Per Mark Miller... Matt Heldt just committed to MU

[NersEllenson]

I am excited to see how Burton explodes this season. How this kid only played 12 mpg on a team that struggled is mind boggling. Bert was an idiot.

+1 - How Buzz pulled him against Xavier in the Big East tourney game with 7 minutes and sat him till 30 seconds left in the game was the most head scratching move of his entire tenure - yes - even moreso than playing Jake and Derrick more minutes than any other players on the team!  Burton was destroying Xavier that whole game.  Beyond belief...if he was concerned about Burton tiring...pull him at the 7 minute mark and worst case bring him back at the under 4 timeout.  But with 30 seconds left?  Jesus.

[NersEllenson]

Agree with your thought re Deonte, though I think it will be hard for him to be an early entry candidate given his "short" stature which pretty much slots him as a 2G in the NBA.  Needs to really work on his handle and his left hand and his defense to be a 2 in the NBA.  His conditioning was also an issue as a frosh, so he needs to work on that as well.

Agree on his conditioning being his biggest challenge from what I saw last year.  His height doesn't concern me at the next level - even if he plays the 3.  His strength and athleticism alone will allow him to play the 3 at next level.  He's a genetic freak. Barkley-like.  Want to see Deonte rebound better this year - see that as a huge area of potential improvement for him.

[Nukem2]

Agree on his conditioning being his biggest challenge from what I saw last year.  His height doesn't concern me at the next level - even if he plays the 3.  His strength and athleticism alone will allow him to play the 3 at next level.  He's a genetic freak. Barkley-like.  Want to see Deonte rebound better this year - see that as a huge area of potential improvement for him.

Hope he can pull that off in the NBA.  But, at 6'4", he is truly really short for the 3 in the NBA.  Can he go to war with much taller guys like the Greek Freak...?

[ThatDude]

Hope he can pull that off in the NBA.  But, at 6'4", he is truly really short for the 3 in the NBA.  Can he go to war with much taller guys like the Greek Freak...?

Charles Barkley was a 6'4 power forward...

[forgetful]

Tokoto is a real long shot for the NBA at this point.

Agreed.  He is a 6'5" 200 lbs SF.  He is basically the same size as Vander Blue, except a worse shooter and less able to play the PG position.

Vander's problem was he was not a good enough shooter to play SG in the NBA and not proven at the point.  Tokoto is more athletic than Vander, but is going to suffer the same problems at the next level.

Burton, may be able to develop the NBA game despite his size limitations.  He needs to continue to work on his shot so that he can be more versatile, but his strength will go a long ways to help him overcome height issues.

[brandx]

Charles Barkley was a 6'4 power forward...

Burton is no Charles Barkley!

[brandx]

+1 - How Buzz pulled him against Xavier in the Big East tourney game with 7 minutes and sat him till 30 seconds left in the game was the most head scratching move of his entire tenure - yes - even moreso than playing Jake and Derrick more minutes than any other players on the team!  Burton was destroying Xavier that whole game.  Beyond belief...if he was concerned about Burton tiring...pull him at the 7 minute mark and worst case bring him back at the under 4 timeout.  But with 30 seconds left?  Jesus.

Bingo!!

After that game, I wanted Buzz outta here.

[brandx]

I completely agree. But Burton is the best of them all. Im just saying

Every college coach in the country would disagree.

But we all feel you are one of the great scouts this nation has ever produced.

[HutchwasClutch]

Burton is no Charles Barkley!

+1000.   The basketball world is full of false Barkley comparisons to any undersized guy with athleticism and a little beef to him.

I love Deonte, am excited about his future at MU, and think he has incredible gifts offensively, but unless he starts showing an ounce of ability to defend, the NBA won't give him a look.  There are tons of guys who can put the ball in the basket a lot, the NBA can find those guys easily.  He's not going to play in the NBA unless his defense improves a ton.  Why would they want an undersized guy who can't defend?  That's a bad combo for an NBA look.

[NersEllenson]

+1000.   The basketball world is full of false Barkley comparisons to any undersized guy with athleticism and a little beef to him.

I love Deonte, am excited about his future at MU, and think he has incredible gifts offensively, but unless he starts showing an ounce of ability to defend, the NBA won't give him a look.  There are tons of guys who can put the ball in the basket a lot, the NBA can find those guys easily.  He's not going to play in the NBA unless his defense improves a ton.  Why would they want an undersized guy who can't defend?  That's a bad combo for an NBA look.

