This is a good video for one individual game. Shows his positives and negatives pretty well. Some athletic limitation a stuff where he gets blocked trying to dunk and misses a box out for a tip slam. But then a lot of impressive shotmaking and range.
That Babcock article has a link to the full game which gives you a lot better feel imo:
I think they’re a bubble team. Probably sneak in somehow because Izzo is into dark magic. I’d bet on a 7th place Big Ten finish with 12 losses and Kohler being one of their 2-3 best players.
That’s not a bad team to me. The Giorgi Illinois team was 12-21, 70s in Kenpom. THAT’S a bad team.
If Kohler is the best offensive player on a presumably bad defensive team (if he’s and Hauser are playing a bulk of the minutes at C) that still makes the tournament, I will get back on the “that means he’s going to be Luka Garza” train
He’s not gonna be a 2 time NPOY but year 3-4 Kohler is definitely going to be annoying as he!!
So far what I see is a kid that I would guess is 6’6’’ in socks w athletic limitations and good IQ and body control. I’ll guess 8’9’’ standing reach? Very Hauser-sized, imo, so doubtful he’ll ever protect the rim. I think the touch and the shooting will translate but I think it’s totally plausible he isn’t quick/strong/big enough to get close enough to the basket to get up a lot of shots in the B1G this year, perhaps longer, as we’ve seen w Hauser. Pretty easy to see how he’s eventually a solid to even great player in the B1G but I’m skeptical he’s that in year 1.
MSU has basically been looking for a reliable post scorer for years and Bingham, Kithier, Marble, Sissoko, etc. all failed to be that guy. The ideal that Kohler is just going to automatically be upgraded Ryan Young as a true freshman seems like a leap.
Getting major Ethan Happ vibes from those clips. Maybe he becomes the guy everyone promised Happ would be (“he’s really worked on his shooting this offseason!”) but yeah I dunno if that’s happening as a freshman.
If he truly scores 14 PPG in 22 MPG and still stays 4 years I will truly hate his guts beyond belief, you can count on that
I think I’ve seen a couple folks on this board speculate that Jett Howard can be an upgraded Caleb Houstan in year one right? That’s not much less crazy than me saying “Kohler can be Nick Ward year one” or approach Ryan Young levels IMO.
I think young Ethan Happ with a jumper is what MSU fans hope he is right away. The jumper is definitely there IMO but the strength/size concerns are super fair.
Both of those for me the Q is how often is “can be” ? I’ll accept that a lot of 90th percentile outcomes for top 100 freshmen look pretty good but it means you need 10 of them to get 1 of those outcomes. I think people tend to get too attached to “reasonable ceiling” type projections bc they can see how it would look. But most freshman years even from top 100 guys are pretty meh.
i swear this board loves talking about MSU more than any other team including their own lol
Ant put him as the #6 C in the conference. Also has them #2 in the conference so yes Kohler is probably one of the big reasons for that.
I’d also like to point out that my evaluation ability STINKS and that last year at this time I thought Kobe Bufkin would be left handed Jordan Poole so that means Kohler will end up being 6’7” Ricky Doyle with better sleep cycles
I just can’t get worked up about 53 points in a mid range All Star game that had 250 points scored in 40 minutes
Surely this will end the debate.
I don’t think anything has underlined what a meh year we’re in for like “Dawson Garcia is the 5th best 5 in the B1G this year”.
I’d prob put Key ahead of him and I’m not a big Zed Key fan. Key a good example of why I think Kohler may well have a rough year. Key is taller and stronger and that mattered a ton for him in year 1.
Speaking of Key, he’s someone I would tie my early expectations of Kohler to. If Kohler can be sophomore Key stats wise than msu fans should be happy
Lol you edited and added something similar
Hunter Dickinson is going to absolutely feast this year