Freeman's impact

[SFHoya99]

Mar 31, 2008 14:37:24 GMT -5 hoyalawyer said:

Starter: Wright, Sapp, Freeman, Summers, Monroe
Bench: Clark, Rivers, Wattad, Sims, Mackling
Spices: (use sparingly) Braswell, Nikita

I think a lot of people want to see DaJuan at the 3, but all sources tell me that of our incoming "POST" players, Braswell may not be eligible, Sims doesn't have ENOUGH OF a back to the basket game, so MONROE is the only one that can play the 5 spot (besides Macklin). Plus the 4 and the 3 in our offense are largely the same so no biggie for Dajuan to be the 4. We will see some triple bigs (Dajuan, Monroe, Macklin/Sims), but we will see just as much if not more 3 guard (Wright, Sapp, Austin, Rivers, Clark, Wattad in any combination).

I think Summers is likely playing the four, but I think Sims will hold his own at center in the BE.

[GIGAFAN99]

Mar 31, 2008 14:50:12 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

Mar 31, 2008 14:37:24 GMT -5 hoyalawyer said:

Starter: Wright, Sapp, Freeman, Summers, Monroe
Bench: Clark, Rivers, Wattad, Sims, Mackling
Spices: (use sparingly) Braswell, Nikita

I think a lot of people want to see DaJuan at the 3, but all sources tell me that of our incoming "POST" players, Braswell may not be eligible, Sims doesn't have ENOUGH OF a back to the basket game, so MONROE is the only one that can play the 5 spot (besides Macklin). Plus the 4 and the 3 in our offense are largely the same so no biggie for Dajuan to be the 4. We will see some triple bigs (Dajuan, Monroe, Macklin/Sims), but we will see just as much if not more 3 guard (Wright, Sapp, Austin, Rivers, Clark, Wattad in any combination).

I think Summers is likely playing the four, but I think Sims will hold his own at center in the BE.

Interesting. I would think you put Sims at 4 until he hits the weights. Monroe just seems so much wider and if you can play Macklin and Monroe exclusively down low, go ahead. Let Sims play 4, where his length and skill allows him to get away with any strength deficiencies.

[SFHoya99]

Don't necessarily agree or disagree, Giga. It's just that I think the idea that he can'y play center is incorrect. We always hear "he's not strong enough" or "not enough of a back to a basket game." No one is saying he's perfect now, but he'll be good enough to play effective minutes there.

I guess it also means what you mean by center. I mean to play center defensively, and to play a non-center of the offense role, which I assume will be held more by Chris on the perimeter and Monroe down low.

If people want to play Summers at the three, they are going to have to get used to Sims playing at the five. Having Mack plus three freshmen man two spots means foul trouble and lots of flexibility needed -- we're not going to always have the choice of who is where. And with Sims significantly taller than Mack and Bras, it makes sense to have him as primary shotblocker.

[MCIGuy]

There is no indication that Monroe is anymore ready to play in the BE than Macklin. And if Macklin looks better in camp he DESERVES to get the nod considering he hasn't cried about playing time over these last two seasons. But to me still the better scenario will be to have Summers, Macklin and Monroe in the starting lineup. The Hoyas were more successful with a huge frontline one season ago, why not try that again?

[hoyalawyer]

because of a potential lack of depth up front. (Summers, Macklin, Monroe, Sims, and Braswell?) 5 guys, 3 of which are freshman with 1 possibly not being able to play yet, means if we play 3 bigs to start we have 1 (max 2) bigs off the bench for the 4-5 spots. The potential foul problems are huge. I think we WILL see the 3 big lineup but I think it will be the exception rather than the rule for the majority of minutes (the rule being 3 "guard").

[GIGAFAN99]

Mar 31, 2008 15:03:24 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

Don't necessarily agree or disagree, Giga. It's just that I think the idea that he can'y play center is incorrect. We always hear "he's not strong enough" or "not enough of a back to a basket game." No one is saying he's perfect now, but he'll be good enough to play effective minutes there.

I guess it also means what you mean by center. I mean to play center defensively, and to play a non-center of the offense role, which I assume will be held more by Chris on the perimeter and Monroe down low.

If people want to play Summers at the three, they are going to have to get used to Sims playing at the five. Having Mack plus three freshmen man two spots means foul trouble and lots of flexibility needed -- we're not going to always have the choice of who is where. And with Sims significantly taller than Mack and Bras, it makes sense to have him as primary shotblocker.

Yeah that's true. Sims playing a defensive 5 is fine and he'll be a high screen machine on offense if nothing else. The Dikembe to Monroe's Alonzo (figuratively, don't yell blasphemy anyone).

[hoyalawyer]

I think we may even see some (even more rare than 3 bigs) 4 guard like Nova 2 years ago.

[sleepy]

I really doubt the three big line up will be rare, I even doubt that it is not the starting line-up. Two years ago we did it with only five bigs in the rotation, two being freshman one being a transfer that had yet to play in a Hoya uniform. We did three bigs a good majority of the time this year when Ewing would come in for Freeman. Yea there will be foul trouble, but if Braswell does infact qualify, we will most likely go to the two guard three forward lineup. Speaking of Braswell when will we find out if he is coming or not for sure.

[chep3]

When would we find out if Braswell qualifies?

