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NCAA Tournament Prospect Tracker

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by finsraider, Mar 17, 2022.

  1. theDude

    theDude Member
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    That is selling Wallace very short. Horry was a great guy to have on your team, but he was not the player that Wallace was.

    As you said, Wallace did not have very much bust potential. I think you have to some value in that and I think that most people see the high floor of Banchero and will feel good about getting long-term consistent play from him. In today's NBA, you are probably just as likely to be able trade for that #1 guy as you are to draft him. If Banchero and Ivey are both available, I would have no problem taking the "safe" pick of Banchero.
     
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  2. studogg

    studogg Member

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  3. jiggyfly

    jiggyfly Member

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    Maybe it is selling Wallace a bit short, but he was always 2nd or even a 3rd option depending on lineups and teams.
     
  4. smoothie

    smoothie Jabari Jungle

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    I'm sorry if I maybe didn't complete my thought on that. I think the fact that he's not a rim protector is fine, but it means his ability to play the 5 in the nba is limited to some bursts in small ball lineups. that means he has to succeed as a perimeter player, as you said he's got to be a 4/3 more than a 4/5. if he's going to play the 4/3, I'm not sure if he has the lateral quickness to keep in front of nba 3's. I think he's locked into defending 4's which might limit his team's defensive versatility. I'm not saying he can't get there but that's the question mark he carry's into the draft.
     
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  5. jiggyfly

    jiggyfly Member

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    Why does he need to play the 5 at all?

    That's the part I don't understand, he is a 3/4 that plays facing the basket, so why would anyone be talking about him having to play the 5 for any long amount of time.

    Just because you are not sure does not mean he cannot and if he can only check 4's adequately why is that a knock when Green just last year got picked and nobody thought he could guard anyone?

    We don't know if Holmgren can guard 3's either, but you never hear that as a negative and we know he can't guard 5's but for some reason that never comes up.

    I understand Banchero has question marks, but for some reason him not being a rim protector seems to trump the weaknesses of the other guys, which makes no sense to me.

    Are these perceived questions more important than what we know he can do, which is really my issue.

    Smith's inability to dribble is far more a detriment than Banchero's non rim protecting.
     
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  6. finsraider

    finsraider Member

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    Interested to see how Banchero does against Tech.

    Tech is a super athletic team with the best defense in college basketball. Scheme wise, they tend to let the best player go 1v1 until they get in the paint, and try to limit everyone else. Won’t be surprised if Banchero has a good game and Duke still loses.
     
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  7. ClutchCityReturns

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    Source on 7'0" wingspan? I'd love for that to be true, but everything I've seen has reported 6'7" to 6'10".
     
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  8. Corrosion

    Corrosion Member

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    We're on the same page .... Chet 1 Ivey 2 and I really expect Christopher to make a huge leap from year one to two.

    We've already seen huge growth from Christopher over the course of this season where most expected him to spend the year with the Vipers he's carved out a role on this team and all but forced Silas to play him (Prior to Schroder). I don't think he's close to his ceiling. He has the potential to be what we envisioned KPj being .... but that ship appears to have sailed.


    I've gone back and forth on Porter jr for months, one day he's a building block, the next he's a pariah .... he's running from the enemy inside & there has been no magic pill to slay the demon as he's his own worst enemy.
     
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  9. Verbal Christ

    Verbal Christ Member

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    I think Banchero and Sengun can coexist because of their high IQ. They could alternate duties on the fly and would give you one of the best 2 man games in the league. I like that the Rockets are shifting philosophy a bit and using the midrange shot as a weapon and not an afterthought. It really does open everything up. We get hung up on that D'Antoni ball, but I'd really like a more balanced team. Banchero is the master of the midrange. He is considered an average outside shooter, but has shown to be capable of knocking them down and isnt a complete liability from out there (better than Sengun). At the same time I dont think Sengun is an absolute dud on defense, and I've seen Banchero turn it up on that side - he just needs to keep that intensity for a full game, but you have to remember how much is on his plate on the offensive end both of them together would be able to split the court and offer some switchability on the perimeter. I like to hope that Banchero with some more developmental time could also keep the intensity going on both ends for a full game. You could also offer + defenders around them at the other positions to make up for any perceived deficiency. Hopefully Jalen continues to grow as a defensive player. Upgrade Tate with some more size and defense at the 3. If KPJ isnt the answer at 1 you can find a pass first defensive bulldog at the point?

