2020 Big Man Discussion

[Aargh]

The Hardaway thread morphed into a discussion of our post players. One of Udeze's tweets even got linked in there.

I thought it might be worthwhile to discuss how to handle 4 Centers. Udeze seems to be chomping at the bit to get back into action. I thought Udeze looked really good for a Fr big before he got hurt. I also think he probably played a few games where he was nowhere near 100%.

Udeze seems to have the confidence to not want to take a shirt. Can Chandler guard a stretch 4?

It's the off season. Things are slow, so we may as well go into wild speculation, (because that never happens during the season?)

[asiseeit]

OK, I'll bite. Given that both AM and JE are healthy they will play 30-35 minutes between them. IC has an edge on Udeze I believe
for the remaining minutes and he could play the four spot against traditional power forwards and maybe stretch ones also. Udeze
would probably also have the same kinds of coverage problems with an athletic stretch four. I'm sure Udeze believes in himself but
IMHO he is way behind IC offensively. Wonder if we could safely move him to a juco for a year to work on his offense or if he would
even be receptive. Having said that, much depends on the health of both JE and AM. If they are both healthy look out for the shocks.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

You might want to rethink that. Had Morris never been hurt (or was able to come back) then Chandler doesnt really play the minutes he received.

[Shocktheheck]

Saw JE out at dinner last night. Had a boot on, hopefully rehab and rest do him well.

[Veritas]

I had forgotten how Udeze looked. JE is a beast and AM is a monster. Gregg seems pretty pumped about the progress of AM.

[Dan]

Udeze was the 2nd post before he got hurt. He has no range outside of 3 feet but he can board and move bodies around with his big booty. I expect him to play, his biggest issue will be getting into game shape. As for Chandler, I really think he's a 4 that can play 5. Like Udeze, he needs to get in shape, they both probably need to shed 10-15 pounds.

[Shockm]

I don't think that coach agrees with you that Chandler is a 4. He tried him there last year and gave up on it. It may have been because he wasn't cut out to play the 4 or it may have been that Chandler couldn't handle learning another position. Whichever it is, he may try again, but it appears to me that Coach Marshall sees him as a 5 that may be able to play the 4 at some time. I think he will find out which of Udeze or Chandler is the better player at the 5 for the long term before he tries him at the 4.

Marshall is on the record as seeing Wade as the next 4 and that he resembled McDuffie. Wade and possibly Allen will compete for the 4 spot to begin the year.

[Regul8te]

Who is Wade?

[shockrah]

I hear Daniel Boone was a big man.

[im4wsu]

I hear Daniel Boone was a big man.

So was Big Bad John!

[pinstripers]

I think Coach said on his radio show that one of the sophs WILL redshirt

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

I’ve heard that Tommy Lee is a “big man”.

[1972Shocker]

I think Coach said on his radio show that one of the sophs WILL redshirt

My recollection is he said one of them MIGHT redshirt but I not willing to bet much on my memory.

[pinstripers]

My recollection is he said one of them MIGHT redshirt but I not willing to bet much on my memory.

went back and listened. Said, "one of those two will probably redshirt"

[1979Shocker]

I think Coach said on his radio show that one of the sophs WILL redshirt

Yelp. He says that around the 37 minute mark when talking about the big men.

https://knss.radio.com/media/audio-c...-show-04-08-19

[AZ Shocker]

Gotta be either Morris (shoulder recovery) or Poor Bear (game shape) no?

[ShockerPrez]

Honestly, big men is our weakness next year. JE and AM would be more than adequate in the Valley, but I thought JE was too weak and soft. AM got better, but has a ways to go. Not sure what we have with Chandler and Udeze.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Thats not being honest though.

[Shockm]

I have optimism this year, but my positive outlook is based on several of our YOUNG players showing improvement. While our big men need to show the natural progression of improvement that young players (i include both JE and AM as young players because they have not played basketball very long) need to show as they gain experience, I disagree that they are a bigger question marks than other players/positions that we have. Because they showed so much improvement last year by the NIT, I am optimistic that they will continue to show more improvement. Our outside shooting concerns me more than our big guys, and we need to have multiple players step up on the offensive end to quell the losses of two of our better offensive players who graduated. However, I'm optimistic that we have the offensive shooters and scorers to do just that.

[Stickboy46]

Honestly, big men is our weakness next year. JE and AM would be more than adequate in the Valley, but I thought JE was too weak and soft. AM got better, but has a ways to go. Not sure what we have with Chandler and Udeze.

We are likely to have the best collection of big men in the AAC outside of Memphis ... Cincy lost all their guys, Houston lost Brady, UCF lost Fall ...