(04-25-2009 09:23 AM)Dr. J. Wrote:  

(04-25-2009 12:34 AM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-25-2009 12:18 AM)eh9198 Wrote:  

(04-24-2009 09:59 PM)Dr. J. Wrote:  

(04-24-2009 02:37 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(04-24-2009 02:34 PM)Dr. J. Wrote:  He'll be fine at the four.

How is he going to defend someone four inches taller and 40 pounds heavier?

How many teams in the Sun Belt have a 4 that's 6'10" tall. Not very many. If they're that tall they're playing the 5. . I don't think he'll have a lot of trouble. He'll probably be 15-20 pounds heavier this coming season than he was last year. And he's pretty strong already. That's one position I'm not concerned about.

It might be outside the box, but I still say Neighbour at the SF position. Look, the kid's 6-10, taller than any small forward in the country, I'd be willing to bet, PLUS he's got guard experience, so that makes him as good or better at shooting/handling the ball as anyone at the SF spot in the nation.

Think of the matchup possibilities! Even just as a decoy! Neighbour too big for your SF? So they put a post man on him, enabling hm to either blow by him or dishing it to one of our biggies, who just got paired up with a smaller defender, since the big guy went to guard Neighbour. He out dribbling/shooting your SF? So put a guard on him and what happens? Takes him down low to post him up easily (in a man to man), or kick it out to a suddenly wide open III, or Cicic, or Bozeman, or Garcia, or Jackson, who just got an easier time getting open because that SF went to guard you in place of the guard they just put on Neighbour!

OR, just pair him straight up with a small forward, who will either be too small or too slow to be able to guard.

Why am i the only one thinking of this?

Sounds good to me. Put Cicic at the 2, even with a small point guard, we still have one of the biggest line-ups in the country. Certainly the biggest of any midmajor.

I'm not as concerned with having the biggest lineup, but the best. If that happens to be the biggest, that's great. But we're already inserting kids into our starting lineup who've been playing in not only high school leagues, but private school leagues. They might turn out to be great, but you can't expect most kids that we sign out of high school to step into D1 ball immediately and be a star. I'm looking for Cicic and Neighbours to be good backups this year. Kids like Garcia-Mendez, Davison, Spuriel and Thornton have spent two years at the Juco level. They're more mature, both physically and mentally, and should be used to a tougher level of competition. Let's give the high schoolers at least a year to acclimate to the D1 level. They'll obviously contribute this year, but let's not have unrealistic expectations at this point in their career.

+1
I figure it will take at least half a season to a year for Cicic and Neighbours to adjust to American D1 ball, which will be more physical than what they experienced overseas and prep ball. Usually foreign players have alot of offensive talent but if you put a physical player on them and make them work for every shot, they tend to get tentative. I guess what I'm trying to say is they will need to develop strength and mental toughness to succeed on the D1 level.

(04-24-2009 09:59 PM)Dr. J. Wrote:  How many teams in the Sun Belt have a 4 that's 6'10" tall. Not very many.

FIU and ULL would have had 4's that big at times. And a lot of teams would have had 4's in the 6-8, 240# range.

(04-27-2009 07:08 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(04-24-2009 09:59 PM)Dr. J. Wrote:  How many teams in the Sun Belt have a 4 that's 6'10" tall. Not very many.

FIU and ULL would have had 4's that big at times. And a lot of teams would have had 4's in the 6-8, 240# range.

And how many championships has FIU won? I've heard coaches say many times that they'd rather have a 6"6" guy who can play than a seven footer who can't. Remember Tony Jones? And more recently Korolev? You can bet that if a seven footer is worth a darn, he ain't gonna be playing with UALR. He'll be at a BCS school.

There are some 6-8, 240# power forwards in this league who can really play, though.

(04-27-2009 09:40 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  There are some 6-8, 240# power forwards in this league who can really play, though.

Unfortunately, none have been playing for us.