I'm not sure he can. Can he? It sure wasn't a part of his game this season like it was for Allen.Originally Posted by UTEopia
I'm not sure he can. Can he? It sure wasn't a part of his game this season like it was for Allen.
He doesn't dribble well enough. Loses the ball in traffic.
That might be because he often dribbles right into traffic.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Another too early look at next season:
1) The frontcourt. Johnson, Tillman, and Allen will start. The five others - Battin, the Finn, Lahat, Van Tall Guy, and Carlson - will compete for what is likely to be two spots in the rotation, maybe three.
2) The backcourt. A big question mark. We need a PG, and there are three possible ways to get one:
a) Gach and/or CJJ makes a big leap
b) Rylan Jones is Pac-12 ready from the start
c) We bring in a transfer who can run the show
3) Shooting. We know Tillman will be shooting outside. We hope Gach improves from out there. Battin may beat the other bigs out for minutes just because he can shoot. Other than that, we are hoping on Brenchley and whoever is new. Shooting appears to be a weakness - what we have may not be enough for modern basketball.
4) Offense. Tillman and Allen can attack the basket. Either could be good in a pick and roll if we end up with a PG who can handle that. Allen can be the man in the middle of a zone. So much depends on the PG. Hopefully, Gach is more polished offensively. We probably still won't have a strong post offense.
5) Defense. Jayce is pretty good here. Allen and Tillman both played good defense at times this season. Gach has potential here like he does everywhere else. He has all the tools to be a great defender. CJJ plays decent defense.
I'm not sure this adds up to a tournament caliber team. It all depends on that PG spot, and adding another shooter would be huge. Gach has 10 areas to improve in. If he makes a big leap in any one of those areas, he'll be very valuable. If he makes minor strides in multiple areas, he'll be useful. If he makes big improvements in all areas, he'll be all-conference.
But Larry’s salary!
😉
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
We should go ahead and make Donnie a 2. He's good enough (but can get better) from 3 and he can physically overpower most 2s. Moving Donnie is probably contrary to what I've said earlier, but we need more depth in the backcourt. Donnie can make this transition, and it'll open up more frontcourt space, where we've got a lot of bodies. We've also seen what this team can be like defensively with a big guard in the backcourt (Delon Wright).
Van Komen should get as many minutes as we can afford. He has a skill no one else has on the team, and one that still carries a lot of value in the college game, even as teams shoot more 3s.
I suspect we'll roll with the hot hand at the 3. It's the one position I can see a rotating cast of characters at, unless we're dead set on keeping Donnie there.
Whomever defends the best and turns the ball over the least should be the PG. It all starts there for Utah next year.
I was dreaming about that when watching Duke play Syracuse last week. The Orange were tall at every position. We can go big with Gach, Tillman, Allen, Battin/Finn/Carlson, and one of our three centers.
I think we can also go up tempo with Thione as the 5. Allen is certainly comfortable pushing. Gach would need to be better.
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