Hugley's true height
- Thread starter Jakhny
- Start date
Given what we have
inside he HAS to be a
Center on this team. A
true Center? Good question.
I've posted before that I
could possibly see him at
PF, but NOT on THIS team.
IMO he starts as our Center,
gets 20-24 minutes per game
with Gueye hopefully good
enough to get the rest. The
key just might be Dan Oladapo,
I mention Oladapo because his
6'7" 220 lb. size and experience
in a 22 yr. old body hopefully
is going to give Hugley some
breathing space inside.
Pitt's website has him listed at 6'9" 240 LBS! https://pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Pitts best centers in all the yrs I’ve watched Pitt bb were Blair and Clancy both were between 6’5”-6’6” . Pitts best rebounder was Jerome Lane at 6’5” (JC 6’5” wasn’t too bad either ) Pitts best inside scorer was Brian Shorter at 6’ 4” . Outside of shot blocking which was Charles Smith at 6’10” Hugley is bigger than all of Pitts best in the paint guys .
Probably 6'8" as you say since they add an inch to everyone. His bulk will let him bang and create space.
He's big enough. I've said it before, reminds me a lot of Kerry Blackshear. Hopefully he can develop like he did.
Some apples vs oranges comparisons here, IMHO. Blair had extremely long arms which gave him the same reach (i.e., length) of a 6-10 guy to go a long with his wide body and strength. As a result, he actually played 6-10. Lane had strength and hops and also had the advantage of being paired with the 6-10 Smith which helped him to be the leading rebounder as the secondary big. I don't remember much about Shorter's play.
From what I have seen of Hugley so far he doesn't have hops or extra long arms relative to his height. So, I expect he will play down low much like what one would expect a beefy 6-8 or 6-9 guy to play--he will be a below the rim type player. His very good jump shooting and passing skills can be employed to offset the disadvantage of his below the rim low-blocks play; that is, assuming the coaches can figure out how to utilize those skills efectively in the team's offense.
So, IMHO, we need to hope that there can be synergy generated by pairing Hugley with an Oldapo or Guaye. IMHO, synergy might be better with Guaye who is more of a contrast in style being 6-10 with hops and looking more mobile on film--especially if Oldapo isn't an above the rim player. I haven't seen Oldapo's film so I don't know what type of athleticism and/or hops he does or doesn't have.
I’m excited to see what Hugley can do this year. I see him as a potential Michael Young. Similar size and has ability to hit jumper. If you look at Young’s freshman stats they are nearly the same as Hugley. Year 2 Young really took a big step so let’s hope the same happens for John.
I do think he’s a 4 but he’s going to have to play the 5 just due to our roster. That’s why it really sucks we didn’t land Reid which would’ve allowed him to play the 4 most of time.
I do think he’s a 4 but he’s going to have to play the 5 just due to our roster. That’s why it really sucks we didn’t land Reid which would’ve allowed him to play the 4 most of time.
One thing about both
Hugley and Olipado is
they both are physically
big. Olipado is rugged,
and that's good because
lately we haven't anyone
like that inside. Too
many times we got beat
up inside by the likes of
NC. ST, Clemson, etc.
They had "men" inside
compared to what we
had. Hugley and Olipado
at least fit the body type
we've been lacking. Gueye
on the other hand is thin,
6'9" 210.
.
Brian Shorter when healthy was absolutely an unstoppable beast down low .
My point was that size isn’t the only consideration.
It will be a long time before Pitt ever gets another 6’10 “ stud like C Smith .
I agree with your point, and it's a shame what happened to Shorter is senior year.
Didn't he have some sort of mystery illness? Was it ever diagnosed? I don't remember too well.
RE: "size isn't the only consideration" I agree--providing you are limiting your definition of "size" to only mean a player's height.
However, size as more broadly defined would, besides height, also include strength, width, bulk (i.e., weight), and length (which incorporates arm length/reach). These factors are a very important consideration for effectiveness at playing the 5. The not so very tall guys who have been successful fives possessed some of the attributes of the broader definition of size.
Also, well above average hops can help a not so tall guy be more effective than a taller guy at playing the 5. In addition, the corollary is also true, a tall guy with below average hops can be less effective than one would expect given his height.
Long arms , jumping ability , quickness , strength , having a big butt/ body are all factors .
It was an enzyme disorder. The problem with it was that it really takes about a full year to recover from it.
I good friend of mine was at Pitt Med School at the time, and he attended a staffing about a treatment plan for Shorter in the early fall. The medical consensus was that he should take a redshirt year. But none other than Freddie Fu attended the staffing to advocate for him to play that year.
