To be 7-6 with an underperforming #1 isn't bad. I think the idea was to have TD be the focal point of the offense, but 39/33 isn't cutting it. Wilkerson has saved this season.
@gthomas I think its MUCH more likely that guys like Wilkerson and Conwerway were brought in because CDD thought they would be 1)high level guards 2)their specific skills would fit and complement TD and the overall style and offense well…not necessarily that they’d be playing support roles for TD
I don’t think it was probably an expectation that Tucker would come in and be B10 player of the year good, like he was in the Valley. Everyone knew Wilkerson was gonna be either the top scorer or close to it. And he’s proven to be an even better scorer than most would have guessed at IUs level. Tucker has still been up there as our best overall player though. He rebounds, defends bigs and wings, distributes the ball… He’s not shooting or scoring like most expected he would, but he’s doing plenty of other things at a very high level. And he is still averaging in double figures, scoring wise. His struggles are very much overblown on this forum.
As someone pleaded for (some of us agreed) on here a game or two ago, Tucker didnt always look to pass out when he had the ball in the intermediate range last game. He turned toward the hoop, one time thought the better of shooting, the other time tossed in a soft 12 footer with a defender trying to close, for a nice bucket. He will be better if he doesnt feel a 2 is a poor shot. He can make those, he is not athletic but hes a player and can adjust more than he seems to think.
Conerway's biggest asset is his ability to take it to the hole and score off the drive. I thought he would be a better on ball defender, but I see him playing D with his hands a lot instead of his feet. The biggest thing to me is the fact he will totally disappear in a game. He's had some really good games, but then he's been non-existent in others.
I'm not sure why Bailey tries to take everything to the rim, instead of stopping short of the contact and rising up from 8-10 feet. He's got the length to shoot over many defenders, but not the strength to challenge at the rim. I like him at the FT line, for the most part. I'm not as bullish on him as Cav is, but I think his game could be better. The potential is there. He is definitely being asked to play out of position.
he's just way too soft at times, and inconsistent, to say he wasn't a miss.
Is it a miss if you're playing him out of position, or asking him to do things he's never shown he can do? Was Robert Johnson a miss because he wasn't good at defending Isaac Haas (or whatever 6'3" kid we had trying to guard him)? Almost every complaint about Bailey is linked to his failures in the paint and he should have never been asked to defend 5s in the B10, or rebound or score against them. I still think he's the best ball-handling and passing 6'10" plus (not going to call him a post) player we've ever had. If he could live out on the floor and play alongside a guy who defended the paint and rebounded, I think how folks view him would be completely different.
@kkott I still don't understand why CDD hasn't ever tried playing him and Alexis at the same time. Not for long stretches, but during key possessions late in games when stops are at a premium. They're both pretty comfortable playing on the perimeter, and handling and passing in our offense. Bailey especially is very comfortable handling the ball. Obviously it takes a 3 point threat off the court, but we've spent long stretches of the season with both Conerway and Enright on the floor together, and while both of them are serviceable, neither are guys that will stretch the defense. And then defensively, Bailey could actually be a pretty darn good asset if guarding and rebounding on longer wings, instead of 5's.
I know we're thin, and it isn't something to employ much during the first 3/4 of the game. But man, coming down the last 10 minutes, playing really big/tall teams like Illinois, Purdue, Michigan...heck USC. See what Reed Bailey could have done on Arenas, defensively.
There has to be a reason why, so this is just message board conjecture. But its just always seemed odd to me. Just like not geting Ristic more minutes, now that he's played and burned his redshirt, seems odd, to me.
*** and for anyone that's followed my posts from the previous site... me typing the above is more than a little ironic, with how much I blasted Woodson and his two post system he ran. But obviously I'm not calling for them to play together all the time, or even all that often. Just think defensively, in certain situations, it could be a good move.
I still don't understand why CDD hasn't ever tried playing him and Alexis at the same time.
