I always knew I liked Mike Huguenin:
QuoteMy pick is a small forward who plays in the Big East. He averaged 14.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals -- along with shooting 53.0 percent from the field and 76.6 percent from the line -- for an NCAA tournament team. It's Marquette's Jimmy Butler. He was just a guy on the 2008-09 team, but he made the jump to key performer last season. With Lazar Hayward gone, expect Butler to be Marquette's go-to guy this season -- and to get a lot more publicity.
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1103568
Jimmy has an NBA ready body, great athleticism, and all the intangibles needed to play at the next level...I can't wait to see him take the reigns this year and lead the Warriors back to the Big Dance...
While I love Butler, for him to play at the next level, he will need to shoot more three's and show that he is competent doing so. last year he shot well from three but they were almost all uncontested open looks.
I hope he takes and makes many threes this year, and is not counted on so much to play underneath.
Buzz needs to develop the offense more that way, and not sure he will with DJO shooting lots of threes.
He'll need to bulk up more to make it at the next level. His skill set is strong though and well balanced overall so he has a shot to play somewhere after this season.
Al would enjoy seeing his old senior "star" system at work-lol.
J Butler deserves first ink mentions heading into the season, but it seems this MU team will be more by "committee", with different players stepping up each game---I enjoy those teams, as a fan, more than a solo star based team.
I think Jimmy Butler needs to go stronger to the basket. I feel a lot of times he looks for the contact first, then worries about making the "bunny"...
It seems if he would just worry about the basket first, the contact will come and he will have more "and 1s".
That is the big next step!
I think Jimmy needs to have:
- Stronger finishes in the lane
- knockdown mid-range game
- defensive shut downs
- more trips to the line
Jimmy gets to the line a ton already 35% of his points come from the line, he also has shown a real nice midrange jumper which is kind of a lost art. I think his D is also solid considering he will be guarding a 3 man in the pros. He needs to finish over the top more, show that he can hit 2 or 3 3's a game at 40% and show he can pass and dribble the ball on the peremiter.
In my opinion, the whistle will not come easy any more. Focus on making the shot before the contact because the whistle will probably not be coming.