The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

First, that team had as many as 4 guys that would be the best offensive player on this year's team. Second, I would not say playing Bazemore, Hassell, Finney etc was sacrificing offense in order to get more defense. In fact, Marquel was probably a better defender than Darius, and yet DJ started ahead of him.

(11-07-2016 11:04 AM)Monarchblue Wrote:  First, that team had as many as 4 guys that would be the best offensive player on this year's team. Second, I would not say playing Bazemore, Hassell, Finney etc was sacrificing offense in order to get more defense. In fact, Marquel was probably a better defender than Darius, and yet DJ started ahead of him.

That year Baze couldn't shoot. The strategy for that team was to throw the ball at the basket and go rebound it.

(11-07-2016 11:03 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  I still don't understand what people have against Caver. It's like people are just assuming he's a bad player based on limited minutes as a freshman last year?

Caver is by far the best passer on the team and actually had a higher assist rate than anyone on the team last year. He also led the team in steal rate and had a relatively decent turnover rate. Besides Stith (obv), he had the highest free throw rate on the team. He's probably a better rebounder than any of our guards (except BJ, maybe?) He is the one guy that can create offense when he's asked to do so. Obviously, we haven't seen much of his jumper, but his mechanics looked better than last year. He is a very good athlete and is the best guy on the floor to push in transition. He's our best defender at the guard spot.

I don't understand how guys would prefer a shooting guard that stands behind the 3 point arc during the entire offensive set or a walk on true freshman (albeit probably scholly talent) over him. We would have no flow on offense with Baker at PG.

I'm not sure what Fields does better than Caver at this point. What does he do?

He doesn't do anything better than Caver right now. Maybe in the future but I don't see that happening. I am not sure what people were watching Friday night. That, to me, was the best game Ahmad has played since he's been here. He got better every minute he was in the game last year. He is ready for this.

I had to edit this post because I am currently working on a 2 day hangover from the Marshall game. Experienced my own blackout.

(11-07-2016 11:03 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  I still don't understand what people have against Caver. It's like people are just assuming he's a bad player based on limited minutes as a freshman last year?

Caver is by far the best passer on the team and actually had a higher assist rate than anyone on the team last year. He also led the team in steal rate and had a relatively decent turnover rate. Besides Stith (obv), he had the highest free throw rate on the team. He's probably a better rebounder than any of our guards (except BJ, maybe?) He is the one guy that can create offense when he's asked to do so. Obviously, we haven't seen much of his jumper, but his mechanics looked better than last year. He is a very good athlete and is the best guy on the floor to push in transition. He's our best defender at the guard spot.

I don't understand how guys would prefer a shooting guard that stands behind the 3 point arc during the entire offensive set or a walk on true freshman (albeit probably scholly talent) over him. We would have no flow on offense with Baker at PG.

I'm not sure what Fields does better than Caver at this point. What does he do?

That is also what I see.

Baker is a reliable, lock-down defender, and looks to have discovered a promising perimeter shot (based upon two exhibition performances and reports from practice). Fields is a truly exciting player to watch, and may develop into something special. Pinckney also shows some promise.

But Caver, from what I have seen, is markedly better than those three at playing the point guard position.

It blows my mind that people are so down on Caver. As a sophomore, he's probably the 3rd best PG we've had at ODU in the last decade.

First, Caver is a better PG. He's going to start every game for us this year.

I like Fields. He is going to help us. He looked good in the exhibitions. But, don't forget, the biggest knock against him is size. He was very comfortable playing against D2 and D3 guys who also lacked size. It's a different ballgame against Giddy Potts and some of the other big guards in this league.