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Some thoughts going into the season...

JB_Nomee

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Dec 18, 2012
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I know it's early and the 2 games against the canadian team and whoever the heck Bellarmine is aren't a huge indicator of things to come, I do have some thoughts and concerns after a long offseason as we head into regular season play...

1. Max Biefeldt should not be starting for a team ranked 15th in the country. There is some value there being experienced especially as we head into big ten play. And after the dismissal of all of our front court players I like the move to bring in Biefeldt in all honesty. Bottom line here though is he's not good enough to start for a team that has high expectations. Crean is going with 2 bigs (could you imagine Bryant and Hanner down there??) which I and many others did cry for all of last season, and no doubt he needs to play both give Bryant breathers and play alongside him at times, but he is not starter quality IMO.

2. I am not seeing the improvement I expected from JBJ. Maybe the knee injury delayed the progress but I was expecting a big jump from JBJ in his sophomore season but it appears he hasn't gotten much better with his handle or driving to the rim, two of his most obvious weaknesses. I hope he proves me wrong.

3. If he's not shooting or if he's missing 3's Zeisloft needs to sit. He provides very little beyond the 3 point shot. Don't get me started on his defense.

4. Juwan Morgan is going to contribute a lot. Maybe not flashy offensive numbers but his defense, in particular his help side, looks to be a big plus for this team. If he can defend at a high level and rebound he will prove to be a big addition.

5. Speaking of defense, Troy Williams has improved on that end.

6. I can't think of a better 1-2 punch in the conference than Yogi and Troy.
Troy has his moments, especially in games that become track meets but he's a special talent with his unbelievable athleticism. And we all know how good Yogi is. Trimble and Stone are another duo that can rival these two as are Eron Harris and Valentine from MSU. Help me if I'm forgetting another one.

7. If there's a better college point guard right now than Yogi Ferrell I'd like to meet him.

8. Colin Hartman's best attribute is his facilitating.
When he pump fakes and drives he makes some pretty nice passes for open 3's or even finishes at the rim. I'm not a big Hartman guy and I do think he needs to play less than last year, but his ability to distribute can cause matchup problems as a stretch 4 or even a 3 man.

9. Stop it already, Ryan Burton does not belong on the floor during meaningful minutes. I wouldn't be concerned that he played in the first half of both games if it wasn't Crean and we hadn't seen this before.

10. I love Bryant's intensity. A lot of guys his size are lazy and nonchalant out there but he seems to be a guy that will never be lacking on intensity. You have to love that out of your McDonalds AA freshman center.
 
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7. If there's a better college point guard right now than Yogi Ferrell I'd like to meet him.

Depends on your definition of point guard.

If it's a guy with incredible skills that can primarily score and still rack up enough assists to look pretty on the stat sheet, Yogi's your guy. But if you define the position as someone who gets everyone else involved and makes the offense run, you need to look elsewhere.
 
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Tyler Lewis that plays for butler is the number one Point guard in the state
 
After watching Butler in a preseason game I think they should be in the top 10 and time will prove me right!
 
I'll take Jackson over Yogi any day. I want my PG to play some defense. He's also a far superior athlete. Offensively, at least as of last year, Yogi had the advantage on that side of the ball. We will see this year. Jackson is arguably one of the top 3-5 PG's in the country.
 
Jackson will be a potential lottery pick this year. Jackson is a top 3 PG in country.
 
Depends on your definition of point guard.

If it's a guy with incredible skills that can primarily score and still rack up enough assists to look pretty on the stat sheet, Yogi's your guy. But if you define the position as someone who gets everyone else involved and makes the offense run, you need to look elsewhere.


Pretty tough crowd...

Yogi has had to carry our team offensively since his freshman year ended, more so his sophomore year than last year, but numerous times last year he still had to carry the scoring load because he's the only guy we can consistently count on to do so. And in big ten play he was #1 in the conference in assists. A league with a guy the NBA is in love with in Trimble. I don't know how you can say Yogi doesn't get everyone else involved honestly.

Jackson from ND is a good call. That kid can definitely play. Would I take him over Yogi this year? No. As a pro prospect yeah, but not as a college PG. Trimble and Paige are the other 2 guys that I would mention in this group.
 
JBJ is a 3pt shooter, why would you expect him to make a big jump this year?

