Eric Ayala is 100% better than JBo
3 Likes
so are Walker and Geo IMO
1 Like
I can see Hauser more easily than I can see Fatts. Hauser began last year with incredible hype–Brendan called him a “double double machine”–and if his shooting returns to form, he can be a weapon, defensive deficiencies notwithstanding. Facts makes no sense. He’s plainly not as good as Donta Scott (as you point out), or Ayala, and I’m not at all convinced that he’s better than, or even as good as, Qudos Wahib or a likely improved Hakim Hart. And that’s just Maryland we’re talking about–there are others in the Big Ten I’d place over Fatts as well.
I’d put just about anyone over Fatts 
Don’t think he’ll be in our Big Ten Top 25.
I think the people who made this ranking are banking on Houstan’s game being much more likely to translate because of the level of competition he’s consistently played against. Whether it was EYBL, International or High school, he was uber productive and he couldn’t play any better competition at basically any time. Christie has routinely played at least a step down the rung in terms of competition (UAA compared to EYBL) and High school in particular. Houstan’s game also is easier to see translating because his role/skill set is simpler in a sense.
I do tend to agree though that he might be a snub, but I completely understand if that is why they left him off the list.
8 Likes
Is it just total homerism that I would take HD as a player over Liddell, TJD and Williams 100 times out of 100? Kofi is closer but I still think I’d take HD…think he has so much potential as a polished low post monster that Kofi will never reach and their physical dominance isn’t that far off from eachother.
4 Likes
I just hope that opposing students can find a clever way to heckle him for his terrible car wash commercial.
4 Likes
Kofi is the one you wonder about. The guy’s just a monster. But I agree. Kofi’s not going to give you the passing that HD does, and HD’s coming off his first year of Camp Sanderson. Let’s see how it goes this year.
1 Like
I think there are some different arguments depending on how you tackle it. I think Kofi is probably a bit ahead of Hunter based on last year but I agree Hunter has more untapped upside at this point.
Liddell is really really good, but I would put him right behind those two.
TJD probably has as much natural talent as anyone so maybe a gamble on real coaching?
2 Likes
I’d take Hunter as well, granted I’m clearly also biased. Williams takes on by far the biggest usage of the 5 elite B1G big men, and is also the best passer of the group, so his lack of efficiency needs to be put into context there. That being said, as a featured player for Purdue he’s never cracked a 105 ORTG, and he’s a 6’10 Center who can’t shoot and isn’t an athlete. He has some inherent limitations to his game that limit how good he can be, a lot more so than Hunter, and Hunter is already a more efficient offensive player than Williams. So give me Hunter there for sure.
TJD is a much better athlete than Hunter so he has the higher upside, and his freshman year was pretty phenomenal (120 ORTG on 21% USG). His ORTG took a pretty big step back this past year (120 to 108) but that’s unsurprising considering his USG went skyrocketed (21% to 30%). I still think I’d take Hunter over TJD pretty easily though. TJD’s ORTG is held up by the fact that he gets to the line a ton (13th highest FT rate amongst High Major players last year), but it’s hurt by the fact that he’s a mediocre FT shooter (career 67%). He’s also very similar to Trevion in that he’s a mediocre 2-point shooter, but he’s even more limited than Trevion in that his percentages plummet once you look at his 2 point shooting away from the rim. I’ve seen Indiana fans say he has untapped shooting potential and can be more of a stretch 5 under Woodson, but he’s a bad (if not awful) shooter from every part of the floor minus at the rim. I get he’s a better athlete than Hunter, but the fact is that TJD is 6’9, can’t shoot away from the rim, and isn’t even that great around the rim. He’s an undersized 5 with no stretch to his game, and the fact that his ORTG is mostly held up by his FT rate gives me pause as to what sort of upside is there. I’d take Hunter once again.
Liddell is the first guy I can see a legit argument for. Especially with his 3 point shooting surge mid way through last year, there’s an argument that Liddell is actually a stretch 4 and shouldn’t be compared to the rest of these guys since they could easily share the floor together. But if you’re asking me to compare, lets treat Liddell as a 5. Since he’s only 6’7, his rebounding, block and 2 point shooting numbers aren’t anything too special. But his ability to shoot the 3 makes him an intriguing choice. Once again I’d still go Hunter here, since Liddell gives a limited rim presence on offense and offers by far the worst interior protection on defense. Also Hunter has some untapped potential as a shooter which could narrow Liddell’s advantage over Hunter. But if you want to run a small ball team that can switch everything and shoot from every spot, I get the argument for Liddell.
