bart Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Looking ahead to next year is a puzzlement for me when I try and factor Issac and Justin into the mix. No doubt both of them have certain talent and both have shown flashes of that. However, I believe that how we currently run our offense does not play to either of their strengths. JJ needs to get out on the court and run and jump. We seldom get up and down the court very quickly. Issac needs for us to clear out and let him attack defenses. Neither does he get the opportunity to do so consistently. Brad said in a recent interview with Frank that he designed his offense to suit the talent and to mazimize the teams ability to win. He indicated that he would be willing to revamp his offensive scheme next year based on the talent coming in. No mention of the defensive side which I was glad to (not) hear. The man can teach and coach D. I suspect this years 50 point games will be in the 60's next year and our 60 point games this year will become games in the 70's next year. I would predict this rather than merely suspect it IF Tommie shows up, but unfortuantely it's getting real late for test scores to dramatically improve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Bart, I do remember a few isolated incidents where we threw the ball to Izik on one side of the court and cleared out. Coach has shown an ability to adapt on offense ... witness the 2nd DePaul game. Hopefully he shall learn to use Izik and maxamize his potential next year (his last). As to JJ, I am still optimistic about him given that he has 3 years of eligibilty left. I liked what I saw out of JJ early in the year when he was regularly playing 10 mintues a game but he regressed after going an extended stretch where he did not play at all. Let him continue hitting the weights this summer coupled with more PT next season, another year of maturity, 5-10 more pounds and I think we shall see a measured improvement. With Ross and Chris being replaced by one JUCO big, we need JJ to step up and pull regular minutes night-in-night-out at PF. Defend, rebound, make the open 10 footer, jam when he is close to the basket .... that's what we need for maybe 15 minutes a night. I'm hopeful he can give us that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 If we can get five easy buckets a game in transition, we wouldn't have to play games in the low sixties. Right now we get about two. If the big guys run with Polk in transition when he they are going to get more easy buckets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Izik has to learn how to finish. After watching him this year and seeing his obvious improvement on defense I can't help but hope we haven't seen the best from him. Still I am only expecting Izik to be a every now and then offensive spark who can create matchup problems. I don't think he is capable of being the star on the team. I wish we had more time with him because he is still learning the team game. A couple more years and he has the skills to be a very very good player. I just don't think his learning curve is great enough to see it at SLU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Hate to say it but I believe Torch's assessment is about right on Izik. Still glad we have him on the team but there is potential that shall not be fully tapped during his period of eligibility. 3Star's comment on transition baskets: good point. Brad has said he is willing to run a more up-tempo offense should we get the bodies suited for that sort of game. Dwayne is obviously one of the pieces, so is Reggie. JJ should be able to run the floor with them (however many minutes he finds himself in the game). Tommie, obviously if .... . Clarke, another guy who is athletic and has some skill with the ball. If our JUCO PF can run, one can see hope that we shall field a Billikens team that can run. My mind goes back to seeing 6'9" Matt Baniak hussling down the court on the break knowing his old AAU teammate Larry Hughes would reward him for the run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bauman Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 ...and then Matt would drop the ball or have it knocked out of his hands. Sorry, but my memories of Baniak are that he was a tremendous waste of God-given talent-absolutely no fire in the belly. On the positive side, he was a very nice young man and an excellent student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 >...and then Matt would drop the ball or have it knocked out >of his hands. Sorry, but my memories of Baniak are that he >was a tremendous waste of God-given talent-absolutely no >fire in the belly. On the positive side, he was a very nice >young man and an excellent student. In his freshman year, he got out and ran with Larry while averaging 8.7 points and 5 boards per game. Very nice for a freshman ... problem was he never got any better than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RecCenterRat Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 I think that any potential juco recruit will hopefully eat up Sloan's minutes. I don't think that Justin Johnson will gain a whole lot of minutes next year. I think you're going to see TF, IO, IV and a Juco logging all of the minutes at the 4 and 5 next year. Who does Bryce Husak compare to? Is he Nick Smith with better personality? Or not even. Does Ian eat him up in practice? Could he log 5 minutes a game next year? Can he dunk with two hands on the ball .. standing under the rim? Yes, that is a real question .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bauman Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 In response to ur ?, NO. I know that is hard to believe for a kid 7' 1". Neither he nor IV eat anyone up in practice. Who does BH compare to? I would say Rich Niemann, who turned out to be a decent player for the Bills in the mid-60s. The only problem is, opposing centers are much more athletic now-Rich was able to get away with a lack of jumps because he was not facing athletic 6'9" and above opponents 40 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RecCenterRat Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 thanks bauman for the response .. people always whine about guys who are 6'10-7'1, who can't just throw one down. But then again, none of us know what it's actually like to be that big. It seems so simple, but carrying all that extra weight .. and having to manipulate your entire body when your that large .. must not be that easy .. Bauman, i have no idea who that guy is from the late sixties, hope he was solid. I'm only 24, no worry, we'll see soon enough what BH has in him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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