That's what worries me. That it just goes against his belief of how he believes his offense should work/be played. I do get why he doesn't do it early in the game with the lack of depth, possible foul trouble, etc... but I agree, you get down to the last 8 minutes of a close game, at that point put your best 5 on the floor. He talked about trying it very early on (Puerto Rico?), but just never has. Also don't understand not trying to develop the big foreign kid this year and redshirting him. (Hopefully!) This is as thin as your roster will ever be in the post, so why not try him out? Unlikely you'll get 4 productive years out of most guys anymore, so I'd have tried to develop him into something that could help this year. Reminds me of the stuff Woody would say he wanted to try, but never did.
I can forgive some roster shortcomings, with having to build the entire roster through the portal, but I just want to see that he recognizes and adjusts, and his unwillingness to try playing them together, and what seems like lack of prioritizing bigs on the recruiting trail concerns me. Like I said elsewhere, maybe his belief is you have to get bigs in the portal if you can't get an impact guy from the HS level, but these are things that can be addressed... if the Coach agrees they are problems.
I think DD did what he could in the short time he had to assemble a team. Remember he had to also get a staff in place on top of looking at tape and recruiting players, plus I remember him attending the state finals and meeting hs coaches there. Yes, I do agree that now he has seen what the talent level is in the BIg and hope have more time to recruit for next class.
Didn’t Alexis hit a three against Oregon? Was thinking also about Bailey not shooting anymore 3’s but at least as a team, our ft shooting % is up!
he's just way too soft at times, and inconsistent, to say he wasn't a miss.
Is it a miss if you're playing him out of position, or asking him to do things he's never shown he can do? Was Robert Johnson a miss because he wasn't good at defending Isaac Haas (or whatever 6'3" kid we had trying to guard him)? Almost every complaint about Bailey is linked to his failures in the paint and he should have never been asked to defend 5s in the B10, or rebound or score against them. I still think he's the best ball-handling and passing 6'10" plus (not going to call him a post) player we've ever had. If he could live out on the floor and play alongside a guy who defended the paint and rebounded, I think how folks view him would be completely different.
He can't roam around the perimeter because he rarely shoots 3s, and almost never shoots jump shots. At Davidson he handled the ball a lot at the top of the key, and then drove all the way to the basket or ducked down and posted up. He doesn't drive and pull up for short jumpers. Also, although he is fast running straight ahead, he's not fast moving his feet or going side to side, and he can't drive to the basket and finish in the BT.
@mushroomgod Hes actually pretty quick laterally for someone his height. Its one of his bigger strengths. Actual physical strength, and the ability to hold lines, spots, basketballs, etc... ends up negating that ability on many plays. But lateral quickness is a strength of his. Watch him switch on to guards, he very rarely gets beat to the rim when that happens. And pretty much every single time he rips and takes a couple dribbles, he "beats" his man. His problem is holding on to that advantage, and/or then finishing when he gets close to the rim.
Earlier in the year, he seemed like he was shooting floaters in the lane much more than he has lately. I would have to assume he's getting coached to be more of a facilitator and lob like finisher... at this point.
I think DD did what he could in the short time he had to assemble a team. Remember he had to also get a staff in place on top of looking at tape and recruiting players, plus I remember him attending the state finals and meeting hs coaches there. Yes, I do agree that now he has seen what the talent level is in the BIg and hope have more time to recruit for next class.
Didn’t Alexis hit a three against Oregon? Was thinking also about Bailey not shooting anymore 3’s but at least as a team, our ft shooting % is up!
We don't want Alexis shooting 3s unless the clock is running down and he's wide open. His career % is.286. the year he took the most 3s he hit 27%. One of the good things CDD has done is to keep him from shooting 3s.
Bailey shot .415 last year on 41 attempts. The year before he took 60 and shot .217. He's taken 4 all year here, less than Alexis, which is probably just as well.
