Liam McMorrow's season

[downtown85]

This year was a red shirt year for Liam but by no means was it supposed to be a wasted season for him since he was supposed to: improve his conditioning, learn to play the game better, learn Buzz's system, etc. etc. 

My questions are:

1)was this season pretty much wasted for him because of his injury or was he able to accomplish some of the goals that he would have had at the beginning of the season? 

2) Does he suit up for practice everytday now and play with the team?  How many practices has he had?

3) Will he be able to contribute next year early in the season or will he still need to go down the learning curve like a freshman?

It would be interesting if Rosiak or someone would ask Buzz these questions (after the season) because he would probably answer them pretty straight.  Barring that, is there anyone on this board that knows the answers or has a strong opinion given Liam's recent practices. 

[commonbondcoach]

When and what was his injury and how long was he out of commission?  He will be an awfully old freshman next year won't he?

[chapman]

When and what was his injury and how long was he out of commission?  He will be an awfully old freshman next year won't he?

He'll be considered a sophomore next year.

[Niv Berkowitz]

While I share in everyones want for a go-to down low presence, I for one think the gamble on McMorrow was worth the risk.

I think he'll be able to contribute, but only in spurts. A LOT will depend on his full off-season of working out with the team and developing his game with one-on-one coaching. Most big men take a lot of time to develop. He won't be any different. But, he's going to be like Ooze right out of the gate. Lost at times on defense, but coaches will find a spot for him on the floor to own from an offensive standpoint (see Ooze's footprints that still sit three feet to below and to the left of the basket).

[kmwtrucks]

I do not think conditioning will be an issue for Liam. My reasons are his age and the fact he has been a hockey player most of his life and that takes a tremedous cardovascular system.  Generally If you play a sport growing up that requires heavy cardio you will have a very easy time getting in good basketball shape.  Maybe 2-3 months.  Where as many really tall kids do not play the heavy cardio sports growing up.  The ones I'm thinking of would be swimming, Soccer, Hockey.  Football and baseball are not good really good for Cardio. 

[war1980rior]

Don't forget the lacrosse.  It's all cardio and aggression!  His cardio training probably goes well beyond the average hockey player.

[ErickJD08]

I agree with taking the risk for Liam.  I am a big believer that being good at one sport can translate into other sports because they require a certain amount of concentration or consistency, coordination, and physical ability.  Buzz and his crew will need to teach him fundamentals.  If he learns those, he would be a big that is physical, coordinated, and athletic with fundamentals.  He could be REALLY good. 

[HoopsMalone]

I am very excited for this guy.  He is an athlete so coordination should be less of an issue.  Just have to get him a touch.  I would have him doing foot speed drills and shooting free throws all day.  Not sure what exactly they are doing.

[jficke13]

I'm not sure why people seem to think he's not going to be a stud. He's very intelligent; learning the system will not be an issue. His quickness and agility are above average and so are his hands, all attributes that carry over from hockey and lacrosse. He's tall; he's long and he has all off season to add muscle in the right places.

I think he'll be our starting 5 next year.

[muwarrior87]

based on the limited work I've seen him doing before games, with Coach Layer I believe, he has a pretty good touch and is getting his positioning down.  He also has a nice stroke from the free throw line.  Granted, this is with no one challenging his shot but his footwork seems good as does his touch. Will be fun to watch in the coming years.

[MUeng]

In addition to all that has been mentioned I really like hearing him do interviews.  He seems very smart and genuinely glad to be here at mu.

[mug644]

I'm not sure why people seem to think he's not going to be a stud. He's very intelligent; learning the system will not be an issue. His quickness and agility are above average and so are his hands, all attributes that carry over from hockey and lacrosse. He's tall; he's long and he has all off season to add muscle in the right places.

I think he'll be our starting 5 next year.

For me, I'm not ready to assume that he'll be a stud, mainly because basketball is different from hockey and lacrosse. Sure playing those sports will help him, but the differences take time to learn and understand, never mind perform at a high-major level. And, while I know he played those other sports, I've never seen how good he was at them.

I believe he'll be a contributor in his MU career, hopefully reaching the same level or higher as Ousmane Barro, another relative newcomer to basketball (his sport was soccer, if I recall). But that will take a couple more years.

[chapman]

I'm just curious to see what he's measured at next year.  When they interviewed him on the Buzz show in December, he said he was still growing and expected to be a legit 7'1" or 7'2" next year.  With that height and his athletic history, it almost seems like a no-brainer to take a chance on him, and it will be hard not to get him into games.

[bilsu]

We need a center who can rebound and play defense. Offense is problably going to take the longest to develope, but we can live with that.

[Kramerica]

If you've played lacrosse, a lot of the defense is somewhat similar to a  defense in basketball, as far as movement and gaurding.  There is also a fair amount of zone defense that is played in lacrosse as well.  I'm not saying its a exact match, but the experience in lacrosse might be more help on the defensive end, than if his main sport was baseball or football. 

[war1980rior]

He reminds me of David Robinson, who played no organized basketball until his senior year in high school, and was only a backup center (at 6'7").  He showed up at the Naval Academy on academics (1400+ SATs) and plucked out by the basketball coach, as they really never get any height.  Once he saw what a great athlete he was, the rest was history.

I'm not saying Liam will be that good, but a big guy that is already a great athlete probably has very few bad habits to break, only good ones to develop.  Of course, you can't teach height.  Never forget that!

[NCMUFan]

So back to the original post, we really don't know if he is practising daily with the team or is improving.

[redbirdwarrior]

I'm not looking for the Canadian David Robinson.  If he can develop into Aaron Gray, I'll be more than satisfied.  All of the hockey players I know have terrific footwork (for obvious reasons), so Liam's footwork should put him way ahead of the recent 7 footers at MU.  I am cautiously optimistic.  And I know this has nothing to do with the original question.

[romey]

I know soccer is NOT lacrosse, and perhaps this is my ignorance, but they appear similar in a lot of respects.  And I can say this from watching kids on my son's high school team that played soccer - spacing, court vision and team concept were qualities the soccer players had plenty of.

[MU_Warrior44]

Back to the original post, Rosiak said he's been doing full practices for a while. I don't have a link now, but it was in a recent chat transcript.

[MUSF]

I'm not sure why people seem to think he's not going to be a stud. He's very intelligent; learning the system will not be an issue. His quickness and agility are above average and so are his hands, all attributes that carry over from hockey and lacrosse. He's tall; he's long and he has all off season to add muscle in the right places.

I think he'll be our starting 5 next year.

I'm not sure why people seem to think he will be anything more than the next Chris Grimm or Mike Kinsella. I hope Liam works out but we honestly have no idea what kind of player he is going to be. I have been a Detroit Lions fan all my life and they say that the most popular Lion is always the back up QB. Well, I think the most popular MU player is the young post player coming off of an injury. Remember one Trevor "the messiah" Mbakwe? Most big man recruits are very difficult to project and I wouldn't bank on Liam being a "stud."

Another thing, just because he has played hockey and lacrosse doesn't necessarily mean anything on the basketball court. Do we know how good he was at those sports? How good were the teams he played on? In a lot of places, you don't really need much talent or athleticism to make a high school sports team.  Hell, I know schools that won't cut any kid no matter how terrible they are. Let's take a deep breath and accept the fact that what we have in Liam is a big project with very good upside potential.