Probably the right level for him. He seemed overmatched by Big Ten power forwards. May not have been 100% later in the season, but based on how well he played OOC, he should do well in a lesser conference.Grant to Charlotte. Seems like the right level for him.
"Mark is likely to make a big freshman to sophomore jump next year. Why are people sleeping on him and even Powers?"
Grant leaving for Charlotte after his sophomore year and not a tear was shed.
Freshman to Sophomore jumps are not nearly as guaranteed as some seem to think.
Grant was better as a sophmore than he was as a freshman. The only area he didn't improve or stay flat was blocking shots. His best as a player is still to come."Mark is likely to make a big freshman to sophomore jump next year. Why are people sleeping on him and even Powers?"
Grant leaving for Charlotte after his sophomore year and not a tear was shed.
Freshman to Sophomore jumps are not nearly as guaranteed as some seem to think.
I think you are spot on with Mark and expect a major jump up based on his "raw skills". Hope so too, because he is going to be our starting PG.Lino Mark, in contrast, projects towards more of a JY trajectory. Their games aren’t the same per se, but both struggled with decision making in their first year with us but showed some raw skills on both sides of the ball that give me hope for major steps forward after another off season with the program.
Powers I have less of a feel on either way. He has miles to go on defense. On offense he plays a Geo Baker style game but was less efficient. Too many midranges for sure considering the rate he knocked them down at and not nearly as good at Tariq at drawing contact. But the difference with him (vs Grant) is he came in projecting to be a sharp shooter. That didn’t happen but look at GG. Took him a few years and suddenly the shots started falling. So there’s at least reason to hope there too.
did not play hard, thats a factI never saw a big dude play with less effort and energy than Grant. Not sure if he ever even worked up a sweat. Very frustrating to watch as I thought he had some talent
something was off there. Grant's body language and lackadaisical play indicated he was unhappy here"Mark is likely to make a big freshman to sophomore jump next year. Why are people sleeping on him and even Powers?"
Grant leaving for Charlotte after his sophomore year and not a tear was shed.
Freshman to Sophomore jumps are not nearly as guaranteed as some seem to think.
Grant was better as a sophmore than he was as a freshman. The only area he didn't improve or stay flat was blocking shots. His best as a player is still to come.
I'd bet a lot of money Mark is far more productive as a soph than a freshman.I’m certainly not always right (aka Tariq - thought he wouldn’t be able to help us), but I never thought it was reasonable to expect a big “jump” year over year from Grant. His success in 24-25 was highly opportunistic rather than skill based, largely benefitting from opportunities presented by teams focusing on Ace and Dylan. Getting wide open in those situations for a bunch of back door cuts demonstrates good basketball IQ, but it doesn’t show promise of a kid showing flashes on a path to become a breakout player.
Lino Mark, in contrast, projects towards more of a JY trajectory. Their games aren’t the same per se, but both struggled with decision making in their first year with us but showed some raw skills on both sides of the ball that give me hope for major steps forward after another off season with the program.
Powers I have less of a feel on either way. He has miles to go on defense. On offense he plays a Geo Baker style game but was less efficient. Too many midranges for sure considering the rate he knocked them down at and not nearly as good at Tariq at drawing contact. But the difference with him (vs Grant) is he came in projecting to be a sharp shooter. That didn’t happen but look at GG. Took him a few years and suddenly the shots started falling. So there’s at least reason to hope there too.
Oh, don't get it wrong, I didn't say there was anything good in his game, just it was all better than the year before. He was worse his freshman year.Not sure what player you were watching. He might have showed some signs in the non conference portion of the season but did an absolute disappearing act the second half. He had zero impact on the team.
not gonna disagree with your last sentence - maybe he IS a better player than he showed - and maybe going down a level he will show real improvement. But he showed ZERO signs of it this year
and frankly - i can be forgiving of a player who has faults but GIVES EFFORT!! But grant did not give a **** … so later !!!
Everybody saw it except the HC who continued to start him. Mr. Accountability.He’s gonna bless the rains down in Africa like Reiber did
Played injured a large part of the start of the,seasonI'd bet a lot of money Mark is far more productive as a soph than a freshman.
Everybody saw it except the HC who continued to start him. Mr. Accountability.
Agree for the most part but end of season chris was better and put in 200% the effort Grant did.In fairness, consider what our other options were. Nwuli might be better than Grant down the road, but he wasn’t last year. And Denis was useless. So we didn’t really have another 3 or 4 other than Buchanan.
Choosing to sit Grant meant playing DB at the 4 with 3 guards. And it wasn’t like Zrno or Powers at the 3 was an upgrade on D. So sadly, it wasn’t even unreasonable that he started. I do agree there were times where Grant should’ve been pulled and Pike let him stay in the game where he would’ve pulled others for lack of hustle, etc.
Chris was quite bad, but did start to limit his turnovers down the stretch. Interestingly, he scored 21 points in Nov/Dec, 21 points in January, and 21 points in Feb/Mar. Went from 20 rebounds Nov/Dec, to 17 in January, to 5 in Feb/March.Agree for the most part but end of season chris was better and put in 200% the effort Grant did.
Yeah but remember - at the end of the game where he really started to come on he got hurt. Under the circumstance I’m not sure there was a clear point in time where it made sense to remove him as the starter. He just wasn’t good for us and certainly not worth spending starter dollars to retain.Agree for the most part but end of season chris was better and put in 200% the effort Grant did.
Especially in this program."Mark is likely to make a big freshman to sophomore jump next year. Why are people sleeping on him and even Powers?"
Grant leaving for Charlotte after his sophomore year and not a tear was shed.
Freshman to Sophomore jumps are not nearly as guaranteed as some seem to think.
I mean, Grant was awful in conference this season and this show Nwuli was just as bad. He just doesn't shoot as much to make it stand out and should be better defensively. Actually surprised in the rebounding numbers would have thought Chris was better.here's some facts to support my position.
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