Murray St over the Bills by 3

[moytoy12]

1 hour ago, billikenbill said:

I saw Tim Duncan play his first four college games and during the 4th one, I said to my son that Tim Duncan is the best college shotblocker I'd ever seen... and I go back a few years. Turned out the Duncan was even better than that and he's a Hall of Famer. French is the first shotblocker I've seen that reminds me of Duncan. Impeccable timing and soft hands. Doesn't swat them OB but keeps them in play and even rebounds some of this blocks.

If he keeps up on the trajectory he's on, there's no telling how good he can become. The only difference is that Duncan was 6'11 and French 6'7. One thing though is that French elevates higher and faster than Duncan did. Just can't wait to watch his development over the next three OR four years.

 

 

 

French reminds me a bit of Kenneth Faried.

[Pistol]

15 hours ago, billikenbill said:

I saw Tim Duncan play his first four college games and during the 4th one, I said to my son that Tim Duncan is the best college shotblocker I'd ever seen... and I go back a few years. Turned out the Duncan was even better than that and he's a Hall of Famer. French is the first shotblocker I've seen that reminds me of Duncan. Impeccable timing and soft hands. Doesn't swat them OB but keeps them in play and even rebounds some of this blocks.

If he keeps up on the trajectory he's on, there's no telling how good he can become. The only difference is that Duncan was 6'11 and French 6'7. One thing though is that French elevates higher and faster than Duncan did. Just can't wait to watch his development over the next three OR four years.

Duncan is unquestionably one of the best ever shot blockers. So good.

I loved watching Kenyon Martin block shots in college (except when playing SLU, of course). He had such a quick spring and he also knew to try to take possession, as well, not just swat it into the 200-level every time. Although he'd do that sometimes, when the time was right.

[kwyjibo]

11 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Duncan is unquestionably one of the best ever shot blockers. So good.

I loved watching Kenyon Martin block shots in college (except when playing SLU, of course). He had such a quick spring and he also knew to try to take possession, as well, not just swat it into the 200-level every time. Although he'd do that sometimes, when the time was right.

I am going to weigh in that Emeka Okafor was the best shot blocker I ever noticed.  Also, he would be the all-time NCAA shot blocker if he had played 4 seasons.  His ground to swat spring speed was unbelievable.  I have pretty strong feelings about blocks into the crowd (only a minor help) but Okafor (and Martin) were good overall defenders as well.

[The Wiz]

I certainly can't argue with Okafor or Duncan ....both great blockers.  So i will add 2 more ...David Robinson   (Navy)  who holds the single season record of 207....and George Mikan (DePaul) (also Hall of Famer for the Minneapolis Lakers....there are no lakes in LA)  Because of Mikan the NCAA changed the rules of basketball ....adding defensive goal tending. I have no records on Mikan because blocks were not added until 1985-86....which also left out Robinson's first 2 seasons.

On a local level, Vouyoukas leads in career blocks with 135 and Reed leads in season blocks with 73....both records that French could beat. Other recent players on the all time list...Reed 3rd...Remekin 3rd....Loe 7th...Evans 9th.

[ACE]

21 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

The most reliable information about the productivity of players has been Coach Ford himself. He predicted that Bess would be a stat guy who put up 12-20 points a game and gather a bunch of rebounds. He predicted that Bishop would be a potent offensive weapon now that he wouldn't have the sole responsibility of running the team. And he predicted that Henriquez would be an all-conference caliber player scoring 16-17 ppg.

Coach Ford targeted Hasahn French the day he got the job. That speaks volumes.

He was noticeably silent about Foreman in the preseason. That also spoke volumes.

That is correct. Ford talked little about Foreman, but I wonder if it had to do with him being slow to recover from his hip injury. He just doesn't look healthy. Ford talked most about AD, Bess, Goodwin, Bishop and Roby over the offseason. He seemed very optimistic about Bishop. After S2, he stopped talking about the guys involved and he really started talking up French once the practices began. He said Bess and French were the two most consistent in practices.

[3star_recruit]

I agree. Coach Ford stopped talking about Foreman because of the latter's physical challenges. Ford knew months ago that he wasn't going to be able to count on Foreman for a lot of minutes. That's why Rashed Anthony is here, because Coach Ford foresaw that he may be short on bodies up front.