With Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey leaving for the NBA this team will need players to step up. Obviously one of the reasons this team is so low in the Big Ten standings is who will step up and how good they will be is TBD.
Having seen a single practice, I feel I am in a unique position to wildly extrapolate an extremely small sample size into projected results throughout the season including Big Ten competition. But to make my analysis more accurate I will take into account what Pikiel has said or implied about certain players since it’s well known he isn’t prone to wild exaggerations or hyperbole.
With that being said Darren Buchanan is probably the most likely player to be MVP. Physically he seems like a taller Ron Harper. He supposedly is one of the team’s best defenders and had previously scored at almost 20 points per game. He has had issues with injuries.
The next most likely player is Dylan Grant. Last year he struggled early missing 9 straight shots including if my memory is correct a dunk and a lay-up. However he has gotten steadily better and appears confident offensively showing the ability to put the ball on the floor and shoot off the dribble with a much better stroke. He also is tall, quick and agile, which suggests he could be a decent rebounder and defender. However at the dinner after the practice Pikiel got on Grant’s case for not rebounding up to his potential.
Chris Nwuli may have a shot at becoming the team’s defensive player of the year. Without mentioning names Pikiel suggested one of the new players coming in has the potential to be another McConnell. Based on how Pikiel described Buchanan and Nwuli it could be either one. Offensively Nwuli finished around the basket but made none of his threes so based on the small sample size 1 or 2 shots from 3, I can only conclude that he will be a horrible 3 point shooter.
Both the European players have really nice strokes on their shots and could also surprise us and become the next Cam Spencer. That is very unlikely, but at this point who knows.
Finally, I have to mention Tariq Francis, I don’t think he has a chance to be MVP based on his stats at NJIT, but gosh darn it, he scored at will during the practice and looked really smooth offensively!
Having seen a single practice, I feel I am in a unique position to wildly extrapolate an extremely small sample size into projected results throughout the season including Big Ten competition. But to make my analysis more accurate I will take into account what Pikiel has said or implied about certain players since it’s well known he isn’t prone to wild exaggerations or hyperbole.
With that being said Darren Buchanan is probably the most likely player to be MVP. Physically he seems like a taller Ron Harper. He supposedly is one of the team’s best defenders and had previously scored at almost 20 points per game. He has had issues with injuries.
The next most likely player is Dylan Grant. Last year he struggled early missing 9 straight shots including if my memory is correct a dunk and a lay-up. However he has gotten steadily better and appears confident offensively showing the ability to put the ball on the floor and shoot off the dribble with a much better stroke. He also is tall, quick and agile, which suggests he could be a decent rebounder and defender. However at the dinner after the practice Pikiel got on Grant’s case for not rebounding up to his potential.
Chris Nwuli may have a shot at becoming the team’s defensive player of the year. Without mentioning names Pikiel suggested one of the new players coming in has the potential to be another McConnell. Based on how Pikiel described Buchanan and Nwuli it could be either one. Offensively Nwuli finished around the basket but made none of his threes so based on the small sample size 1 or 2 shots from 3, I can only conclude that he will be a horrible 3 point shooter.
Both the European players have really nice strokes on their shots and could also surprise us and become the next Cam Spencer. That is very unlikely, but at this point who knows.
Finally, I have to mention Tariq Francis, I don’t think he has a chance to be MVP based on his stats at NJIT, but gosh darn it, he scored at will during the practice and looked really smooth offensively!
