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Post by sweep on Dec 15, 2021 8:30:44 GMT -6
I've been saying for 9 years that Whitford has never been able to win enough in living rooms and at kitchen tables. We've not won in the recruiting wars and he's not a good bench coach which equals what we have...blah. We especially have never gotten that one truly special player that you can build a team around. Persons was close but Whitford didn't surround him with the right pieces plus he's a lousy coach anyway. Teague was also close as a senior but I wouldn't put him in the same category as a Tee Smith or Steve Payne or McCurdy. So now we have Luke Brown. Is he the elusive special player we've never been able to land? I don't know but he's going to play for the same coach we've all agreed at one point or another is not special as a motivator, a strategist, a recruiter and a leader. He's not a bad human from what I can tell but a special coach he is not. Therein lies the problem for Mr. Brown and his soon to be mates. The biggest recruiting battle Whitford has won was with San Jose State for Tahjai Teague. Whitford is a lazy feckless recruiter who prefers low hanging fruit. |
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Post by 00hmh on Dec 15, 2021 9:24:43 GMT -6
So if Cochran or Jacobs or Bumbalough decide to transfer because of Brown or even another situation, are we devastated? Have we determined that any of those are key players in our next MAC championship? cochran and jacobs can't transfer again. Bumbalough could, but I can't see him leaving at this point. Maybe down road we see grad transfers, but for now we have a season to find the best players at guard.
We are very likely to play 3 guards, and Cochran especially can play well in a G/F role. Windham not as well, but he has a little length and Sellers is very athletic.
We can conceivably find minutes for 4-5 guards. The problem is more whether we have 4-5 guards playing well enough...
So far Bumbalough, Cochran, Jacobs, Windham and Sellers have all played well enough at times. Tsoukas is apparently not playing well enough in practice to earn minutes.
Cochran is better in some ways than I expected, but has not shown the scoring he had last year. And, I'd sure like to see Sellers continue to get chances, he has a lot of upside. Windham potentially is a real scoring boost off the bench.
If Brown can perform consistently he would push somebody out. If he proves that in practice and adjusts well that's great. But, the other problem is he and Bumbalough are both smaller guards and although Bumbalough has played well enough on D to not be a great liability except against Xavier, I am with the General that it is a bit hard to see the Lukes both playing unless they are really really shooting well.
So I say let them have at it, play the guys doing well in practice. If the 4 bigger and more athletic guards play well and we can find a high scoring combination in the Lukes, we will have a crunch. That would be good news...too many good players usually is.
I doubt it happens but would be just great for me, because we might play at an even faster pace, and then we can all worry more about finding 4 guys who can play up front in two slots and keep up. It might also mean we have to have 3 guards playing at all times a frantic pace on defense. Might need 5 guards then.
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Post by loganberrie on Dec 15, 2021 10:07:09 GMT -6
Does anyone know what position Cochran played at NIU? I can’t believe he played the point because he often plays out of control and turns the ball over with very poor passing. I can see him helping BSU when 3 guard’s are on the floor because he can bulldoze his way to the basket and score. I do think we will see both Luke’s on the floor at the same time as both can fill it up from 3 point land and Brown will find the open man to deliver the assists as well.
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Post by 00hmh on Dec 15, 2021 10:43:53 GMT -6
Does anyone know what position Cochran played at NIU? I can’t believe he played the point because he often plays out of control and turns the ball over with very poor passing. I can see him helping BSU when 3 guard’s are on the floor because he can bulldoze his way to the basket and score. I do think we will see both Luke’s on the floor at the same time as both can fill it up from 3 point land and Brown will find the open man to deliver the assists as well. Would feel much better about that if we had a shot blocker.
But if we play fast paced and have guard depth that can work, at least for shorter periods of time. Wear out the other team a bit.
If both play lots of minutes that could happen but better if they minimized that time. If they are very aggressive on defense they could play together but that wears them out a bit for longer periods.
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Post by sweep on Dec 15, 2021 12:09:05 GMT -6
Does anyone know what position Cochran played at NIU? I can’t believe he played the point because he often plays out of control and turns the ball over with very poor passing. I can see him helping BSU when 3 guard’s are on the floor because he can bulldoze his way to the basket and score. I do think we will see both Luke’s on the floor at the same time as both can fill it up from 3 point land and Brown will find the open man to deliver the assists as well. Xavier just beat us by 50, I don't think trying to finesse our line-up by moving Coachran to a wing is going to make a freaking difference. |
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Post by loganberrie on Dec 15, 2021 12:31:55 GMT -6
Sure thankful we’re not playing Xavier again this season! No one has answered my question did Cochran run the point guard position at NIU? I know he was the Huskies leading scorer, but surely he did not accomplish that from the point guard position.