The best example of Shorter's issue was that there were days when he would feel as if he had absolutely no energy. So in the NCAA tournament that year, we had 23 points in 39 minutes against Georgia. He came back two days later against Kansas completely zapped and had just 6 points in 21 minutes.
Oldapa has a little spring to him, but plays an old man's YMCA game, a lot of keeping his pivot foot and making moves to an opening to get a shot up, or trying to take his man off the dribble from the mid range.
I don't see a lot of similarity between Hugley and Liddell, including body types. They really don't look similar just by the eyeball test. Hugs looks a little taller, bigger and heavier head to me. He's more of a "thick ankle" player than Liddell, to use a Herbstreit-ism. I'd be surprised if Liddell was actually 6'7, he looks closer to 6'5-6. Hugs was really overweight and had to lose a lot of weight to get to his present size. Their games are different as well, Hugs looks to be more of a back to the basket, true post kind of guy whereas Liddell is more athletic and mobile, can face up or post up and can shoot and score off the dribble. I suspect Hugs won't touch the ball much outside the painted area. And that's fine, because that's exactly where he's needed. If he can use his body to create some space and work the two handed post game effectively, to go with some solid 2-way rebounding, he will be just what the doctor ordered for the 4-out positionless type of offense Capel (and just about everyone else anymore) likes to run.
Shorter is one of my all-time favorite players and a reminder to me of how good Pitt's recruiting used to be--it was always exciting to get those kinds of players even if some questionable recruiting practices were employed to do so. He was the MVP of the McDonald's AA game if I remember correctly, and I'll never forget the game he had at the fieldhouse in the win over a loaded Billy Tubbs Oklahoma team--I think he had close to 40 and 15 boards, and he dominated Stacy King despite looking to be about a foot shorter than King out there. That was after Tubbs had made some public comments about what a dump the Fitz was, how he hated playing there, etc. That was a helluva day.
Of course, that ended up being a very disappointing season given the roster Pitt had at the time. If Ben Howland or Jamie D had been coaching that team, they might have done some damage in March. Those Evans teams never played any defense.
That Oklahoma game was the best game I’d ever been to as a student.
Shorter was one of my top five favorite players.
Unfortunately he also was involved in one of my least favorite memories.
Pitt versus Syracuse. Shorter going in for the winning dunk....until Coleman came from nowhere and blocked It.
I went from “we are going to win”, to.........
My five favorite less significant players:
John Johnson, Tim Glover, P.Stewart, L.Kendall, Coulibaly
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You must be under 40 if you don't have Jerome Lane on that list. I know it's all subjective, but man those mid-late 80s teams had some players on them, and Lane provided the all-time greatest college basketball highlight ever. I'm proud to say I was sitting in the common room of my dorm as a college freshman in Michigan watching that game with a few buddies. I was working on converting them into Pitt fans when that moment occurred. We all jumped out of our chairs. Send it in Jerome! I'll never forget it. he deserves top billing just for that IMO, but watching him grab 15-18 rebounds night after night while adding some good looking offense brought me a lot of joy at the time.
1. Lane
2. Shorter
3. C. Smith
4. Blair
5. D. Gore
6. Vonteego Cummings
7. Rod Brookin
8. B. Knight/Sam Young tie
9. R. Greer
10. J. Page
I dunno. I was at Pitt when Lane was here and my admiration for him has waned somewhat over the years. It was the second semester of my senior year of undergrad when Jerome smashed the backboard. Of course, I still have my handful of glass from that great moment.
But now, I can't help but think of Smith and Lane knowing that group just wasn't nearly as good as they should have been.
Anyway, my top 10 changes from time to time.
At the moment, he's where it stands ... (I had to cheat to get everyone I wanted on here)
1. Sam Young
2. DeJuan Blair
3. Brandin Knight
4. (tie) Sam Clancy/Clyde Vaughan
5. Lamar Patterson
6. Chevy Troutman
7. Jaron Brown
8. Brian Shorter
(tie) 9. Jerome Lane/Charles Smith
(tie) 10 . Brad Wanamaker/Levance Fields
Honorable Mention: (in no order) Donatas Zavackas, Dwyane Wallace, Rod Brookin, Carl Krauser, Tray Woodall, Ricky Greer, Ontario Lett
Leave it to you to put 13 guys in your top 10!
Off the top of my head:
1) Charles Smith
2) Clyde Vaughan
3) Brandin Knight
4) Lamar Patterson
5) DeJuan Blair
6) Chevy Troutman
7) Sam Young
8) Ricky Greer
9) Sam Clancy
10) Jaime Peterson (just for SMF!)
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