And for the people who still incessantly chirp about Archie not using his scholarships; WHO out there is a better option/fit than what we have.
According to ESPN, here were the 5 best available SG’s with immediate eligibility.
1. Admon Gilder-Gonzaga. Averaging 10ppg playing 25 mpg. Started 9/12 games. Shooting 37% from the field, 36% from 3.
2. Christian Keeling-North Carolina. Avg 20mpg starting 5/10 games for a pretty mediocre UNC team. Shooting 32% from the field, 21% from 3 averaging 5ppg. Nowhere near as good as our trio of guards and maybe slightly better than Franklin. Wasn’t coming to IU to play 12 minutes a game off the bench.
3. Jahad Proctor-Purdue. Was guaranteed a starting spot with Edwards and Cline moving on. Avg 30mpg starting every contest. Scores 13 ppg on 41% shooting, 26% from 3 and is considerably less athletic and a worse defender than any of our trio of guards. Would not start at IU.
4. Cameron Justice-Western Kentucky. Avg 30mpg for a mid-major and has started every game scoring 13ppg on 41% 3point shooting. Would have been a solid off the bench guy but transferred home to start immediately.
5. Jaevin Cumberland-Cincinnati. Avg 23 mpg off the bench scoring 10 a game. Shoots 39% from the field and 37% from 3. Also transferred home to play with cousin Jarron Cumberland.
The further down the list you guy it’s guys either transferring to get major minutes at smaller schools or guys putting up numbers who don’t compare to our current rotation players. Our trio of guards are all shooting 45+% from the field and better than 40% from 3. None of the above potential transfers with the exception of maybe Gilder were ever going to start at IU and/or play significant roles.
Well, first of all, I'd take #s 1, 4 & 5 for this IU team, no doubt. As for Proctor, he's leading Purdue in minutes played and scoring. So I'd take him as well. Also, In my post, I talked about getting a back-up pg and/or a baseline shooter. I cited the 3 pt %s of Smith, DA, Hunter & Franklin. It was obvious in the Nebraska game that we had no one who could knock down wide-open 3s on the baseline. But, if you want to broaden the range of players we could have considered......
#8 Oregon has 3 transfers, who have the #2,3, and 5 most minutes played on their team. Anthony Mathis, 6-3, plays 26M/game, avg. 11.6 ppg, is hitting .53 on 3s. Chris Duarte is 6-6, plays 27M a game, avg. 10.4 ppg & 5.5 rebs, shoots 32% on 3S. Their 3rd transfer is a 6'7" forward that's playing 27M/game.
Lamar Kimble from #3 U of L....6-0 back-up pg. Avg. 11m/game, shooting .40 on 3s, has a A/TO rate of better than 2 to 1.
The Gilder kid you cite---is 6'4", shoots 37% on 3s, and is playing 25M/game for #2 Gonzaga. They also have 6'3" Ryan Woolridge, 31M/game, 56% on 3s, 11.4 ppg
#10 Baylor has Macio Teague, 6'3"...avg. 31M/game, 34% on 3s, 5 rebs, 15 ppg
#1 Kansas...6-5 Isiah Moss...23M/game, .421 on 3s. From lowly Iowa, a 3 pt specialist.
#24 Texas Tech...Chris Clarke...6'6"....29/M, 9 rebs/game, 25% on 3s
So....it's not just crap programs like Nebraska that are looking for transfers, is it? the guys above are from the #s 1, 2,3,8, 10 & 24 teams in the country. Did we go after
any of them? Why the urgency from these programs, and not IU?
It was obvious the roster had these holes coming into the season......Fred talking about how the job was a complete rebuild, Archie talking about how we had to be a great defensive team, using the same language as before last year.....translation: not enough shooters. The only thing that made sense to me was that Hunter was showing enough to Archie that he might be a break-out guy. Now we know that wasn't the case. So....we have another year of wasting the talents of an Indiana Mr. basketball because we can't surround him with guys who can play.