[Rosiak's Blog] I'm baaaaaack...

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Sam Okey was Big 10 freshman of the year.

His problems had nothing to do with his basketball ability or the competition he played against in high school.

Butch had a nice career at UW. He sure could have helped us. He was just overhyped which is not his fault.


Butch actually blew up after playing AAU ball by the way.

Convenient that you left out Mike Wilkinson, Joe Wolf, Anthony Pieper, Tony Bennett and Travis Diener from your argument.

Agreed.

Jared Lovette was also a nice player. Not a star by any means, but a nice player. Also, all of the Dieners were pretty good college players.

I'm not saying MU should only recruit from WI (that would be a HUGE mistake), but there are some role players and occasional stand-outs that can be found.

Scott Christopherson might turn out to be a good role player. Which is fine. I'm not sure why we need to be more critical of him than somebody like Terry Sanders, who turned out to be a role player as well.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I actually liked Christopherson and wish he would have stayed.

[Big Papi]

Lets see how much Roseboro developes over a year or two before we label him a bust.  I don't think anyone expects Roseboro to be a stud, let alone one during his freshmen year.  Look at it this way, most didn't have high expectations for Butler and he is turning into a gem.

I also liked Christopherson and think he will be a solid addition to ISU.

[bma725]

hence the fools gold that is recruiting from the hinterland's of Wisconsin.  A low level D1 player can look like Lebron playing against a bunch of Norwegian dairy farmers who only play basketball to warm up from ice fishing.  Butch, Okey, Christopherson and the list goes on and on.  Beware the great white myth.  My guess is Evan Anderson is the next in this long line of myths.  notice these guys rarely play AAu ball and when they do they disappear.

Except that Christopherson made his name and got his publicity from his AAU play as a freshman.  It wasn't his performances at Melrose-Mindoro that get him noticed, it was his play with the Fox Valley Skillz, one of the most successful AAU programs in the midwest made up mostly of white guys from up north.

[pillardean]

If it wasn't for his legal issues, Michael Southall was a pretty good player out of West Salem.  Started at Kentucky, then Georgia Tech before settling in Louisiana.  He now plays in Europe.

Yeah I remember him.

Busted for weed. Lost Kentucky scholorship but was picked up by GT.  Got busted again for weed and went to Louisiana Tech or something.

[GGGG]

Yeah I remember him.

Busted for weed. Lost Kentucky scholorship but was picked up by GT.  Got busted again for weed and went to Louisiana Tech or something.

Layfayette...actually lead them to the NCAAs if I recall.

[MU_Iceman]

Bringing this discussion back to relevance (in other words, talking about our players and their potential impact next year) I am a little concerned about the apparent lack of development by O'Tule.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that this is nothing more than open gym; but it isn't like he's going head-to-head with top-notch talent, he's matched up against Ooz - a serviceable, but far from elite, former "big".  If he's struggling to compete against this kind of competition, how can we expect him to contribute in league play?  We have NO depth inside and I don't exactly feel comfortable with a 6'10" guy who apparently can't finish around the basket being our answer at the 5.

Also, just another topic to spur conversation...am I the only one who thinks that, in light of Jr's inability to get through the clearinghouse for summer session, the loss of Mo Acker is now really going to hurt us?  Too small or not, it would have been nice to have senior leadership at the most important position on the floor for the start of the season...Cubi isn't a pg and our other options have never played a minute in B-East play...I wish we still had Mo at our disposal...

[4everwarriors]

Yes, you're the only one thinking we'll miss Acker. Just another beautiful, non-Big East talent that Crean creamed his trousers in offering. Hell, Ball State didn't miss him, we surely won't.

[Henry Sugar]

Yes, you're the only one thinking we'll miss Acker. Just another beautiful, non-Big East talent that Crean creamed his trousers in offering. Hell, Ball State didn't miss him, we surely won't.

I go back and forth about missing Acker.  Let's say Cadougan doesn't get cleared until late and never quite catches up.  Who's the point guard on the team?  

The team this year runs the risk of being a collection of talented, inexperienced, interchangable players at the 2-4 spots, with no point guard and no center.  yay.

[dsfire]

I go back and forth about missing Acker.  Let's say Cadougan doesn't get cleared until late and never quite catches up.  Who's the point guard on the team?  

The team this year runs the risk of being a collection of talented, inexperienced, interchangable players at the 2-4 spots, with no point guard and no center.  yay.

Well, barring injury, at least one of those talented, interchangable 2-4 players will be experienced.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I go back and forth about missing Acker.  Let's say Cadougan doesn't get cleared until late and never quite catches up.  Who's the point guard on the team?  

The team this year runs the risk of being a collection of talented, inexperienced, interchangable players at the 2-4 spots, with no point guard and no center.  yay.

Agree.

I mean, Acker is not a great player... but we've seen what a team with no PG looks like 5 years back. MU was basically forced to use Marcus Jackson as the default PG.

Not pretty.

You don't have to love Acker... but thinking there is no chance that MU will miss him is shortsighted.

[MU_Iceman]

Well, barring injury, at least one of those talented, interchangable 2-4 players will be experienced.

