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-We're trying hard to get William Kyle, who would be one of if not the best athletes on the team. -If you watch Milicic tape, he's got a lot more to his game than Allick did and he is not unathletic in the least. Based on his frame and shooting numbers you might assume he's Brian Conklin, but that he is not. He blocked 35 shots last year. Our highest on the team was 21 (Brice and Juwan). We haven't had a player with 35 blocks since 2018-19 (Roby had 66). Those two guys would be instant, huge upgrades and impact players. Now looking at what we already have: -Griffiths is more athletic and 6-8 compared to Keisei's "6-2" and, try as he might, was a big liability on defense. Griffiths blocked 13 shots in 571 minutes last year. For comparison, Allick blocked 12 shots in 785 minutes. Keisei and Lawrence each blocked 1 shot in 800+ minutes. -Eli Rice and CJ Wilcher were not athletic. Essegian isn't Lebron James but he's no stiff out there. -Morgan is more athletic than Mast, especially if Mast is hobbling out there. -Ulis and Worster will give us way more at the PG spot than Lawrence did. We haven't added any high fliers or anything but I think sneakily we've gotten more athletic, and if we can get Kyle and Milicic (please!!!), I will be expecting us to be a Top 25 type of team throughout the year.

My Wisconsin friends say Storr was the weak link of their defense this year. They had a top 20ish defense last year and a top 60ish defense this year, and really the only difference in personnel was Storr taking Essegian's spot. Storr did obviously bring an element of three level scoring that Wisconsin hasn't had since probably Sam Dekker.

My dad too! You might be siblings.

Great post, well said.

If that's what his role would be here, like CJ, then he would be an upgrade. Just watch some film before you get too upset. I love CJ, but there's not one aspect of the game that he's better than Essegian at. Don't trust Greg Gard and his offense that doesn't generate open looks. You'll see Essegian, Chucky and Storr's efficiency metrics all magically go up next year.

It's because of AJ Storr. Storr was much more versatile offensively and defensively. Wiscy was a a NIT team with Essigian playing a lot of minutes in 22-23 and this year the Badgers were a 5 seed in the tourney with Storr. I guess I would take Essigan, but it wouldn't get me that excited.

We saw what Tominaga did for this offense with his shooting. In addition to Williams having this kind of outside shooting really opens up the middle even more. A guy like Kyle would thrive at a 4 position.

Why is most of their good players leaving? Offense sucks and they were a mess chemistry wise last year down the stretch. Unhappy players leave.

Agree and we beat Illinois the first time, #$@# refs

Just because we got beat by Terrence Shannon, does not mean we need Terrence Shannon. We have added athleticism and length. It’s going to help our defense tremendously, and that’s where we need to improve the most. We didn’t lose to A and M or Illinois because we couldn’t score enough. We lost because we gave up 98 points.

As for Morgan. I think we went after him early because he is a solid all around big guy who is willing to come off the bench. Most of those guys want starting roles. I think he is perfect as long as we get 1-2 more starter types. In all it appears to me we are getting much more athletic and increasing our skill as well. We are not going to be Tx AM athletic but we should be stronger and more athletic than last year. The one piece I wanted to see was a lead guard who could get in the lane and create for others. Maybe Ulis / Rollie can but I wanted to shoot high for that spot. We might have settled here for consistency over dynamic. Overall if we get Kyle / Milicic (at least 1) I am going to be very happy and feels like we can be better than last year. Assuming they play for each other like the last two years.

Agree. I don't understand his reduction in minutes this season at all. He made the B1G All-Freshman team. Gard is dumb.

Hyper athletic guys aren't always that skilled, but I think we do have two dudes who can guard a quick PG now. We didn't have that last season, and when we finally went against a true NBA pg against A&M it showed. From what I can tell, Worster is a very good perimeter defender and a big body who has no problem punishing smaller players on the other end. Ulis seems to have the capability to guard the perimeter as well. We don't currently have a great defender at the 2 but I think Brice is serviceable. He's just long and, again, will outscore about 95% of his matchups this season at 6'7". As for the transfers from other programs, it really depends on what the team needs are going to be and what their situation was. The kid from Nova got recruited there by an all time great in Jay Wright and then had to play for someone mediocre when he arrived. The kid from Wiscy was getting spot minutes for all star prick Greg Gard, but it looks like he has a higher ceiling to me, and he blew up Nebraska when we played there this season. I think he also can be serviceable as a perimeter defender. In both instances, as specialists, they are almost certain to be able to get a decent paycheck to go somewhere else. The all conference caliber mid-majors are trying to put their play on film at the high major level and also get a paycheck likely higher than any Euro team would ever offer them.