Kofi is the most interesting to me. At this point most people seem to have Kofi as the preferred choice, if only slightly. That’s pretty interesting to me because Kofi and Hunter actually had pretty identical freshman years (111 ORTG on 26.7% USG for Hunter in 65% of minutes, 110.4 on 25.1% for Kofi in 70%). Kofi then took a pretty big step up this year to a 117.9 ORTG on 27.4% USG. He improved slightly in pretty much every statistical area except for the drastic improvement he had as a 2 point shooter, going from 53.5% to 65.4%. Pretty much all of that came from better finishing around the rim, along with a lot more attempts. It remains to be seen how much of an impact Ayo’s presence had on that, but with all the shooting Illinois has along with how high pretty much everyone is on Curbelo, I can see a similar season from Kofi, which makes it’s pretty hard to not choose Kofi.
To take Hunter over Kofi you need him to improve his ORTG by 7 or so points on pretty much the same efficiency. In reality I think we’ll probably see Hunter closer to the 30% USG mark with how our team is structured, so do you think Hunter can be a 118ish ORTG player on 30% USG? It’s a big ask, but I think yes honestly. Obviously we know about the clear areas for improvement (finishing with his other hand and expanding his shooting range). Both of those seem like pretty easy areas for improvement in the coming year that will help Hunter’s efficiency. Hunter also has the massive advantage over Kofi that Hunter is an elite passing big man, whereas Kofi is a blackhole. With the ball in Hunter’s hands more often, and ideally more assists instead of hockey assists, that’s an area where he can blow Kofi out of the water.
The thing I noticed in going through all these big guy’s statistical profiles while doing this is that Hunter and Trevion had drastically lower FT rates than the other 3. In conference play, Trevion’s FT rate was 32%, Hunter’s was 39%, Liddell’s was 56%, and TJD and Kofi were both at 61%. So Hunter was 17% behind Liddell and over 20% behind TJD and Kofi. I understand Trevion having a lower FT rate considering he’s an awful FT shooter and takes a lot of long 2’s, but there’s no explanation for Hunter being that low. If Hunter had the same FT rate as TJD and Kofi, his ORTG would skyrocket, especially since he’s a 75% FT shooter and not 65% or 55% like TJD and Kofi. We all felt Hunter got screwed by the refs a lot last year, so if he can actually get calls at the same rate as the other big men in the league, then I’m fully on board with choosing him over Kofi.
3 Likes
That’s contrary to what Quinn is saying. The idea is to play Williams and Edey together.
Wow, I finally bought into the Purdue hype after seeing Ivey this summer, but this has completely derailed the train, planted and detonated high explosives on it, and tossed it into the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
4 Likes
Key point in that article is that Mason Gillis is suspended, FWIW.
3 Likes
for how long?
2 Likes
Yeah I saw that. Still not sure that is a great situation.
When looking at an Ivey breakout wouldn’t playing the 2 bigs together really hurt the spacing needed for his breakout to happen in a big way?
1 Like
and only make them the last 4 minutes of the game
Here’s what Athlon Sports had to say about our Wolverines!
4 Likes
6. Michigan—The 2021 offseason saw coach Juwan Howard’s staff remain intact and some key roster decisions all go Michigan’s way. Center Hunter Dickinson, a national player of the year candidate, flirted with the idea of remaining in the NBA Draft and came close to doing so, but ultimately opted to return. Eli Brooks, an invaluable veteran, announced he would use his COVID-allotted extra year of eligibility. DeVante’ Jones, the reigning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, transferred in to take over at point guard.
To that experienced core, Michigan adds the No. 2-rated recruiting class in the country according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
(If you buy one preseason mag, buy Blue Ribbon FWIW.)
7 Likes
Really don’t like seeing that “No. 2-rated recruiting class in the country.” Can’t we all just decide that Memphis was too late to the game and doesn’t get to call itself number one?
3 Likes
Sorry, but I couldn’t help but think of this when I read that:
