Lack of Blocks and an Inside Presence?

[AZ Shocker]

It is weird that all 3 centers last year were Seniors and are now GONE....and that this year all 3 centers are Freshmen. I realize my math isn't as good as it once was....but that's like a 4 year gap in having EVEN one true center in the program. Wth?

Why does it kinda suck. BECAUSE this is Ron and Freds' JUNIOR year!!! How can there be no legitimate centers in the program when those two guys are in the Junior year. This kinda sounds like I'm knocking Coach Marshall and his staff....but I'm not....I'm knocking about a dozen or so guys that signed on elsewhere for perhaps more "perceived" prestige as opposed to signing on with Greg and this current group to possibly win a National Championship. Idiots they are!!!! Idiots!!!! Lol :)

[Jhook89]

Marshall signed so many big men this year that he literally had to send one of them to prep school. I'm not saying I wouldn't mind having a Top 10 big man added to our recruiting haul, but maybe a little distance from the ledge is necessary. I really hope you don't call in to the coaches show with comments like this.

Yes, you are right. I did exaggerate a tad bit on the amount of bigs we sign. We did sign a decent amount of front court guys last year. I guess what I was mainly trying to get at was the size of our front court worries me. When we do sign front court guys most of them tend to be 6'7" 220 lbs. The C worries me. We are playing a 6'7" C and a 6'4" PF right now... I guess that's why I am so high on Nurger. I feel he is the one guy on the roster we have who actually has the potential to be a difference maker at the 5 going forward into the future. I don't want to completely write Bush off, but he hasn't shown much and his 6ppg 6rpg at the JC level tend to make me think he isn't going to contribute as much as we would all like him too. It just seems the biggest thing our team is missing is a rim protector down low and it hardly ever seems like we try to sign true centers

[1972Shocker]

It is weird that all 3 centers last year were Seniors and are now GONE

Kadeem and Chadrack are 2 that are gone of course. But Cle and Nick were not in any way centers. Darius was the other head of the 3-headed monster but his is back this year.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Where do you think Nurger, Kelly, and Morris are as "freshmen" compared to where Stutz was his first year? Is that reason to be excited?

There is definitely some upside there, but I have to admit that I'm not all that excited about the continuing trend of having 6'7" players stuck playing the 5 spot much of the time. Only Nurger has the true size to play the 5, and he is far from a sure thing just yet.

If that group turns out to be stellar, maybe it is a sign of things to come. However, right now, I stand by my statement that Marshall has only had a fraction of the success with 4 year bigs as he has had with 4 year guards.

[Cdizzle]

Yes, you are right. I did exaggerate a tad bit on the amount of bigs we sign. We did sign a decent amount of front court guys last year. I guess what I was mainly trying to get at was the size of our front court worries me. When we do sign front court guys most of them tend to be 6'7" 220 lbs. The C worries me. We are playing a 6'7" C and a 6'4" PF right now... I guess that's why I am so high on Nurger. I feel he is the one guy on the roster we have who actually has the potential to be a difference maker at the 5 going forward into the future. I don't want to completely write Bush off, but he hasn't shown much and his 6ppg 6rpg at the JC level tend to make me think he isn't going to contribute as much as we would all like him too. It just seems the biggest thing our team is missing is a rim protector down low and it hardly ever seems like we try to sign true centers

Fair enough. Discussing the the merits of and ability to, recruit impact true centers, seems like a fair discussion. Saying "we don't recruit big men" didn't. I think this just really comes down to supply and demand. There are a ton of good guards in the country. Marshall (and staff) have proven that they can look outside the top 50 rated guards that blue-bloods are drooling over, and find supreme talent. I think you could reasonably argue that they haven't proven the same with centers. But I think you could just as easily argue that there are very few, if any, of those players around. There simply aren't that many 6'10"-7' players walking around, and the ones that are really good at basketball are impossible for people to miss. Like I said earlier, I'm all for landing a Top 10 Center to roam the courts for 4 years (or more likely, 1-2), that also matches the personality traits Marshall has built the program around. Until that player is available and willing to return phone calls to teams not named Duke and Kentucky, I think we're going to see Marshall try to mix and match as best he can with whatever he can possibly find.