Isn’t that what he basically did for Wisconsin, come off the bench to provide a spark. He’ making a parallel move. Why? Don’t feel good about him at all!

Essegian had a great freshmen year but his minutes fell off a cliff last season for whatever reason. He’s shown he can be a great contributor and NU coaches can likely get him back on track.

I'd take Essegian for sure. He's a good player who will be unlocked wherever he goes. His freshmen year was super impressive. Against Kansas he looked like one of the best players on the court throughout that whole game. I just went back and watched some of that game and he and Kevin McCullar were matched up on each other in the second half and overtime. Not just a shooter. Good athlete, good size, he can put the ball on the floor and finish at the rim. Griffiths has more next level potential but I'd be more confident in Essegian being a significant contributor next year. Unpopular opinion but Essegian>Hickman at the Big Ten level imo.

I agree with you 100%. We need to improve our athleticism. It wasn’t just A&M.

100% accurate. He is a hustle guy who can heat up and plays very fast in the half court coming off of screens. Another court-stretcher that has to be accounted for. Not a starter most likely, but he should fit right in.

Sir Edmund Hillary? Did he lead an expedition to Panorama Point or something?

My dad too!

A better one. We're adding a big PG with elite passing and solid defense in addition to Ulis who is a good PG. We're adding a 6'8" guard who has an NBA future and will undoubtedly find his shot with Fred. We're adding a skilled, athletic 6'10" center who was all conference and can stretch the court. We're likely adding another solid 6'4" guard from Wisconsin who is a 3pt specialist. We're likely going to get Kyle to help with our front court athleticism. We have a chance to land Milicic as another versatile weapon at 6'10" who can play the 4-5. In all seriousness, I think the most important thing Fred is looking for is skill. All of these guys outside of maybe Kyle (who is tremendously skilled defensively) can handle the ball and shoot. Typically skilled players have learned a lot and worked on their game on their own a lot, which probably means they have a high IQ and work ethic to match their skills. Coach's dream. Defensively, our system requires smart players but it's so help heavy it's basically a zone which typically makes up for some lack of athleticism. I think Fred is looking for long players who can fill it up on offense with the hope that their length creates problems in our hybrid defense. Brice is like this. Mast is like this. Gary is probably the only player left that doesn't quite fit this mold exactly but he has really worked on his offense, and he was already an elite defender, so he still fits in very well. I'm intrigued.

@GhostOfJoeMcCray , @Fullbacksympathy just tagging you since you've asked the same thing. I probably should have rephrased my statement or said it differently. I really like Griffin. I think I like the Worster dude in theory too. I'm not seeing what we're doing with Morgan (or why we took that commit so early) with the other people that are out there still, our current roster, and what could still come open. I also feel like there's 1-2 hyper athletic guys (guards specifically) we absolutely need to compete against certain teams (w/o overreacting to the A&M game just so we're clear here). And I haven't even seen one identified or visited. And I think more of my other confusion - which is probably a better word - is actually on the other end, i.e., what/why are some of these people transfering? Like this Wisconsin shooter or the 'Nova guy? Maybe just my confusion with the transfer portal in general. Seems like a lot of guys are just making horizontal moves and putting themselves in similar situations. Overall, I'm just an idiot and confused.

This dude appears to be that sixth or seventh man who is a specialist. Sort of a CJ type of player. The hope is that he can come in and light it up from three point line and provides a hard driven 15 to 16 minutes a game. I may be totally off base; but that is my initial reaction.

Is it because we are upgrading quality of athletes, size and overall players - so we aren’t required to be as “systematic” going forward due to higher quality of player and less about needing system to hide warts and defencies?

I guess I would ask, what do you think their vision should be or what would you expect them to do? You need a well balanced basketball team first and foremost, but beyond that you want players with attributes you value highly (which for us lately has been toughness, high IQ, unselfishness).