Jump to content

Analysis of our New Guys


Recommended Posts

We are all excited to welcome and watch our new guys contribute to this new team.   I have names, heights & weights, and scant other information which I copied from Pistol and others.   Each player has made every shot attempted in their video clips and have rebounded/blocked shots without a single foul called on them.  Go figure.  Last year, most of our guys were local and had been seen by quite of few of us MBMs - who were largely correct but  we were still wrong in some respects.   We were wrong b/c the leap from high school to college is really bigger than we sometimes remember.  Also, guys played certain positions or styles of play in high school b/c their team needed them to and b/c they had success based largely on their superior size, skills and talents.  With that said, I would like to hear from everyone what they believe our new comers' natural positions really are, what their natural and best strengths, whose games they might be similar to are and finally what positions/current players they will challenge for playing time. 

Markhi Strickland - SF, 6-6, 190 - Miami, FL (Victory Rock Prep) - AAU: Florida Vipers (Under Armour Association) - Committed: Saint Louis (9/30/19)
Offers: Saint Louis, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Loyola Marymount, New Mexico State. Interest: VCU, Georgetown, DePaul, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Michigan, LSU, Georgia, Central Florida, Princeton, Drake, Toledo, Florida Atlantic, Towson, Florida Gulf Coast.

André Lorentsson - PF, 6-8, 205 - Gothenburg, Sweden (Marks Gymnasiekola, Skene) - Committed: Saint Louis (2/26/20)
Offers: Saint Louis, Davidson, New Mexico State. Interest: UC-Davis.

Marten Linssen -PF6-9 - 250 lbs - Germany to Valpo to UNC Willimington

Screen Shot 2020-04-17 at 11.18.43 PM.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 92
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

12 minutes ago, Compton said:

Here are Marten's stats from his two years of college hoops, instead of just that one game: 

1839975051_ScreenShot2020-04-19at4_54_15PM.png.3af99503ac88cabebc577cde21d1f00b.png

 

Marten played behind Smits his fr year, hence more pine time than playing time.  I imagine he will get his 20+ minutes again with us, if he performs, and I hope he can keep his 10.5/4.6 averages going.  He needs some time in the weight room, or he won't survive practices in Chaifetz.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Marten played behind Smits his fr year, hence more pine time than playing time.  I imagine he will get his 20+ minutes again with us, if he performs, and I hope he can keep his 10.5/4.6 averages going.  He needs some time in the weight room, or he won't survive practices in Chaifetz.

20+ minutes is a lot.If he's getting as many minutes for us as he was for a dreadful UNCW team it would mean he drastically improved or something happened with French/JBJ. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Clock_Tower said:

We are all excited to welcome and watch our new guys contribute to this new team.   I have names, heights & weights, and scant other information which I copied from Pistol and others.   Each player has made every shot attempted in their video clips and have rebounded/blocked shots without a single foul called on them.  Go figure.  Last year, most of our guys were local and had been seen by quite of few of us MBMs - who were largely correct but  we were still wrong in some respects.   We were wrong b/c the leap from high school to college is really bigger than we sometimes remember.  Also, guys played certain positions or styles of play in high school b/c their team needed them to and b/c they had success based largely on their superior size, skills and talents.  With that said, I would like to hear from everyone what they believe our new comers' natural positions really are, what their natural and best strengths, whose games they might be similar to are and finally what positions/current players they will challenge for playing time. 

Markhi Strickland - SF, 6-6, 190 - Miami, FL (Victory Rock Prep) - AAU: Florida Vipers (Under Armour Association) - Committed: Saint Louis (9/30/19)
Offers: Saint Louis, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Loyola Marymount, New Mexico State. Interest: VCU, Georgetown, DePaul, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Michigan, LSU, Georgia, Central Florida, Princeton, Drake, Toledo, Florida Atlantic, Towson, Florida Gulf Coast.

André Lorentsson - PF, 6-8, 205 - Gothenburg, Sweden (Marks Gymnasiekola, Skene) - Committed: Saint Louis (2/26/20)
Offers: Saint Louis, Davidson, New Mexico State. Interest: UC-Davis.

Marten Linssen -PF6-9 - 250 lbs - Germany to Valpo to UNC Willimington

Screen Shot 2020-04-17 at 11.18.43 PM.png

I like that Davidson wanted Lorentssen.  Coach McKillop really knows the market for young foreign players and has built many good teams around them..  If he wants him, then I trust Lorentssen is a player.

