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- Thread starter BballinsiderfromPitt
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If you read any of my game reports from this past season, X and Femi both had underrated vision. The lack of shooting from the rest of our team along with Brown's bad hands and finishing on the inside held both of them back with their assist numbers. Both of them made a lot of nice passes all season with nothing to show for it at times because their teammates couldn't make a wide open shot. As a team we couldn't shoot and Brown was a disaster on the inside. And there was far too much dead weight on offense with Drumgoole, Jeffress, Brown etc.. in the rotation.
There are more options this year with midrange shooters and with Nate Santos as both a 3 point shooter and midrange shooter. I think Santos has a chance to play a fairly good chunk of minutes at the 3 and 4, "potentially" upwards of 20 minutes a game. He is a high volume 3 point shot maker that has shown the ability to make 4, 5 6+ three pointers in a single game and do it game in game out. Him staying healthy and his shooting is another big key for this team to potentially surprise to the upside. No scout has seen Santos play in 3 years because he hasnt played a summer game in 3 years (unless they watched the Nepsac). His National Ranking should be taken with a big grain of salt. He has the athleticism and shooting to make a difference much sooner rather than later.
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Vader dont take the bullishness on Santos crown from me. I'm his #1 stan.
Kid has a gorgeous shot at a nice height.
Wow. Another very solid post. Although I don’t know anything about Santos but he can’t be worse than Jeffress was as a freshmen.
What you said about the assist numbers is precisely why I’ve said X would flourish at Indiana with TJD and presumably better shooters to finish passes. And it’s probably best he’s not here if Toney isn’t because they’re not gonna have a shot at an NCAA bid with only one of them.
Good question. I believe we
could be a little better on the
inside if only because we are
not relying on Brown and
Coulibaly. As for the rest,
Champ was not good on D.
Horton was pretty bad, and
the others were maybe
average.
There's no one who I would
call a great rim defender, or
force on the inside. Gueye will
get us a few blocks. There is no
guard who IMO has exceptional
quickness, hands, or anticipation
that would make us better than
average.
I do think Capel will have them
working hard on D, and that can
make up for a lot.
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Has anyone ever told you your posts are composed like a Dr Seuss book? Makes them much more enjoyable to read
Here’s the bottom line , with 3 yrs of X as the pg and team leader Pitt was a losing program . You can blame his teammates, you can blame his coach , you can blame Covid , but none of this changes the fact that with him Pitt was losing and that would’ve continued had he stayed .
Whatever was going on behind closed doors he couldn’t suck it up for a few more games to finish out the season and then move on . Team leaders don’t quit on his fellow teammates.
X was the past and Femi is the future , we had 3 yrs of some great play out of X and we 3 yrs of erratic play from X , we got a glimpse of what Femi can do and it looked promising , it’s time to move on bbinsider .
ps .. if Indiana decides to run a disciplined offense I don’t think X will thrive or be a very happy camper in Hoosier land .
Whatever was going on behind closed doors he couldn’t suck it up for a few more games to finish out the season and then move on . Team leaders don’t quit on his fellow teammates.
X was the past and Femi is the future , we had 3 yrs of some great play out of X and we 3 yrs of erratic play from X , we got a glimpse of what Femi can do and it looked promising , it’s time to move on bbinsider .
ps .. if Indiana decides to run a disciplined offense I don’t think X will thrive or be a very happy camper in Hoosier land .
Good high school coaches know the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing teams back-up point guards. Are college coaches so inept that they only scout the starting five? If that's so, why start your best five? Keep them on the bench for the first 30 seconds of the game so no one will know how to defend them 🙄.
Mac and X on the court together would be interesting. What would the refs do when they each put their own basketballs in play at the same time?
Have you been in on any college scouting reports? If a guy plays 30 mins and his backup plays 10, who do you think they spend the bulk of their game plan on? I know the entire Louisville gameplan was to let X dribble into oblivion and not come off the shooters. They didn’t spend much time looking at anyone off the bench because we didn’t have anyone of consequence coming off the bench. Sure they knew who they were, but you typically scout 8, maybe 9 guys. And you gameplan against the kids who play the minutes. Not one team was game planning against him last year. It was similar to a minor league prospect coming up to the majors and raking early. Doesn’t always equal long term success.
