MUScoop

Too cold not to be distracted

The strength  of the team "is the team"

Mine would be Markus' defense. I think that's been a game changer.

Close second would Theo's ability to affect the game without fouling for the most part.

My third would be Joey. I thought the time he missed in high school would mean some rust in his freshman year.

I voted for Markus because...come on...

But I'd put Joey second.  He's going to be really, really good.

And, I'm also really excited to see how far Theo has come.  If he continues improving at this pace, he's also going to be a special player.

Zion Williamson.

Without a doubt, Joey.

Howard becoming a first team All American & POY candidate is impressive, but when he'd already scored 52 and 30+ 6 other times, it's not a huge surprise. John has been great, but he had shown flashes of this last year.

For Joey, there was the biggest impediment to minutes (Sam, Cain, Morrow, Anim, Bailey all in the mix for 3/4 minutes) and coming off injury it was tough to project him producing like this. 11/6 in 30 mpg at that level of efficiency is incredible for a freshman.

Can Wojo be on the list? Otherwise, TJohn.

Plenty of deserving candidates, but I think we sometimes take Markus for granted around here.
Clearly has his flaws, but he's improved his all-around game from last year and is the best player to wear the MU uniform since Jimmy.

Quote from: tower912 on January 30, 2019, 10:51:51 AM
Zion Williamson.

Well played, sir.

My (kind of) answer to the question would be our overall defense. I expected it to improve (how could it not?) but it has been better than I thought it would be. Our mental toughness also has been extremely impressive.

I'd give the coaching staff a lot of credit for both, though I don't want to short-change the kids on either.

I said John. I thought that best case scenario for him was splitting time with Matt Heldt and not being a negative on the court. Has seized that starting position by the horns and turned into a defensive game changer. Didn't see that coming this season.

Joey I had high expectations for but even so he is beating them. So so so good for a freshman.

Markus is like a video game, he's the victim of high expectations in my case, but even so, he is exceeding them.

I voted Markus because he is really impressive in the truest sense of the word.  He does seriously impressive things.  But Theo has been the best relative to my expectations, so I could see how people could vote for that as the most impressive thing.

The question is, who are you most impressed with?  I picked Theo over Markus because we already knew that Markus could put up 40-50 in a single game.  No Rowsey also just gives him more touches on the ball.  I will agree that his defense has improved immeasurably.

But did I ever think Theo (Xavier game notwithstanding) could stay on the floor for more than 5 minutes without fouling out?  That he would become a block machine and score double-doubles this year?  Heck no.  That's why I'm more impressed with Theo than Markus.