Isaac Humphries 7'0" 245, 2016 to Kentucky

[wusphlash]

Can this young man, as good as he might be, meet the building expectations in his first year as a D1 player?

[Aargh]

Can this young man, as good as he might be, meet the building expectations in his first year as a D1 player?

This

The hype and expectations are approaching "enormous". It takes top-level JuCo's half a season to figure out how to Play Angry. It's a little unfair to expect a Fr to come in, hit the court from day one, and be a game-changer.

He's All-World playing against guys his own age. As a Fr, he's going to be playing against guys up to (and sometimes more than) 4 years older than he is. That's different.

He's certainly not Stutz body type as a Fr. Humphries has some bulk. He also doesn't resemble the body types of Kelly, Cotton, VanVleet, Baker, Wessel, Brown, etc. and on and on. The time for running a mile is a metric in Marshall's system.

I see a year of contribution at maybe 10 - 12 minutes. That might be enough to totally define the outcome of some games, but I see a first-year role-player, not a first-year front-line player.

Before some of you start throwing rocks at me, I see a top-50, 7' guy as a role-player on next year's team. Does that give you some idea of what I think we have without Humphries?

[choida]

I'm not actually sure about this. I've had people tell me that the coaching staff is really high on him, even as a 4. I think all of our bigs lose minutes if we sign him, but it's worth it for the increased chance at a championship. I'm sure 3G has every possible option calculated as far as schollys are concerned.

Things will get real interesting if we sign this guy... Whose not going to be on scholarship?... Even if none of the freshmen play... That's a tough ten man rotation to crack... Will be somewhat like the perfect season or the final fOur run

[proshox]

AArgh is probably right that expectations will be too high. There are very few similarly rated bigs that perform well in their first two seasons.

I still have hope that he would be the exception to the rule.

[choida]

I'm not actually sure about this. I've had people tell me that the coaching staff is really high on him, even as a 4. I think all of our bigs lose minutes if we sign him, but it's worth it for the increased chance at a championship. I'm sure 3G has every possible option calculated as far as schollys are concerned.

Things will get real interesting if we sign this guy... Whose not going to be on scholarship?... Even if none of the freshmen play... That's a tough ten man rotation to crack... Will be somewhat like the perfect season or the final fOur run

[The Mad Hatter]

The hyperbole can extend in both directions. There have certainly been plenty of very hyped players who weren't able to meet the expectations right off the bat because adjustment to the college game can be difficult, even for elite talent.

On the other hand, the notion that seems to crop up here that somehow young players can't crack the lineup or make a big impact can be equally overstated. Aside from players like Fred having a big impact as a freshman at WSU, there are plenty of incoming high school bigs that have thrived early in their college careers (Duke just won a national championship with one of them). It is hard to know the accuracy of these statements, but several sites have pegged Humphries as the heir apparent to Bogut and one called him more advanced for his age than Bogut. Bogut averaged 12.5 ppg and 9.9 rpg as a freshman at Utah before going for 20.4 ppg and 12.2 rpg as the national player of the year as a sophomore. And it's not like that Utah program was just a one and done factory, in fact, during the late 90s and early 00s, they looked a lot like we look now.

The presumption that a player like Humphries will automatically have a huge instant impact and the presumption that he is highly unlikely to are equally mistaken.

[AZ Shocker]

This

The hype and expectations are approaching "enormous". It takes top-level JuCo's half a season to figure out how to Play Angry. It's a little unfair to expect a Fr to come in, hit the court from day one, and be a game-changer.

He's All-World playing against guys his own age. As a Fr, he's going to be playing against guys up to (and sometimes more than) 4 years older than he is. That's different.

He's certainly not Stutz body type as a Fr. Humphries has some bulk. He also doesn't resemble the body types of Kelly, Cotton, VanVleet, Baker, Wessel, Brown, etc. and on and on. The time for running a mile is a metric in Marshall's system.

I see a year of contribution at maybe 10 - 12 minutes. That might be enough to totally define the outcome of some games, but I see a first-year role-player, not a first-year front-line player.

Before some of you start throwing rocks at me, I see a top-50, 7' guy as a role-player on next year's team. Does that give you some idea of what I think we have without Humphries?

All very valid points here. Much of what I would completely agree with.

BUT.....what we have currently here at Wichita St. is what I believe to be a unique situation. What we will have in this upcoming season is much different from most Top-20 teams. We will have Senior All-American "can I get another assist" Point Guard Fred Van Vleet. We will have SENIOR All-American 2-guard "light 'em up from DEEP" Ron Baker. We will have SENIOR "Get out of my way cause that ball is MINE and you don't have a chance so you might as well go take a seat on the bench" Evan Wessell. We will have SENIOR PROVEN power forward who is locked and loaded with the "You don't want to go to War" mentality Anton Grady. Then you have Sophomore "I'm a tree trunk not necessarily moving out of your way so go ahead and throw up that brick of a shot so we can get the rebound...and oh by the way...I'm going off for 20 tonight" ShaQ Morris.