Point taken, but I'm with Henry, pull Hayward out of the mix and once again, you don't have a floor general on your roster.  Reports have indicated that DJO can play the point, but it's not his natural position and he's prone to turnovers and that Buycks can play the point if called upon but, again, not his natural position.

Look at every team that had impressive story lines in March (Syracuse, UConn, Pitt, UNC, etc)...they all had an experienced, solid pg to manage the game for them.  Talent can get teams through the regular season, but teams with exceptional guard play win in March...

I'm not calling Acker exceptional, don't be confused there, but at least he was experienced.  Coudagan is now coming in late, already has conditioning concerns and could very easily come in and be a bust - it happens all over the country, every single year with more highly touted recruits than him - if that happens, then what?

[Freeport Warrior]

I would rather have either DJO and Buycks in there learning and getting minutes than wasting them with Acker, even with their turnovers. Eventually, one of them will have to spell Cadougan and I'd rather have them learn on the job and get experience now. It's not like Acker was going to lead us to the Final Four. He actually would have stunted the growth of all of our guards in one way or another (getting used to playing combinations, stealing minutes, etc).

[bma725]

I go back and forth about missing Acker.  Let's say Cadougan doesn't get cleared until late and never quite catches up.  Who's the point guard on the team?  

The team this year runs the risk of being a collection of talented, inexperienced, interchangable players at the 2-4 spots, with no point guard and no center.  yay.

Buycks.  In fact, I'm even willing to say that Bucyks is the PG even if Junior gets cleared tomorrow. 

Buycks can play the point if called upon but, again, not his natural position.

It most definitely is his natural position, he's even called it his most comfortable position.  He was the PG at Bay View, he was recruited as a PG out of high school and was going to be the PG at Bradley had he qualified.  He played the point for the entire year at Indian Hills this year and for most of his freshman year. 

It's not like we're asking Fitz or Wes to step in for DJ.  This is a guy that has played point most of his life.

[NYWarrior]

You don't have to love Acker... but thinking there is no chance that MU will miss him is shortsighted.

There is no chance MU will miss Acker.

He sucked as a role player, which is what he would have been again this year.  Look at Acker's game-by-game from last year --- awful, awful unproductive minutes in spot duty.  He was the epitome of ineffectiveness.  Acker failed as a role player and was dominated by opposing PGs as MU's lead guard late in the year.  As for the season ahead, he would have once again been a role player, searching for scraps of minutes not claimed by Buycks, DJO and at some point Cadougan.

No thank you.

[pillardean]

Look at every team that had impressive story lines in March (Syracuse, UConn, Pitt, UNC, etc)...they all had an experienced, solid pg to manage the game for them.  Talent can get teams through the regular season, but teams with exceptional guard play win in March...

I'm not calling Acker exceptional, don't be confused there, but at least he was experienced. 

I don't think MU has last year's UNC, UConn or Pitt talent to worry about making deep runs into March (I know you weren't making that claim, but it was a premise as to why Mo is necissary to our team next year).

I also don't think that Acker was that serviceable in the BE.  He could bring the ball up and start the offense, but he wasn't strong enough to body up an opposing quality PG or even a 2G (they just shot over him), he wasn't a good enough shooter to be a consistant threat from the outside and he couldn't drive into the paint and dish.  

I would take potential PG's playing this year as youngster's who our new coach recruited and see what happens.  Yeah they will struggle, but in the struggle there will most undoubtedly be growth.

I would rather have either DJO and Buycks in there learning and getting minutes than wasting them with Acker, even with their turnovers. Eventually, one of them will have to spell Cadougan and I'd rather have them learn on the job and get experience now. It's not like Acker was going to lead us to the Final Four. He actually would have stunted the growth of all of our guards in one way or another (getting used to playing combinations, stealing minutes, etc).

The more serious matter, IMHO, is the Otule (which was brought up earlier), Roseboro Mbao situation. It does not look as if any of them are serviceable right now, but hopefully something clicks with them soon.  

I'm curious as to see what type of defense we will play.  I don't think any of the bigger men are capable of post D agaist a player like Onauku or even UConn's back up last year Edwards.

I was hoping for the dark horse E-Will to step up a bit.  Hopefully over the summer he can get stronger, and a bit quicker and it will click for him come October.      

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

There is no chance MU will miss Acker.

He sucked as a role player, which is what he would have been again this year.  Look at Acker's game-by-game from last year --- awful, awful unproductive minutes in spot duty.  He was the epitome of ineffectiveness.  Acker failed as a role player and was dominated by opposing PGs as MU's lead guard late in the year.  As for the season ahead, he would have once again been a role player, searching for scraps of minutes not claimed by Buycks, DJO and at some point Cadougan.

No thank you.

Touche.

I hope you are right. I hope I never utter the phrase "Acker would have been nice to have".

However, I remember the season Travis got hurt, and MU went from a tournament team (probably would have made it), to a team that couldn't win a NIT game at home.

Now, I'm not saying Acker is a world beater, but certainly he could have helped that team and filled a need.

