Fullbacksympathy

Wiscy 78 Good guys 67 25%

I think our defense has been phenomenally improved this season with the exception of two halves. I just want a post defender who doesn’t need weakside help. We’ll be amazing if we can keep rotations from happening.

Oh Walker for sure will change our trajectory. I’m just talking about the band aid until that point. I’d rather see what Andre can do.

We will be an infinitely better defensive team if we don’t have to double the post. Andre might be long enough to guard straight up, and I think he’ll hedge fine. I just want someone on offense who can catch it high and finish high.

What’s his status? We could use a 5.

Need to just make a rule that if Lat catches it, he shoots it.

Part of me wants Fred to switch up from the 5 out this season to match our personnel a bit more... but man... when get some shooters camped outside the three next season, it's gonna be worth it.

Good half. Spirited effort. Thor, Teddy, and Dalano were great. Need Kobe to make a couple. Shamiel is playing too fast. Defense so far is night and day from two nights ago. I hope they realize that's how they win games this season.

They have better shooters. We have better athletes. We'll see how it shakes out, but we are clearly primed to be a better program moving forward regardless.

I respect them more now that they are in an actual conference and we aren't their super bowl. But I also think they are shady hypocrites and are going to get caught by the NCAA at some point. I also think they know Fred is a dude and a serious threat to their status as soon as next season. Just look at how much better Fred was at ISU. It was an incredible contrast between the quality of coaching between Fred and the Creighton guy, and he didn't have to pay anyone to get it done.

I’m sorry your football team isn’t good this year but your favorite basketball team only lost to KU by a point so you have that.

This. To add, Thor gave up a TON of points tonight trying to guard guards. He needs to play the 4 or not at all. I actually like him there and think he's tough enough to do it, but we've gotta stop pretending he is anything other than a small ball stretch 4.

85-68 Bagmen

It’s just hard for me to judge much without a full roster of bigs. We need height at the 5 or we need to just stick Shamiel there as a band aid for now. He’s easily our best available 5. I feel like we have enough at the guard position to mix and match how we want. We’ll be a little different when we can do the same at the 4-5. Kobe, Trey, Dalano, Teddy, and Shamiel is who I would roll out to start against Creighton.

I would argue that Shamiel is basically tied with Trey and Lat for our second best player behind Banton thus far.

Mostly agree. Kobe does okay as well. But definitely don't want Thor guarding PGs and SGs if at all possible.

70-66 GT 4

The one metric that I wasn't sold on was his form though. His low windup made me wonder if he could get shots up comfortably in a physical B1G. Turned out he couldn't. He had a 6'8" frame with a 6'4" release. When I watch Kobe and Teddy shoot, they give no indication that their shots will be affected at the B1G level. Kobe's jumper is textbook and I truly believe those are going to start dropping at higher and higher rates for us. Teddy's shot is extremely hard to block from a timing standpoint, and he tends to fall away. It's also a crazy quick release. Thor still has me worried. He didn't end the season well last year, and that trend appears to be continuing. We also have entire prior years of evidence that he is a mediocre shooter. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I'm worried for him. Shamiel and Banton should be shooting wide open threes, but that's about it, IMO. Trey looks average from outside. So, really, Teddy, Kobe, and Lat are the guys I'm confident about from beyond the arc. I think the rest of the guys are going to hover in the 25-30% range.

Good point. Depth tends to show up in the middle/end of the season, and we have it in spades. Walker and Andre make this is a very complete bunch. Walker showing up on the court may very well start a run for us midseason.

It's difficult to catch the ball when you are rarely open.

81-62 Good guys 4

Agree. I really liked his controlled contribution. He’s an excellent defender—hedges very well. His finish at the rim in the first half was his best non-dunk finish of his career. It was perfect. He’s going to figure out his role in our program. He’s works too hard not to right the ship.

Thor’s passing against a zone is a sight to behold. Against a packed m2m, those opportunities just don’t come as often unless you can be a threat off the dribble or are absolutely deadly from deep. If he’s shooting 40% from 3, play him all night. But he’s not, and when he’s not, we have better options.

Charges are called correctly about 1/3 of the time based on most metrics. Tonight was definitely an anomaly. It is almost always best to crash into defenders these days because blocks are so often called. I’m guessing that’s the rationale.

The insinuation that Thor is awesome because he isn’t selfish and can score at will but doesn’t feel like it really needs to stop. He’s struggling to find a role with this roster, and that’s okay for now. I’m sorry, but he getting outplayed by Shamiel and Kobe. Look at the stat line and relative minutes. We all love Thor. That shouldn’t negate the fact that we have a bonafide scorer in Teddy and a world class facilitator in Banton. This team isn’t good enough from deep to frown on isolation scorers. Teddy put on an iso clinic tonight. Trey, Kobe, Delano, and Shamiel were all quietly in double figures. Those are largely points that come from spreading out and taking your man off the dribble. That ain’t Thor. Against a zone? Play him all night. Against man? At the 3? He’s gonna have trouble getting open. If he’s not hitting, you cannot tell me he is more valuable on the other end than Shamiel. I liked the distribution of minutes tonight, but I’d start Shamiel moving forward. He’s earned it on both ends.