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Post by loganberrie on Dec 15, 2021 12:38:51 GMT -6
For the poster looking for a shot blocker to accommodate the two Luke’s, it seems 6’10” Blake Huggins is the logical choice there. He is physical and plays fearless, but hasn’t got much playing time so far this season.
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Post by rmcalhoun on Dec 15, 2021 12:54:56 GMT -6
For the poster looking for a shot blocker to accommodate the two Luke’s, it seems 6’10” Blake Huggins is the logical choice there. He is physical and plays fearless, but hasn’t got much playing time so far this season. Cochran played point guard |
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Post by loganberrie on Dec 15, 2021 13:50:30 GMT -6
Thank you!
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Post by redbirdman on Dec 15, 2021 14:20:00 GMT -6
Cochran may have played point guard but he was not a passer ranked 4th on the NIU team in assists. He was the leading rebounder but only played in 12 of their 19 games. He was a poor 3 pt shooter hitting around 25% in two yrs. He looked good on last yr's team because he was aggressive & scored when no one else seemed to go inside for that team last yr. He did not play the same way as a frosh when German ran the 19-20 team.
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Post by loganberrie on Dec 15, 2021 14:37:04 GMT -6
That sounds very more realistic and thank you for the details!
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Post by calpoly on Dec 15, 2021 15:21:30 GMT -6
I've been saying for 9 years that Whitford has never been able to win enough in living rooms and at kitchen tables. We've not won in the recruiting wars and he's not a good bench coach which equals what we have...blah. We especially have never gotten that one truly special player that you can build a team around. Persons was close but Whitford didn't surround him with the right pieces plus he's a lousy coach anyway. Teague was also close as a senior but I wouldn't put him in the same category as a Tee Smith or Steve Payne or McCurdy. So now we have Luke Brown. Is he the elusive special player we've never been able to land? I don't know but he's going to play for the same coach we've all agreed at one point or another is not special as a motivator, a strategist, a recruiter and a leader. He's not a bad human from what I can tell but a special coach he is not. Therein lies the problem for Mr. Brown and his soon to be mates. The biggest recruiting battle Whitford has won was with San Jose State for Tahjai Teague. Whitford is a lazy feckless recruiter who prefers low hanging fruit. Still curious about Teague's recruitment----didn't he commit to Billy Taylor's staff as (maybe) a junior in high school? |
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Post by sweep on Dec 15, 2021 15:39:08 GMT -6
The biggest recruiting battle Whitford has won was with San Jose State for Tahjai Teague. Whitford is a lazy feckless recruiter who prefers low hanging fruit. Still curious about Teague's recruitment----didn't he commit to Billy Taylor's staff as (maybe) a junior in high school? Teague was offered June 26, 2013 and committed October 14, 2014.....................Whitford was hired in April 2013. 247sports.com/player/tahjai-teague-34071/ |
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Post by williamtsherman on Dec 15, 2021 16:38:48 GMT -6
For the poster looking for a shot blocker to accommodate the two Luke’s, it seems 6’10” Blake Huggins is the logical choice there. He is physical and plays fearless, but hasn’t got much playing time so far this season. Yeah, just because Blake Huggins has a total of zero blocks on the season, that's no reason to doubt that he can be the defensive eraser that allows us to start two 6-1 white kids at guard. A more realistic approach could be along the lines of: BSU's defense is already terrible, so how much worse can it get? Honestly though, I have not made any sort of extensive analysis of Bumbalough's or Brown's defensive abilities, so I'm not going to flat out say it can't happen, but at this moment I don't picture them playing significant minutes together. And, if I'm right, Whitford has an interesting problem on his hands. I'm glad though. ANYTHING that could remotely be called "interesting" is welcome. If Luke Brown sets the MAC on fire, that will be interesting. If he fizzles and doesn't play a ton, that will piss off his local supporters and THAT will be sort of interesting to hear their complaints and excuses. Believe me, I am all for the advent of Luke Brown, but only I'm just not sure what to expect of it. |
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Post by sweep on Dec 15, 2021 17:16:23 GMT -6
Yeah, we rank 350th in blocked shots so I don't think it's a priority area for Whitford.
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