Where did I say Millington was better than Eli? UL and Villanova had way more complete teams including backcourts that could defend and pass…Eli is a PG you bring off the bench to knock down some shots IMO. Nothing wrong with that.
MattD actually thinks that millington is better than Eli. You’re both meh, at best, on Eli so I got you confused. Re: great guards who play “below the rim” I’d add UConn’s NC team, Chris Paul, Dave Stockton, etc.
When you have ELITE VISION, ELITE BALL HANDLING, ELITE ON-BALL DEFENSE then you can afford to be below the rim. I thought bringing Trey’s name up in a discussion about Eli was insulting but CP3 and Stockton, too? Wow. Eli wish he had Boatright’s wheels or Napier’s ability to create off the bounce. Eli is a roleplayer IMO not an insult and I have no problem with his addition.
I’ll throw out a name - Travis Trice. Pretty good player by his final two years. Below the rim guy, not a great athlete by any means. Probably did not have the handle to be a true point. Yet I’d happily take senior Travis Trice on any Michigan team. I think that’s a reasonable comp for Brooks.
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have no issues with that comp
Quoted from same 1 “Nonsense, Trey didn’t play above the rim. Neither did the Louisville guards we faced. Nor do Villanova’s guards. It doesn’t matter. Eli will be just fine. He was matched up on Millington three times on that video. millington scored once on a jumper. You never heard of Millington before now, yet you’re pronouncing him to be better than Eli after a few minutes of video. BTW, Millington was not given the assignment to guard Eli. Maybe he’s a poor defender.”
I watched the video again. If you watch several of Eli’s moves, Millington got switched onto Eli. He played no defense! He literally moves out of his way…Either he couldn’t be bothered to play defense or didn’t want to be embarrassed.
From everything I have seen and read he seems like a great young man and a nice player. Coaches son is another plus.
All said this will make for 3 pgs on a roster at 6 ft or less. To me that is a cincern.
Obviously, I was not saying that he’s as good as those guys. But my original point stands. There are few PGs who play “above the rim.” Look around the B1G.
I never said a PG had to play above the rim, so what point are you really making? Playing above the rim is a plus, but if you can make up for it with other skillsets then it isn’t an issue…After watching Walton get stuffed at the rim in the halfcourt over his career, it should be obvious why the lack of it could be problematic. I don’t see a floater game or any craftiness around the rim (think Steve Nash) so I see Brooks’ lack of verticality as a weakness.
Well, we’ve seen Brooks dunk a few times, even a couple two handed jams. That alone makes him far more explosive at the rim than Walton.
Brooks only dunks two hands because his father has told him to protect himself from getting his legs taken out and too stay healthy for college. The only time he gets one handed slams are when he goes up for a rebound and can slam it in. I’ve seen him go for one, one handed dunk and that was when he crossed a kid from right to left and went right down the lane. He rose up with his left and his forearm, almost elbow was at the rim. The kid can get up. I’ve known him personally since he was in the 3rd grade. You all are getting a hell of an athlete and a hell of a human being.
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He had some nice blocks in the recent clip.
Thanks for posting – sounds and looks like a great addition for Michigan basketball.
Chay11 is my son. I didn’t come on here to “hype” Eli. But after reading so much negativity based on a few videos bothers me. I don’t coach or have ever coached Eli. I’m just a local middle school coach who has watched him since 3rd grade. Do I think he’s the next Allen Iverson? No, of course not. But after seeing a few Michigan games this year, he’ll be a solid contributor.
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If Eli wants to protect himself he might want to start jumping off 2 legs. Jumping off 1 leg certainly increases the risk for being off balance, therefore increasing injury risk.
LOL. Same advice for DeJulius?
Nope. Dave finishes off 2 legs much more frequently. I’m sure he’ll appreciate your concern, I’ll be sure to pass it along to him. Thanks
What happened to the Russell Westbrook comparison? Did you edit it out? 90% of PGs don’t dunk except on a breakaway, and, even then, they normally lay it in. In traffic, it’s rare to see it at the college level. Extra elevation might help but Eli looks to have pretty good hops.
We don’t agree so no point in carrying on with this conversation. I will surely bump this thread in the future.
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On the Walton dunking clips - I’d say doing it in a game (which I’ve never seen him do, either high school or college) is a little different than in a one-man workout, but either way I hadn’t seen that film before.
With that said, as a freshman, Walton was a nice player who was very quick and could get to the rim. He wasn’t a great finisher, but he wasn’t bad either. I specifically recall him finishing a fast break layup while getting fouled in our win at Breslin, and I recall him having the game-winning drive and layup along the baseline at Nebraska. I don’t think he’s ever been the same player since his toe injury. And I’d say the same for Irvin - he was never going to be an ideal choice as a pick-and-roll player, but he was certainly a far more explosive player at the end of his sophomore year. With that said, of course I recognize “far more explosive” equals “average” when comparing him to other guys. But so be it - if he still had that same level of explosiveness right now, I’d say he’s easily a 17/5/4 player, and a .450 shooter, which would be great.
It’s certainly fair to criticize the staff. But I think everyone needs to also acknowledge we’ve had some SERIOUS bad luck - McGary getting caught smoking weed, when he was otherwise coming back; Hatch’s plane crash (I liked him plenty as a prospect, though I imagine you didn’t); injuries to Walton, Caris (twice), Spike (twice), and Irvin; none of our top recruits from 2013 and 2014 (Irvin, Walton, Chatman) turning into star players; Battle decommitting unexpectedly. And really, no one expected Nik and Glenn to be good enough to leave after two years, but they were. Same with Trey.
Again, if you want to be an elite coach, you figure out a way to deal with all of that and keep the program strong. We’ve fallen short. But there’s no doubt we’ve had some serious bad luck along the way.
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