@mushroomgod Hes actually pretty quick laterally for someone his height. Its one of his bigger strengths. Actual physical strength, and the ability to hold lines, spots, basketballs, etc... ends up negating that ability on many plays. But lateral quickness is a strength of his. Watch him switch on to guards, he very rarely gets beat to the rim when that happens. And pretty much every single time he rips and takes a couple dribbles, he "beats" his man. His problem is holding on to that advantage, and/or then finishing when he gets close to the rim.
Earlier in the year, he seemed like he was shooting floaters in the lane much more than he has lately. I would have to assume he's getting coached to be more of a facilitator and lob like finisher... at this point.
His other problem is that a little guard generally strips the ball before he gets to the rim. He can only effectively drive from about 10' in.
He was shooting floaters earlier in the year because he was playing against 6'7" guys.
I still don't understand why CDD hasn't ever tried playing him and Alexis at the same time.
That's what worries me. That it just goes against his belief of how he believes his offense should work/be played. I do get why he doesn't do it early in the game with the lack of depth, possible foul trouble, etc... but I agree, you get down to the last 8 minutes of a close game, at that point put your best 5 on the floor. He talked about trying it very early on (Puerto Rico?), but just never has. Also don't understand not trying to develop the big foreign kid this year and redshirting him. (Hopefully!) This is as thin as your roster will ever be in the post, so why not try him out? Unlikely you'll get 4 productive years out of most guys anymore, so I'd have tried to develop him into something that could help this year. Reminds me of the stuff Woody would say he wanted to try, but never did.
I can forgive some roster shortcomings, with having to build the entire roster through the portal, but I just want to see that he recognizes and adjusts, and his unwillingness to try playing them together, and what seems like lack of prioritizing bigs on the recruiting trail concerns me. Like I said elsewhere, maybe his belief is you have to get bigs in the portal if you can't get an impact guy from the HS level, but these are things that can be addressed... if the Coach agrees they are problems.
The only time I'd play them together is when we're getting killed on the boards.....so rarely but not never.
I agree that not playing the foreign kid is strange. The odds of him being here for 4 years are small. You would think that if he can't play for this team he'd be recruited over anyway.
@mushroomgod It just seems odd they haven't ever done it. We needed something different in the ends of a number of games we've played. We struggled, mightily, getting stops late in probably a dozen of our games. Doesn't need to be more than a few minutes. Just enough to counter other teams height advantages for a few minutes. I very strongly suspect Reed Bailey would look different guarding and rebounding most teams 3/4 guys, than he has trying to guard and rebound with 5s.
And you're oversimplifying it when you say he was shooting floaters against guys because they were 6-7. Most teams we played had 5s bigger than that, even the lower end teams early in the year. And per the point above, he was always matched up against their biggest and best post player. Not saying they were all Mara, TKR, Cluff, like... but he's had effective games against teams with good bigs. For whatever reason, its fizzled and fallen off, for the most part, in recent weeks.
What I can't wrap my head around is that Bailey and Alexis are pretty good free throw shooters and have shot threes in their past and teams now are sagging off of them.
Can't remember the last time either looked at the rim from three when they are wide open.
Surely either can hit 30% from three unguarded to keep defenses honest to ensure good spacing and cutting through the lane.
Pick and pop with our bigs has been nonexistent.
Getting both of the Illinois bigs away from the rim could spell success on Sunday.
Alexis' career 3 pt % is .286, Bailey is at .306. Both have inconsistent from year to rear. I'd rather have Devries, Dorn, or Wilkerson shooting it unless A/B are wide open at the end of the shot clock.
Alexis' FT shooting this year is pretty crazy. He's shooting 80% for us. The last 3yrs he hit 52%. Also, he's shooting .738 on 2 point attempts, which is 12% pts higher than he ever shot in any of his prior 3 years. On the negative side, his rebounding #s are down pretty significantly from when he was at Chattanooga. Bottom line is, like Bailey, Conerway & TD, he is playing as well or better than we had any right to expect.
Latest Post: How do you deal with Islam? Our newest member: Ben Wiggins Recent Posts Unread Posts