    I think the beauty with this year is that you could make it work with just about any of the top 6-7 prospects with a little roster creativity. Ivey is creeping up my board for sure and I wouldnt lose any sleep if we go that route over Banchero as long as they are aggressive in finding some size to compliment the backcourt, alleviate the overlap with the wings and keep Sengun in the starting lineup.
     
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  10. Verbal Christ

    Verbal Christ Member

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    Curious - what makes you think Banchero cant play the 4 in the NBA at 6'10/250 with fluidity in his game? I think he could even defend 3's in small doses and his ability to break the typical NBA Big off the dribble would be pretty valuable IMO.
     
  11. treyk3

    treyk3 Member

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    Adam Spinella is a good resource.

    He ranks his favorite guys left in the tournament.

    A few notes.

    1. He has AJ Griffin outside the top 14 overall due to his displayed lack of lateral quickness on defense.
    2. He doesn't mention Jabari because he's eliminated but he has him at pick 3/4 vs. 1/2
    3. He has Banchero at 1/2, @Nook faints.
    4. He thinks Ben Mathurin should be in conversation at #5.
     
  12. xtruroyaltyx

    xtruroyaltyx Member
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    I’m tempted to move Ivey up over Smith for my 2nd ranked guy.

    Its close for me.
     
  13. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    https://theathletic.com/3197298/202...ment-performances-of-top-nba-draft-prospects/

    Chet Holmgren | Ranking: No. 1 | 7-foot-1 center, Gonzaga | 19 years old, freshman

    Round of 64 vs. Georgia State: 19 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, seven blocks, two steals, 8 of 11 field goals
    Round of 32 vs. Memphis: Nine points, nine rebounds, four blocks, two assists, 4 of 7 field goals

    Overall, I thought the weekend was positive for Holmgren. Every eyeball in the evaluation community was on the showcase matchup we got Saturday night when Gonzaga and Holmgren took on Memphis and potential lottery pick Jalen Duren. It was the perfect evaluation opportunity. Every question about Holmgren this year has been about his size and strength, given his 7-foot-1, 190-pound frame. In the 6-foot-11, 250-pound Duren, scouts got the chance to see how Holmgren would perform against such power.

    I thought he was pretty dominant defensively and every bit of who we thought he was on that end. The first two possessions made that clear. The first play came on a dump-off to Duren in the dunker spot, where he tried to go up through Holmgren. Holmgren contested with his length to force the Duren miss, then held his ground to grab the contested rebound. On the second defensive possession, Memphis ran a post-up for Duren, who spun back and got a small edge, but Holmgren sealed that up quickly and swatted the shot away with relative ease. In total, Holmgren ended up with nine defensive rebounds and four blocks (plus countless other contests at the rim). But his impact goes beyond that. Holmgren is an outstanding drop coverage defender. His sense of playing within the gap between his man and the ballhandler is elite for his age. He had a few enormous weakside rim rotations to force misses. Overall, Memphis scored 52 points in 51 possessions when Holmgren was in, about a 1.02 points per possession clip. When he was out for 17 possessions, Memphis scored 26 points, at an obscene 1.52 PPP clip.

    Holmgren didn’t just hold up on defense. He was outstanding on defense. He wasn’t going to be punked. All season long, that’s been the most underrated part of who Holmgren is as a player and what makes him so enticing as a prospect. He’s skinny, but he is tough. He’s the most competitive player I’ve seen in college hoops this year. He doesn’t quit on plays and tries to block everything.