So now you don't think Femi was in Pitt's top 9 yet somehow he played 20 MPG?
I said they do up to 9 but they focus on the people who play the bulk of the minutes. They probably focused on him towards the end of the season, but had limited view of what he could do. With a lot of tape, people will know what he can do. No more surprises.
He averaged 23 mpg in games 5 thru 9. How many Pitt players averaged more minutes over that span? Are you still trying to justify the silly notion that opposing teams weren't scouting Femi last year?
Joey David, I am saying he was not the focal point of a scouting report. That’s the truth, it’s not an opinion. I’m saying he will be next year. He may be unbelievable next year I’m saying he will be the focal point, instead of an afterthought. That’s all .
I’m hoping he shows the counter punch that X never could.
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Outside of X’s assist to TO rate, there’s nothing else there. He’s one dimensional (e.g. playing 100 mph into the teeth of a defense). It’s night and day. He plays too out of control and we’ll more than likely see this same thing from him in Bloomington. He’s going on 4 years playing D1 ball and if he played this way at Pitt, what on god’s earth do people believe he’s going to be this surprise change of player? He is who he is.
Answering your question it's
pretty simple. If the coach
allows him to play out of
control he will continue as
he has been.
If the coach makes it clear
that I'm gonna sit your ass,
I don't care who you are and
what you've done, then and
only then will he change.
Marcus Carr like X was the
most talented player at Pitt
as a Frosh. He wasn't out of
control as much, but he was
having a difficult time. Like X,
he transferred to the B10. He
was honorable mention ALL
League one year, and 3rd
team All League the next. It
does happen.
I'm not predicting X is going to
be ALL Big 10. However he's
talented, VERY talented. Let's
see if he grows up and maximizes
that talent.
That’s fair. One point though…X has been benched before and still was night and day with his play. I guess time will tell if we see anything different when he plays at IU.
You're 100% right. Capel
unfortunately had no
depth at guard (IMO that
was his fault). Two years
ago he had X, Trey, and
Murphy. Then Murph got
hurt and he had X, Trey,
and a walk on. Drumgoole
who stunk, was also hurt.
At this level you need four
or five guards, minimum.
So Capel could only bench
X in small spurts.
This past year as you know,
he didn't have Femi and
Sibande until well into the
season. Who else?...Horton.
Horton is no PG, he's a
shooter. So, Femi heals and
gets playing time. X ends up
quitting. This further makes
your point about X.
All I'm saying is, he's VERY
talented. Will he change?
If someone can get into his
head that he's ruining his
Bball future after college,
then maybe. If the coach
lays it on the line, and sticks
with it...maybe. We'll see.
With one yr left I can’t see how much he can change his game . He shines in a fast uptempo game were he can use his skills to penetrate and score . In three yrs he hasn’t improved his major weaknesses offensively which will be paramount in determining his future in bb .
If he's on a team with
other fast up tempo
type players he can
fit in and do much
better. He also can
take his man off the
dribble better than
most. At Pitt he didn't
have a Big who could
catch the damn ball.
I felt a lot of his off
balance shots in the lane
were a result of no Big
who could catch and finish.
All I'm saying is, the talent
and the ability are there.
Can he change?......... Yes.
Will he?? I obviously don't
know, but I hope for his
sake he does.
He has skills no doubt , will be interesting to see how he adapts to a different environment .
He has the skills in spades.
Mentality and intangibles that a pg has, i just wonder if that can be learned at a certain point.
Reading the room, just understanding the vibe.
Good point. One of the
reasons we don't know
too well about "mentality
and intangibles" that you
mentioned is because of
the type of offense being
run at Pitt. Capel put in a
PG oriented offense where
the PG is to go one on one
off the dribble, penetrate,
and dish, or shoot.
X's options were limited
because of the inability
of the Big (catch and shoot).
A guy with X's mentality is
going to challenge the D,
even if it's a wild, off
balance shot. He made some
of these which in retrospect
was the worse thing that
could have happened
We never saw him in a
patient offiense run by
the pg looking for a good
shot and getting his team
mates in sync. Capel had
an offense that helped X
do what in effect hurt him
and the offense as a whole.
Patience and working within a system surrounded by better players sounds like your describing a JRob type of pg not X .
It will be interesting.
