Looks like my post from earlier this morning was deleted, presumably for quoting another one that was also deleted.
I’ll try to repeat my own words as near as I can recall:
I think the biggest issue with Brooks, aside from being a bit short for the 2, has been (lack of) confidence, and timidity (yes, and his poor 3-point shooting percentage in games to date).
Derrick Walton—I know he’s not the best comparison, as he was a four-year starter at point guard—didn’t fully become the player he could be for Michigan until February of his senior season.
It looked like Brooks had put things together in a few games late last season. I think there’s a good chance he is an important piece for this team the next two seasons.
Bajema and Nunez have the shooting ability and the size (i.e., height, in Bajema’s case) to be really good players for this team going forward as well.
This is what I’d expect if JB were still here. With JH I’m not sure. He might want to prove to recruits that he’s going to play the best players regardless of experience. Might help with recruiting if Franz or Cole start and/or get major burn if we think they are better players (skill, not experience) than upperclassmen.
I agree that Beilein would definitely be starting the season with Brooks at the two - how long that would last would sort of be up to Brooks and the backups.
I’ve long thought that the two ways this lineup goes are, in ascending order:
X, Brooks, Wagner, Livers, Teske
Or
X, Wagner, Livers, Johns, Teske
All depending on which of Johns or Brooks proves themself the more palatable
Peripherally - it’s a big year for Brooks, Johns, Nunez, DeJulius
None have particularly been established themselves, all certainly will not, and those who don’t I think either accept the Austin Davis (sacrificing playing time for a degree) or look elsewhere.
I just have a feeling that DeJulius make major stride this year. He has that dog in him to compete. Johns I hope makes the same but just honestly not thinking it happens to level most here expect.
Not at all. I like Cole’s potential a lot.
I think the “dog” thing is sometimes overrated. Nobody would have said that D.J. Wilson had any “dog” in him before his junior season. Few would have said that Jon Teske (known as “the Big Sleep”) had “dog” in him after his freshman season, whereas the word on Austin Davis was that he did have it, and he might be ahead of Teske in the pecking order. It is possible, of course, that DeJulius makes it because of intensity and Johns doesn’t because of lack of same, but I think it’s way, way too early to tell that.
I agree, he does a lot of things that show me he could be an above average player. The issue has been confidence and actually hitting shots. Which I get is a huge deal but I don’t think it’s because he’s a bad shooter, he just lost all confidence.
Even when he’d race up court and drive everyone nuts while out of control I often saw what he was trying to do and I saw what he was looking at. Often guys didn’t cut to the open lanes he was creating with his angles so he ended up looking stupid. At the same time that wasn’t the game plan so I understood why no one ran with him.
I think he could be an above average passer and create looks for guys. He also was crafty enough to create looks for himself off the bounce at the elbow and to get nice looks underneath,unfortunately he missed most of them. If he starts to make them, which I think he has the talent to do, then he could make a monster jump and surprise everyone.
Hopefully he plays with confidence because his skill set would be HUGE for this particular roster. Add into that him knocking down open threes and he could be a god send offensively this year. That’s a lot of ifs and I’m not banking on it but I do think it’s possible.
In my view, he’s always had an inordinate amount of bad luck on threes - many shots that looked good and rimmed out.
Sometimes a coaching change can help players. I love JB, but he had a tendency to demand perfection and sometimes that can mess with a player’s head. Could be the case with Brooks.
Even if Bajema or someone else eventually beats him out, hopefully he’ll continue to be a valuable bench guy like he was toward the end of this season.
Don Brown plays Cover 2 all the time. Like all the time. That’s what 2 Trap is.
(sorry in advance to Dylan)
Not to make this the Eli Brooks thread or to be the guy always tossing a bucket of cold water on Eli optimism
BUT
He’s now attempted 90 college threes and made 27% of them. He’s only attempted 30 in big ten play despite that representing half his games (I suspect because his confidence is cooked annually by then) and made 25% of those.
This isn’t a great sample size but it’s worth noting he’s not very good at making twos either (44% of 72 attempts) and despite a minuscule sample size his FT rate doesn’t show a ton of promise either (65%).
This reminds me of when everyone kept screaming about how Shane Morris was a great QB prospect despite completing under 50% of his high school passes. If he’s a good QB why doesn’t he play QB well?
If Eli is a good shooter why doesn’t he shoot well from any level?
I find Eli absolutely the most terrifying ball-handler on the team because you can see the palpable terror in the young man who clearly wants to unload the ball like a grenade with the pin pulled.
He did play some nice defensive shifts at the end of the season that made a difference in games.
Of everyone on the team IMO, DDJ is the guy we should be talking about a lot more than we do.
I mean not having confidence making you a bad shooter is still…shooting badly.
I don’t know. I don’t think it’s impossible, I’m just not holding out much hope for the kid who plays with palpable terror. I admire the hell out of any kid who worked hard enough to get where he is - I just don’t want my team to count on him figuring it out in order to succeed.
It’s also hard to develop any consistency when your minutes and touches are very sporadic. I think he’s got a chance to be a solid contributor over the next two years. I would still of course agree that Bajema winning the job is probably the best thing for the program, unless he wins it by default.
I am not sure what Eli Brooks 3 point % was in high school but when I see him shoot it looks nothing like how he shot or prepared to shoot back then to me. He shoots more of a set shot in my view and does not get much lift. I also agree with LAW when you get sporadic minutes you are going to get inconsistency. Sometimes you need to be able to play through some mistakes.
While Walton hit another level midway through his senior year, his first two years were leaps and bounds better than anything Brooks has shown to date. We’re all just wishing and hoping at this stage regarding anyone other than Simpson, Teske and Livers.
But Walton was also literally one of the best players in the country after he hit his leap. We’re talking about relative/proportional performance increase, not absolute performance level.
Mark Donnal became a solid contributor and had several really good games midway through his fourth year. It is not unreasonable to expect some level of improvement from Eli in his third year, he doesn’t need to breakout to be a star but just a solid contributor.
We’re talking about before “his leap”.
I agree with the idea that even if Brooks takes a leap, he’ll be competing with guys with much higher ceilings.
Right…
So if Walton goes from “guy who showed a lot more than Eli” to “one of the best players in the country”, then perhaps Eli can go from “guy who showed a lot less than Walton” to “servicable starter / rotation player”.