Big Ten Basketball 2020-21 Discussion (Part 1)

I guess I’m skeptical that he decommitted because of Michigan State’s frontcourt talent. Most recruiting quotes in this situation are just lip service.

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Yeah, I wouldn’t read too much into it. Recruits leave all the time for reasons that don’t make a lot of sense. Building a brand, following a coach, location, “academics”, etc.

Obviously MSU’s record isn’t helping them. Izzo playing five centers and none of them developing doesn’t help. Players like Bingham and Sissoko coming in as top-60 guys but not even being able to get 20 minutes yet doesn’t help.

Then again, he could be over-reacting to someone whispering in his ear that none of these guys that were projected as potential NBA departures (Watts, Henry, Hauser) are leaving and the roster is full so he can’t reclass. Kids and their “advisors” do stupid things…and sometimes smart things.

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For sure I just find it interesting. Like what happens if none of the bigs transfer out?? All of them still have eligibility (non seniors).

I wish we didn’t have to worry about our “TV partners,” but we do, after all they pay for everything. Then, too, I don’t want to go back to the days when we only saw Michigan play on TV two or three times a year, and then maybe, if we were lucky, we’d get to see them play in the tournament! I know there are many on here who don’t remember those days, or weren’t alive at the time! :wink: :grin:

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Izzo plays all 5 guys 8 minutes per game again. It’s worked out well so far

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I’m listening to the MGoBlog podcast and Brian said this, which I couldn’t believe was true but is. In B1G conference games, among qualified players (>40% of minutes), Franz has the 6th highest ORTG. Livers is right behind him at 7th, Brooks is 16th, Dickinson is 17th, Smith is 30th, and Brown is 54th. The only team better at the top end than Michigan is unsurprisingly Iowa, with 7 guys in the top 22. The surprising part however is that Luka is only 14th, and Bohannon (2nd), Frederick (3rd), Murray (5th) and Wieskamp (10th) are all above him. Kyle Young is first, and there are 90 qualified players.

If you drop the minimum usage to 15%, Bohannan moves to 1st, Kofi is 2nd, Murray is 3rd, Franz is 4th and Livers is 5th. Brooks and Dickinson move up to 11th and 12th, and Smith goes up to 22nd.

Offensive rating without usage is like a car with a steering wheel but no pedals.

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Hey man, a car’s a car.

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What do you take from Chaundee having the worst PER out of rotational players?? I only ask because his usage rivals that of the top players on Michigan and his PER is pretty close to Davis and Brooks. What are the downfalls of PER?

I basically try to stay as far away from all-in-one stats (PER, BPM, whatever) as possible.

That being said, Chaundee has a 98.5 ORtg on 17% usage in Big Ten play… way down from his non-conference numbers. He’s shooting 31% from three in Big Ten games compared to 42% in non-conference. I still think he’s in pretty much the perfect role though so I’m not all that concerned.

He’s pretty much the player I thought he was. He’s done a good job cutting down on mid-range attempts from his time at Wake and replacing them with 3PA. I think he’s very much a 35% shooter more than a 40% shooter but he’s capable of getting hot, plays great defense and brings great energy off the bench.

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I think Ant Wright hit it on the nail. Izzo rotates heavily and even if Enoch stayed committed to MSU, he would see less than 30-40% of the available minutes. Someone in his inner circle has been telling him to find a team that rotates 2 bigs like Michigan did with Dickinson and Davis.

There’s still a competition for minutes. Enoch would have to compete with 5 other bigs for minutes and that’s part of the reason why he decided to decommit.

Really? He’s 6th nationally in KenPom POY standings. As for missing bunnys at the rim, he shoots 64% at the rim compared to someone like Luka Garza shooting 70%. Are those 6 extra misses per 100 attempts really your main knock against him?

Since the Big Ten all conference teams are not done by position, TJD has a pretty good argument for making the 1st team. He scores a lot, scores efficiently, is a monster on the glass, and blocks shots all while having a low TO rate and not committing many fouls. I mean he’s not perfect, but he is pretty damn impressive.

Chaundee is so aggressive when he comes in, that I think there may be some clever players or teams that find a way to use that aggressiveness against him.

Ex. Teddy Allen baiting Chaundee into a mano a mano contest for a short period of that Nebraska game that I don’t think favored us. Or the foul he committed on Trice’s three point shot as the shot clock wound down.

The challenge is finding the fine balance between being aggressive, which I think adds a lot to this team, without being too aggressive. I think he’s done pretty well so far!

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Honestly I’m an old school, eye test basketball fan. Not that I don’t see use in analytics - quite the contrary. Just too cheap to pay for a Kenpom subscription. I see where you’re coming from completely, TJD is an efficient and very good player.

But did you see TJD in the Rutgers game? He was underwhelming and just missed several bunnies while being guarded by smaller players. Like Carr, it’s frustrating to be considering TJD for 1st team B1G since he doesn’t dominate a game like you would expect him to. He was B1G freshman of the year like 6 times, and how has his game evolved since then? From the good ol eye test I have only 3 locks for the 1st team right now, and that’s Kofi/Ayo/Garza. This conference is loaded with good coaches & teams with talented bigs & experience & very good players. Just not alot of really dominant individual talent this season. Which makes this a great league, but tough to decide on these end-of-year performance awards.

If I was Archie, I’d make sure TJD touches the ball everytime down the court. And just keep feeding him. Whichever of the IU guards gets hot for like a minute, just PNR everytime until that guy cools off - then try something else. But always get the ball to TJD in the half court - preferably 15 feet out. He looked great playing against Kofi recently - feed the big man. It’s not rocket science! Race Thompson is pretty decent at the 4, do some high-low action and cross-screens to switch the opposing team’s 4 onto TJD. Work on post-entry passes by the guards the rest of the year in practice until their arms fall off. Then dump the ball in and let him go to work. I need bigger numbers, and a more dominant role in the offense for the ol eye test on TJD.

Good point about his aggressiveness. I notice that Chaundee is sometimes off balance when players change directions quickly. He has had some moments where he gets turned around or loses a step.

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TJD is the only thing keeping Indiana from being god awful

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I’ve noticed that, too, especially earlier in the year, but he’s getting better. I Do think he’s getting some coaching this year!

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Agreed, and yet he’s still underutilized.

I think if Michigan wants the title outright they’ll need 4 losses or less. 5 in the L column at best is sharing.