    I do think this matchup showcased some of his limitations on offense, though. Up against superior athletes on Memphis, I didn’t think his explosiveness with ball in hand looked all that impressive. He didn’t have a lot of juice off the bounce. In the second half, Gonzaga tried to run a few pick-and-pop slip actions to where he could catch on the wing and drive an open lane. A couple of times, he had the open lane, but Memphis was able to recover, close off his driving angle and force him into a turnaround pivot to escape pass out of trouble. On top of that, his jumper has gone away slightly the last few games, as he missed all three 3-point attempts. But he still ended up making an impact. He’s constantly moving and probing, trying to find an angle for his drivers to hit him for a dump-off pass, or finding a way to get behind defenders. Because he’s a threat from distance, that movement has an impact on opposing defenses. They always have to account for where he is. He scored nine points and dished out two assists, so he did contribute. But I did think this showcased a minor concern regarding his ability to create as a half-court driver, something that has been showcased at times throughout the season.

    It’s also worth noting that in the first round against Georgia State, Holmgren put up a masterpiece against inferior competition. He had 19 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks. He impacted the game in every way imaginable — grabbed rebounds, blocked out the rim (especially in the second half) and showed offensive firepower. It was an elite performance. I don’t know how much it’s worth reading into, though, given Georgia State is a relatively small team. That size was further compromised when the team’s starting center and defensive force, Eliel Nsoseme, was hurt eight minutes into the game and didn’t return. Still, it shows how dominant Holmgren’s game can be when he’s not even challenged with size.

    Jabari Smith | Ranking: No. 2 | 6-foot-10 forward, Auburn | 18 years old, freshman

    Round of 64 vs. Jacksonville State: 20 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, 6 of 13 field goals
    Round of 32 vs. Miami (FL): 10 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, 3 of 16 field goals

    What will almost assuredly be Smith’s lone NCAA Tournament ended with a crash and a burn, as Auburn was steamrolled in the second round by a Miami team with a starting lineup where the average age is nearly 23 years old. Smith struggled with his jumper, going 3-for-16 from the field (including a 1-for-8 mark from 3). Most of those shots came in the first half and were contested as Miami sold out to cut off Smith’s stepback game and his ability to get clean catch-and-shoot looks. He went 2-for-13 in the first 25 minutes of game time, with that final shot being a dunk that senior forward Sam Waardenburg met at the top of the summit and sent back. From then on, it became the Auburn guards’ show, with Wendell Green and KD Johnson deciding it was Wendell Green and KD Johnson Time and Smith not getting another field goal attempt for the next 12 minutes. That’s when the lead grew for Miami and became insurmountable. It didn’t help that Walker Kessler had his worst game of the season at the worst possible time. My pick this year for National Defensive Player of the Year, I’m not sure if Kessler did a single positive thing in the 13 minutes he was on the court as Miami worked to space him out away from the rim, and he worked to miss countless relatively easy lay-ins at the rim.

    I liked that Smith made an impact in other areas while his shot wasn’t falling. His passing and unselfishness were crisp. He played well on defense, I thought, showcasing his ability to switch and slide on the perimeter. His rotations are solid even if he’s not necessarily the most impactful playmaker or disruptive force, getting his hands to the ball or really getting into an opposing player’s space. He’s always going to try to contest if he can. It even resulted in him getting dunked on viciously by Isaiah Wong, but that’s going to happen to just about every active rim protector at some point if you’re doing your job and being available to contest.

    It was also good that his worst game of the season was following up a strong outing, where Smith went for 20 points, 14 rebounds and four assists against Jacksonville State in the first round. He made some tough shots, although Jacksonville State didn’t have anyone who could bother his high release point, and it certainly didn’t have anyone athletically who could stop Smith from dunking all over them in an exclamation point at the end of the game.