Deonte's defense was far better than some here want to assert.  He was the most disruptive force defensively the team had.  There may have been some one on one defending and team concept defending where he struggled as most freshman do - but his defensive instincts were far and away the best on the team.  I like a guy who can get steals, block shots..and yes..even get deflections. Deonte did all of those things better than anybody on the team last year.

I'm beyond confident in saying Deonte will be a first round draft choice in the NBA...think he could be as much after his junior season...no doubt if he stays 4 years.

Buzz blew it with Deonte last season...Deonte will kill it this season when he gets consistent playing time.

[tower912]

Deonte came out of the game against Xavier because he had just blown two assignments leading to lay ups.   I knew he was coming out.   Freshmen can't do that.   I was surprised he didn't go back in sooner.   Burton is going to be a very good college basketball player.   But just for fun, name all of the 6'5 small forwards who (A) came out early and (B) are starters in the NBA.    Jae had to learn to play the 2-3 and is a good 8-9th man for Mavs.   JFB plays the shooting guard for the bulls.   Ners, your opinion is that Deonte is going to be better than both of those guys?    I hope you are correct.     

[Nukem2]

Charles Barkley was a 6'4 power forward...

Barkley was 6'6"

[brandx]

Barkley was 6'6"

Only in the program. I've stood next to Charles and he is NOT 6'6"

[keefe]

I've stood next to Charles

First name basis??

[NersEllenson]

Deonte came out of the game against Xavier because he had just blown two assignments leading to lay ups.   I knew he was coming out.   Freshmen can't do that.   I was surprised he didn't go back in sooner.   Burton is going to be a very good college basketball player.   But just for fun, name all of the 6'5 small forwards who (A) came out early and (B) are starters in the NBA.    Jae had to learn to play the 2-3 and is a good 8-9th man for Mavs.   JFB plays the shooting guard for the bulls.   Ners, your opinion is that Deonte is going to be better than both of those guys?    I hope you are correct.     

Deonte will be a better college player than Jimmy.  Hard to say if he'll be better than Jae was a a senior and Big East POY.  Deonte is a much better athlete than Jae.  Jae was an incredibly heady player...but COULDN'T DREAM of being Deonte athletically.  Jae Crowder never dunked on anybody while at MU....and barely* (use that loosely) can dunk the basketball.  Burton can do stupid sh$t in that realm athletically.

Jimmy is a better athlete than Jae - yet still not the athletic freakishness of Deonte.  But yes, I believe Deonte can have a better pro career than Jae...Jimmy is on the rise and has the work ethic to make himself into a very good player...and the edge over Jae as Jimmy is better athletically.

[GGGG]

No. If Burton had a similar year, I'd be disappointed.

Tokoto has shown improvement where you'd expect - defensively, lower turnovers, but still has a lot of work to do offensively. MU needs more from all three that you named than Tokoto gave last year offensively as a medium-usage guy with a high turnover rate for his position, and a total shot % that would have placed him behind only the following on MU's team last year: Dawson, DWill,  Juan & Steve.

Tokoto will be fine, but his sophomore year was underwhelming and MU fans would be nuts to be 'thrilled' with a similar performance by Duane, Burton or Fischer.

Tokoto's PPG as a sophomore was better than any MU sophomore since DJO.  Before that it was the Amigos.  He had better sophomore PPG than Blue, JFB, Jamil, etc.

[Nukem2]

Only in the program. I've stood next to Charles and he is NOT 6'6"

And, Deonte probably is not 6'4" ......   

[Jay Bee]

Tokoto's PPG as a sophomore was better than any MU sophomore since DJO.  Before that it was the Amigos.  He had better sophomore PPG than Blue, JFB, Jamil, etc.

That's a key difference between you and me. I don't pay much attention to PPG when judging whether a player was good. That would make things a lot easier - one could just look at the nation's highest per game scorers and have everything figured out.

PPG is the output of various inputs.. if you don't understand the inputs, PPG isn't useful from a player-quality perspective.

--------

To be clear:
1) I think Tokoto could have a big year - he's a good player, BUT
2) I would NOT be thrilled if any of the 3 MU players had a comparable year in 2014-15 and for those that do, I think you're nuts.

PS -
Deonte's defense is an important consideration this coming year. His % stats were excellent - 4.1% blk and 5.2% stl. However, he got all his blocks early in the year and struggled with fouls... the fouls were masked somewhat by playing time (coaching decisions, not due to foul trouble).. but 5.8 fouls per 40 minutes ain't gonna work well. This should improve - but by how much? - and can he get back to blocking shots, but with a significantly decreased propensity to foul?

