Maybe I should put this on the recruiting page.

[Norm Peterson]

There's this 17-year-old kid I've had my eye on. He's built like a dude. Stands about 6'9 and probably close to 250#, I'd imagine. He's a foreign player, playing in his first year in the states, and last night, playing against a team full of D1 prospects, he grabbed 14 rebounds and put up 11 points.

 

Pretty sure he's on Hoiberg's radar. I just hope we can nail down a commit before the big boys come in and ...

 

Wait … I'm hearing he's already on the roster. Whew.

[jayschool]

Get him in the program, give him a year to redshirt, and then watch him go as a 19-year-old redshirt freshman. By the time he's a 22-year-old senior, this team is in its third straight Sweet 16.

 

Ne c'est pas?

[Norm Peterson]

Put another way: If this 17-year-old had gone to prep school and was doing for Brewster Academy or IMG what he did to ATM Corpus Christi, which high major program would NOT be at his doorstep with an offer?

[hhcmatt]

He feels like the possible answer to the question of 'What would Leslee Smith have been like if he could stay healthy?'

Maybe the upside to him not being a leaping shot blocker is that he's going to stay healthy.

[Norm Peterson]

17 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

He feels like the possible answer to the question of 'What would Leslee Smith have been like if he could stay healthy?'

 

By virtue of his chronological age, he should be a senior in high school right now. He could reclassify to 2021 if he wanted. I have to remind myself of that from time to time while watching him. He is FAR from your normal college freshman.

 

When Yvan hits at least 50% of his FG, we are 5-2.

 

Remember how everyone was worried he'd be a fouling machine?

[Norm Peterson]

So, you're our special assistant to the head coach in charge of player development. What would you do to develop l'homme for next year?

 

@basketballjones? @Dean Smith what say voux?

[jimmykc]

Free escargot for double-doubles.

[jayschool]

1 hour ago, Norm Peterson said:

So, you're our special assistant to the head coach in charge of player development. What would you do to develop l'homme for next year?

 

@basketballjones? @Dean Smith what say voux?

You didn't ask me, but I'd like to see him be more decisive when we enter the ball to him low. Knowing where the defense is on the court will allow him to take it quickly to the rack or kick it quickly back out for an easy outside look for Cam, Thor, Dachon, Jervay, Matej, etc.

 

In short, work on general basketball awareness.

 

I never played defense, so don't ask me about that end of the court. Oh, that's right — you didn't. 

Edited December 31, 2019 by jayschool

[AuroranHusker]

Drago has been a big coup for NU recruiting in Year One of Hoiberg Hoops (along with Cam Mack).

 

 

[royalfan]

I am not quite with Norm on this one.  Doesn't have the quick jumping burst I would like to see in this system.  He can be a good solid player but nothing more IMO.  

[AuroranHusker]

15 minutes ago, royalfan said:

I am not quite with Norm on this one.  Doesn't have the quick jumping burst I would like to see in this system.  He can be a good solid player but nothing more IMO.  

 

I wish Drago could have redshirted this year. He'd be able to rid his body of the extra 'weight' while lifting weights & utilizing the best nutrition that NU has to offer.

 

Oh well, guess we'll still see what he's like next season. I have a feeling that Yvan will be a good rotation piece going forward.

 

I doubt anyone is truly expecting stardom from the young buck. A serviceable big is never a bad thing.

 

 

Edited December 31, 2019 by AuroranHusker

[Handy Johnson]

If he falls somewhere in the range of the “Brazilian Steakhouse” Andre Almeida, Richard Van Polgeist or Steffen Bradford I’ll be THRILLED...!  All kidding aside, just playing against better competition & putting on his man muscles is all that’s stopping him from being a special player.

[Norm Peterson]

Yvan is going to cut his teeth on a murderer's row of college basketball big men this season.

 

He will be getting experience that he would not have been able to see at virtually any other option he had going the college route last spring. And he'll be a far better player for it next year.

 

If he was only getting spot minutes, then a redshirt would have probably been preferable. But when you're the starter and getting 25 min/game, that experience will be invaluable down the road.

[colhusker]

16 hours ago, jayschool said:

I never played defense, so don't ask me about that end of the court. Oh, that's right — you didn't. 

I can vouch for this statement.

[Dean Smith]

He has scored, or gotten really good shots,  consistently every time teams have left his defender to handle him alone on the left block. He effectively uses a Barkley or double drop move, middle to baseline. He struggles with recognition when the D doubles down and digs. He tends to get it taken away too often in those situations. The double-drop counter seems to be his go to so his counter becomes the middle jumphook. He misses bunnies because there is no follow through on the shot. Yes you still need to follow through on palm to the basket layups and certainly on the jump hook. Without the follow through his shot doesn't have the soft backspin and sort of floats up and too many times bounces out. He does fade away from contact too much almost exclusively on the right side of the basket. I think part of it stems from him not willing to go into the defense towards the middle meaning he would have to use his left hand. 

 

I am aware of two basic ways to teach the jump hook and I think the one he uses exacerbates his lack of follow through problem. Danny Nee taught the "V." Your shoulders never rotate, the inside arm goes up when the hand comes off the ball to protect and when you shoot your arms form the V as you hook or flip the ball up from behind your head. This is not a natural shooting motion and when your shooting hand just stops with your fingers still pointed to the sky, which it tends to do with this technique, the ball becomes a knuckler with no spin. Same thing that is happening to many of his bunnies. That means if you hit any iron you have no idea what is going to happen next in relation to the bounce.  That's what is happening to Yvan. The method I got from McDermott is a more natural shooting motion. You still get your toes parallel to the basket when you go up protecting the ball with your body. Both hands are on the ball until the top of your jump when the inside arm comes off and you rotate your shoulders to the basket. That means you are clearing out with the off arm and as you rotate the shot finishes with your regular form including a natural follow through at the end. Now you are putting up a much softer shot. One that has a better chance of dying when it hits the rim and falls in. 

 

Defensively we are playing behind posts. I'm sure to put us in better rebounding position since that is a weakness well documented. We doubled against  Indiana and Purdue but have usually left them on their own against other teams where the posts do not scare us as much. When we get hurt is when we don't start playing defense early enough and let them seal us too close to the basket. If you are going to be successful with this technique you need to go to work early and push the post as far from the basket as you can. We relax or get overpowered, or both and the defender puts us too close to the basket which almost always ends up in 2 for the other team. The post from North Dakota did a great job of this. He sealed low and then we had no answer to his jump hook. He used the  clear out, rotate the shoulders and had a nice follow through on every shot. He has been the best fundamental offensive post player we have faced this year in my opinion. That is not surprising due to their head coach spending some time with McDermott as a GA at Wayne State. 

Edited December 31, 2019 by Dean Smith

[basketballjones]

On 12/30/2019 at 4:55 PM, Norm Peterson said:

So, you're our special assistant to the head coach in charge of player development. What would you do to develop l'homme for next year?

 

@basketballjones? @Dean Smith what say voux?

Hopefully teach him how to finish really easy shots in the paint and make free throws.