The Land of Auz learns to compete at this level 1st semester. Second semester he spreads his wings a bit and finds his niche within the machine. NCAA time.....Fred feeds the beast!!!!

UNSTOPPABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Take ALL the known components we have...and the proven results we've seen with this group. Our depth. Our coach. Add in a TOP-50 player who is a SEVEN foot 245 lb. CENTER being recruited by all the "factories"....and we will no doubt be the worst nightmare for some 67 other schools next March.

[Rlh04d]

This

The hype and expectations are approaching "enormous". It takes top-level JuCo's half a season to figure out how to Play Angry. It's a little unfair to expect a Fr to come in, hit the court from day one, and be a game-changer.

He's All-World playing against guys his own age. As a Fr, he's going to be playing against guys up to (and sometimes more than) 4 years older than he is. That's different.

He's certainly not Stutz body type as a Fr. Humphries has some bulk. He also doesn't resemble the body types of Kelly, Cotton, VanVleet, Baker, Wessel, Brown, etc. and on and on. The time for running a mile is a metric in Marshall's system.

I see a year of contribution at maybe 10 - 12 minutes. That might be enough to totally define the outcome of some games, but I see a first-year role-player, not a first-year front-line player.

Before some of you start throwing rocks at me, I see a top-50, 7' guy as a role-player on next year's team. Does that give you some idea of what I think we have without Humphries?

Expectations would be silly, but don't go too far in the other direction. Your 10-12mpg expectation is barely more than Nurger last year. It's not unfair to expect a top 50 7' recruit to play more than Nurger did. Nurger was not a real contributor on last year's team, and Humphries would be a major contributor. Probably not a star from day one, but it's unreasonable to expect a top 7' to be an end of the bench player which Nurger was, especially considering our weak established front court depth.

Everything you said could have just as easily applied to Shaq, who could have played far greater minutes in his freshman season if he could have avoided averaging more than 8 fouls per 40 minutes. And I doubt his mile time is great. If you can play Marshall will play you.

I'd expect a 15-20 mpg contributor at the front of the front court bench rotation, likely ahead of Nurger, Kelly, and Wamukota.

[ShockdaWorld]

I know I'm paraphrasing/quoting one of you, but I'm not going to search for who to give credit to, so I'll just put it this way, "WHAT A GREAT TIME TO BE A SHOCKER FAN," Author Unknown. Damn this is exciting!!! We've got what in my estimation is already at minimum a top 10 caliber team, and looking at the real possibility of adding a top 50 7-footer. I see more banners and cut nets in our not too distant future. How cool is that?

[TheDover1018]

For reference, Kelly last year averaged 13.8 mpg coupled with 2.9 ppg and 2.9 rpg. Jakob Poeltl on the other hand averaged 23.3 mpg coupled with 9.1 ppg and 6.8 rpg. I would guess that Isaac stats end up closer to Poeltl's than Kelly's. I don't think anyone has been saying that he is going to immediated be a 20 and 10 guy, but I would definitely take a 8 & 7 guy with a block or two thrown in.

[pinstripers]

Many pages ago, probably on a different thread, somebody predicted that we would sign a big foreign player, who would not be eligible the first semester, but would be allowed to play the second semester, and would not be eligible to receive a scholarship. What happened to that school of thought.

[ShockdaWorld]

Many pages ago, probably on a different thread, somebody predicted that we would sign a big foreign player, who would not be eligible the first semester, but would be allowed to play the second semester, and would not be eligible to receive a scholarship. What happened to that school of thought.

If I recall correctly, that was in regards to Thon Maker, although I don't know why the same scenario wouldn't fit here as well.

[shock]

Some top 50 bigs are top 50 because of their athleticism and their potential. Others who have no athleticism are top 50 because of their skills. Top 50 because of skills transfers better to the college game because of top 50 because of athleticism. Anthony Davis was great in college because he had elite athleticism and elite skills. Andrew Wiggins was good in college because he had elite athleticism. Dougie McD was good because of skills, as was Frank K. The difference between the latter two and IH is that IH already possesses a lot of the skills that Frank K and Dougie McBuckets had to learn.
Playing Angry is about desire. This kid is already displaying the type of desire it takes to play angry just to step on Devlin Court next year. He will be great as a frosh.


And before you reply and tell me that IH isn't on the same level as the ones I mentioned, yes he is. Period.

[asiseeit]

If, and I say IF, we were to get this guy I think Kelly, Hamilton and BW would be the
most nervous about PT. RN can play two positions. With this new guy and AG we would
have solid paint defenders meaning BW's value / minutes would diminish. The four
position would be the one drawing the most concern and in the stretch four RN's
value jumps. I don't see Kelly as a stretch four and Hamilton is a ? right now. MM is a
wild card there, too.

[vancedave56]

Kelly could definitely be a stretch 4 - he is definitely not a 5.