point guards. We should always have someone who is a Junior or Senior to play the point. If Lawton wasn't the guy, we should have been able to find a juco to start for two years and give Hagins and/or Gillon a couple of years to gain experience.

Instead we threw them in there and let them swim. In all fairness, they did a good job in most cases, but there were a number of times where they were in over their heads. Hopefully it bodes well for our future. But next year, they'll still only be Sophomores, so there's probably another year of learning. But it causes us to struggle. Another area we've always been sort of weak is wing shooters. We haven't had many of those 6'5"-6'7" guys who are deadly from the wing. Maybe Isom will fill that role. But with Steve's philosophy, he probably won't get much of a chance this season. Maybe in time, but with the people we have coming back, there's not going to be much room for anyone new, unless we find a real banger or two inside.

(03-22-2013 02:55 PM)outsideualr Wrote:  point guards. We should always have someone who is a Junior or Senior to play the point. If Lawton wasn't the guy, we should have been able to find a juco to start for two years and give Hagins and/or Gillon a couple of years to gain experience.

Instead we threw them in there and let them swim. In all fairness, they did a good job in most cases, but there were a number of times where they were in over their heads. Hopefully it bodes well for our future. But next year, they'll still only be Sophomores, so there's probably another year of learning. But it causes us to struggle. Another area we've always been sort of weak is wing shooters. We haven't had many of those 6'5"-6'7" guys who are deadly from the wing. Maybe Isom will fill that role. But with Steve's philosophy, he probably won't get much of a chance this season. Maybe in time, but with the people we have coming back, there's not going to be much room for anyone new, unless we find a real banger or two inside.

Newell beat Notre Dame and should have beat NCST with a freshman point guard. There are plenty of other examples.

Didn't say it was impossible. Just not the best scenario for a winning team. I don't know how many Freshmen point guards will be playing in the sweet sixteen or elite eight, but I would bet most of those teams have upperclassmen running the point.

One thing to have a freshman guard, another to have only freshman points. That is risky. All things considered, I thought our two (three) guys did an outstanding job this year.

(03-22-2013 03:39 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  One thing to have a freshman guard, another to have only freshman points. That is risky. All things considered, I thought our two (three) guys did an outstanding job this year.

I was extremely pleased with their play, overall. Couldn't have asked for much more.

We should never have to play fr pg's but there was no way to start not doing it than to have a fr pg or a 1st year juco.

I am pleased we have committed to 4 year players. We are over the hump and ready to do some winning.

I would have thought we could have found a good juco point guard and have our Freshmen break in more slowly. But it is what it is, and we have several Sophomores to be with point guard experience (Hagins, Gillon and Osse), so things should be set for awhile.

If players in their 2nd year at D1 make the biggest improvement (except maybe for big men), and I am going to guess that point guards make the biggest jump of all, since they have the most to learn, I am guessing that we take a big step forward just in that one position.

If that happens, we'll be pretty darn good next year. We need a really good wing shooter who can get his shot off quickly and shoot over the other team's defenders. Isom might just be that player. Isler might have more of a shooting impact next year. He shoots reasonably well from the three point line, and might just take more shots next season.

I really like the skills I saw in Hagins and Gillon. And they were not under a lot of pressure because no one expected much from a freshman-laden team. Get a year of maturity, and who knows how good they could be. And they had better be better, because expectations will be higher.

I recall Joe Kleine saying last year at a speaking engagement that if you recruit a point guard that starts, you just live with his mistakes for awhile, but if he works out, you have a point guard for three more years. Let's hope it works out.
I like Hagins and Gillon, but I just wished we had been able to have a more experienced player for at least two years and then let one of the new kids take over.

Assuming those two stay for four years, and play together for four years, and develop that unspoken coordination that comes with it, can you imagine how good they could be as a tandem? Those are a lot of IFs.