Mcdonalds All-American Game/Greg Monroe

[sleepy]

I am surprised this hasn't popped up yet with all the talk about next year and what not.

rivalshoops.rivals.com/video.asp?section=bbrecruit&pkey=&vidtype=amp&vidid=3253

THe game is tommorow, right?

[jarninwashere]

Kinda cheesy of the guy to ask him whether he was a "one and done" or not.

[casualhoya]

I think those Chris Bosh comparisons seem right on.

And yes, I realize those are all highlights.

Casually.

[SFHoya99]

Greg Monroe is the perfect player for our system. Period.

[HoyaChris]

Mar 25, 2008 16:28:20 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

Greg Monroe is the perfect player for our system. Period.

Well said!!!


If JT III can motivate him, he will be better than Jeff as a freshman. In a direct comparison, Monroe is a far better ballhandler, at least as good of a passer, and a far better rebounder and shotblocker. He has better post moves and is only missing three feet or so of range.

The only issue is a willingness to bring it every game.

[daytonahoya31]

I hope people watch this video and see why we have a chance to be so good next season. we have four players coming back, chris, austin, greg and dajuan, who have a legitimate shot at being the single best player in the conference at their respective position. when you add a jessie sapp, a henry sims, a vernon macklin, a rivers, a clark, this is easily the deepest, most talented team that JTIII has had to work with.

and while monroe has a ways to go to be jeff green the one who led us to a final four, I agree that he's better than jeff was at the same stage. if he brings it every night, we have a chance to do some major damage next season

[idhoya]

Monroe is a better passer than Bosh is now. Bosh may be longer. Both are similar shooters at the same stage. I think Greg has more skills at the same stage.

[mrsixer123]

"The only issue is a willingness to bring it every game."

Uh, oh!!!! Another big man with that problem? What gives??

[daytonahoya31]

sixer,

he does have the tendency to coast...he's a lot like jeff green in evry way, from his considerable skill set to his reluctance to take over

[mrsixer123]

Mar 25, 2008 19:36:54 GMT -5 daytonahoya31 said:

sixer,

he does have the tendency to coast...he's a lot like jeff green in evry way, from his considerable skill set to his reluctance to take over

This is Not a good sign!! For the 2nd year in a row we have been eliminated with our best player having a sub par performance. Can we recruit some self motivated big men? Jt3 said on several occasions how he basically had to beg roy to be more forcefull in the 2nd half of games. 4 years of that, is 4 years too many. Roy did some great things, but i want a consistant big man, not one that can be held to zero points in the most important game of the season

[daytonahoya31]

in all fairness i think it's a good sign that Monroe did take over the state tournament down in louisiana. that's not an easy thing to do, especially since I've seen his team play and they are full of selfish gunners that like to do anything but give greg the rock.

plus, he won't be our best player next year. He'll be a very big piece of the puzzle, no doubt. But in terms of taking big shots, we have three guys that can do that in Chris Jessie and DaJuan. Make that four guys when you think about austin.

so I see what your saying, but it's also worth mentioning that greg won't have nearly the pressure right off the bat to come in a lead this team in clutch situations. we've got guys around him

[lichoya68]

hes good morgan wooten high school player of the year who finished great cant wait is it november yet go hoyas go greg who did not even visit that school in durham

[GIGAFAN99]

Monroe is being criticized the same way Beasley was his senior year. If Monroe mails it in like Beasley did this year, I think we'd happily be on that mailing list.

[FrazierFanatic]

It might be just a tad harder to stay motivated at the high school level than in the Big East. Looking forward to great things from Monroe, adding a piece of the puzzle to a great team next year.

[GPHoya]

I would caution folks to lower their expectations for Monroe--at least if those expectations involve the level of Beasley's play or even Jeff Green's or, for that matter, the Blair kid at Pitt.

I confess that I have only watched his game against Norcross (I think) that ESPN televised earlier this year, but the player I saw has little prospect of dominating college basketball in his freshman year or of being a one and done. I gather that RDF and ID have seen a lot more of him and I certainly defer to their insights on recruits, but my memory of their posts coincide with what I saw on a limited basis in terms of possible strengths as well as question marks. The left-handed shot blocking when providing help defense is intriguing, but only if he consistently runs the court, gets into an athletic defensive stance and masters the techniques of guarding his own man in the low post. The engine will need to run a lot hotter and a lot longer than what I saw from him in high school.

