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starting line-up?


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>I will go with Fischer, Bryant, Izik, Sloan and Frericks.

If I were an opposing coach, I'd press this lineup all day. But you may be right that this is the way we start the year. Coach seems to give an edge to the players who know his system.

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i'm with nark that fisher will be hard to keep out of the lineup. fisher is too good of a defender and too good of an athlete. he'll play.

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what makes you think that this lineup would have a problem with a press? fisher has been our lead guard for two years, izak and sloan are probably two of the better ball handling forwards in the conference? while i havent seen bryant much in the open court, i would expect he can handle the ball well enough. sure we dont have marque anymore, but i dont see any twin on the roster either. plus, if morris is what has been advertised, my guess is if a team wants to pressure us, morris will be in the game.

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>what makes you think that this lineup would have a problem

>with a press? fisher has been our lead guard for two years,

>izak and sloan are probably two of the better ball handling

>forwards in the conference? while i havent seen bryant much

>in the open court, i would expect he can handle the ball

>well enough. sure we dont have marque anymore, but i dont

>see any twin on the roster either. plus, if morris is what

>has been advertised, my guess is if a team wants to pressure

>us, morris will be in the game.

Every time we were pressed last year, Marque came back to get the ball from Fish (or Drejaj if Marque was out). I hardly ever saw Fish bring the ball up against pressure. He is only an average ball handler in the open court against pressure--witness the Butler game. If Morris and Drejaj are both not on the floor, then we are weak in the area of ballhanding. As to Izik and Sloan, IMHO neither handles the ball with comfort in the open court on the level of a skilled D-1 3 ... not even close. I'm not sure how you can express a strong opinion on these two as open-court ballhandlers because they NEVER do in games. Izik exhibited skill handling the ball 15' from the basket and in ... a few dribbles, no more. Maybe he shall improve in this area. However, I have seen Izik come back for the ball during the press and act as a release, not to dribble but to catch to relieve the pressure on the guards and then distribute to the open man. He does this well.

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izak and sloan both took the ball the length of the court a few times last year. plus if both are in the game, one of them is being guarded by an opposing power forward that undoubtedly wont want to be playing full court man-to-man defense. and if the opponent does switch off to allow a guard to take them, well now the guard that is in the game is being covered by a slow power forward in the open court? i take that match up any day. if the opponent uses a zone press, well you beat a zone press by passing and staying ahead of the trap, not dribbling.

i dont particularly remember fisher's ball handling as a problem at the butler game as much as the fact we shot horribly the first half and got 1 rebound.

i agree marque the vast majority of the time brought the ball up the court against the press. we would be foolish to not use the fastest and best point guard the billikens have had in 20+ years to do that. i think your perception of fisher is bent comparing his skills to marque. i think overall, fisher is at least as good of a ballhandler right now as what drejaj is. no knock on drejaj, just support for fisher.

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I disagree. Fisher is a good, but not great, ballhandler. He tends to favor his left hand, he dribbles the ball a little too high, and he does not go behind the back or between the legs with the frequency and ease of great ballhandlers. Drejaj is a better ballhandler than Fisher, and I suspect that Morris is a much better ballhandler than either of them. If Izik and Sloan are regularly bringing the ball up against the press, then we are going to have problems. Sloan is not a good ballhandler. In fact, Brad pointed this out at a Billiken Club meeting when someone asked why Sloan doesn't play the 3. Izik is fine going coast-to-coast in the open court, but he would be a turnover machine if he brought the ball up against a well-organized press.

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again, against a zone press, if you dont have a marque perry, you are committing basketball suicide to expect anyone to dribble through a "well organized Press". you beat a press by passing ahead of the trap and that means you want your most savy players on the court not necessarily the best dribblers. drejaj is a good dribbler, but he was not as good as fisher. i agree fisher favors his left hand, but he has the ability to go right as well. he had the ball stripped from him last year less than anthony did.

as to morris, the word i got is that he would have to be shot to lose the ball. i expect he will be in the game if we are facing a full court man-to-man defense. who's expense morris' presense will be could vary from game to game imo.

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good to hear from you 3 star. btw, i was talking to a parent of a belleville west player this morning and the west fandom isnt as excited about xaiver price coming to west as i expected. personally, i think price and jones might be the best backcourt south of peoria and probably will only be bettered by peoria central's and west aurora.

i asked this parent about arthur sargent, he said dont be surprised if sargent doesnt make a big splash this year as he emerges on the west varsity. imo, west looks very good for next season.

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Good point that the best way to beat the press is to pass ... but, by the same token, a team without a superior ballhandler on the floor invites trouble over the course of a game. We'll see how it plays out. I do expect Fish to be on the floor logging big minutes and sometimes as the point; however, I would also expect Morris and Drejaj to log significant minutes and for either to act as point instead of Fish whenever they are on the floor.

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of the minutes that i expect fish, drejaj and morris to play, from what has been said and written about brandon, i will be surprised if morris ever plays and is not the point guard whenever he is on the floor. i am picturing a more athletic john redden.

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Question is "Starting" lineup - that is " The Starting" lineup. Frericks at center - given. Sloan and IO at the forwards - given. Reggie at the shooting guard - given. Now for the point, that is the only open position for the "Starting Lineup". Brandon better win that job over Josh otherwise it might be another wasted schollie. Remember the question. Triangle thinks that Josh will be a very valuable swing player, playing the 1,2 and 3 positions, all in a non starting role, he will be the shut down guy. so it goes........

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