What seniors can come back next year?
- Thread starter JackSchroeder22
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I'm more concerned about his ability to defend than I am integrating him into a minimal offensive role in a limited ammount of minutes. I'm not confident that he's versatile enough to come out and defend like our current bigs do. What I mean by that is can he pick up someone at the top of the key on a switch off like our bigs usually have to do and stay out in front of them to deny a path to the paint. Big Rob and Ward could do that and Jackson and Chatfield do too but Rock doesn't look like he has the athleticism to use him defensively in the same manner we usually require our bigs to defend.
Again I'm not rooting against the kid and I hope he proves me wrong but these are just my thoughts based off the few minutes he's got at the end of some games. Yes we'll have to play a little different with him in the game but is he good enough to make a commitment to changing how we play vs bringing in a proven big in the portal that can plug and play in our system like we have done up to this point? Maybe he takes a big step forward in the offseason and I hope he does, but what have you seen up to this point that makes you think he could be in the main rotation next season? He doesn't look like one of the best players on the floor in garbage minutes or has done anything that makes me excited about him playing a bigger role next year. Watson when he comes in when the benches are cleared easily looks like the best player on the floor at the time, he did last year too and he's gotten extended run when we've had injuries and filled in well. If Jackson or Chatfield got hurt I'm not sure Rock would even see the floor any more than he has so far. We'd probably go smaller like we did last night with Milan and Jefferson as the 2 "bigs" and then Watson would be the 8th guy in the rotation and also play some 4 in that configuration.
How are you writing a paragraph about a player we’ve barely seen play?
That's a legitimate concern and he would have to prove himself capable, or we'd have to change our defense for him. I agree that he hasn't been ready this season (as witnessed by your example).
One of our bigs isn't currently on our roster IMO. Otz has steadily improved the athleticism on our roster. I'm hoping he can find that guy that will defend but also be a reliable scorer too. Cost is no object ...CoachHines has the funds. ;-)
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I myself think Rock might surprise some fans.
But he can pick and pop the 3. Which imo sets him a part.
Based off what, the hype videos from practice they put out? He hasn't attempted a 3 this season but he's not played enough to attempt one I guess.
I don’t know if he will or not, but under this staff, not playing doesn’t mean they aren’t able to be in the rotation
I think his junior year is when he sees major minutes, but if we lose Jackson, and don’t have money for a transfer, maybe next season
He reminds me of Fizer in this way. Marcus only averaged 7.4 rebounds, that's pretty pedestrian for 31 minutes per game by an All-American power forward. He was big and strong and athletic and rebounded very well in his area but wasn't good at going and getting the ball outside that area. He and Jackson have similar per-minute rebounding numbers on their career, both at 0.24 rebs/min.
Some of this is coaching, not necessarily a lack of talent/effort/focus. I forget the basketball name for this, but we run a system where the bigs are supposed to box out and the guards are supposed to go get the ball. Larry ran the same thing. I think the intent is to help score in transition, a fast guy with a handle and good passing and vision immediately has the ball. Makes sense when your point guard is Jamaal Tinsley. But this year I also see lots of times where an opposing player runs right through our whole team untouched for an ORB, and we seem to be trying to make our hay on offense in the half-court more than in previous years, so I'm not seeing much benefit of this rebounding scheme vs. "everybody box out and get the f*cking ball". But I'm not a coach of course. Regardless, I think our boxing out must improve.
I think Jackson can potentially be a really good Big 12 player if he takes a step forward this off-season, but it will also be his sixth year since starting college ball, not sure how much improvement is reasonable to expect at this point.
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"Haven't seen enough" = "We don't have enough data to reach any conclusions" = "Staff knows more than anyone else."
I have to laugh when people make definitive predictions about his potential contributions. If he stays on the team, then the staff thinks he will be a contributor at some point. If they recruit another center and Jackson is returning, then he may not be ready to contribute next year but may the following year, with the caveat that we don't know how much he will improve in the off season. If they don't recruit a center to backup Jackson, then the staff thinks Rock will be ready to be the backup.
He seems to lack stamina and tires easily, which can also contribute to silly fouls. It would help big time if he can redistribute the muscle/fat ratio in the off season. Georges and Rob Jones were able to do it, perhaps Jackson can as well.
Georges didn't really do this until he got to the NBA. Big Rob wasn't really fat, at least not in my opinion.
Niang changed his body comp quite a bit in college, there were shirtless photos.
Saw Rock on the sideline at the game on Tuesday, he looks very filled out relative to when he came in. Wouldn’t surprise me to see him ready to be physical down low
JT was listed as a 7-0 220 four star recruit. He is now listed at 7-1 260. I agree he has filled out and it is noticable.
In addition I think everyone is forgetting that he reclassified so that he could come to ISU at 17 in what would have been the fall of his high school senior year. So although he is listed as a redshirt freshman, when evaluating him think of him as a kid at the end of his true freshman season. He just turned 19 last Saturday.
