putting players out before they are ready can easily destroy their confidence going forward.
That’s one of only two knocks I got with coach b year in year out but he also develops guys very well so who am I to question it.
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I don’t see Bajema being ready but I may have been underestimating him from the jump.
More pretty much never saw consistent minutes his freshman year
I suspect that if Bajema was a target now instead of a commit, we’d look at him differently.
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interesting comment but i am sure that most of us would’ve still viewed him as a project who might contribute as a freshman. CC was a spring recruit and no one had illusion that he will back up Teske from day one.
True, but the situations aren’t that comparable. We weren’t particularly concerned over who would back up Teske and center is the one position where physical development is critical.
I just feel the board’s opinion of Bajema was set a long time ago. If he was still being recruited, we’d be paying attention to his current size and thinking more about his ability to contribute next season. While his strength will likely be an issue coming in, how big of a factor is that really for a 2? How much does it get offset by being 6’7"?
It’s clear that every candidate has some question marks, but I wonder if Bajema is really behind Brooks and DDJ when considering size and strength together. Behind in experience, sure.
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Our perspectives are always interesting. Actually CC expected to either back up Moe or to compete with Teske for the starting position if Moe left, from day one. That was Colin’s plan. I agree with umbob1, Castleton is gonna be good, real good. He’s a confident young man, and he is skilled. I would personally have liked to see him play a bit more last year, but I won’t question the way Coach B plays kids or the pace at which he brings them along.
I also agree with you, playing time is earned in practice, and it is possible to throw a young player into the fray too soon and hurt his confidence.
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Perhaps, but I think people were skeptical of Hyland could help this year as well and he’s a late add at SG. At least I was. If Bajema is ahead of Brooks and DDJ at the beginning of the season (or any point of the season honestly), I’ll be absolutely pleasantly shocked.
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I’ve always been high on Bajema since he, literally, burst upon the scene and committed to us. It has always been my opinion that he would need to be brought along slowly his freshman year, but that he would play, and that he would become a more significant contributor as the year progressed. We may not have the luxury of bringing him along slowly.
If he does play significant minutes early, I hope folks on the message boards, this and others, and twitter, etc are patient with the young man. He’s gonna be good, but may struggle a bit his freshman year.
A year to get acclimated and stronger would have been (be) nice. We’ll see if any other help is on the way and how that pans out in the next few weeks and months.
I don’t think Cole will be ahead of Eli early in the year, but as the year progresses he certainly could be. As I’ve said elsewhere I really like Eli as that combo who can spell X at the one and whoever is playing the two, for something like 12-15 minutes a game, maybe more if circumstances warrant.
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Am I the only one that thinks DDJ will play a far bigger role this year? Backing up Simpson at the PG and playing some minutes at the SG is the way I see it.
That said I think Cole gets double digit minutes sooner than later as well.
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That very well could happen, and, if Eli ends up starting at the two and no one else is ready to pick up some of those minutes, DDJ’s the man to fill that combo role. I like DDJ, I just don’t know if he’ll be ready to take over the combo role that I see Eli playing. But, you know what? It will all work itself out.
I would still, though, love to see a player come in who could play that SG spot on a solid, consistent basis. And a grad transfer who could fill that role for a year while we wait for Cole Bajema or someone else, would be ideal, in my opinion.
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No – all this talk about Brooks at the 2 surely must factor in that the coach sees DDJ as also able, and about to head into that frosh>soph offseason in which so many players make their most pronounced leap. Brooks didn’t do that in his frosh>soph offseason.
I also agree that Bajema’s strength may not be an issue, and that he could end up in a huge role. Perfect skillset.
This is true. I’m not saying we necessarily look more optimistically at possible late adds. Just that we look at them more closely and sometimes neglect our early commits.
Hyland is both slight and a bit short for the 2. He’s a PG who would have been asked to play a new position against bigger players. Bajema’s viability as a true frosh is much less clear, to me at least.
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I have more faith in eli than probably everyone on this boArd just out off some things I saw that I liked even when he struggled but I could be totally wrong. I liked cole a lot more on the last few snippets when I saw him, early on I was shocked he shot up the rankings.
Hopefully you guys are right about him it would be huge if he could play.
Sly I have faith in Eli as well, but think that he and DDJ will be somewhat interchangeable as they can slide back and forth from the 1 and 2 when needed.
Bajema could be really good. The biggest difference between him and Franz is the competition level, so there is more uncertainty on his transition to college.
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I think Eli could legitimately be a 40% 3 point shooter (low volume) who plays good defense (based off the fact that coaches were big on his 3 point ability in the summer so I think it’s just a confidence issue). A big W for us if that’s the case.
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I hope you are right. DDJ may never go 40% from behind the line but think he has something about him that tells me he make a big leap on both ends of the floor.
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