I like Bridges very much but he doesn’t have the refined offensive skills to carry a team like he might be able to if he was a top 5 point guard or top 5 center or if he was playing alongside an elite point guard. He is probably a top 5 athlete in college basketball but he is nowhere near a top 5 basketball player. Over the course of the season I don’t think he will prove to be an above average 3 point shooter, above average ball handler, or an above average decision maker. However, I would not be surprised, in a game or two, to see a stat line for him reading something crazy like 30 points, 20 rebounds, and 12 blocks.
Long story short: If the goal was to make a run for a national championship then he was incredibly foolish to sign up with MSU with or without a healthy Schilling. Just my opinion but I do not see Winston as the elite point guard that he would need to play alongside in order to have much better odds. Nairn certainly is not increasing his odds of winning…
To put my opinion in different terms Burke, Stauskas and Senior Levert were/ are significantly more valuable to a college basketball team then a guy like Bridges. I would take Bridges over sophomore GR3 and junior THJ, however.
Walton’s complete inability to find the roll man after a pick limits this offense so much. Even during a good performance like today there’s so many missed opportunities. The alley-oop to Wilson on the baseline was nice but other than that…
Yep. If Bridges was playing next to Trey Burke/Denzel Valentine/Nik Stauskas his stats would be awesome. He’s a complimentary piece on offense, not a go-to guy.
Exactly. If Langford and the pg aren’t making plays, they are going to struggle big time this year. Bridges is an athletic finisher/rebounder. That’s all I’ve seen from him.
While it’s frustrating, the thing I love about it is that despite having arguably zero true playmakers out there our offense can still do what it did tonight because Beilein is simply an offensive genius.
I liked the front court of Wagner, Wilson, and Robinson. That was interesting. Good look when Irvin is getting a breather, with a backcourt consisting of MAAR and Walton.
Would’ve liked to see X run more high PNR in the first two games. Whether or not X can get the ball to roller will be key, for the next few years. I love Dwalt, but it is weird that he cant use the quickness that he clearly has to get separation for drives or to create angles for PNR passes.
I’m interested to see the progress of this team between now and the end of December. On Beilein’s better teams “the light has come on” for a couple players late in the non-conference season.
Wondering if Wagner picks up the defense rotations. If at least one of Simpson or Watson mentally gets comfortable with the speed of the college game. If Walton/Irvin settle in to their roles.
Walton isn’t a playmaker and that’s probably the biggest area that will hold the team back from being really good. It was a real good performance for 25 minutes or so but with the lack of a playmaker to get in the lane and create for others you can see the issues they will have. Simpson played 18 minutes which is nice but overall he didn’t bring much to the game.
I still think 10-8 or 11-7 during B1G regular season play & win a game in the conference tourney. Win both of the next 2 non-conference games and maybe I’d lean more towards 11-7 than 10-8
Man, you nailed all of my main areas of concerns. i think Ibi and X will be fine. It is likely that Wagner is going to figure out his defensive rotations. I have my fingers crossed that Irvin and Walton will play within their roles.
Simpson played well on the defensive end. It will take him some time on the other end. The offense did seem to look it’s best when Walton was on the bench. Could be that Marquette made adjustments at the half or that JB needs to adjust. He has a habit of figuring out his offense during the first 6-8 games so we’ll see.