Frank Howard YoY Progress

[Orangtiz]

Rak.

Wouldn’t Lagerald Vick cover Battle, btw?

Love the homers and/or prophets who predicted this kind of success of Frank’s so early on especially after how the season ended. He’s playing well for sure. Still worry about his overall speed and ballhandling. Next three games will reveal a lot but I’m encouraged.

Yes.

 

[realorange]

I dont know about anyone else, but I recall the downright animosity and hatred toward Frank on here last year(I was one of the few to stand by him). Some of it was about some guy named after some other color that was not even Orange. Other rumors as well, of Juli and the encyclopedia set in the observatory. I'm hoping those bitter people are able to shove their prejudices aside, and enjoy watching this young man blossom. I know I'm having fun watching him, and hoping the rest of you will hop on the -Train(tm)...it's picking up steam!!! LGO, alllll aboard!!

Captain, you won't even see those folks on here unless Frank has a bad game. They'd rather hide in the weeds and snipe away.
I've been on the Frank train for a long time and others are finally seeing why you, I and a few others have stood behind him.

 

[kcsu]

Frank is a new guy this year. Off to a great start. Glad he got his act together.

 

[two3zone]

Captain, you won't even see those folks on here unless Frank has a bad game. They'd rather hide in the weeds and snipe away.
I've been on the Frank train for a long time and others are finally seeing why you, I and a few others have stood behind him.

Whos not posting?

That's a mighty tall horse you're sitting on a few games in.

 

[rrlbees]

I had the good fortune of having the Uber courtside seats (thank you!) and can add a couple things.

First, there is zero doubt Frank is the leader of this team. From getting guys into the right places when someone wasn’t, to the on court encouragement when someone made a mistake, to the calm words and pat on the back on the sidelines after a player got chewed out by JB. He’s really stepped up into that role. I remember an article a couple weeks ago where the frosh mentioned how much Frank was helping them in practice.

Second, up close and personal you can tell he exudes confidence and a certain calmness. Moyer and Brissett are the rah rah types whereas Frank is the quiet confident type. You need both.

As to his game, I can’t remember the last time we had a PG that penetrated and took and made so many pull up jumpers. And with Battle doing the same at times, it’s amazing we have two guards doing that.

We’ve all seen guards make the occasional no look highlight pass. But I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a no look alley oop. Was a great play right in front of me.

Frank played very very well Wednesday night. Except for finishing another 1-2 drives to the basket and maybe making another 3, I’m not sure he can play much better. He’ll have more games like that and he’ll have games where he is “good”. But like all players, he’ll have some off or “bad” games. They all do. Before he got hurt Tyus wasn’t having a good game. I just hope when Frank has a bad game people don’t start jumping all over him. He’s going to have many more good than bad.

One note on Thorpe. He showed no lingering issues with the ankle sprain, making many hard cuts and sprinting full speed up and down the court. But what I did notice was that he still doesn’t seem completely comfortable in the offense. A couple times during set plays, Frank had to tell him where to be. If he’s having to think too much out there, it’ll impact how he performs as he’s not just “doing”. He’s going to be fine and will be a key contributor.

BTW, sooooo happy for Moyer. He was having fun out there.

BTW2, biggest concern IMO is the free throw shooting of the bigs. Gonna cost us 3-5 ppg if it doesn’t improve.

 

[Fat tire 13]

Man, it is one extreme or another over here. The truth is always somewhere in between. We haven't played any good teams yet, like ones that will be 8 seeds or better. There are some improvements that are evident that should hold regardless of competition. Better attitude, better DF, and better shooting form. Last year you would definitely cringe at times if he shot from long range. Now it's cool if he takes the open look. The offense could stall against good teams, and he may revert into a turnover machine. We will see, and looking forward to see if we sink/swim when it's time

 

[realorange]

Whos not posting?

That's a mighty tall horse you're sitting on a few games in.

Not naming names, but take a mental roll call of posters you have seen little of in awhile.

 

[NYCorange]

I really think both camps are right. Frank is definitely better this year than last so far. Last year he was hitting wide open jumpers as the fifth option, but this year he's canning contested shots as the first or second option. Big difference. But he also definitely faded against good teams last year and we've yet to really play one (apologies to the teams we've already played). If he performs well against our next three opponents, I'll be convinced. Until then, I'm just hopeful.

 

[CaptainJ]

I guess the bandwagon isnt accepting tickets yet. Someone let me know when that happens so that the nancies can hop on board the -Train(I figured out how to do that from the PBR fella...shame I cant do it the regular way like the D-Train, but we take what we're given lol). All aboard, buckle up!!

 

[orangecuse]

Dave 'jumping jack' Johnson, if I recall correctly, had a significant production increase from soph to junior year.

 

[rrlbees]

Man, it is one extreme or another over here. The truth is always somewhere in between. We haven't played any good teams yet, like ones that will be 8 seeds or better. There are some improvements that are evident that should hold regardless of competition. Better attitude, better DF, and better shooting form. Last year you would definitely cringe at times if he shot from long range. Now it's cool if he takes the open look. The offense could stall against good teams, and he may revert into a turnover machine. We will see, and looking forward to see if we sink/swim when it's time

Not sure I see 2 extremes. That would be some saying he sucks, others saying he is all ACC. I don’t see either so most are someplace in between.

 

[Sherman20]

(Year over Year for the non-financial folks).

Has any player in recent memory made such a leap in YoY contribution, confidence and skill display as Frank Howard has from last year to this year? He just looks like a totally different player.

