idea, at this point, how fast and quick Cupps can be while dribbling. IU doesn't run. Which is idiotic, by the way.
Don't agree with athlete part. I'm fairly certain you are wrong there. Everything else I can see.
Screens were moving on both sides and the game would come to a crawl if referees were to call everything.
Furst nearly had as many points as MR, in less minutes, with less fouls.
So your argument is that Furst is better than Malik because of 1 game. You win the dumb post of the day.
Not talking about real posters. Right or wrong I don’t care. If you’re here as a troll then need to go.
Think how good we might possibly be this year with him? Shooting would still be an issue but he’d get the ball where it needs to be with our three front court guys.
No it wouldn't. Teams would stop doing it.
The style of ball 20 or 30 years ago didn't include the moving picks and lane violations and pure mugging that goes on today without calls.
The game used to be much cleaner, although everyone still bitched about the refs. lol
Similar threads