This year's team is not the 04-05 team, but MU doesn't have an experienced PGs on the roster. I hope DJO and JC are awesome, (they are supposed to be good, so it wouldn't be shocking)... but the 2005 memory is just too fresh for me.  

Obviously you can't prepare for injuries to your best player, but heading into a season with 2 inexperienced PGs* is less than ideal. I'm not saying it won't work. Just saying it's less than ideal.

*Yes, I know 2005 when DJ was a frosh, MU didn't have much PG experience either, so maybe I'm wrong.

[GGGG]

Touche.

I hope you are right. I hope I never utter the phrase "Acker would have been nice to have".

However, I remember the season Travis got hurt, and MU went from a tournament team (probably would have made it), to a team that couldn't win a NIT game at home.

Now, I'm not saying Acker is a world beater, but certainly he could have helped that team and filled a need.

I think you are overemphasizing the experience factor.  Travis' loss was big because...well...he has NBA talent and simply having him gone made us weaker.  It wasn't just his experience...it was that he was a damn good college basketball player.

Mo Acker is not.  Buycks, with an inexperienced DJO or JC at point are much better options because they are simply better basketball players.

[NYWarrior]

I hope I never utter the phrase "Acker would have been nice to have".

If you utter this phrase next year its only because MU lost its top three lead guards.  If that happens, Acker would have been the captain of the Titanic and we'd all slip silently into the off-season anyway.

However, I remember the season Travis got hurt, and MU went from a tournament team (probably would have made it), to a team that couldn't win a NIT game at home.

That team had nobody else, literally, who could handle the ball.  That won't be the case this year.  And keep in mind, Acker was closer in skill level to Bruce Hayes than he was to Travis Diener.  

This year's team is not the 04-05 team, but MU doesn't have an experienced PGs on the roster. I hope DJO and JC are awesome, (they are supposed to be good, so it wouldn't be shocking)... but the 2005 memory is just too fresh for me.  

There's plenty more backcourt talent on this team as compared to the crew on Diener's final voyage.  This team will be young, but its backcourt will be deep.....and talented.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

If you utter this phrase next year its only because MU lost its top three lead guards.  If that happens, Acker would have been the captain of the Titanic and we'd all slip silently into the off-season anyway.

That team had nobody else, literally, who could handle the ball.  That won't be the case this year.  And keep in mind, Acker was closer in skill level to Bruce Hayes than he was to Travis Diener.  

There's plenty more backcourt talent on this team as compared to the crew on Diener's final voyage.  This team will be young, but its backcourt will be deep.....and talented.

I'm with you and I hope/think you probably are right.

I've never seen any of the incoming guys play yet, so I'm really blindly speculating. They may all be great ball handlers and I have nothing to worry about.

[GOO]

I hope that most of us have realistic expectations for the team this year.  Some of the previous predictions that I've read expecting us to go 500 or better in the BE, are just not realistic.  Things worked out well when the 3 amigos were freshman.  That is the exception, not the usual.  Look what happened when Key and Mac were freshman.

[79Warrior]

Lazar being MU's "Alpha-Dog", gotta love it.

Don't love the Otule performance review, same as an earlier Todd article.  Otule was terrible last year and does not seem to have improved one bit. 

Thanks Todd.

I think Otule is a bench player at best on most teams.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I hope that most of us have realistic expectations for the team this year.  Some of the previous predictions that I've read expecting us to go 500 or better in the BE, are just not realistic.  Things worked out well when the 3 amigos were freshman.  That is the exception, not the usual.  Look what happened when Key and Mac were freshman.

But you are not factoring in the awesomeness that is Buzz. If Crean could do it in 2005 as crappy a recruiter and coach he was, then most surely Buzz can.

 


And yes, I tend to agree with you.  Hope for the best but realistically I think we're looking at probably 8th to 10th and the NIT.  If we get to the NCAAs, Buzz should win COY in the Big East.  Just as Crean should have won it in 2005 going from a predicted 12th to 4th...but I don't think he won it if I recall.

[79Warrior]

But you are not factoring in the awesomeness that is Buzz. If Crean could do it in 2005 as crappy a recruiter and coach he was, then most surely Buzz can.

 


And yes, I tend to agree with you.  Hope for the best but realistically I think we're looking at probably 8th to 10th and the NIT.  If we get to the NCAAs, Buzz should win COY in the Big East.  Just as Crean should have won it in 2005 going from a predicted 12th to 4th...but I don't think he won it if I recall.

Agreed. If we can finish .500 in the B.E. it would be great. Expectations here for so many unproven players are out of line.

[hdog1017]

Buycks.  In fact, I'm even willing to say that Bucyks is the PG even if Junior gets cleared tomorrow. 

It most definitely is his natural position, he's even called it his most comfortable position.  He was the PG at Bay View, he was recruited as a PG out of high school and was going to be the PG at Bradley had he qualified.  He played the point for the entire year at Indian Hills this year and for most of his freshman year. 

It's not like we're asking Fitz or Wes to step in for DJ.  This is a guy that has played point most of his life.

I just threw up in my mouth while reminiscing about the Fitz PG experiment.