Based on the first five minutes of Kansas/Kentucky I’m not convinced any team in the Champions Classic would finish top 3 in the Big Ten.
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I can see this MSU team struggling in the half court against good teams that limit transition. Watching Watts dribble and make fake attack moves from 25 feet is hard to watch.
Hard to tell in a game like this but who are the shooters on MSU?? I’m nit picking, MSU is going to be very good Covid willing
As excited as I am to get all of these top recruits under Juwan, you’re seeing some of the side effects in these games. Early season next year could be pretty rough without veterans to pair with the young studs. Long term I am not worried because guys like Williams, Collins, Bufkin, Tschetter, Dickinson will offer continuity. But I am content being a team with 0-2 OAD guys each year instead of the 2-5 the blue bloods focus on.
They looked better than cromulent to me and that’s about it. Excellent depth, top end, I don’t see any world beaters. I may need to really adjust my talent expectations for CBB this year way down if that’s one of the better teams in the country.
I am happy to see Iowa number 3 in the nation. Underrated.
Saw a lot of grousing about Bill Walton in this thread. I’d like to hear his informed opinion on one Luka Garza
How long is Dickinson going to be here? If he develops like I think he can, I don’t know.
Four years as a player, 40 years as a coach
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God willing. I don’t see it that way at all so far. See a lot of Kevin Love in him.
He’ll make a great assistant to head coach Zavier Simpson
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The main reason I could see him leaving early, whether that be junior or sophomore year, is his age. But there’s just no demand for guys like him in the NBA. Centers have to be mobile to close. And if they aren’t mobile they need to be able to protect the rim ala Brook Lopez. Currently Dickinson can do neither.
If we don’t get 3 years out of him I’ll be disappointed from a Michigan team performance viewpoint.
Getting OT, but defense will definitely be the hurdle. I see a live body, though, that is developing - he already looks so different than the recruit we saw last year. Weight is getting shifted around - he has a much liver body than I was expecting. I also see a varied skill set.
I don’t see him stuck in a traditional center mold at all.
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Love him personally, but I will say its better when its a game that does not matter much to me as someone else pointed out. Pac 12 games ect.
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Decent little background fluff piece on Livers:
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Is anyone else reminded of Andrew Dakich when you see Foster Loyer on the floor, especially against Duke? Mostly in that if you turn the game on and he’s out there your first impression is “9 of these 10 players belong on a basketball court.”
I’d say Foster is somewhere between Andrew Dakich and Spike Albrecht.
Obviously he has way better skills than Dakich (not saying much), I just meant in his physicality and how he moves. Pre injury Spike was a far superior athlete he just happened to also be short.
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I think Spike is a good comp for Loyer. I’ve been surprised at Loyer’s performance so far. He’s never going to be “good” at this level as a lead guard, but he can be more than functional for stretches. Teams are going to pick on him and he’ll have to resort to flopping like he did last night. But he can also catch fire from outside. Spike was able to get into the lane some for passing and I’m not sure we’ve seen that from Loyer yet, but the potential is there. Loyer isn’t the point-and-chuckle player who doesn’t belong like he was last year. Hopefully Michigan’s PGs are going to be good enough athletes to exploit him the next couple of years - but I do expect him to annoy the crap out of us with a couple of charge calls and several made threes.
I haven’t seen too much of Loyer, but he really doesn’t look like he has Spike’s lateral quickness or tight handle. He’s a really good shooter, probably more reliable from 3 than Spike, and at least he seems to know his limitations and doesn’t try to do too much like Dakich did at Michigan and OSU.
Spike and Loyer are very different players, but yes similar in stature and that they are plausible B1G role players. Spike was a great passer and crafty in the lane. Mediocre shooter outside of the NCAA tournament his freshman year. Loyer is a dead eye shooter but shown little else.
Loyer is going to be okay as a rotation piece for them I think because he can really shoot it and because they have so many other good defenders, many of whom are great off the ball.
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