[Jhook89]

I think the concern here is not about lack of 7 footers, but lack of more standard size bigs (6'9" or 6'10") so we aren't relying on the Evan Wessels of the world to play the 4 spot. A few more "true 5s" would be nice.

EXACTLY. I'm not saying we need multiple 7 footers on the team. It would just be nice to see a couple more 6'9"+ guys down low

[Cdizzle]

If that group turns out to be stellar, maybe it is a sign of things to come. However, right now, I stand by my statement that Marshall has only had a fraction of the success with 4 year bigs as he has had with 4 year guards.

Couldn't this be said of basically every coach ever? Especially a coach that has been pumping out all-league guards his entire tenure? There just aren't that many bigs to go around, and the 'sure things' are gobbled up very quickly by the blue bloods. Hopefully that is changing and we'll land one soon, but until then I'll take solace in the fact that for the most part the guys we have been plugging in at the 4-5 positions have been holding their own, at the very least, against tournament-caliber teams, both this year and in recent past.

[Cdizzle]

EXACTLY. I'm not saying we need multiple 7 footers on the team. It would just be nice to see a couple more 6'9"+ guys down low

Would you rather have another 6'9"-6'11" player like Wamukota on the roster, or Rashard Kelly?

[1972Shocker]

it hardly ever seems like we try to sign true centers

My guess is there is a lot of trying going on. We haven't been terribly successful in finding quality players at 6-10 and above but I'm not sure that it is for a lack of trying.

I am just not sure the pool of talent for athletic big men with basketball skills is very deep. Rauno Nurger looks like he will be good and although Shaq is "only" 6-8 his is a big man with good upside.

However, it is pretty obvious that right now we do have a bit of a hole in the donut in terms of solid, experienced bigs. OTOH we do seem to be holding our own against one of the better non-con schedules we have had in recent memory. Do we have enough to make a deep run in March. Time will tell and time is what our new guys need right now.

[AZ Shocker]

Kadeem and Chadrack are 2 that are gone of course. But Cle and Nick were not in any way centers. Darius was the other head of the 3-headed monster but his is back this year.

My bad...forgot about Darius there. Too bad Lufile and Kadeem weren't in Ron and Freds class. Damn we would be down right NASTY this year and next!!!!

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Couldn't this be said of basically every coach ever? Especially a coach that has been pumping out all-league guards his entire tenure? There just aren't that many bigs to go around, and the 'sure things' are gobbled up very quickly by the blue bloods. Hopefully that is changing and we'll land one soon, but until then I'll take solace in the fact that for the most part the guys we have been plugging in at the 4-5 positions have been holding their own, at the very least, against tournament-caliber teams, both this year and in recent past.

You have a point to an extent. Guards are indeed more plentiful in general. However...

Gonzaga has a 7'1" Junior that has been in the program for 3 years now and is playing 23 minute a game this year. They also have a 6'10" freshman playing 19 minutes a game. I wish that was us.

We all know about Poeltl at Utah. I wish one of our 7' project players would turn out to be half as good as that guy.

Stephen Hurt may or may not turn out to be a nice player, but the fact that Marshall recruited him and then a (not blue blood) team like KSU got him is disappointing to me.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Would you rather have another 6'9"-6'11" player like Wamukota on the roster, or Rashard Kelly?

False choice. There is a 3rd option, and that is the type of player some of us would like to see more often. Totally understandable that it isn't as easy as running over to Wal-Mart for a new pair of socks, but we are just speaking out loud (or typing out loud?) about what we are dreaming about for Christmas.

[Jhook89]

Would you rather have another 6'9"-6'11" player like Wamukota on the roster, or Rashard Kelly?

Touche. Like you said, unless you are Duke, KU, or Kentucky it's going to be hard to pull in talented big men. I'd just like to think we are getting to a point as a program where we could pull in some talented guys with size. I wouldn't want another Wamukota, but i'd love to have a Mockevicious type player

[1972Shocker]

but i'd love to have a Mockevicious type player

Obviously, Nurger as a Freshman is not equal to Mockevicious as Junior but I think he definitely has the potential to be in a couple of years.

[Dave Stalwart]

I will probably start growing concerned if we struggle in the MVC. I just really think both Nurger and Bush Dubya are going to transform before our eyes. Part of enjoying the ride will be witnessing their development into defenders and shot blockers. Along with that growth, our team becomes more and more dominant.