He's a scorer that is a great shooter. Matt Roth was a 3 point shooter, JBJ is more than that. He just knows how to put the ball in the basket. The biggest improvement I expected was his finishes at the rim but so far it doesn't look like much has changed there. Still early and plenty of time to prove otherwise.
 
I know it's early and the 2 games against the canadian team and whoever the heck Bellarmine is aren't a huge indicator of things to come, I do have some thoughts and concerns after a long offseason as we head into regular season play...

1. Max Biefeldt should not be starting for a team ranked 15th in the country. There is some value there being experienced especially as we head into big ten play. And after the dismissal of all of our front court players I like the move to bring in Biefeldt in all honesty. Bottom line here though is he's not good enough to start for a team that has high expectations. Crean is going with 2 bigs (could you imagine Bryant and Hanner down there??) which I and many others did cry for all of last season, and no doubt he needs to play both give Bryant breathers and play alongside him at times, but he is not starter quality IMO.

2. I am not seeing the improvement I expected from JBJ. Maybe the knee injury delayed the progress but I was expecting a big jump from JBJ in his sophomore season but it appears he hasn't gotten much better with his handle or driving to the rim, two of his most obvious weaknesses. I hope he proves me wrong.

3. If he's not shooting or if he's missing 3's Zeisloft needs to sit. He provides very little beyond the 3 point shot. Don't get me started on his defense.

4. Juwan Morgan is going to contribute a lot. Maybe not flashy offensive numbers but his defense, in particular his help side, looks to be a big plus for this team. If he can defend at a high level and rebound he will prove to be a big addition.

5. Speaking of defense, Troy Williams has improved on that end.

6. I can't think of a better 1-2 punch in the conference than Yogi and Troy.
Troy has his moments, especially in games that become track meets but he's a special talent with his unbelievable athleticism. And we all know how good Yogi is. Trimble and Stone are another duo that can rival these two as are Eron Harris and Valentine from MSU. Help me if I'm forgetting another one.

7. If there's a better college point guard right now than Yogi Ferrell I'd like to meet him.

8. Colin Hartman's best attribute is his facilitating.
When he pump fakes and drives he makes some pretty nice passes for open 3's or even finishes at the rim. I'm not a big Hartman guy and I do think he needs to play less than last year, but his ability to distribute can cause matchup problems as a stretch 4 or even a 3 man.

9. Stop it already, Ryan Burton does not belong on the floor during meaningful minutes. I wouldn't be concerned that he played in the first half of both games if it wasn't Crean and we hadn't seen this before.

10. I love Bryant's intensity. A lot of guys his size are lazy and nonchalant out there but he seems to be a guy that will never be lacking on intensity. You have to love that out of your McDonalds AA freshman center.
Burton played 2 yrs at Bellarmine which is why he was in there Monday night. One good point about Biefeldt starting is that we would get some punch off the bench. He seems pretty solid to me in that he won't mess things up. So you allow Bryant to get his and Max can play good defense and set some screens,while mopping up a few points for himself. If we don't get hurt I really like this team.
 
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After watching Butler in a preseason game I think they should be in the top 10 and time will prove me right!
LOL...They're not even the best team in the state. Hell, they are the 3rd or 4th best team in the state. Purdue and IU will be better than Butler and ND may be better as well.
 
LOL...They're not even the best team in the state. Hell, they are the 3rd or 4th best team in the state. Purdue and IU will be better than Butler and ND may be better as well.
Best team in the state will be PU, ND than either us or Butler. Butler will be very solid.
 
Best team in the state will be PU, ND than either us or Butler. Butler will be very solid.
Oh, thanks. I disagree. I think PU and IU will be better than ND and Butler. I don't think it's gonna be that close, either.
 
Oh, thanks. I disagree. I think PU and IU will be better than ND and Butler. I don't think it's gonna be that close, either.
WHy is that? Butler and ND return a ton like ourselves and were as good or better last year. ND being much better..
 
WHy is that? Butler and ND return a ton like ourselves and were as good or better last year. ND being much better..
Because you can't compare the IU team last year to ND for this coming season. Bryant changes a ton for IU. It's apples to oranges. They return a lot, but we addressed our biggest weaknesses moreso than the other two teams did. We beat Butler last year. ND IMO will be better than Butler. I think IU will be the best team with PU really close behind. Both will be better than ND and all three better than Butler.
 
