CO_Hoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,109
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Post by CO_Hoya on May 27, 2006 14:11:21 GMT -5
If a player is the best player at a position, he will play. He will not sit because he is a freshman. That trend happened this year because the freshman on this team were not even close to as good as the freshman the year before. I'd say that 2-3 freshmen started in 2004-5 because of the returning talent, rather than just their raw ability. To say that "the freshman on this team were not even close to as good as the freshman the year before" is a bit unfair, since this year's freshmen were competing against a much tougher group for minutes. I don't think we have much of any idea about Spann and Thornton at this point. And I believe that JTIII has actually said he doesn't like to play freshmen, but did so out of necessity in 2004-5 - at least that's how I remember it. Anyway, looking forward to Kenner League this year, as last year's reports (Roy's improvement, Brandon's inconsistency) proved prophetic.
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GIGAFAN99
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,487
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Post by GIGAFAN99 on May 27, 2006 15:04:16 GMT -5
Dead right CO_Hoya.
Actually, this year's freshmen were just as good if not better than the ones a year before, if you like high school rankings. Checking Rivals (easy to do historically) Sapp was ranked higher than any guard that played in front of him. Spann was ranked higher than any forward except Jeff though admittedly Roy and Brandon were about the same. Still, the returning players got the nod.
2005 is a bad example as you point out. Roy had to beat out Courtland Freeman's ghost and Green had to beat out Darian Townes (who was at Arkansas). So no matter who was coaching in what system those two had to start because there were no returning frontcourt players in 2005. Add the Causey transfer at point and suddenly three freshmen have to start.
I don't think III has anything against freshmen, but I do think impact freshmen are harder to come by than we think. Look at the second seasons for every player who played last year (Jon, Brandon, DO, AC, Roy, and Jeff). With the exception of Jeff, it's night and day the type of player that develops between the first and second years. I expect the same to happen this year with at least some of those raw freshmen we saw last year.
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RBHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,135
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Post by RBHoya on May 27, 2006 23:08:54 GMT -5
GIGA, all your points are well-taken, and I appreciate the analysis (re: Wallace vs. Frosh national)... Basically what we're doing here is speculating though, and thus there are no right or wrong answers at this moment; the only way we'll know is by looking back at the predictions in a year or so. Jeremiah may turn out to be a pleasant surprise. He may be a great player for us. Chris Wright might have a bad summer and dip in the rankings, or he may have a good summer and solidify all-america status. But I will say this about Chris:
-He is a much more prolific scorer than Jeremiah ever was. He averaged 22.1 ppg this season as a junior, playing in one of America's best high school basketball conferences. Jeremiah averaged 13.6 this year as a senior, in a decent-good Florida conference. (For the record, I think Jeremiah will be a very good player, and is probably very solid in every area except outside shooting... I just think that if Chris Wright comes, JR will be a backup).
-Chris, right now, is considered a sure fire all-american by just about every recruiting service. Jeremiah never reached that status, nor did Scottie really--he was something of a surprise AA choice.
-Chris is poised to be the first player in a long time to be first team All Met for 3 years. I'd tell you the last player to do this if I could, but I have no idea, I just know its been a while. Needless to say, many good players have passed through the D.C. high school leagues in the last few decades, but Chris is the only one in recent memory to be 3 time first team all-met. He also is probably the odds-on fav to be Player of the year, though Austin is right there too... Chris tends to put up better numbers though, and is probably more of a one-on-one guy.
-Chris does more than light it up. He is a SUPERB athlete and all-around player. He is supposedly a great defender, which is not something you see in a lot of great scorers. He has no real offensive holes, according to the scouts/reports... he passes, shoots, drives, handles, everything. If he has one weakness, its probably that he shoots a lot, but on talent he is the total package. He even takes the opening tip for his team!
All in all JR and CW are too different style of point guards. IMO, Chris is just waiting to be a superstar, wheras Jeremiah's dish-and-defend but not score much style lends itself to a great bench player. But hey, I could be wrong on either. And I'd love to be wrong about Jeremiah... I'd love him to overwhelm us these next few years, and come in and be a great player for us. I'll be the first guy to cheer him on and come on Hoyatalk and be like "Man, Jeremiah Rivers is AWESOME, I never thought he'd be this great!".... but for now, when speculating, I wouldn't go that far. Hopefully, he makes me look like a dope, haha. And hopefully Chris Wright comes to GU and we can see them play it out on the court.
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