Will take a pretty big leap from him, though. No doubt that he struggled this year. Eli has struggled too but his defensive numbers are still good and it is clear Beilein has a trust in him because he goes back to him over and over and over.
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I was higher than most on Brooks last year, since I liked his feel, but while he became a solid defensive type this year, I think his ceiling is probably becoming a good 3rd guard for us, not a starter. Just not a good enough offensive player.
Iād rather we go through the growing pains of starting 2 of Bajema, DDJ, Wilson and Johns, though obviously in Beilein we trust, and if we can get Pierce and he can be a solid starter for us weād only need one of those guys to surprise and win a starting job and one to be a good 25 minutes option and Brooks and Castleton can cover the other 20 or so bench minutes youād figure will be out there.
If thatās the case, I think weāll be good. 3 pretty highly rated by recruiting guys + a decent one in DeJulius, for one starting spot and the main bench spot, with 2 as sophomores and two freshman, with Beileinās track record, isnāt anything to panic about.
Completely agree. Starting Brooks at the 2 means he goes up against starter quality players and heās yet to show he can fill up the bucket against other teamās reserves. Thereās a bit of a step up once you become a starter. I wish it would happen, but I just canāt see him making that sort of offensive leap at this stage of his career.
Eli Brooks has played in 68 games and started 12. David DeJulius has played 95 minutes of college basketball.
Iām not saying that experience is everyone or that DeJulius isnāt capable of having a breakout year after being in the system, just that he has an even bigger āstep upā than Brooks.
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At some point our recruits need to play. We canāt keep saying Johns, DDJ, and Nunez havenāt shown anything and expect to compete at the higher end of the conference. MSU was playing lower rated recruits a ton this past year. They stepped up. Even team manager, Foster Loyer, played. Either we failed in a big way scouting players or they should be adding a lot of value by time they are sophomores. If I had one gripe with JB this past year is his reluctance to play some younger guys. I was watching certain starters give away big games and I couldnāt believe that we couldnāt find minutes for other players. Of course, I am not sitting in every practice.
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Brooks is also shooting 25 and 29% respectively from three over two seasons while DDJ you still have that growth. something to be said for older players knowing more, but also reveals more of āyou are what you areā
if neither can shoot well from three, you take a chance on a freshmen, because the defensive upside from brooks doesnt outweigh a 35-40% three point shooter who is 6-7 (assuming bajema or franz or wilson is decent enough on d)
Yeah, it is a key year for both Eli and DeJulius. Iām not saying that Brooks is necessarily the best option to start at the two, just that as the roster stands right now (without Pierce, Wagner, etc.) he is certainly the most likely option to start the year.
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Ill be surprised if we donāt start that group and johns
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Seems simple to me. Simpson at PG with Teske at center. Fill in the middle with Davis, Faulds, and Castleton. Win 2020 National Title.
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I think Brooks offers significantly better D at this point in his career. Itās more than solid when measured against his replacements. I imagine we see JB and the staff work with Eli on catch and shoot 3ās all summer. If he can simply add a confident, consistent, quick release off the catchā¦then his offensive limitations will be less obvious. And, to Dylanās point, heās got experience.
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Last year the ball would stop moving and so would the team. In Beilienās offense the ball and the players have to move. Too many times it would stop at the 10-12 second mark. As has been repeatedā¦need the three ballers and a mix of attack off the dribble. As for who plays the 2 spotā¦my take, who guards the 2?
Go Blue!
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I agree with that sentiment but at some point you have to go all in for the NC. The offense was not going to get better playing Freshmenā¦the team was really trying to come together offensively and didnāt take that mini leap to improve in the end. JB seemed like he knew they needed to improveā¦his frustration was pretty high this year considering all the success. To me the team was less cerebral at timesā¦I think they struggled controlling the pace of the game. DWalt and Trey had the ability to hesitate in the lane and back into their defendersā¦Z is great at the attack, letās see how he improves this year!
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I think the odds are probably higher of Yaklich turning one of DeJulius or Bajema into a passable defender than Brooks becoming a strong offensive player.
Particularly since we donāt have a single high usage guy and lack anyone capable of driving and finishing at a high level, and we just saw a fairly flighty Poole turn in a mostly solid defensive season (other than struggling to keep track of McQuaid and Moretti in big games) and a freshman Iggy turn in a genuinely good one.
From his performance in high school and his shooting form, I donāt understand how DDJ isnāt an offensive weapon. Kid has a nice looking shot. It is all in his head and the best way to overcome that is to let him play.
While we can win a lot of games with defense, we wonāt win the big ones unless we have a vibrant offense. At this point, I am looking for the best offensive weapons and as stated aboveā¦turn them into the best defense we can. I would not discount Wilson starting at the 3 right now (not knowing any other commits)
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When I coached (and we struggled) I got this a lot (especially from parents). āSo and so plays a lot and they make all these mistakes. You need to play the other kids, give them a chance.ā They had chances every day in practice and consistently got beat by the kids who were playing ahead of them. While they might flash good moments, on balance There was a good reason for the PT distribution.
With that Iāve been fascinated this year and last when Poole and Simpson played their way to the bench at times.
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Iām not sure it makes sense to think that a 200 ranked guard who posted a 94 ortg in year 2 (70 in conference play!) following a 93 ortg in year 1 is more likely to step up than a higher ranked, younger guard who clearly has more athletic ability.
If Brooks can give us 6-10 minutes of decent play backing up Z and another 10 minutes backing up the 2 guard and produce more like a Big 10 average backup guard on O while keeping up his solid defensive play (basically what Woods just gave OSU), that would be a big step up.
If brooks hits open threes heāll look plenty good. Is form doesnāt seem horrid to me. Is biggest problem was generally he wouldnāt shoot enough. Maybe heās a worse shooter than Simpson, but based on form that would surprise me.
I understand. I was in Chicago for the BTT and was at the final game. With Mich up 10 midway thru the 2nd half, I turned to my wife and said āwe win this game if JB plays Poole sparingly the rest of the way and we lose this game if he relies on him for big minutesā. It was so obvious being there in person and watching the dynamic play out. It was a tough pill to swallow and one that I think was avoidable. Iām not saying this as a parent of one of the playersā¦I am saying it as a fan who loves watching the execution of a game plan and the Xās and Oās. I think that game was the straw that broke the camels back and sent the team on a path which culminated in the Texas Tech debacle.
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Iām not sure how many open 3s weāll be creating, or that Brooks really has it to both hit them and attack hard closeouts.
Even if Z and Teske improve a bit and we get 10 more Livers minutes, if weāre replacing Iggy, Poole and 2/3rds of Matthews minutes (Livers grabs 10 or so of his minutes) with letās say Johns, Wilson and whoever wins the 2 guard race, that leaves a lot of late possessions for us and not much in the MAAR category of guys comfortable dribbling and making a play.
I expect way more stress on the O, which was our weakness this year anyways, than next year.
I guess Iām confused by the first part of your first sentence. We created plenty of open 3s this year, though we didnāt hit enough of them, and did so with paltry assist totals from the 3 guys leaving. How, exactly, will replacing those guys with different guys, and quite likely guys who pass it better, lead to less open 3s? Less ability to convert tough shotsāvery possibly. Less one-on-one abilityālikely. A need to have guys like Brooks, or others, hit the open 3sāabsolutely. But less open 3sāI donāt see it.
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