    Overall, I don’t think this changes anything for Smith. His final showcase wasn’t ideal, but remember, most players’ final games in college aren’t great. Only one team can win the title, and typically if your team is losing and you’re a first-round pick, you probably didn’t play all that well in the last showing. Last year, Cade Cunningham shot 6-for-20 from the field in his final game. Franz Wagner went 1-for-10 from the field in his final game. Scottie Barnes had eight points on 11 shots. Those are three of your four best rookies in the NBA this season. Smith is still going to go in the top three on draft night, with a real chance to hear his name called first.
     
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  14. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    Paolo Banchero | Ranking: No. 3 | 6-foot-10 forward, Duke | 19 years old, sophomore

    Round of 64 vs. Cal State Fullerton: 17 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks, one steal, 8 of 11 field goals
    Round of 32 vs. Michigan State: 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists, one block, 8 of 14 field goals

    A good weekend for Banchero, as Duke rode into the Sweet 16 with the dynamic freshman forward leading the way. He had 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the team’s win against Michigan State, numbers that probably underplayed how essential he was to Duke’s success. In the first round against Cal State Fullerton, Banchero had 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists on 8-for-11 from the field.

    The Michigan State game is the one worth diving into. It felt like Duke finally realized it needs to play through Banchero as much as possible in this game. And particularly, I want to talk about why Duke needs to play through Banchero more. One aspect of his game I think has gone undervalued throughout the season is his passing. He’s an outstanding passer for a big. One college coach who recruited Banchero out of high school told The Athletic that Banchero told the coach that passing and making plays for his teammates is his favorite part of basketball. And throughout the back half of the season, we’ve seen that more. Over his last 11 games, Banchero has averaged 4.5 assists per game, operating more as a high-post initiator. You can trust Banchero to be able to make the right reads and the right plays when he has the ball. If the right move is to shoot, he’ll do that. If it’s to pass, he’s not afraid to do that too. It’s a differentiator for him among every other lottery prospect in the class. I think he’s the best functional playmaker and passer among that group of players, with apologies to Dyson Daniels.

    Banchero is terrific at reading and diagnosing what’s happening on the court. It’s almost to a fault at times, but I’d rather have someone reading and reacting to what’s happening as opposed to robotically following the script. He’s a functional playmaker. He’s never rushed because he’s so comfortable handling the ball tightly. Here’s one from the Michigan State game that is almost directly applicable to what he’ll see in the NBA. He catches on the wing, jab-step pump fakes and drives to the basket. He blows by his man and forces the help from Mark Williams’ man, then hits the one-handed, live dribble pocket dump off to Williams in the dunker spot. This is what makes him such a mismatch nightmare for opposing teams.

    Vid

    I think we’ve underrated how complete of an offensive player Banchero is. He has a chance to be a monster in the NBA as soon as his jumper works through some consistency issues (it flattens out a bit too often on pull-ups). It’s not an exaggeration to say Banchero has an opening here to cement himself as a No. 1 pick contender entering the pre-draft cycle. He was outstanding in these first two games. Next round, he gets a tough defensive matchup against Texas Tech where, if he performs, it will be impressive given the Red Raiders are the best defense in college basketball. Then in the Elite Eight, Holmgren and Gonzaga potentially await a rematch of a terrific game from earlier this season, where Banchero got the better of Holmgren in scoring 20 first-half points. If he performs and leads Duke to the Final Four, he’s going to have momentum going into the cycle.

    Jaden Ivey | Ranking: No. 4 | 6-foot-4 guard, Purdue | 20 years old, sophomore

    Round of 64 vs. Yale: 22 points, four rebounds, one assist, two steals, 6 of 13 field goals
    Round of 32 vs. Texas: 18 points, three rebounds, three assists, one block, 4 of 7 field goals, 8 of 9 free throws

    Ivey was exactly the guy we’ve come to expect throughout the season while leading the Boilermakers to the Sweet 16. His athleticism was overwhelming for opponents. He’ll enter the NBA as one of the most functional, explosive athletes at the lead guard position — possessing the burst to get into the paint whenever he wants, the strength to play through contact and the balance to stop and start on a dime. He had 18 points against Texas and 22 against Yale, including a few highlight-reel moments that will be seen on the “One Shining Moment” clip at the end of the tournament.

