(02-14-2020 01:29 PM)Gilesfan Wrote: (02-14-2020 01:19 PM)Prideofalion Wrote: Hard to spread the floor when we shoot the ball as poorly as we do. Our athleticism is pretty good but teams really pack the paint on us. And of course we need a dominant big man. Almost every team in the country needs one. They don’t grow on trees. But I agree, gotta get our hands on one someway or another.
Question... have any good bigs come through this conference lately? Other than Bassey? MTSU set the standard for this league thus far. They won 30 games one year and had back to back tournament appearances and round one wins. They had some really good forwards with Upshaw and Williams. Neither were Centers though. Good bigs are going to be hard to get at this level unless they transfer.
People will realize one day that Bryant "Big Country" Reeves isn't walking through that door. Very few majors have legitimate 7 footers and even less mid majors have them. Guys like Ezikpe are the primary big men options. Whether you want to label that as a center or not is meaningless.
We need another body that can rebound and defend. They don't have to be 6 foot 10. That body might be the greek freshman though someone than can replace Carver (all 6 foot 5 of him) would be nice as well.
Nobody is expecting Big Country Reeves to just walk through the door Giles. Big Gimpy Greek might walk through though. In case you failed to notice it, we are currently starting a guy at center that surely wasn't recruited to be ODU's center. If that is top shelf with you, then that's fine. You're entitled to your opinion. Others that feel differently than you are entitled to theirs as well.
All of your woe is me, we will never be able to get a sizable center is nonsense. Other mid majors have gotten them, but ODU can't? We are relegated to playing a 6'-5" small forward type at center because that's the best ODU can do? Before he got hurt we had another 6'-5" guy playing power forward because that's the best ODU could do? No it isn't. They were simply playing the hand they were left with at the time.
Let's face the facts Giles. You are 100% all tied up in small, small, small, small ball. To you it is that way or the highway. When ODU gets a coach that coaches that style of play then we will
ALL give him a chance to succeed with that style. Jeff isn't that guy. He doesn't coach it, or have his team play that style. He coaches hard nosed, half court defense, and slow paced, inside out offense. He depends on getting offensive rebounds because his teams don't tend to be good shooting teams and they often need to score via put backs and additional opportunities. Blaine Taylor was of a similar mindset, and some/many would argue that his teams were better at it than Jeff's have been. Preach and push your small ball all you want to but it isn't happening with Jeff. The only thing small ball about him currently is the fact that he doesn't have much in the way of height or depth on the team at the moment, but they aren't running, gunning, pressing, and jacking up 3's like VCU (for instance).
Put it another way .... if in your opinion it is so hard to ever get a center such as Washington, West, Gatling, Hodge, Laughton, Lee, Hassell, Cooper, etc. and getting the shooters is so much easier and more mid-major then where have they been as far as ODU is concerned? Either Jeff isn't getting them, OR, his style of play and coaching is taking away from their shooting abilities.