Well Oats didn't need a shooting guard.
It’s been quiet on shooting guard
- Thread starter edub72
- Start date
Smith has 20 lbs on Cupps, was 1st team all freshman, led a top 10 team all year long! Led his team to BT and BTT tournament Championships! Rankings are for losers! BuT Cupps is better based on WHAT?
We don’t either if they can’t help us. You don’t just go after anyone with a pulse. That’s the point.
Based on who I think is better heading in to college. Lots of others too, but mostly just my own opinion.
And for what it’s worth, I was “right” about Smith too. And there’s a few long threads after one of their first games where I argued with a handful of IU fans on this board about it.
Cupps is a better overall basketball player. He has to play behind Xavier Johnson though, so he won’t have the same hype Smith ended up getting. He also doesn’t have an Edey type player that will automatically give him 3-4 assists a game from simple dump down post entries, that you and I could probably do just as easily.
Smith was a lot better than most thought. Cupps is better than him.
No he isn’t. He’s 6’2” and 175. Smith is 6’ 180. Smith also cost you a loss to an 18 seed. I’ll agree we don’t know if or when Cupps will be better. They are more similar than not.
Cupps also probably won’t get as many sets called for him.
it's obvious you have a man crush on the little guy but you are taking a helluva a lot away from the 10 foot tall ogre NPOY standing in the middle. Without him, Smith would have been a nobody this year. So don't act like "Smith did this" and "Smith led us to that"....he did play better than many expected but it doesn't take a ton of skill to dump the ball to the tallest guy standing within 100 miles.
They also ran a lot of stuff to get smith open. That cost them a few games. If you have to run more than 1 set and you have no players that can get you late shot clock buckets it will bite you in the @ss.
Also true. Its going to be a common comparison, I'm sure, for the next couple years. But they really aren't great comps to each other. Very different types of players, overall. I'm pretty comfortable in my assessment that Cupps is better coming in to college than Smith was. But anything can happen once they take that next step up in to high major ball. And Woody's program is very different than Painters...
One is starting on a top 10 team, the other isn't starting for a unranked team! BUT, BUT we might have to wait and see! You think this IU team overflowing in talent would be ranked in preseason polls, but I have not seen no one with a sniff of them in any poll! It's summer in Indiana! IU is a top 5 team! News flash: IUs bench players are better than Purdue's starters!
Stop trolling. IU got some incredible pieces and PU got the same team they had last year. Assuming Edey is bought. It’s not time to plant flags yet.
This convo seems weird to me, as IU fans go, I'm probably one of Braden Smith's biggest supporters. But I'm also realistic.
The day Zack Edey leaves West Laughingyet?, Smith's stock plummets. And he'll still be a really good basketball player. But the Edey gravity pulled Smith to higher heights than he's probably capable of without someone like him.
Xavier Johnson is A LOT better than Braden Smith. He's A LOT better than whoever Smith had to compete with at Purdue last year too. Tons of factors that make this a tough comparison. Not to mention, Cupps and Smith aren't similar types of PGs.
Smith needs space, when he has it, he's really good. Both offensively and defensively. When he doesn't, or the game slows down, and he has to work in tighter spaces, he isn't nearly as good. His game is flashier, its more attacking risk/reward. Cupps is more solid. He's more comfortable defending multiple positions. He's more consistent. He's better against bigger, more physical players and overall play. Again...coming in to college. Smith didn't really improve, at all, throughout the year against physicality. Cupps already handles it fairly well, we'll see if he does against B10 level players. He won't have 5 feet of cushion to work on every possession though, because he won't have someone like Edey.
You’ve not seen no one, huh? If you ever got yourself some any more insights, please let us know.
Worst tournament loss ever. Ever, ever, ever.
There’s a couple hundred people in Mackey who you could pull out of the stands and average 4 assists a game post feeding Edey 30+ times a game. He shoots it well when his feet are set and he has space, but his production is the byproduct of Edey.
Sweep 🧹 your ass on outta here. You’re not gonna get the validation you seek little brother.
Smith would’ve been a bench player at IU this past season. He wasn’t starting over X and certainly not over JHS, when X went down. He’s a good player, but I think Woodson likes his PG’s over 5’10”