    I thought the best moment from Ivey over the first weekend came in the final moments against Texas. With Purdue clinging to a 74-71 lead, Purdue inbounded the ball to Ivey, and he demanded his bigs to clear out for him. Two came up to set a screen, and he immediately waved them off, telling them he’s got this. He set up Texas’ best on-ball defender, Courtney Ramey, with a little lazy between-the-legs crossover before faking a drive, stopping on a dime, throwing down a vicious between the legs crossover that sent Ramey flying inside the 3-point line and pulling up for a backbreaker 25-foot 3 to clinch the game.



    Seriously, look at how much separation is created here. Ivey is pulling up essentially from the logo. Ramey is inside the top of the key. That is ridiculous. Ramey is an all-league-level defender. Creating this kind of separation isn’t normal.

    [​IMG]

    Ivey has his warts. He can be a bit noncommittal on defense, and his ability to read passes out of ball screens needs to continue taking leaps. I think it’ll be a bit of a process for him early in his NBA career as he works through those progressions, as it seems like he’s not always looking at that help defender on the backside as a playmaker. But as soon as he gets that down, Ivey’s upside is as high as anyone else in this class because of that pop as an isolation shot creator. Purdue has the cleanest looking road to the Final Four right now, with a Sweet 16 matchup against Cinderella 15-seed Saint Peter’s forthcoming, followed by a potential Elite Eight matchup against No. 8 seed North Carolina or No. 4 seed UCLA. The Boilermakers could theoretically face a 14-seed, 11-seed, 15-seed and 8-seed on their way to the Final Four, which means if they take care of business, Purdue should be in New Orleans with a chance to cut down the nets.
     
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  15. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    Keegan Murray | Ranking: No. 7 | 6-foot-8 forward, Iowa | 21 years old, sophomore

    Round of 64 vs. Richmond: 21 points, nine rebounds, two assists, one block, one steal, 8 of 15 field goals, 5 of 5 free throws

    Murray’s Iowa team was eliminated by a very precise Richmond team, and Murray showcased some of the flaws NBA teams have had concerns about all year. Late in the season, Richmond’s Princeton offense, led by coach Chris Mooney, senior guard Jacob Gilyard and an experienced starting lineup whose average age is 23, was on point. They play five-out with a stretch-center in Grant Golden and put teams in space. That happened in this game, and Murray struggled a bit to move his feet at a high level. Nathan Cayo caught him a couple of times late in the game, such as in the clip below where Murray’s feet get stuck in the mud, and Cayo, a big-bodied 24-year-old, blew by him baseline with relative ease.

    Vid

    I also thought Murray was a step slow on a couple of help rotations and didn’t seem ready for what Richmond was going to present. In general, I think Murray has been a good defensive playmaker who gets steals and blocks and generally has a smart basketball mind that will allow him to be OK on the defensive end. He’s not going to get hammered in off-ball actions. But right now, I think it’s hard to project him as a plus on that end. He needs to do a bit of work on his feet and become more active as a reactionary player.

    And none of this is to blame Murray for the loss. He still had 21 points and nine rebounds despite the fact that Iowa’s perimeter players seemed to forget he existed throughout large swaths of the game. His ability to pin Richmond deep on the block got Iowa back in the game late. Overall, Murray is one of the safest players in this draft. He’s going to be an effective NBA player because he creates offense through constant movement and skill. My bet is he goes in the top 10. But I don’t think the game against Richmond was his best showing.

