Elijah Hughes 2019/2020

[PhatOrange]

Yeah, I’m of the opinion that he has the obtainable upside to take the lead role as soon as next year... if not out of necessity.

He had a good season. He's going to continue to learn and grow as a player. I'd imagine he'll be terrific as a senior.

 

[OttoMets]

That’s exactly why I’m not so sold on Hughes making a big jump next year. There were long stretches this year where he looked indifferent, if not lazy on defense. At his size, he should have shown to be a much better rebounder as well. Unless he commits to improvement on both ends of the floor, his growth this offseason is capped, IMO.

I'm still not sold on his basketball intelligence. (Of course, I said exactly the same thing about Gbinije for years.) But Hughes is good for a couple boneheaded mistakes per game, sometimes he doesn't seem totally with it.

He's got a nice skill set, though, we've seen a lot worse in recent years.

 

[Trueblue25]

All lights on Hughes

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Good season expecting our best returning players to improve hasn’t gone well recently though.

And I would not take improved handling if it came at the cost of his three point shooting.

 

[jgeorge322]

Eli luckily won't have to carry a more talented, albeit young, team next season. I'm looking forward to it. Should be the start of a trend back upward for the program.

Seriously, its going to rain 3s next year, bring jt on. Can we defend anyone though?

 

[cuseinseattle]

And yet, before the leap from Gbinije, when was the last time we saw a player completely transform their game and make such strides? Senior year Rak? Sophomore year MCW? Maybe. Those feel like stretches compared to Gbinije’s improvement. This serves to strengthen the point you’re making, in that we don’t have consistent, good player development, especially if Gbinije can be seen as the outlier.

I would say Lydon. He was in the 70’s for class ranking and was a first rounder after his sophomore year

 

[Cusesky8214]

 

[rrlbees]

He’ll be our best player this season.

 

[two3zone]

He’ll be our best player this season.

Hopefully there are a bunch of guys that are close to him then because if he's our best then we are in trouble.

 

[Cusesky8214]

Hopefully there are a bunch of guys that are close to him then because if he's our best then we are in trouble.

That depends on which half eli shows up!

 

[OttoMets]

He’ll be our best player this season.

Ya know, it's easy to be pessimistic about a number of things about the basketball team, but in historically we'd be very excited to have a rising junior like Hughes coming back. Think of all the guys who didn't have the tools he does but made a huge leap after their first year. He could be really productive this season.

 

[jr4750]

He’ll be our best player this season.

Just hope he remembers to rebound a bit as well as score. If he doesn't do it, we're relying on a freshman, a 190lb junior and/or Sidibe whose knees may not hold up.

 

[Trueblue25]

Hopefully there are a bunch of guys that are close to him then because if he's our best then we are in trouble.

Im not sure. If he improves his handles he could be an absolutely handful for any defense in the country.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Hughes stats last year are nearly identical to DNic's junior year. Let's hope he makes the same jump as Nichols made as a SR.

 

[rrlbees]

Just hope he remembers to rebound a bit as well as score. If he doesn't do it, we're relying on a freshman, a 190lb junior and/or Sidibe whose knees may not hold up.

We’ve had plenty of SFs with similar rebounding numbers. Richardson, White, Gbinije.

 

[Newhouser]

Ya know, it's easy to be pessimistic about a number of things about the basketball team, but in historically we'd be very excited to have a rising junior like Hughes coming back. Think of all the guys who didn't have the tools he does but made a huge leap after their first year. He could be really productive this season.

I agree that his numbers will be solid. It is how he goes about obtaining those numbers that intrigues me. He was invisible for large portions of games last year and then would have 3 or 4 hot trips and looking at stats you would say "wow he had 15". We had a lot of guys like that - I just want one consistent guy who is going to ring the bell every night for 40 minutes.

 

[721Comstock]

I agree that his numbers will be solid. It is how he goes about obtaining those numbers that intrigues me. He was invisible for large portions of games last year and then would have 3 or 4 hot trips and looking at stats you would say "wow he had 15". We had a lot of guys like that - I just want one consistent guy who is going to ring the bell every night for 40 minutes.

So - you want another Lawrence Moten then?
That's not too much to ask.

 

[Forloveoforange]

So - you want another Lawrence Moten then?
That's not too much to ask.

That's some pretty tall socks to fill.

 

[Sherman20]

Gbinije in 2013-2014 showed more ball handling potential off the bench than Hughes has this entire year.
Hughes is a catch and shoot 3 point shooter with a little driving ability.
He didn’t show a midrange game.
Hughes is a good 3rd scoring option like Malachi Richardson. He can take over in spurts but isn’t a Gbinije.

Gbinije was second team all-ACC. I yearn for another player who can have a season like his Senior year.

I thought Hughes was decent driving to the basket and shooting in the mid range. He has the ability to improve both of those still-developing facets of his game this season.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Getting new sneakers would be a good start.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

Hughes will have as good of a season as the point guard position allows him to be. If Carey can get into the lane everyone will have a much better offensive year.

 

[NateW]

One thing I noticed about Hughes last year was a hesitance to explode into contact going toward the rim after breaking a defender down off the dribble. It was never a problem if the lane was clear but if there was traffic he lost his aggression.

Hopefully this year he doesn’t shy away from that contact - imo he could feast at the line if he does.

Play w reckless abandon ElI!

 

[IthacaMatt]

And yet, before the leap from Gbinije, when was the last time we saw a player completely transform their game and make such strides? Senior year Rak? Sophomore year MCW? Maybe. Those feel like stretches compared to Gbinije’s improvement. This serves to strengthen the point you’re making, in that we don’t have consistent, good player development, especially if Gbinije can be seen as the outlier.

CJ Fair showed really good development. He didn't just come in and star, but he always was a solid contributor, even as a young role player.