You want big athletic guys who can consistently get good looks close to the basket. That can be in the form of a back to the basket guy, but it doesn't have to be. If the guys coming in can relentlessly attack the basket, as their athleticism would suggest, we don't need a go-to post scorer. Now a legitimate rim protector would be nice, but I don't now if Bolden is that guy.
Fox and monk...
- Thread starter bigblue_07_rivals
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One thing I'm not worried about is defense, Poe. Cal almost always has a top 10 defense (last year being a glaring exception), and these athletes fit right into how he usually constructs it.
Gabrial is not an inside player. Think Stanley Robinson of Uconn several years back and u have Garbiel.
But yeah, you guys expecting SKJ and Gabriel to be superstars immediately should pull back the reigns a bit.
They'll start to figure it out soon enough, but imo at the beginning, we're going to rely on Willis, Fox (who will make a lot of freshman manic freak athlete turnover-y mistakes), Monk, and Bam. If Briscoe and Lee come back, they will be steadying forces, and I wouldn't be surprised if Humphries starts to threaten the rotation as well.
Cal will work with SKJ just like he did with Willie, but it'll take time, and Gabriel has all the signs of a kid who will have to make a transition to high D1 (trying to shift to a more skill-heavy position, shot up the rankings due to athleticism/"upside", still growing into his frame).
They'll start to figure it out soon enough, but imo at the beginning, we're going to rely on Willis, Fox (who will make a lot of freshman manic freak athlete turnover-y mistakes), Monk, and Bam. If Briscoe and Lee come back, they will be steadying forces, and I wouldn't be surprised if Humphries starts to threaten the rotation as well.
Cal will work with SKJ just like he did with Willie, but it'll take time, and Gabriel has all the signs of a kid who will have to make a transition to high D1 (trying to shift to a more skill-heavy position, shot up the rankings due to athleticism/"upside", still growing into his frame).
true...but i bet you will see Cal post him up once per half the same way he did with MKG. get Gab to perfect a baby jump hook, with his size and length, traditional SFs wont be able to defend it very often. but most of the time he is going to be on the perimeter looking for spot up threes, drives, and offensive rebounds. i hope this kid gets to campus as soon as possible...soooooo much upside and a great attitude/work ethic
Brianpoe, concerning your comments, I think returning Briscoe is key so that he will be a mentor/guide/leader to Fox and Monk. Willis too. If we return Briscoe, Lee and of obviously Willis, and get Bolden, I love where we will be. Nice returning experience, although Lee is going to have to improve to get much PT, along with great new talent. Losing Briscoe will be significant IMO. Without him, the only returning backcourt experience of significance is gonna be Hawkins. I love the effort he put out down the stretch, but I don't see him as a mentor. Maybe I'm wrong about that though.
So, I've read that Gabriel is not a shooter, and now that he is not an inside player. Kid must be good at something.
I don't really put much stock into what people are saying about how good of a shooter these guys will be, even if they have seen them play a lot. No offense. It's just that how players shoot in HS doesn't necessarily indicate how they will be in college. Lamb was billed as a mid-range shooter, not from distance (shot just under 50% from 3 both seasons) and guys like Frankamp at KU and Kennard were supposed to be lights out shooters and were anything but. You just never know.
I'm not really saying anything others haven't said in this thread, but the biggest thing I hope for is better balance.
It would have been nice against IU to start pounding it inside when the guards weren't being effective.
Our backcourt was the best in the country but we had almost zero interior presence. Bryant is a good player but we made him look like Dwight Howard.
Hopefully we get Bolden, Humphries improves, Wynyard contributes, and Bam adds some edge and muscle.
It would have been nice against IU to start pounding it inside when the guards weren't being effective.
Our backcourt was the best in the country but we had almost zero interior presence. Bryant is a good player but we made him look like Dwight Howard.
Hopefully we get Bolden, Humphries improves, Wynyard contributes, and Bam adds some edge and muscle.
I don't understand why you think that. I believe, as part of the total package, our post play will be good enough. But, in my opinion, saying it "should be the best in the country" is neither true nor a fair expectation to put on them.
I just hope Bam plays like Poy played against Duke all the time. Maybe, he can come offside with rim rattling dunks,because teams will have to double team our other bigs.
Bolden would be huge,if he were to come here.
Bolden would be huge,if he were to come here.
6'10 with long arms, great athlete who plays hard. A guy like that can effect the game a lot without being much of an offensive player, as we've seen.
UKrazycat2Junior
You're moving up my list of posters. Not that that's a ringing endorsement.
Too funny....
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Ulis year two was better than Ulis year one. It is silly to think that Fox just comes in and is equal. BUT, we don't need Fox and Monk to be as good as Murray and Ulis, we need them just to be good with more inside skilled players. We have already seen in this tourney, how some mid-majors advanced or lost a very close contest by having one dribble drive mobile big man. Just one, combined with some decent but not exceptional talent at other positions. We can have exceptional talent at multiple positions along with a big front line. That is the key difference going into next season hopefully.
