Our Five Spot Problems...

[newmexicuse]

begin with recruiting. I am tired of taking these athletic types with "huge" upsides that couldn't do a darn thing, even in HS, in terms of producing points & rebounding stats.

Give me a Rick Jackson or an Arinze Onauku, kids who have strong bodies & know how to put the ball in the hole from inside of 5' with an actual move and an actual shot & know how to grab a freakin rebound. Now, I will admit that I thought DC2 would be that type of player at even a higher talent level. Hopefully, it happens for him next season. But in the meanwhile, I am tired of taking the XMas's, BMKs, and Fab's of this world who don't get the job done because they are too new to the game or simply don't understand the game or simply have potential rather than actual skills. I hope our next guy coming in (Chino) will not be similar, but he sounds like more of the same. I am frustrated with getting my hopes up that XMas has turned the corner whenever he has his one good game out of every five. I was never that high on him (I didn't like what I saw in HS games) & regretfully I simply can't see him ever providing the consistency we need.

We had such great success with Rick (who looked very skilled & polished to me even in HS) & Arinze in terms of the type of guy we take for the 5 spot it seems like our recruiting strategy has changed...why ?????

Bottom line......with only two guards who can do anything, if one has a bad game as we saw tonight, we are very vulnerable team due to the non-production at the five spot.

 

[RF2044]

begin with recruiting. I am tired of taking these athletic types with "huge" upsides that couldn't do a darn thing, even in HS, in terms of producing points & rebounding stats.

Give me a Rick Jackson or an Arinze Onauku, kids who have strong bodies & know how to put the ball in the hole from inside of 5' with an actual move and an actual shot & know how to grab a freakin rebound. Now, I will admit that I thought DC2 would be that type of player at even a higher talent level. Hopefully, it happens for him next season. But in the meanwhile, I am tired of taking the XMas's, BMKs, and Fab's of this world who don't get the job done because they are too new to the game or simply don't understand the game or simply have potential rather than actual skills. I hope our next guy coming in (Chino) will not be similar, but he sounds like more of the same. I am frustrated with getting my hopes up that XMas has turned the corner whenever he has his one good game out of every five. I was never that high on him (I didn't like what I saw in HS games) & regretfully I simply can't see him ever providing the consistency we need.

We had such great success with Rick (who looked very skilled & polished to me even in HS) & Arinze in terms of the type of guy we take for the 5 spot it seems like our recruiting strategy has changed...why ?????

Bottom line......with only two guards who can do anything, if one has a bad game as we saw tonight, we are very vulnerable team due to the non-production at the five spot.

You mean like DaJuan Coleman?

 

[newmexicuse]

You mean like DaJuan Coleman?

Yes, I said that in my post. DC2 might have been the guy this year (injury aside) if Jimmy had stuck with him all season instead of pulling him after two or three minutes whenever he made his first mistake. I have been saying that all season. Jimmy's mis-handling of DC2 has probably been the worst I have seen in his entire coaching career in terms how he has used (or not used) any particular player.

 

[Coach Orange]

Let's not forget that it took Rick until his junior year to really play at high level, and Arinze got an extra year to develop because of the first injury. Both played out their eligibility, turning into good college players by the time they left. Likewise, Fab developed (on the court) from his freshman to sophomore years. If he hadn't messed up, who knows what he might have been this year.

Perhaps Rak and DaJuan will develop over time, too.

 

[suhoops4life]

begin with recruiting. I am tired of taking these athletic types with "huge" upsides that couldn't do a darn thing, even in HS, in terms of producing points & rebounding stats.

Give me a Rick Jackson or an Arinze Onauku, kids who have strong bodies & know how to put the ball in the hole from inside of 5' with an actual move and an actual shot & know how to grab a freakin rebound. Now, I will admit that I thought DC2 would be that type of player at even a higher talent level. Hopefully, it happens for him next season. But in the meanwhile, I am tired of taking the XMas's, BMKs, and Fab's of this world who don't get the job done because they are too new to the game or simply don't understand the game or simply have potential rather than actual skills. I hope our next guy coming in (Chino) will not be similar, but he sounds like more of the same. I am frustrated with getting my hopes up that XMas has turned the corner whenever he has his one good game out of every five. I was never that high on him (I didn't like what I saw in HS games) & regretfully I simply can't see him ever providing the consistency we need.

We had such great success with Rick (who looked very skilled & polished to me even in HS) & Arinze in terms of the type of guy we take for the 5 spot it seems like our recruiting strategy has changed...why ?????

Bottom line......with only two guards who can do anything, if one has a bad game as we saw tonight, we are very vulnerable team due to the non-production at the five spot.

You know as well as I do SU hasn't consistently recruited polished 5 spot players very well for over 40 years. It's difficult to find them, for one thing & the ones that're out there either end up in the NBA or some other place. Rak lacks competitiveness. Unless he develops an acute sense of urgency, he'll have an average career at best & work 9-5.

 

[cuseguy]

This team is a decent, not great, center away from being very good. Tough to play with four players.

 

[newmexicuse]

You know as well as I do SU hasn't consistently recruited polished 5 spot players very well for over 40 years. It's difficult to find them, for one thing & the ones that're out there either end up in the NBA or some other place. Rak lacks competitiveness. Unless he develops an acute sense of urgency, he'll have an average career at best & work 9-5.

It goes to the type of players that we are recruiting. It seems to me that schools like ND or BC (at least when they were in the BE) always had some non-athletic white guy at the five spot who could counted on for 15 & 8. Maybe those guys didn't have NBA potential, but like Rick & Arinze they were darn good college players. Yes, it is very hard to find a superstar center, but my point is that we should be able to have a serviceable guy at the five spot almost every season. Outside of Kentucky, we are as much a selector school as anybody else - let's starts selecting our centers based more on skills and achievement rather than potential. We seem to be able to do that quite well at the other four positions.

 

[SoBeCuse]

It goes to the type of players that we are recruiting. It seems to me that schools like ND or BC (at least when they were in the BE) always had some non-athletic white guy at the five spot who could counted on for 15 & 8. Maybe those guys didn't have NBA potential, but like Rick & Arinze they were darn good college players. Yes, it is very hard to find a superstar center, but my point is that we should be able to have a serviceable guy at the five spot almost every season. Outside of Kentucky, we are as much a selector school as anybody else - let's starts selecting our centers based more on skills and achievement rather than potential. We seem to be able to do that quite well at the other four positions.

You obviously bring up good points. It is really perplexing. This stuff must be happening in practice as well. The guards barely even look down there...ever. No trust in the 5 right now. Probably deservedly so. People are ripping Michigan right now but what would our record be in the Big 10? We have worse problems than Michigan in post offense, lol. They shoot it better from 3 land anyways.

 

[Jasoncuse]

I want to see more offensively gifted players brought it. I love having elite athletes, but when the basketball skills are always a work in progress, it's tough to get great production.