Pretty telling of some things when you look at his blocks on a game-by-game basis over the season...

PPS - Tokoto had a so so year as a sophomore at UNC.

[ATL MU Warrior]

Only in the program. I've stood next to Charles and he is NOT 6'6"

+1

I had an opportunity to have some drinks with Sir Charles at an NBA All-Star game when it was in Washington DC.  He's closer to 6' 4" but he was probably the broadest shouldered person I've ever come across. 

[GGGG]

That's a key difference between you and me. I don't pay much attention to PPG when judging whether a player was good. That would make things a lot easier - one could just look at the nation's highest per game scorers and have everything figured out.

PPG is the output of various inputs.. if you don't understand the inputs, PPG isn't useful from a player-quality perspective.

--------

To be clear:
1) I think Tokoto could have a big year - he's a good player, BUT
2) I would NOT be thrilled if any of the 3 MU players had a comparable year in 2014-15 and for those that do, I think you're nuts.

PS -
Deonte's defense is an important consideration this coming year. His % stats were excellent - 4.1% blk and 5.2% stl. However, he got all his blocks early in the year and struggled with fouls... the fouls were masked somewhat by playing time (coaching decisions, not due to foul trouble).. but 5.8 fouls per 40 minutes ain't gonna work well. This should improve - but by how much? - and can he get back to blocking shots, but with a significantly decreased propensity to foul?

Pretty telling of some things when you look at his blocks on a game-by-game basis over the season...

PPS - Tokoto had a so so year as a sophomore at UNC.

Here's the difference between you and me...I think blocks and steals are awful ways to determine how good a player is defensively.  He took too many chances.  Was out of position too often.

Here's the similarity between you and me....you are right on regarding ppg.  I was just using it as one example.

Tokoto had a fine sophomore year.  If Burton matches I will be pleased. 

[Jay Bee]

Here's the difference between you and me...I think blocks and steals are awful ways to determine how good a player is defensively.  He took too many chances.  Was out of position too often.

Here's the similarity between you and me....you are right on regarding ppg.  I was just using it as one example.

Tokoto had a fine sophomore year.  If Burton matches I will be pleased. 

No, no. I inferred block % and steal % are useful factors in evaluating defense. I also inferred defense was an issue for Deonte despite his high %'s -- you're making things up.

PPG - that was what your post(s) have argued. Tokoto was fantastic because as a sophomore his PPG couldn't be matched by recent MU players.

If Burton matches what? Tokoto's PPG? Fine, I guess. But if you mean if Burton matches Tokoto's overall offensive profile? No. That would be disappointing.

BTW, when you say 'pleased'... does that mean you would no longer be 'thrilled' and you're tempering your previous comments? That is pleasing to me.

Anyway, I think they'll both be better offensively than Tokoto's 2013-14 season.

[GGGG]

Jay Bee...when you decide to stop simply talking, and actually say something, let me know ok?   Because I addressed each point you brought up. 

[bilsu]

+1 - How Buzz pulled him against Xavier in the Big East tourney game with 7 minutes and sat him till 30 seconds left in the game was the most head scratching move of his entire tenure - yes - even moreso than playing Jake and Derrick more minutes than any other players on the team!  Burton was destroying Xavier that whole game.  Beyond belief...if he was concerned about Burton tiring...pull him at the 7 minute mark and worst case bring him back at the under 4 timeout.  But with 30 seconds left?  Jesus.

He got pulled against Xavier after two straight possessions where he took quick shots and did not score.

[keefe]

He got pulled against Xavier after two straight possessions where he took quick shots and did not score.

Ike benched Patton for being a bonehead. But when the game was on the line Patton was back in as the commander of the 3rd Army. Ike was brilliant. Bert is twisted.

[MU82]

Deonte came out of the game against Xavier because he had just blown two assignments leading to lay ups.   I knew he was coming out.   Freshmen can't do that.   I was surprised he didn't go back in sooner.   

Agree completely. I wasn't surprised Burton got pulled. I was really surprised he didn't go back in 2 minutes later after the coach or an assistant reminded Burton of his responsibilities.

I also agree with various others about Deonte's defense. He all too often gambled himself out of position, but at least he often was disruptive and forced steals that led to layups. We had far too few easy baskets last season; Deonte's D resulted in a high pct of the ones we got. I like to think that as he matures and as he gets coached, he will pick his spots better and be an all-around good defender.