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You're moving up my list of posters. Not that that's a ringing endorsement.
You're moving up my list of posters. Not that that's a ringing endorsement.
Too funny....
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Ulis year two was better than Ulis year one. It is silly to think that Fox just comes in and is equal. BUT, we don't need Fox and Monk to be as good as Murray and Ulis, we need them just to be good with more inside skilled players. We have already seen in this tourney, how some mid-majors advanced or lost a very close contest by having one dribble drive mobile big man. Just one, combined with some decent but not exceptional talent at other positions. We can have exceptional talent at multiple positions along with a big front line. That is the key difference going into next season hopefully.
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You're moving up my list of posters. Not that that's a ringing endorsement.
I am not either, but you can bet Cal wont hesitate to insert guys like Dom and Charles when needed.
Be great to return those guys, not sure if it is as great at the expense of losing Bolden. No idea how the roster unfolds if Lee and Briscoe return.
True but Davis had Jones, who was a very good block scorer.
Bolden would allow Bam to do the same.
Bam at the 5 is not as appealing to me.
Jones was not a great back to the basket scorer. He was more of a face up player who could take his player off the dribble.
I sort of disagree with Bam at the 5 not being appealing. Could you imagine how hectic our defense could be with a line up of Fox, Monk, Briscoe, Gabriel, and Bam? It would be like WVU on steroids on D, plus offensively we could spread the floor with the guards running the DDMO out front slashing in the lane with lobs and kick out corner 3s. Not saying this line up would be 20 minute a game strategy, but I would love to see this for 5-6 minute stretches throughout a game.
He was very good at face up, but at the beginning of the season he was our only block scorer.
Cal even said do not throw it to AD on the block early one.
I like that lineup too athletically. We could press like crazy!
But in the halfcourt Bam will be dealing with the C and PF together a ton. Gabriel is 6'10 and only 200 pounds. A center like Bolden would free Bam up so much more...
Absolutely. There is no question I want Bolden, but how fun would that line up be for short bursts of 5-6 minutes? Would be turnover city for the other team with the hectic press that could be put on. There will be so many line ups that can be put on the floor next year it will be crazy.
Will be better than Ulis & Murray...And will have much better teammates..This team will be fun to watch if we add 1-2 more guys and i think we will..
Id love to see this linup
Fox//Dom
Monk//Matthews
Fegerson/Willis
Bam///WG
Bolden/SKJ
I'm sure he is great...I'm just basing this on of course...the videos I've seen. He reminds me is Stanley Robinson a bit. Especially on the high school level, robinson beefed up quite a bit once he got to Uconn.
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He looks to be a better ball handler than Stanley Robinson at this point though ...hell I remember Stanley Johnson shooting jumpers and handling/putting it on the floor some quite a bit at Uconn. But Gabriel looks a bit more guard oriented handle wise of the two.
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I haven't seen the others in person, but I've seen Monk a few times. I think he's got a Buddy Heild offensive game. Not nearly as polished at this point, but the potential is there. Heck, Buddy Heild didn't have a Buddy Heild game his freshman year. He added a little to his repertoire each year. I'm saying Monk has to tools to potentially have a game very similar to Heild's right now. Monk's got a nice jumper, but right now he's extremely streaky. But, his explosiveness to the basket is off the charts. He can also be a dynamite defensive player. I just don't think he's developed a real commitment on that end yet. But, then again, very few have at this stage.
Something to keep an eye on: He needs to get out of the habit of looking in the stands to get coaching from his brother while he's on the floor. His brother Marcus has been his most important coach and mentor all his life, but that won't fly next year, and it could cause problems if unchecked.
Something to keep an eye on: He needs to get out of the habit of looking in the stands to get coaching from his brother while he's on the floor. His brother Marcus has been his most important coach and mentor all his life, but that won't fly next year, and it could cause problems if unchecked.
Depending on who leaves for the NBA I could see Willis playing with Fox and Monk like he did this year with Ulis and Murray. That would open up the 3 point shot for both Monk and Fox and if Willis continues to work hard over the summer and continues to improve like this year he could get more minutes. This would give some experience to this young team next year. I would love to see Willis work extremely hard over the summer on his midrange jumpers. He is lethal from 3 point land and always seems to hit 40-50% from 3. Willis though doesn't shoot enough from 10-15 ft mid-range jumpers and if he can start hitting those consistently to go with his 3 point shot he could score 12-15 ppg. He has also improved on his rebounding and defense and was getting near double digits in rebounding when he was inserted in the lineup. The amount of players we do have returning to go along with the outstanding 2016 recruiting class will be a nice mix of veterans to go along with the freshman next year.