I think we can all quibble which post (Holmes, Brown, Kadin, Traudt, etc.) that could be on our team is or was a recruiting miss or roster management miss or whatever, but I do tend to think that this team is a really good post or two away from being a team that could be very scary come March, and heck, maybe we are anyway, but I suspect we’d all feel better with at least one or two of those guys on this roster. At least, I would.
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We have Dunn Minor and Buchanan (and Robinson for the future).
Also I really like Minor a lot (that’s just me personally). Dude is mobile and bouncy. More quick. We talk about “Great Minor is coming from mid major” but the same would be true for Holmes. And Minor, like Holmes, has also performed well against the power 5 teams he’s played non-conference.
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I was very high on minor but the practice reports minor is definitely not what I hoped for
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Minor is not bouncy. He is mobile. Also, Merrimack is a low major.
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Nah they’re exactly what you would expect.
I think Minor, even if it takes time for him to pick up packline, has the athleticism and quickness to help make that adjustment quicker. And Packline practices have just started. You are going to probably see a MUCH faster adjustment than Jayden, BVP, and even Hauser in the redshirt year because of much quicker and athletic/bouncy Minor is.
@haney Merrimack still played multiple power 5s non conference where he did really solid. We’re not talking about some random player from a low major. We are talking the best player in a low major conference.
Also I think he’s pretty bouncy from what Ive seen.
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Also i Just don’t think the packline can function with one-year rental bigs.
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But Ryan Dunn was in his first year in the packline and our best defender last year. Trey Murphy
It’s a myth. Slow footed forwards can’t function in our packline no matter how many years is the take away.
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Look, I think Minor could be just fine, and probably is just fine, and probably was about the best case scenario given our current place in the transfer universe, but I also think those other guys would have been better in his place. I’m really happy he is here, and he seems like a very good dude. And despite appearances, I’m pro-optimism. But it’s an awkward fit. (I also think Blake could be real nice, but you hate to have to rely on a first year center, and also A-Rob could be nice, but that’ll be the out years).
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I remember complaints about TM3s defense all the time.
And yes, Dunn was a great defender for 15 MPG as a backup.
But rolling out a low-major transfer one year rental big cannot be optimal
Also, Minor is not in the same league of athlete as Dunn and TM3
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Im glad we have minor. And I think he would have been an awesome backup to replace Caffaro
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I think he did about what you’d expect vs. Timme, Holmgren, and TJD. I haven’t watched full games. Just Cuts’s clips. I wish there were footage of how he did vs. Soriano of the Johnnies, but I haven’t seen it. He was out against Providence.
Now, I don’t think we should judge guys solely against what they did against 3 of the best offensive bigs in the game the past few years, but unfortunately, it’s what we have.
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Not “just.” Maybe just from time to time give it a shot. Everyone else does.
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I agree with this, although he did have some good moments finishing passes above the rim on the pick and roll when he got a head of steam going downhill toward the basket.
Generally speaking, he isn’t playing above the rim in the same way that you’d want a major conference rim protector to, though - like Dunn or Shedrick or Buchanan when he finds his footing. When defending major conference players, he was at his best when he could use his mobility and strength to disrupt their motion/movement rather than being able to bother their shots at a high point - which I do think he’ll be able to do more often here because he’ll have responsibility for just one player (and help defense). But, for example, he was able to bother Holmgren defensively because he could push him around but Timme/Trayce Jackson-Davis on Indiana kind of had their way with him.
The high block rate was a combination of his size disparity in his conference and that he was often quick enough to get the shot on the way up.
He’ll be a much bigger/stronger/bothersome presence in there than Gardner was, though, and I do think pairing him with Dunn (or Buchanan in some matchups) will be formidable because their defensive strengths should be complimentary. I don’t love the idea of playing him with Groves a lot, though.
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oh.
Yeah - there’s some stuff in there with him against Fairleigh Dickinson, too, who was much smaller - with opportunities to close space and get shots vertically and he just wasn’t as impactful in that way as I’d have expected.
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Yeah no duh but he’s also not in the mold of Hauser/BVP/Jayden; the 1 year rentals.
The thing with Minor is we don’t need much from him. If we just get solid defense and finishing dump offs, that’s all this team needs. I like Minor’s fit, even if he is not as individually talented as some of the alternatives. It’s important for our defense to have a mobile big, and that’s what he is. The past 3 years we’ve had lumbering big guys, and our defense has not been up to par. This team has plenty of offense, we just need someone solid in the middle to add some toughness on D, and I think that’s what Minor can provide. I don’t think he’s gonna be a plus for the the team, but as long as he’s not a negative I think his role will be sufficient for what this team needs.
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Come on now … let’s not confuse Trey with any good defender … he was terrible at the beginning of the year and rose to slightly less than mediocre … his weak side defense was atrocious. Constantly lost his man off ball.
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I agree - which is also why I’d like to see him get closer to 20 mpg than 30, though.
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Of course he is in Trey’s league at the college level… he has functional athleticism… Trey didn’t know how to use it yet at UVA - took him til his 2nd year in the league to figure it out.
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If Minor can grab a rebound, he’s my Dwight Howard.
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