Travis Watson out of Virginia. This guy has been playing the 5 in the ACC for the last 3 years at 6'8" and guarding the Haywoods and Alvin Joneses and holding his own. UVa got a 6'10" transfer this year from Berkeley named Van Der Laan and this should allow Watson to play the 4 finally and really utilize his strengths. Dude's an absolute beast who works his tail off.
I believe the name(s) have thus far been omitted..... Nick Collison - 1st team all-american Kirk Hinrich - 1st or 2nd team all-american and a beast will come forth in..... Wayne Simean (sophomore pf)
Wayne Simien didn't really impress me much last year, maybe because he had too much hype coming. Not sure if he's really a sleeper (assuming this thread is more for sleepers, than the obvious stars), but Jason Kapono will be a late-1st round pick, if only because he can shoot the lights out of the ball. Easily the best spot-up shooter in the NCAA. He could be attractive to the hometown Lakers. As mentioned before, Ben Gordon will be a stud. He was very clutch as a frosh, and will be an All-Big East player this year. The same thing can be said for Paulding. Could this be the year that Brian Cook finally lives up to his hype, at Ill?
I like teddy bears...they feel nice and cuddly. Sincerely, Brian Cook They should always have an asterisk by his name in the box score, with a note that says, "These stats all compiled in the first half." No one disappears in the second half quite like Brian Cook. I like him as a talent, though. I liked what I saw of Simien last year...not terribly quick, but as a freshman I was really impressed with how he knew how to leverage his weight against people. Uses both hands well underneath. Him and Collison will be leaving their opponents with plenty of bruises. Like kidrock said, I was under the impression this thread was about players that weren't all that well known...breakout players, if you will. That is why I was curious as to why guys like Hinrich and Hollis and Collison were mentioned. hardi, take off jayhawk blinders, will ya? TJ Pugh and Adonis Jordan for comeback players of the year!
Collison and Hinrich are not flashy-sorts of players. Collison is a bruiser with a decent mid-range shot and several deadly moves underneath the rim. Hinrich is a uniquely quick and tall guard. Both, I feel, don't get serious pub because of their "non-flashiness"; plus they play in a highly structured offense (stressing defense, set-posting, and fast breaking). That said, it'll be interesting to watch them this year. Both are seniors and both, with strong years, could find themselves taken in the mid-first round, with Collison possibly working his way into the lotto. Nick will make some team a good role player..... somewhere between Najaro (Dallas via OU) and a Mo Taylor. He'll probably have a 6 to 10 year pro career. Hinrich is a Ray Allen type/withoutthehype. Tall, fast, intellegent, etc. It'll be fun to watch them.
Well, the biggest difference is that Thomas has a jumpshot. Barnes has gone on record as saying that Thomas was typically his best shooter in practice, and you can see that baseline and elbow jumper pretty frequently.
Please tell me you're joking, what exactly has Jenifer done at all last season do earn respect? He averaged 21.3 minutes a game, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.1 turnovers, .7 steals, and 2.7 fouls. All the while shooting 37.8% from the field, 61.7% from the line, and 11.1% from behind the arc. Where exactly is he underrated?
Jaybird-Looking at his stats he deserves no respect, but did you actually watch him play. He's not a star, but as a FRESHMAN he showed me potential. I don't think I should have said VERY underrated, but I think he could be pretty good.
I've seen him play maybe 5 or 6 games, and IMO he hasn't shown anything more than the ability to be a decent PG in the ACC where there are a lot of very good ones. The one thing I did see a lot of is that he likes to run his mouth a lot in games, and doing that while putting up numbers like he did is quite funny. I'm curious as to what potential you saw in him... He played decent defense, but was extremely wreckless on offense while shooting the ball poorly. He hasn't shown the ability to be a pass first point guard with vision, ala Steve Blake. He also hasn't shown the scoring ability and shooting consistancy to be a scoring point guard ala Jason Williams. I guess he just hasn't impressed me because he doesn't seem to do anything well, nor shown the talent to excell in specific areas. But I would be interested in hearing you're reasoning, maybe I'm just missing something.
Stats are really the most irrelevent way to form an opinion about a player. Especially when you don't see how the player accumulates those stats.
Hmm, who are the very good PGs in the ACC after Blake and Duhon? There isn't one at NC State, Ga Tech graduated, FSU graduated I think, but was only decent, UNC only is getting one this year, Clemson I don't know about so... Blake is a senior and Duhon will be leaving, meaning only Duke with Dockery and UNC with Felton, right? Anyways, you made good points and maybe I was delusional, but Jennifer looked like he could be a good playmaker with occasional scoring as a freshman. You're right, he hasn't proven anything, but something about his play just caught my eye. We'll see this season.
Everyone should watch out for Daniel Ewing. He should explode this year at Duke since Jay Williams is gone and he can start at the shooting guard.
Actually I was speaking historically, and also in particularly last year, as having great PG's in the ACC. You're right that there aren't a lot of good PG's this season in the ACC that are established. Although the freshman classes for most ACC schools brought in a good PG talent. Dockery (Duke), Felton (UNC), Gilchrist (UMD), Jack (GT), Johnson (FSU). I was surprised to learn that FSU's new PG Johnson was a JuCo All American, so he may raise a few eyebrows comming up. Like I said before, I could easily be wrong about Jennifer but I never saw much that really impressed me. I can't say I hope I'm wrong though because as a Maryland Fan I can't root for Virginia
I'm a Maryland fan too, but I like UVa a little. That coach Gillen always goes crazy. Hopefully UT can get its program to the height of yours.