Please do not take this as bashing Greg. He is a high school senior with limited experience and coaching in playing against other big men and I am sure he will improve greatly at Georgetown under our coaching staff. He has tools (height, speed, leaping, timing, court vision all come to mind), but the kid from Norcross who is going to Wake was a far more polished player who appeared much more likely to make an immediate impact on the college game and his team's performance than Greg.

Off what I have seen, the proper expectation is that we have a tall athlete with great upside who will help us from the start, but who will need help from the other freshman and improvement from Macklin and Summers for us to have a competitive front court against the strong Big East teams next year. I have not seen Sims or Braswell, but it will not surprise me if one of them makes a comparable or greater contribution than what Greg makes as a freshman. I think we will need that if we are to stay in the top four in the Big East next year. He may end up being as good or better than Jeff Green, but I will be very surprised if he contributes as much as Jeff did as a freshman, in part because the cast surrounding him is much stronger than what Jeff had around him.

I will watch tonight with interest, but all-star games are not the best vehicle for making an assessment. That said, I think a lot of us got a clue about how raw Vernon was from what we saw in the high school games. Maybe I will learn that Greg had the flu against Norcross and have to change my opinion happily. Otherwise, I think it is useful to manage expectations so we don't claim to be disappointed when Greg is "only" a very talented freshman who needs a lot of work and should probably stay in school for four years. There are many worse things than that.

[chep3]

Will say that the game I got to see him in (against Whitney Young at the Prime Time Shootout), Greg was fantastic. Shot the ball well, including from the outside, blocked shots, and was (maybe the best of all in retrospect) shredded WY's press. They got him the ball in the middle, and he just attacked, either getting to the hole or giving it up to another wide open teammate. He's got great court vision and is very good off the dribble for his size. The only things I thought needed to be fixed were his habit of leaning back a little bit on his shot, and ensuring that he's fully committed to go rebound the basketball.

I'm not that acquainted with HS ball, but is it safe to assume that everyone has a problem about mailing it in? I would assume when you're way better than everyone else on the court, you kind of stop trying as hard.

[kchoya]

Mar 25, 2008 19:47:38 GMT -5 mrsixer123 said:

Mar 25, 2008 19:36:54 GMT -5 daytonahoya31 said:

sixer,

he does have the tendency to coast...he's a lot like jeff green in evry way, from his considerable skill set to his reluctance to take over

This is Not a good sign!! For the 2nd year in a row we have been eliminated with our best player having a sub par performance. Can we recruit some self motivated big men? Jt3 said on several occasions how he basically had to beg roy to be more forcefull in the 2nd half of games. 4 years of that, is 4 years too many. Roy did some great things, but i want a consistant big man, not one that can be held to zero points in the most important game of the season

Jeez, you go from bashing a kid who just played four years for GU to a kid who hasn't even graduated from high school yet. Hey, I heard there's an 8th grader who's thinking about Georgetown, why don't you bash him too?

[SFHoya99]

I think we should have cautious expectations with Greg as well. He's a freshman, and the high expectations will come from him and the coaching staff -- the fanbase getting disappointed and lashing out isn't going to help anyone is he isn't everything we thought.

And I agree with GP -- Beasley like expectations are off. He's not that kind of player and he won't be a 30-15 guy, even if he had gone to a K State.

I don't think Green/Blair expectations are too far off, though nothing's guaranteed. When I said he was the perfect player for the system, though, that's absolutely true. His skill set fits so well, it's scary.

[MCIGuy]

GP's post is why I don't look forward to this game at all. Because if Monroe has a so-so night people start questioning his abilities. Sure much of what GP says is true about not going overboard with expectations. Still I think folks get down on players too quickly after they have a couple of bad outings.

[kchoya]

Mar 26, 2008 9:54:08 GMT -5 MCIGuy said:

GP's post is why I don't look forward to this game at all. Because if Monroe has a so-so night people start questioning his abilities. Sure much of what GP says is true about not going overboard with expectations. Still I think folks get down on players too quickly after they ahve a couple of bad outings.

I agree - that Norcross game would tell you very little about Monroe's game other than he's a great athlete. Aminu racked up points by cherry picking and getting easy dunks. Monroe actually played team ball and worked his teammates into the game. HS ball is such a crap shoot when trying to evaluate star players - the same goes for all-star games.

Oh yeah, I love how mrsixer now has Roy with 0 points in the Davidson game. edited Against the #15 seed, right?