[SFHoya99]

Mar 31, 2008 15:33:38 GMT -5 chep3 said:

When would we find out if Braswell qualifies?

Honestly, probably not until the end of summer if it is good news. There was a comment somewhere that he'd likely have to do summer school, so we should probably not expect him at Kenner.

[GIGAFAN99]

Mar 31, 2008 15:41:12 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

Mar 31, 2008 15:33:38 GMT -5 chep3 said:

When would we find out if Braswell qualifies?

Honestly, probably not until the end of summer if it is good news. There was a comment somewhere that he'd likely have to do summer school, so we should probably not expect him at Kenner.

Honestly, I'm kind of not expecting him at all. I have no information but it just seems like the trajectory has been another prep year.

[hoyaboy1]

Mar 31, 2008 14:06:29 GMT -5 idhoya said:

Freeman was at a disadvantage against Louisville (Terrance Williams), UConn (Robinson), etc. I didn't say Dajuan wasn't good. All I say is that he's more comfortable at the 3. He prefers the 3. He is a 3. You can spin it however. He may not have been forced to be Sweets, but his unwillingness to "mix it up" on a consistent basis, while at the same time staying almost exclusively on the perimeter was evident. Other than the numbers, how'd he play better? Yeah he showed more of a willingness to drive, but how effective was he? He just seemed out of sinc. Still the 3 is his natural position; despite him playing the post in HS.

Freeman easily outplayed Robinson (13 to 2), and outscored Williams in both games as well. Most of this stuff is in fans' minds.

As for DaJuan, he obviously didn't have a great year - but he didn't as a freshman either. Why would moving him back to the three change anything if he's going to play the exact same way? He doesn't have a great handle, he struggles to finish, and he's only a mediocre shooter. The abbreviation next to his name in the starting lineup isn't the problem - he plays the same role regardless.

As to your comment about "other than the numbers, how did he play better" . . . well, I don't feel like getting into that argument.

[sleepy]

Well the reason Freeman had better numbers than both those guys is because both teams zoned us last year so he didn't match up with them on offense. Summers and Freeman didn't match up one-on-one with guys last year on offense often, so comparing them to the other players isn't really relevant. The reason Summers should be a three is because he doesn't play like a four. Against zones he didn't have the midrange game to stay at the foul line, so he would either hang around the outside like a three, or go to the baseline. When he was on the baseline he would frequently turn it over. The fact is last year Summers didn't play like a PF, and when he did it wasn't very effective. Why keep him there when we could put someone that is effective playing as the PF, and keep him at the SF where he is effective.

Next year we won't face as many zones so playing guys out of position will have a greater effect.

[hoyaboy1]

Again, I think the team might be better with an extra big guy and one less guard. But there is no reason to think DaJuan will be any better, since he basically played the 3 on offense this year anyway.

[Locker]

The only possible way Summers is the starting three is if Freeman can handle and guard effectively at the two. (I assume no one is benching Freeman.)

Hopefully Freeman can do this, but he played so rarely this season without two ballhandling guards on the floor with him, it's hard to know for sure.

If so, then one other unmentioned benefit of Summers at the three is that Freeman could post up smaller twos more often.

[sleepy]

Well I think he will be better because he actually gets an offseason to improve, unlike last year where he had, what a month to get ready to play in a totally different position? I think if he hadn't been injured last year he would have been able to play the four in our system much more effectivly, but why keep him there this year now that there are better options.


Locker- Not only could Freeman post up smaller twos, Summers can post smaller threes and his expierence of trying to post up big fours last year should come in handy.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Since this is turning into a bit of a "give-me-your-line-up" discussion. I think the problem with the team offensively this year is that DaJuan and Austin naturally play the same position (3) and both are too talented to keep them off of the court. Resolving how Austin and DaJuan can succeed when on the court together may be a more intractable issue than figuring out how the team could succeed with Roy and Jeff on the court was.

I think that the best line-up for next year is:

Wright
Sapp
Summers/Freeman
Monroe
Sims

That line-up has every player in their natural position - a defined point guard, moving Jessie back to playing a more defined combo guard role, and putting Summers back in a more comfortable position at 3.

Sims could be as easily replaced by Macklin at the 5. I think that there will be healthy competition for minutes between the two.

It would be tempting to put Monroe in the 5 spot and keep Summers at the 4, but I think that Summers as a power-forward is an experiment that has run its course. Putting Monroe into the point-forward role with Sims/Macklin will re-open the post passing game and make this team look a lot more like the team running offensive sets against Duke 2 seasons ago.

[GIGAFAN99]

I'm kind of surprised people are picking Sims over Macklin. Unless Sims has some skills we haven't heard about, I don't know what he'll be able to do that Macklin can't do already outside of shoot free throws. Vern shoots 60% from the floor and blocks shots. He's physically ready for the season with two years in and will be 22. He has the whole offseason to work on rebounding and even now, who knows if Sims out of high school would be any better?

Sims might be able to give us minutes but if Mack doesn't start, I'd find it hard to believe it would be because of Sims. Wright maybe, with Monroe moving down, but not Sims.

[idhoya]

Henry has po combined with a 6'11 frame and work ethic. While the future is bright, Mack has a 2 years in the program and has the advantage.

[SaxaCD]

Let the best man win the position! I love when guys compete for their minutes!