Compton likes this
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if there's anything to it, but Marten's season at UNCW can be broken into four quarters offensively: 

First 6 games: 6.5ppg, 60.0 fg%

Next 10 games: 14.1ppg, 67.4 fg%

Next 8 games: 5.8ppg, 37.7 fg%

Last 8 games: 13.9ppg, 66.7 fg%

The changes don't appear to be due to injury, because the minutes he was getting and the boards he was pulling down were pretty consistent all season. Not sure if there's anything to it. Probably nothing. Maybe another player's injury? Maybe just the ebbs and flows of the season. Perhaps UNCW was trying some different things offensively for different stretches since they had some truly dismal stretches, including a 12 game losing streak. 

 

The kid had 2 double-doubles, and 2 near double-doubles w/9 boards. 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Markhi - based on the video I've seen, he reminds me a lot of Hargrove, very athletic not a great shooter.  It will be interesting to see if he keeps his height or shrinks like Hargrove did. At 190 he is undersized for a 4, doesn't shoot well enough for a 2.  So he falls into our crowded 3 spot. Unless we have injuries, I expect his first year will be spent hitting the weights, learning to play defence and working on his shooting. He will be able to press and provide some highlight video dunks. Minutes will open for him once Goodwin graduates.

Andre - We dont have another player like him. He is an under weight stretch 4. He can shoot from outside. We need to get him on campus ASAP, in the weight room and working with the team. He is supposed to have a high BB IQ, so hopefully he will get up to speed quickly. If he can come in cold and hit some shots, he will get some playing time.  I dont expect alot in his first year. He needs to muscle and adjust to Div 1 BB.

Marten - Fills an immediate need. He is a physical inside forward with a nice mid range jump shot. He will play behind Bell and French. He picks up fouls, but gives us more to give, when games are called tight. He is probably ideal at the 4, but can also play the 5. He will allow Ford to continue to play big, when Jimmy would otherwise come out and one of our wings play the 4. He also gives us a forward in addition to Jimmy, who can hit his free throws and close out a game. I dont think he will be a star, but will provide significant work horse minutes. He is the missing piece that we needed for this season and will help transition after next. We need him to hit the Bully Ball weight room and catch up to the Billikens offence and defense.  

All of the new players will be hurt if the summer program and workouts are restricted. 

 

meerkat and Zink like this
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, Aquinas said:

Markhi - based on the video I've seen, he reminds me a lot of Hargrove, very athletic not a great shooter.  It will be interesting to see if he keeps his height or shrinks like Hargrove did. At 190 he is undersized for a 4, doesn't shoot well enough for a 2.  So he falls into our crowded 3 spot. Unless we have injuries, I expect his first year will be spent hitting the weights, learning to play defence and working on his shooting. He will be able to press and provide some highlight video dunks. Minutes will open for him once Goodwin graduates.

Andre - We dont have another player like him. He is an under weight stretch 4. He can shoot from outside. We need to get him on campus ASAP, in the weight room and working with the team. He is supposed to have a high BB IQ, so hopefully he will get up to speed quickly. If he can come in cold and hit some shots, he will get some playing time.  I dont expect alot in his first year. He needs to muscle and adjust to Div 1 BB.

Marten - Fills an immediate need. He is a physical inside forward with a nice mid range jump shot. He will play behind Bell and French. He picks up fouls, but gives us more to give, when games are called tight. He is probably ideal at the 4, but can also play the 5. He will allow Ford to continue to play big, when Jimmy would otherwise come out and one of our wings play the 4. He also gives us a forward in addition to Jimmy, who can hit his free throws and close out a game. I dont think he will be a star, but will provide significant work horse minutes. He is the missing piece that we needed for this season and will help transition after next. We need him to hit the Bully Ball weight room and catch up to the Billikens offence and defense.  

All of the new players will be hurt if the summer program and workouts are restricted. 

 

Markhi is a high level shooter according to SLU's press release.    https://slubillikens.com/news/2019/11/13/mens-basketball-billikens-sign-markhi-strickland.aspx

Ford said ....... "He has an incredibly bright future. Markhi comes from a great basketball background, is extremely versatile and athletic, and has the ability to play multiple positions. He can shoot the ball from the outside extremely well, and he is a very gifted one-on-one player. Markhi fits into our system well and I look forward to coaching him."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, NH said:

20+ minutes is a lot.If he's getting as many minutes for us as he was for a dreadful UNCW team it would mean he drastically improved or something happened with French/JBJ. 