    Bennedict Mathurin | Ranking: No. 8 | 6-foot-6 wing, Arizona | 19 years old, sophomore

    Round of 64 vs. Wright State: 18 points, five rebounds, 7 of 18 field goals
    Round of 32 vs. TCU: 30 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals, 8 of 19 field goals, 11 of 13 free throws

    This is the guy who most moved the needle for me in the opening two rounds. The opening weekend closed with one of the best games of the Dance, an 85-80 overtime comeback win for No. 1 seed Arizona over TCU. The star was Mathurin in a show-stopping performance that showcased more will to win and toughness than I’ve seen from him all season long, maybe more than I’ve seen from any player this year, period. This was a virtuoso moment for the Canadian wing, an athletic floor spacer who refused to let his team lose. The Pac-12 Player of the Year, Mathurin has closed the season on an absolute heater, averaging 19.7 points while hitting over 40 percent from 3 and showing substantive growth as a passer.

    Mathurin went off for 30 points while carrying Arizona back from the brink against a TCU team brimming with toughness and physicality. The Horned Frogs went on a late 12-0 run to push Arizona down three in the final minutes. That’s when Mathurin took over. He hit a pass out to Dalen Terry in transition for a 3 to tie the game at 70. Then after a TCU took the lead again, he cut backdoor and threw down what should have been an and-1 dunk through contact to cut it to a one-point game. Following an Eddie Lampkin lay-in, Mathurin hit what might be remembered as one of the shots of the tournament if the Wildcats go on to win everything. He rejected a screen from Christian Koloko at the top of the key, hit a vicious right-to-left crossover that sent Mike Miles flying backward and canned a pull-up 3 with 17 seconds left to push the game to overtime following some end-of-game messy officiating shenanigans.



    Somehow, that was only midway through his run. He ended up scoring 11 of Arizona’s final 15 points, including an enormous putback where he fought for an offensive rebound and put up through contact and got fouled. It was the ultimate flex-on-them performance — he relished the intensity of the moment and didn’t shrink when faced with a difficult situation. He created his own shot while playing within the flow of the offense. He brought energy and emotion to a team that desperately needed a lift following a big TCU run.

    That end-of-game stretch wasn’t even all that Mathurin did in this game. He hit two killer 3-pointers off movement that showcased how NBA teams are going to be able to use him off complex off-ball actions to hunt shots. He threw down one of the biggest dunks of the tournament, taking a pass from Koloko, gathering off two feet and putting it on Lampkin’s head. Everything Mathurin did in this game was translatable to the NBA and lived up to his role as the best player on what is, for my money, the best team in the country. He was elite.

    Mathurin spikes five spots on my board following this performance up to No. 8, and he has a real shot to rise even further if he keeps it up. As mentioned above, it’s not just these two games that make Mathurin jump up the board; it’s the way he’s closed the season, carrying Arizona to its first Pac-12 title and Pac-12 tournament title in four years and leading the Wildcats to the Sweet 16. It’s the way he’s shown growth as a passer and lived up to every critical moment at every important time. This is what a lottery pick should look like in these moments.

    Jalen Duren | Ranking: No. 9 | 6-foot-11 center, Memphis | 18 years old, freshman

    Round of 64 vs. Boise State: 10 points, 11 rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block, 4 of 11 field goals
    Round of 32 vs. Gonzaga: seven points, seven rebounds, two assists, one block, 3 of 11 field goals

    The Duren-Holmgren matchup went a bit worse for Duren. He lived in foul trouble throughout the night, only getting 19 minutes. It was clear from the jump he understood not just the importance of his team’s game, but the importance of this game for him as well. And he came out with scoring aggression I feel we haven’t seen from him all season. He wanted to get buckets and try to put Holmgren through the rim. The only problem was Holmgren wouldn’t let him. Duren got up 11 shots, only the seventh time this season he took that many shots in a single game. In all of the other games, he played at least 25 minutes. This was his most aggressive game. He struggled with Holmgren’s length and positioning and had his least efficient game of the season, shooting 3-for-11 from the field and only scoring seven points.