I thought he would be markedly improved this year, based on JB’s stated confidence in him and the fact that he showed his potential as a freshman. Last year, he lost his confidence in December as the team struggled, then he had that abdominal injury, which was revealed in the off season. So I was hoping he would have a Scoop freshman-to-redshirt-sophomore year surge this season, but even I’m surprised by the results so far. He’s been our second best player in the early going. Hopefully it continues.

 

[Sherman20]

Allen Griffin.

Rick Jackson Junior to Senior year.

Dion Waiters freshmen to Sophomore year.

Kris Joseph freshman to sophomore year. Though I think we all saw his potential as a frosh, even if he didn’t have the numbers or playing time to back it up yet.

 

[RF2044]

This thread has taken a comically goofy turn.

 

[Mano22]

Frank was better than Gillon last year and he's better than Gillon this year. Just got the standard JB treatment being pulled after every mistake and lost all rhythm/confidence.

That said I am a little worried he is TOO confident now. He is bordering on cocky at this point. Sure he is playing great against these middling teams, but playtime is basically over.

 

[two3zone]

Frank was better than Gillon last year and he's better than Gillon this year. Just got the standard JB treatment being pulled after every mistake and lost all rhythm/confidence.

That said I am a little worried he is TOO confident now. He is bordering on cocky at this point. Sure he is playing great against these middling teams, but playtime is basically over.

Did Gillon kill you cat?

I think people forget how bad Frank was and how good Gillon was at times last season.

 

[Mano22]

Of course Gillon had some great moments. But he had lots of atrocious moments as well, moments where I wondered what he was doing playing D1 ball. I think a lot of people think well he scored 40 he bust be great, when really he was decidedly meh and just randomly made 10 3's in a game once. He wasn't even a great shooter.

Frank had ups and downs too of course. His downs were similarly atrocious. I just think he is a much more skilled player than Gillon, who was really just a quick athletic type who thought he would give basketball a try.

 

[RF2044]

Frank was better than Gillon last year and he's better than Gillon this year. Just got the standard JB treatment being pulled after every mistake and lost all rhythm/confidence.

That said I am a little worried he is TOO confident now. He is bordering on cocky at this point. Sure he is playing great against these middling teams, but playtime is basically over.

As Frank's #1 fan, noone is happier than me by his play thus far.

But your entire take is revisionist BS. Sorry, but it is. Frank was a huge program liability last year--on AND off the court. Glad he's coming closer to actualizing his potential this season, but people need to be intellectually honest about what went down last season, and your take re: Gillon is nonsense. Gillon was substantially better than Frank last year, despite being an incredibly poor fit for our system, and the team's performance with each player at the helm reflected that. It is no coincidence that our team began playing better when Gillon became the starting PG and Frank got relegated to the bench.

The easy portion of the schedule is generally in the rear view mirror now. My boy needs to keep it rolling -- because how he plays is going to be strongly correlated with hour our team performs this year, IMO.

 

[Mano22]

As Frank's #1 fan, noone is happier than me by his play thus far.

But your entire take is revisionist BS. Sorry, but it is. Frank was a huge program liability last year--on AND off the court. Glad he's coming closer to actualizing his potential this season, but people need to be intellectually honest about what went down last season, and your take re: Gillon is nonsense. Gillon was substantially better than Frank last year, despite being an incredibly poor fit for our system, and the team's performance with each player at the helm reflected that. It is no coincidence that our team began playing better when Gillon became the starting PG and Frank got relegated to the bench.

The easy portion of the schedule is generally in the rear view mirror now. My boy needs to keep it rolling -- because how he plays is going to be strongly correlated with hour our team performs this year, IMO.

I know little about that off the court stuff. I am just saying that Frank is a better basketball player than Gillon. Both in a vacuum and in our system.

 

[malpearl31]

Kris Joseph freshman to sophomore year. Though I think we all saw his potential as a frosh, even if he didn’t have the numbers or playing time to back it up yet.

Gbinije as a sophomore was pretty brutal. He really improved by the time he left.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I know little about that off the court stuff. I am just saying that Frank is a better basketball player than Gillon. Both in a vacuum and in our system.

Not last year. Not close.

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

Frank was better than Gillon last year and he's better than Gillon this year. Just got the standard JB treatment being pulled after every mistake and lost all rhythm/confidence.

That said I am a little worried he is TOO confident now. He is bordering on cocky at this point. Sure he is playing great against these middling teams, but playtime is basically over.

I agree with you on him being better than Gillon. How much better will be determined over the next several games.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Of course Gillon had some great moments. But he had lots of atrocious moments as well, moments where I wondered what he was doing playing D1 ball. I think a lot of people think well he scored 40 he bust be great, when really he was decidedly meh and just randomly made 10 3's in a game once. He wasn't even a great shooter.

Frank had ups and downs too of course. His downs were similarly atrocious. I just think he is a much more skilled player than Gillon, who was really just a quick athletic type who thought he would give basketball a try.

Simply not true. For whatever reason Frank was not better than Gillon. Frank had a higher ceiling always but he could not be trusted on the court beyond the cupcakes. Playing Frank more minutes last year simply was not an option. In fact, Boeheim waited too long to switch to Gillon as the primary PG. Frank is a totally different player this year mentally and especially scoring/shooting-wise. A very good thing.

 

[moqui]

gillon v frank is a stupid argument to begin with. neither was good last year, for different reasons. best to bury that year and forget it. looks like frank has.

 

[CuseLifer11]

Captain, you won't even see those folks on here unless Frank has a bad game. They'd rather hide in the weeds and snipe away.
I've been on the Frank train for a long time and others are finally seeing why you, I and a few others have stood behind him.

No one is more pro Frank than I am. He will continue to silence critics.