Ok, my hope is that he can play 20+ minutes.  If not, I think we missed the mark.  I don't put much into estimating minutes, but...French will get his 30 to 35 minutes, Bell (he played 15 mpg this season) may get 15 to 25, leaving the rest primarily for Linssen.  (Diarra could disrupt this estimate, and I hope he does.)  I certainly hope Linssen is a better inside post player than Hargrove or Perkins.  They are needed elsewhere on the court.  If not we have Rashed Anthony #2.

I hope for the benefit of Linssen, Lorentssen, and Strickland they can participate in some off season SLU weight training.  Who knows when the campus will be open.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I'm evaluating big man commits, I like to use the WWRAD indicator (What Would Reggie Agbeko do?).  In other words, if you put Reggie Agbeko in the same situation as a given commit, what numbers would he put up? 

In his 3rd year of college basketball, Agbeko produced 6.3 ppg and 6.2 rpg on a bad Billiken team.  Playing for a team with with only 7 division one wins against worse competition, Linssen put up 10.5 and 4.6 rpg, albeit in fewer minutes.   On a good team, I would expect to play Agbeko to play 10 min off the bench with some DNPs.  Linssen appears to be a less flawed version of Agbeko.  I'd pencil him in for 12-14 min a game.

I like using Agbeko as a barometer because he's a classic mid-major big: a modestly talented player who is good in one area but has too many flaws to be anything other than a rotation player on a good team.  If you sign anyone who falls below the Agbeko line, you've failed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Ok, my hope is that he can play 20+ minutes.  If not, I think we missed the mark..... If not we have Rashed Anthony #2.

No need to worry about that. Marten has already proved he's no Rashed Anthony. 

Also 20 mins seems a bit high considering how deep this team is. Also, averaged over the 31 game season Diarra averaged less than 1 mpg, Hankton averaged less that 2 mpg, and I don't think Hargrove and (to an even lesser extent) Perkins accounted for much time at the 5. 

Point is, there's just not a whole lot of time to go around and under the 20 minute threshold one can still be a significant and worthwhile contributor (see Hargrove - 12mpg and JBJ - 15mpg)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Compton said:

No need to worry about that. Marten has already proved he's no Rashed Anthony. 

Also 20 mins seems a bit high considering how deep this team is. Also, averaged over the 31 game season Diarra averaged less than 1 mpg, Hankton averaged less that 2 mpg, and I don't think Hargrove and (to an even lesser extent) Perkins accounted for much time at the 5. 

Point is, there's just not a whole lot of time to go around and under the 20 minute threshold one can still be a significant and worthwhile contributor (see Hargrove - 12mpg and JBJ - 15mpg)

 

Time will tell how Marten measures up.  Now is time when we can all  guess.

We played 4 out a lot when either French or Bell was out.  Maybe we won't as much this upcoming season.  Hargrove played some very immemorable minutes in the post.  He gave it his best, but he wasn't a post defender.  Estimating minutes to be played is simply something to do in mid April.  Everyone is right and everyone is wrong at this time of the year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Time will tell how Marten measures up.  Now is time when we can all  guess.

We played 4 out a lot when either French or Bell was out.  Maybe we won't as much this upcoming season.  Hargrove played some very immemorable minutes in the post.  He gave it his best, but he wasn't a post defender.  Estimating minutes to be played is simply something to do in mid April.  Everyone is right and everyone is wrong at this time of the year.

So ture. I suppose the same goes for arbitrary minute thresholds of what constitutes a successful signing. 

Dude averages 17 solid minutes per game on the road to the Sweet 16 and suddenly it's looking like you hit the mark.

BilliesBy40 and Littlebill like this
Link to comment
Share on other sites

-seems like we have a deep team, let's hope it ends up being that way for the entire season, then the question is does CFord play more guys or strictly rely on 7 or 8? what is our style of play? frankly I don't care as long as we win and the players are happy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, WVBilliken said:

Markhi is a high level shooter according to SLU's press release.    https://slubillikens.com/news/2019/11/13/mens-basketball-billikens-sign-markhi-strickland.aspx

Ford said ....... "He has an incredibly bright future. Markhi comes from a great basketball background, is extremely versatile and athletic, and has the ability to play multiple positions. He can shoot the ball from the outside extremely well, and he is a very gifted one-on-one player. Markhi fits into our system well and I look forward to coaching him."

