Top 10 MVC Juniors

[electricmayhem]

Here's an article about the top 10 juniors in the Valley this year.

http://www.examiner.com/x-7020-Bradley-Braves-Examiner~y2009m9d7-Missouri-Valley-Preview-200910-Top-10-Juniors

[60Shock]

At the beginning of the season, I would have rather seen a player like Hatch, who has played two seasons for us, get the HM nod rather than Gabe who has not played a single second.

Now the end of the season is a completely different matter and MVC first second, or HM teams would be quite acceptable for both players.

[ShockTalk]

Juniors, along with freshmen, are the toughest players to determine who will be the most successful.

Freshmen are somewhat unknown quantities not knowing who or how fast certain players will succeed in D1 ball. With juniors, you have a similar problem with the influx of Juco players. Will an incoming Juco with great stats be better than junior with lesser stats, but who has already been in the program for two (maybe three) years.

There is one big difference. Freshmen are generally not counted on much to determine the success of a team. However, most all of these teams will depend on this group of juniors to have good to great years for their respective teams to do well. This group of players may very well make or break a number of teams.

Nice job em. Tough group to rank.

PS 60Shock - Hatch may help "make" the team, but he will not "break" the team. I believe we are depending on Gabe to fill RC shoes and those are big shoes to fill.

[wufan]

At the beginning of the season, I would have rather seen a player like Hatch, who has played two seasons for us, get the HM nod rather than Gabe who has not played a single second.

Now the end of the season is a completely different matter and MVC first second, or HM teams would be quite acceptable for both players.

I disagree with Hatch making any type of pre-season conference team unless its the all hustle team. He may be a huge help to us this year, but there is no way he should see a top 10 MVC juniors ranking.

[electricmayhem]

Juniors, along with freshmen, are the toughest players to determine who will be the most successful.

Freshmen are somewhat unknown quantities not knowing who or how fast certain players will succeed in D1 ball. With juniors, you have a similar problem with the influx of Juco players. Will an incoming Juco with great stats be better than junior with lesser stats, but who has already been in the program for two (maybe three) years.

There is one big difference. Freshmen are generally not counted on much to determine the success of a team. However, most all of these teams will depend on this group of juniors to have good to great years for their respective teams to do well. This group of players may very well make or break a number of teams.

Nice job em. Tough group to rank.

PS 60Shock - Hatch may help "make" the team, but he will not "break" the team. I believe we are depending on Gabe to fill RC shoes and those are big shoes to fill.

Thanks for the kind words. The junior class isn't too deep this year, but it's hard to tell if the juco kids will have an immediate impact or not. There are transfers from D1 schools, and from D2 schools. Who knows what they will do... I tried to determine their impact based on school need and their talents.

[im4wsu]

At the beginning of the season, I would have rather seen a player like Hatch, who has played two seasons for us, get the HM nod rather than Gabe who has not played a single second.

Now the end of the season is a completely different matter and MVC first second, or HM teams would be quite acceptable for both players.

I disagree with Hatch making any type of pre-season conference team unless its the all hustle team. He may be a huge help to us this year, but there is no way he should see a top 10 MVC juniors ranking.

If Hatch combines his 43.5% 3-pt shooting in 2007-08 and his new-found ability to drive the basket and finish a la 2008-09 and continues his very solid defense, YES, he SHOULD be on the all-conference team. Bottom line, when Hatch is in the lineup, the Shockers score more than their opponents and that is a GOOD thing.

[Snapshot9]

Hatch has a good basketball IQ, but he was playing High School ball his freshman year, and he hit his outside shots mostly.

Last year, he played D-1 ball, hustled a lot more, played much better defense, but lost his shot mostly.

Let's hope this year his shot comes back, and he plays like he did last year.

[wufan]

At the beginning of the season, I would have rather seen a player like Hatch, who has played two seasons for us, get the HM nod rather than Gabe who has not played a single second.

Now the end of the season is a completely different matter and MVC first second, or HM teams would be quite acceptable for both players.

I disagree with Hatch making any type of pre-season conference team unless its the all hustle team. He may be a huge help to us this year, but there is no way he should see a top 10 MVC juniors ranking.

If Hatch combines his 43.5% 3-pt shooting in 2007-08 and his new-found ability to drive the basket and finish a la 2008-09 and continues his very solid defense, YES, he SHOULD be on the all-conference team. Bottom line, when Hatch is in the lineup, the Shockers score more than their opponents and that is a GOOD thing.

That is correct. If he does all of that he deserves to be on the post-season All-Conference team. The article was about pre-season best juniors and he hasn't shown that he can do all of that at once. Until then, I disagreel.

[electricmayhem]

At the beginning of the season, I would have rather seen a player like Hatch, who has played two seasons for us, get the HM nod rather than Gabe who has not played a single second.

Now the end of the season is a completely different matter and MVC first second, or HM teams would be quite acceptable for both players.

I disagree with Hatch making any type of pre-season conference team unless its the all hustle team. He may be a huge help to us this year, but there is no way he should see a top 10 MVC juniors ranking.

If Hatch combines his 43.5% 3-pt shooting in 2007-08 and his new-found ability to drive the basket and finish a la 2008-09 and continues his very solid defense, YES, he SHOULD be on the all-conference team. Bottom line, when Hatch is in the lineup, the Shockers score more than their opponents and that is a GOOD thing.

That is correct. If he does all of that he deserves to be on the post-season All-Conference team. The article was about pre-season best juniors and he hasn't shown that he can do all of that at once. Until then, I disagreel.

This pretty much sums up my thought... I'll be interested to see Hatch's contributions this year.