What are the "Crean Transfers" up to?

[Marquette84]

Throw young men on a court, field, pitch, or whatever and you can either play or you cannot.  He was grossly out skilled and had no where near the strength or athleticism to play D1 basketball.

Fine.  Berkowitz was thrown on the court at the U18 European championships. 

He proved he could shoot 50% and score 15 ppg at that level.

Please tell me how you can be so certain of the differences between the euro leagues and US high schools that a 15 ppg/50% FG% a Euro league player is so lacking in skills, strenght and athleticism that you'd rather have an open hole in your roster than take a chance on him.

If you're saying now that you would have made a different decision than Tom Crean, then I don't believe you're being honest.  I think you're likely using information that wasn't available at the time[/i].

[Harrison]

Where did I ever said I would prefer an open spot on the roster to Niv?   Never said that, in fact, what I did say was we were evaluating other PG's as well.  And as it was clear from the moment he stepped on the court he was over matched.  We made a mistake...relax...I am sure Crean waould admit as well.  Dont think you can ask him to bat 1.000 in a case like that, but with that said Niv was clearly a miss.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Frankly, I thought Bradley was equally as over-matched as Niv. He was painful to watch as well.

This was my bad. I meant Bell.

I thought Karon Bradley was a solid player for us and not at all painful to watch.

[augoman]

Niv was a recruiting error made out of desperation because we lost Bell.

Bell was a loss when we had him- he simply never panned out.   The strength of his brother's play got him to MU, IMHO.

[ozmetal71]

True, but without him we were looking at playing Marcus Jackson at point center......oh wait, that actually happened later in 04-05.....that season was the low point for Crean, because regardless of Diener's injury, Crean's recruiting failures killed us that year.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

True, but without him we were looking at playing Marcus Jackson at point center......oh wait, that actually happened later in 04-05.....that season was the low point for Crean, because regardless of Diener's injury, Crean's recruiting failures killed us that year.

He's had a couple classes of complete whiffs.

I have hope for last year's freshman class. I think it is overshadowed by the hype from James, McNeal and Matthews, but it could turn out to be as good...if not better. I really like Cubillan and I have a feeling Hayward was only scratching the surface last year. I think both of those guys are more enjoyable to watch than the other three -- except maybe McNeal, who's fun to watch.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

True, but without him we were looking at playing Marcus Jackson at point center......oh wait, that actually happened later in 04-05.....that season was the low point for Crean, because regardless of Diener's injury, Crean's recruiting failures killed us that year.

He's had a couple classes of complete whiffs.

I have hope for last year's freshman class. I think it is overshadowed by the hype from James, McNeal and Matthews, but it could turn out to be as good...if not better. I really like Cubillan and I have a feeling Hayward was only scratching the surface last year. I think both of those guys are more enjoyable to watch than the other three -- except maybe McNeal, who's fun to watch.

I like Cooby's fire and grit... but man, his stats are kind of brutal. Look at his 2pt FG% and his FT%. I think he is a decent/good 3pt threat, a good ball handler and a decent defender (puts out a lot of effort).

BUT, I don't think he is the scorer or distributor some people think he is. I don't remember him ever creating for himself or for others using the dribble.

With that said, I think he has some nice upside as an energy guy off of the bench. He can ignite the team by hitting 3pters and playing some gritty D. I just don't expect him to be the guy that some people think he will be.

Oh, and I like Lazar a lot as well. He has the best hands since Blankson. He's not the rebounder or defender that blankson was, but he has nice hands and a good feel around the hoop for getting his shot off.

[Harrison]

correct about cooby...love his fire and grit as well.  but he never pentrated or created off the dibble.  His value to Mu last year was giving the big 3 a breather hitting some threes and playing solid defense.  he will impove butremains a 2G in a PG's body for now.

[herboturbo]

I knew i wasn't crazy so I went back to try and find some evidence of Bradley doing well before injuring himself in 2002.  And here it is: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_20021113/ai_n10842594


Also here's a video of him pre-injury at midnight madness 2002 where the 5'9'' off guard nearly hits his head on the rim

EDIT*:
apparently the embedding didn't work so here's the direct link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY_zpRirq3I

[ChicosBailBonds]

Niv was a recruiting error made out of desperation because we lost Bell.

Bell was a loss when we had him- he simply never panned out.   The strength of his brother's play got him to MU, IMHO.

Bell was also offered by Arizona among others.  Sometimes guys just don't pan out, but Bell was looked at fairly highly by some name schools.