For what it is worth, the Max Prep stats on Markhi that I saw showed him scoring 35% from 3, which is good, but less than 50% from the free throw line, which is bad.
Now if those stats are wrong and he actually shot over 70% from the free throw line, I would say he is a good shooter.  The SLU press release didn't have any stats.
I think Ford sometimes speaks of the player he envisions them becoming, rather than the player they have been to date.  There is also the adjustment to division 1 distance on the 3 to consider. 

I look at Markhi a lot like Hargrove.  They both of the potential to become good shooters and if they do, look out.  That combination of athleticism and an outside shot is a nighmare to defend.  Defenders on a fast break, have to guard against an alley oop dunk or the player swinging to the outside for an open 3.  In the half court you have to play close enough to get a hand in their face, but too close and they blow by you. 

If somebody has better stats on him, I would love to see them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Cowboy said:

-seems like we have a deep team, let's hope it ends up being that way for the entire season, then the question is does CFord play more guys or strictly rely on 7 or 8? what is our style of play? frankly I don't care as long as we win and the players are happy

as i recently posted previously, if we truly are worthy of going 10+ deep, there is no excuse not to greatly speed up the tempo on both ends of the floor.   the roster for built for bully havoc.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I learned this year. it's all about matchups.  I think you have to look around the league and see who has what and match up to that.  That is what will dictate minutes.

Richmond doesn't have a true center.  Who covers Golden on the perimeter with Cayo on the blocks?  Will it be Bell and French and can Linsson cover outside?  Duquesne has Hughes and Weathers ... still.  That's it.  Bonaventure can go bigger with Osunniyi, Shaw and Winston. Dayton has Tshimanga and pray for rain. VCU has a sizable stable of four.  Umass has Mitchell and Walker.  La Salle has the Indiana transfer.  Mason has bodies but little talent.  Fordham is Fordham.  Rhode Island is decimated.  St. Joe's has stretch fours and no true big men.   Davidson's front line is unimpressive.  

With French and Goodwin, we seem to have a lot covered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, Aquinas said:

For what it is worth, the Max Prep stats on Markhi that I saw showed him scoring 35% from 3, which is good, but less than 50% from the free throw line, which is bad.
Now if those stats are wrong and he actually shot over 70% from the free throw line, I would say he is a good shooter.  The SLU press release didn't have any stats.
I think Ford sometimes speaks of the player he envisions them becoming, rather than the player they have been to date.  There is also the adjustment to division 1 distance on the 3 to consider. 

I look at Markhi a lot like Hargrove.  They both of the potential to become good shooters and if they do, look out.  That combination of athleticism and an outside shot is a nighmare to defend.  Defenders on a fast break, have to guard against an alley oop dunk or the player swinging to the outside for an open 3.  In the half court you have to play close enough to get a hand in their face, but too close and they blow by you. 

If somebody has better stats on him, I would love to see them. 

Those Max Prep stats are 3 years old.  And I have found Max Prep stats are often partial and questionable.  Pretty meaningless since they are his sophomore stats and Markhi is considered a late bloomer.  Guess we'll see when he gets on campus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Time will tell how Marten measures up.  Now is time when we can all  guess.

We played 4 out a lot when either French or Bell was out.  Maybe we won't as much this upcoming season.  Hargrove played some very immemorable minutes in the post.  He gave it his best, but he wasn't a post defender.  Estimating minutes to be played is simply something to do in mid April.  Everyone is right and everyone is wrong at this time of the year.

Bingo. Hargrove and Perkins can both play the 4. Jimmy Bell played 15mpg. I doubt Marten plays more than that short of an injury. He's not taken minutes away from Perkins, and probably not TJ either. His time will be 2021-22 when Perkins and French are gone and there's 65 minutes in the front court that need filling. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, WVBilliken said:

Those Max Prep stats are 3 years old.  And I have found Max Prep stats are often partial and questionable.  Pretty meaningless since they are his sophomore stats and Markhi is considered a late bloomer.  Guess we'll see when he gets on campus.

Max preps stats are usually kept by high school kids acting as managers, then maybe doctored by coaches after the game. Certainly not gospel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...