Ibe at the moment
From the David Teel interview in the summer re: Ibe
“Can he impact right away?” Odom said. “Hopefully. We’ll see.”
which I suppose you could read optimistically (hopefully! We’ll see!) or pessimistically (uh I mean I hope so… we’ll see…)
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As a fan that watched, BVP and Jake Groves play center, I’m not afraid of some small ball center.
As a fan that watched last year and how often our guards were bailed out by our shot blockers, slightly worried.
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Speaking for myself, these things were terrifying!
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Thanks, you’ve gone and ruined my Friday
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I would take that answer as “probably not”
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We have plenty of flexibility. I think Anya and Barksdale could probably play the 5 in some matchups. They’re probably an inch shorter than Flory Bidunga. Against certain teams, they might not be able to, but how many teams will we play this year who have true scoring threats over 6’10” in the low post? Not many. And then of top of that, if Ibe can even play 10 solid minutes a game, I think we’ll be just fine.
Now, if Grünloh were to go down with an injury…. then that obviously changes things haha.
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I would interpret Anya’s height here as “same as it ever was, a college 6’8”, and same as it was when he covered bigs on St. Louis." This is just Adekunle being taller than we thought.
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A little scary
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It is a real concern, though I would posit that coaches are on average a more paranoid and pessimistic bunch who consider it their job to think about all the things that could go wrong. It’s like how the plurality of them thought tournament expansion worsened job security; that might be right, but I think you could ask “Would switching from Wilson to Spalding balls worsen job security?” and at least 20% of them would say yes.
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Vide’s going to get more play than some predict. We’re going to need him.
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Well, this ruined my day. Injury? Or alternatives aren’t cutting it?
My bad about not being more clear about Vide. He’s a very good ball handler and passer, decent defense, has great size, and is improving his 3 point shot. I’m saying he will play more because we’re lucky that we got him.
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I’m in the middle of cutting up his film and there are things I certainly like… but there are pretty glaring issues as well.
When talking with LMU fans the thing they really wanted to impress upon me was how inconsistent he was. Could look completely in control and dominant some games and just be a mess others. I see that some in the film that’s out there - but from those who watched every game I give more credence.
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Thank you Cuts!
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On the flipside, two things I wonder:
do LMU fans know ball?
how much is the coach / team / fit? À la Sam Lewis’s Toledo defense
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Pretty likely that if you are a dedicated fan of mid major/bad high major you know ball because all the casuals gave up, survivorship bias
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Why the hell would that ruin your day?
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Could be good? Odom was pretty good at finding the hot hand last year. If he’s on, ride him. If he’s not, sit him.
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Eh. Because I was hoping to hear good things about a couple other guys and viewed his rising to the top as an indication that they aren’t playing well. Turns out I had it wrong. His clarification is good news.