I don’t really think Key solves any issues for OSU either. He’s a 6’8 Center who can’t shoot and isn’t athletic. He has all the same limitations defensively that OSU had last year from their Centers, without any of the offensive upside. I definitely buy him being better than Brunk because Brunk is a disaster on defense and Key didn’t seem that bad, but he doesn’t move the needle compared to last year for me.
Also on the Key front, I don’t know if this is a hot take but to me he seems like a player who’s already reached his ceiling. Which may not be totally fair to say about a guy who just finished a relatively successful freshman year, but I just don’t see where he improves. He doesn’t have the recruiting pedigree, size, athleticism or shooting ability where I see any upside for him.
He’s basically a shorter Trevion Williams without the great passing ability but better shooting efficiency. Trevion is a top 10 player in the league, but his value mostly comes from his passing and ability to offset his middling efficiency with massive volume. That’s not really something you can project out to Key, nor do I think OSU wants to ever attempt that. Also the love for Purdue and their hype this offseason is that Jaden Ivey has the potential to be their star player, and he could elevate them to a level that wasn’t reachable when a guy like Williams is your star.
Obviously Key had a good freshman year all things considered, and he’ll improve over the course of his career at OSU. But I think senior year Key looks pretty much the same as freshman year Key, just with more playing time/USG and slightly worse efficiency. End rant that no one asked for or ever implied they disagree with me on.
Iu fans will gripe about tjd but I feel like he’s the exact type that puts up good numbers on bad to average teams but can’t be your best player if your going be a really good team.
I don’t really have a strong Key take, but he was pretty efficient offensively and only just turned 19 this summer. Hard for me to say he’s reached his ceiling at that age. I agree defensively I doubt he ever becomes anything more than passable. But I could see him as a very efficient post scorer as an upper classman.
You’re probably right, but at the same time it’s just hard for me to envision him becoming that good of a post scorer either.
Key’s 6’8 and attempted 0 3’s all year. Going back to 2017 on Torvik, if I look for guys in the B1G who were 6’9 or shorter, attempted less than 10 3’s all year and played at least 40% of minutes, I get a mixed bag of names. There are same good in there (Dererk Pardon, Nick Ward), some meh (John Harrar, Tyler Cook) and some bad (Tanner Borchardt, Cordell Pemsel).
I also don’t think all of those guys you get are great comps. A guy like Mike Watkins was an awesome rim protector and rebounder with much better athleticism. A guy like Eugene Omoruyi developed into a good player when he became a wing player who could drive and shoot. Even a guy like Nick Ward who was very similar play style wise was a top 40 recruit, whereas Key wasn’t even top 150.
I think in recent history you’re looking at a guy like Pardon as the ideal ceiling for Key, and Pardon ended up being a very good player for the only NW team to make the tourney. But that being said there are a decent amount of guys who come in and have freshman years like Key, Pardon and Trevion. But more often than not they end up like Cordell Pemsel or Ricky Doyle and not Pardon or Trevion.
If Dickinson doesn’t learn how to go to his left where would he improve offensively? Is there a better chance that he develops an outside shot or going to his left? I like Dickinson and maybe there is a chance that guards recognize him early in the offense unlike this past year when he had sealed his defender off and nobody got him the ball. I think he improves on the margins and nothing necessarily related to his game.
I should have specified when I said left I was referring left shoulder. Right handed guys in the post go to their left shoulder. Just as lefties go to their right shoulder. I don’t expect Hunter to learn how to shoot a right handed hook.