I didn’t take it as one guy is off ball and the other is on ball. Seems like they feel like both have the opportunity there, but Brooks knows the offense better right now
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I also don’t think that Brooks working to tighten his handle means anything other than Brooks has to tighten his handle. Even if Mike Smith is really good as a PG, Brooks is still going to have to play that spot.
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I was nonetheless surprised to hear that they feel Brooks is more comfortable initiating the offense. But the piece also mentioned Smith attacking from the wing or somesuch, so, yeah. And true that it could be just a point-in-time evaluation.
True that both will probably play at the spot. Even with Z soaking up minutes, backup PG was an important role that needed filling.
“Initiating the offense” is an interesting term to me. Makes complete sense that Eli knows the offense far more than Smith, who has been on campus for a couple months and hasn’t done any 5v5.
But I think of the run or play versus make a play spectrum. We know that Eli can “run a play” but who can make a play and create something beyond the initial action in a play.
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And this is exactly why I’m concerned if Smith turns out to be more like a “Spike PG” (i.e. valuable backup who plays 15mpg, shoots well, defensive liability, not ideal to play major minutes). Brian at MGoBlog in their latest podcast talked about Smith being the 15mpg backup to Eli at PG and Franz playing a lot of SG. While I agree that you want your best players to play the most…I’ve never seen enough out of Eli to think of him as the guy you want “initiating the offense” most of the game.
Eli will have to play some PG, Franz will have to play some SG (on offense), but let’s hope Smith is good enough to play 25+ minutes at PG because that unlocks everyone’s strengths IMO.
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Yeah as long as “initiating the offense” means passing off to the wing/elbow, and running to the opposite corner, Eli can certainly initiate. (I’m exaggerating for effect here.)
It’s all just speculation right now… We can watch every possession that Mike Smith played last year, but it is really impossible to gauge what elements transfer to the Big Ten and which don’t. Offseason workouts aren’t really going to make that obvious necessarily either.
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If Frankie Collins was on this year’s roster, would you make him the favorite to be the starting PG?
Yeesh, it is a massive step up from being a good HS PG to playing PG in the Big Ten. I generally think it is almost always a bad idea for PGs to re-class (Thornton, Lander, etc.) because of the mental and physical chore of playing PG in college.
Collins is a good player, has some athletic tools, but he’s not even one of those five-star types that you’d consider as a re-class target.
So I would say no, but maybe in the mix to get some minutes based on the roster construction.
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Hmm…interesting question. I think that might be a case where you START Brooks in that spot, but Collins is first off the bench and shifts Eli to SG. I think Collins may be capable of 20mpg as a freshman and we’ll likely find out the following year.
Eli is a luxury as your back-up PG and solid SG. He isn’t ideal as your primary PG.
Another possible way to raise the ceiling this year or mitigate Smith’s deficiencies would be if Zeb can join the rotation even in a modest way.
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Interesting quote from Martelli in BQ’s piece:
“Asked if offseason consideration has been given to Johns playing at the five, where more minutes might be available, Martelli says, ‘It hasn’t been a topic,’ but adds that nothing can ever be ruled out, especially in August.”
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Talked about Johns quite a bit in the AMA yesterday.
Ugh. That would be a serious missed opportunity if they don’t explore playing Johns at the 5 much more this year. It was defensible last year given the lack of wing depth and the fact that we had three centers on the roster including Teske. This year it would be a major head scratcher.
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It would still seem wild to see less of
Johns at the 5 this year than last year, and more wild for the coaches to plan on that. It isn’t rocket science to expect a backup need for a third center (it is basically guaranteed that 100+ minutes of normal season go to a third center) so to hear coach speak that Johns at the 5 isn’t even being considered seems crazy.
Does anyone have strict numbers on 5 minutes last year? I have Davis around 210 (some 20ish minutes were at the 4), Castleton had around 100 with more PF minutes, and Johns was only around 50 minutes at the 5 last year. If the coaches do no planning for a third center taking up a few hundred minutes, I’d be surprised
That’s why Juwan gets paid the big $.
Given the amount of talk here and elsewhere about a BJJ at the 5 possibility makes it seem crazy the coaches haven’t at least discussed at. Martelli has to be sandbagging here. I’m sure they don’t want him “pegged” as a 5, but when the other options are a true Frosh and Davis (a pretty known commodity) there has to be at least another option. And Johns gives another dimension and has shown potential at the 5. This quote just doesn’t seem to add up.
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Get the Jaron Faulds fan club fired up!
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Honestly wouldn’t surprise me to see this starting lineup:
Brooks
Wagner
Livers
Johns
Davis
Especially if there’s not a whole lot of 5on5 practices before a season.
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While I think there’s an element to Juwan favoring experience in this situation and keeping the post players in their more natural roles…I’m not in love with that lineup. If I’m the opposing coach I’m going to press and trap that lineup all game. I want to see if Brooks/Wagner can handle the ball without turnovers and who is going to facilitate the offense. I’m also going to run a bunch of ball screens to try and isolate Davis in difficult situations.
To some extent we’ll definitely see this lineup next year. It just isn’t my favorite and I hope that Smith, Brown, Jackson, and Dickinson are talented enough to provide diversity to the lineups to make everyone more effective.
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I think it would be fantastic if Eli Brooks became a First Team All-American this season. Would bode very well for team success
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