Yeah, I guess our team is exactly the same, huh? Purdue wasn't that good last year, either. Yet you are more than willing to label them the best team in the state.
Well when PU handled us rather easily last year and added a big man that is as good as the one we added(with having already Hammons, Haas). I will gladly hope to be wrong but PU will win the BIG....mark it down.
 
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Well when PU handled us rather easily last year and added a big man that is as good as the one we added(with having already Hammons, Haas). I will gladly hope to be wrong but PU will win the BIG....mark it down.
They had one more win than we did and lost in the same round of the tourney as we did. I don't see much of a difference. Yes they handled us at Purdue, but it was a 1 point game with less than a minute to go at IU, that's not handling us. This year will be different because of Bryant. Not saying he's going to be victorious against Hammons/Haas, but he'll do a better job than Hartman, Holt or Perea. I thought he's already seemed like an upgrade defensively from Perea. They still have question marks in their backcourt. They haven't proven they can shoot the ball consistently which will be really important for them this year. They added to their strength and didn't address their weakness as much as we did. It's a difference in opinion and you're not going to change my mind. I get it though. You put a premium on a big front court, which is fine. But I am of the opinion that college ball is dominated by good guards and we'll have one of the best. Do you think it's a coincidence that nobody has Purdue in the Top 15? Top 10? Their frontcourt will be top 10 in the country. They have just as many question marks as we do. I fully expect IU and PU to be Top 20 teams by the end of the year. Both will (should) be top four in the B10. I personally think we'll end with more wins partly due to our schedule but partly because I think we addressed our biggest weakness from last year.
 
They had one more win than we did and lost in the same round of the tourney as we did. I don't see much of a difference. Yes they handled us at Purdue, but it was a 1 point game with less than a minute to go at IU, that's not handling us. This year will be different because of Bryant. Not saying he's going to be victorious against Hammons/Haas, but he'll do a better job than Hartman, Holt or Perea. I thought he's already seemed like an upgrade defensively from Perea. They still have question marks in their backcourt. They haven't proven they can shoot the ball consistently which will be really important for them this year. They added to their strength and didn't address their weakness as much as we did. It's a difference in opinion and you're not going to change my mind. I get it though. You put a premium on a big front court, which is fine. But I am of the opinion that college ball is dominated by good guards and we'll have one of the best. Do you think it's a coincidence that nobody has Purdue in the Top 15? Top 10? Their frontcourt will be top 10 in the country. They have just as many question marks as we do. I fully expect IU and PU to be Top 20 teams by the end of the year. Both will (should) be top four in the B10. I personally think we'll end with more wins partly due to our schedule but partly because I think we addressed our biggest weakness from last year.
Guards are important but what were Wisconsin, Duke and UK all like in the frontcourt? Wisky Kaminsky/Hayes, Duke Okafor, Jefferson, Winslow(SF but great rebounder), UK(where to I start? lol)Mich St: Dawson, Schilling, Costello
 
Because you can't compare the IU team last year to ND for this coming season. Bryant changes a ton for IU. It's apples to oranges. They return a lot, but we addressed our biggest weaknesses moreso than the other two teams did. We beat Butler last year. ND IMO will be better than Butler. I think IU will be the best team with PU really close behind. Both will be better than ND and all three better than Butler.
We declined to address our biggest weakness. So I will disagree. Purdue will be the best team.
 
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Guards are important but what were Wisconsin, Duke and UK all like in the frontcourt? Wisky Kaminsky/Hayes, Duke Okafor, Jefferson, Winslow(SF but great rebounder), UK(where to I start? lol)Mich St: Dawson, Schilling, Costello
Go look at the prior National Champions. They ALL had great guards. It's a pretty widely help view that great guards dominate college basketball.
 
Go look at the prior National Champions. They ALL had great guards. It's a pretty widely help view that great guards dominate college basketball.
great guards that also played with a team that had a frontcourt.
 
We declined to address our biggest weakness. So I will disagree. Purdue will be the best team.
How did we not address our biggest weakness from last year because we brought in a big man which was our weakness. I know you meant our coaching staff but on the court we did address our biggest weakness.
 
Go look at the prior National Champions. They ALL had great guards. It's a pretty widely help view that great guards dominate college basketball.
I don't need a UK frontcourt but how about one like MSU when you have great guards. A group that is rugged, tough, strong that will defend, rebound and get garbage points
 
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