Quote Originally Posted by SteveWellmer:
Thanks, appreciate your work. I'm not sold on Central. They were one of the 20 least efficient offensive teams in the country last year. A large part of that was because of the Ziegler kid. The kind of shots he can create for himself are not the kind of shots he can also hit for a reasonable percentage. I think he'd be awesome on a high major team as the third or fourth option. Asking him to shoulder the load is probably asking him too much. Don't discount the loss of Jalin Thomas either.
A couple last points on BSU. A buddy of mine who plays in the Indy summer league says that Scaife really held his own defensively and offensively this summer against some really good competition. Specifically, he held his own against eric gordon; Eric struggled against scaife. Your mention of BSU's defense was right on cue, but if Scaife can buy in defensively, they should be ok. I think they fear teams with two post players. Kam struggles to defend the post and Jones is average at best. I don't know of any MAC teams with two solid post players so that shouldn't be an issue in conference play. That might be the only time they really miss perry. Otherwise, this team is much better off this year than last. Your point about BSU still behind Akron,Kent and Ohio might be right but I know the loss to Kent last year in the tournament really bothered them. That is a big reason why they spent so much time in the weight room. They were physically overmatched. Taylor had no way to scheme around it. Their focus is on beating the East and have spent much of the summer working on the things needed to beat those teams.
IMO, the difference is Koch. Once he is back this is a totally different team. From all indications, this summer, he tore up the open gyms. He left the players speechless with the plays he was making. This transfer was a real 'get' if he can stay healthy (something he hasn't been able to do). Koch being healthy is the difference between them competing against the East or falling short again. GL this season to you too. Thanks!!
I'm not completely sold on CMU either, but Ziegler coached teams always have a good defense and that will keep them in ballgames if they can find just an ounce of offense outside of the coaches kid. In my offseason work, it wasn't really the returnees that I focused on but the plethora of talent they brought in:
McBroom - PG from Hollywood. Can shoot it from anywhere, and is quick. Takes pressure off Ziegler bringing the ball up. Had two really good exhibition games.
Keel - Pure Shooter. Coming off the bench now, not sure how long that will last.
Mbaigoto - This kid signed with Clemson a few years back.
I think early on, they'll depend on Ziegler to score, but once they get into conference season, they'll have enough talent to compete on a nightly basis, and I assume a bunch of that talent is going to be in the form of newcomers rather than returnees. If I was sold on the newcomers, I would have projected them right up there with WMU and BSU, but I can't quite do that yet.
GL
Hot Forum Topics
