He's Night and day. I don't even cringe when he gets fouled and goes to the line anymore. Him and Ward are a nasty 1-2 punch at center this year. Conference is going to be a grind and having the kind of depth we have is going to huge!
*** Official Oklahoma State vs IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
- Start date
It's not disappointing Omaha is not playing more. He's apparently not ready or he would be. It's great the others are playing so well. It would be disappointing if we had to play him. Hopefully he will stick with it and develop to the point we can't keep him off the floor.
Ward had been the best player on the floor by leaps and bounds, especially when judged on a per minute basis. That's no disrespect to Lipsey who is (obviously) the other consistent force.
OSU was up against the 8 ball given their circumstances but it still looked like they played with a decent amount of energy. This was probably the best we've looked all year from about the halfway point of the first half on with intensity, ball movement (best I've seen all year), and consistent attacking. There were a few rough possessions but the shot selection was typically outstanding. It was a great teak effort.
Aside from Ward who has been a force, the most positive development has been the evolution of Milan. He's now looking a lot more comfortable against the better athletes and has actually played some very solid defense. He's taking good shots and looking more comfortable with his timing and having to get shots off quicker when being defended by athletes. His rebounding, which was a pretty glaring deficiency is also getting better. He's not just standing there, watching and waiting for the ball to fall in his lap, he's bodying up and or attacking the ball, anticipating how it's coming off the rim. It may not sound like a lot, but that kind of play takes away 2 to 3 extended possessions from the opposition.
It's the best we've looked all year. Hopefully we will be able to take this on the road and perform much better than wr typically have under Otz but we will have to see.
Ward's first half, particularly the last 10 mins, was some of thr best basketball I've seen a Cyclone play. The dude was unstoppable and was dominating in every phase. He's so much fun to watch.
This is probably the only legit front court we've had that's had the combination of size, depth, and some kind of offensive/defensive balance. Some listed were better offensively while others were untraditional front courts that lacked size. Obviously this isn't the most offensively astute version we've had, but it might end up being the best from a depth, size, and balance perspective.
It was disappointing that we didn't use the weak noncon to get him more minutes and give him a CHANCE to be more of a factor during the conference season. Giving 20+ minutes to Pavs, who was never going to be a factor in conference, was a brutal coaching decision. Those minutes would have been better served going to Omaha and Watson.
Now that ship has sailed I don't have a problem with Omaha's usage. But Otz missed an opportunity and I don't really see how one can try to spin that. It is what it is.
Any chance he is one and done? I think he needs another year for the speed and physical play of the NBA, but NBA teams draft on youth and potential. Milan has a high ceiling.
Great team, but I wouldn't call it deep. The starting five all averaged well over 30 minutes, and the only other player with significant minutes was the 6th man Shirley.
Houston will probably still be in top ten. Kansas, Purdue, Tennessee and Arizona all lost as well. Still a top ten win for ISU. I think ISU will be ranked.
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He needs to develop more in the "S&Q" and strength categories. Ball handling as well. I'd give him another year or two.
I compare Milan to Gradey **** at KU last year. Both are 6’8”, same type body and shooters that can create a shot and instantly high minute starters as freshman. Gradey went one and done and I have no idea how his career has gone. I don’t think Milan is the pure 3 point shooter that Gradey is and I think Milan is more physical inside and has a better fade shot. Milan is a more all around skilled player who could use another year at this level to grow and perfect his game. But maybe that will happen as this season progresses and some GM throws a boatload of money at him.
Last night was another example of how you should add at least 6 points to the line for the home team if the weather is really REALLY bad
Lipsey leads this team in almost every statistical category. Saying Tamin is not our best player is certainly disrespectful. By leaps and bounds.
Gradey is a magnitude of order better athlete than Milan, in terms of explosiveness. He's also listed as 2" shorter and 15# lighter than Milan.
He's on the Raptors roster after being taken with the 13th pick, but he hasn't played much, ~12 minutes a game and has only played in half their games. He's shooting 24% from 3 and 35% from the field.
I think there's very different answers as to whether Milan could get drafted, should go pro, or will. I don't think he will, or should, but it's really hard to predict anything in the current CBB environment
I was about to respond, but @bawbie beat me to it. **** is a much better athlete than MM is or ever will be, which makes his ceiling higher as an all-around scorer rather than just a shooter.
Going a little bit further back, I think Doug McDermott is the better overall comparison, at least offensively. McDermott was still able to be a lottery pick, but only after 3 straight years averaging 20+ points on fantastic shooting efficiency (granted, against weaker competition, but still incredible numbers).
He’s not on any mocks that I’ve seen out there. There’s a really nice crop of euros/foreign guys this year, but more of the freaky long 6’8” guys that can handle, have a passable 3 ball, guard 3-4 spots and block shots variety.
That fadeaway jumper is going to be broadcasted nightly on ESPN. I think we'll get another year, but if I was a NBA gm I couldn't help not seeing a future Larry Bird. I agree, body development is about the only thing he needs at this point too. I think it's up to him because I think he'd get drafted pretty early if he chose to go.
I agree with this. Per my favorite metrics site (haslametrics), it was our best defensive efficiency game since holding Grambling to 37. But we still missed our expected offensive efficiency output slightly, because of the missed 3s. If we are hitting our 3s - even 35%, with the same ball movement and intensity, we can beat anyone on any court.
Milan is starting to figure out how to be assertive and aggressive against BigXII defenses. I think he still has a chance of leading the team in scoring on the season if he and Tamin get that figured out and they run the offense through him a bit more (he's currently 25 points behind Tamin)
I think we get at least one on this road trip this week, and have a legit shot in both. I think we match up pretty well against both teams, but I'll save that for another post