    Duren showcased a lot of the same limitations we’ve seen all season. He is not capable of creating his own shot yet. He needs a lead guard to generate offense for him as a vertical floor spacer to be effective, something Memphis began to get later in the season when Alex Lomax started to play better. Defensively, Duren needs to learn to move his feet a bit better. To me, it’s not a question of tools and gifts, but rather he doesn’t yet have the requisite footwork. A lot of his fouls, including his fourth one in this game on Drew Timme, are simply a function of getting caught in the mud, not moving his feet and instead trying to use his body to slow down his opponent. The best thing Duren can do pre-draft is work on as many footwork drills as possible. He needs to get lighter on his feet. I’d still project him as a lottery pick heading into the event, as he came on in a big way at the end of the season to solidify himself.

    Johnny Davis | Ranking: No. 10 | 6-foot-5 guard, Wisconsin | 20 years old, sophomore

    Round of 64 vs. Colgate: 25 points, eight rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block, 8 of 20 field goals
    Round of 32 vs. Iowa State: 17 points, nine rebounds, one assist, four blocks, two steals, 4 of 16 field goals, 9 of 11 free throws

    These games aren’t worth much for Davis. No matter what Davis says publicly, it seems like his ankle isn’t right, and he was bravely gutting through the end of the season because he knew Wisconsin’s only chance was for him to be out there. He injured it in the team’s regular-season finale against Nebraska and then tweaked it again in the team’s Round of 32 loss to Iowa State. Why am I disregarding his public remarks he’s fine? He didn’t have the same level of elevation and shot-making juice he had earlier this season. You can see it on tape. He could get there for spurts, like his end-of-game barrage against Colgate in the first round, but he didn’t consistently have it throughout full games, and that quick turnaround from Friday to Sunday seemed like a killer for him.

    So much of Davis’ game is based on hesitation and the ability to quickly stop and start, then elevate from the midrange to get his own shot. He didn’t have that same suddenness as a shot creator or that same lift when going up for a jumper. He had 25 points and eight rebounds against Colgate on 20 shots, then 17 points on 16 shots and 11 free-throw attempts in the loss to Iowa State. Those numbers look fine on their face, but they mostly represent how integral he is to what Wisconsin gets on offense. Even when he’s not right, he’s still the best option. I also thought Iowa State did a great job. The Cyclones crawled in his space with strong defenders like Gabe Kalscheur and Izaiah Brockington. I also thought T.J. Otzelberger’s gameplan was terrific. They overloaded Davis’ side of the court and crunched his space, always putting help defenders in position to contest him. He really had to work. I wish we would have seen this matchup with Davis at full speed. I respect the toughness and hope he gets healthy heading into the pre-draft cycle, assuming he declares.
     
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  16. Corrosion

    Corrosion Member

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    The difference between contentedness and satisfaction .... some years there's a hall of famer and others there's a hall of pretty good player.

    In a year where there's no HOFer I think most would be content with the best hall of pretty good player .... even if they aren't ultimately satisfied ...
     
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  17. MystikArkitect

    Supporting Member

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    Question is do we want to guy Christian Wood thinks he is (Banchero, Smith, Holmgren) or the guy KPJ thinks he is (Ivey)?
     
  18. gmoney411

    gmoney411 Member

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    Who was the best player on those Portland teams to you? I think it was hands down Sheed.
     
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  19. gmoney411

    gmoney411 Member

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    I have no idea where you are getting these ideas about Sheed from. He was not considered a bust before Detroit. He was the best player on some really good Blazers teams including the one that took Kobe/Shaq Lakers to game 7 in 2000.
     
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  20. YOLO

    YOLO Member

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    no. billups/hamilton were clearly the best players on that team. This delusion of sheed being some superstar and best player is pure nonsense.
     

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