Name 5 better players in country than crowder

[dolly4512]

I dare you. Anthony Davis, ky. Robinson, ku. Sullinger, Osu. Barnes, unc.

Nobody else.

Sadly, djo will take votes from crowder for big east POY. Kevin jones of wvu will win.

Nobody else does it on both ends. Davis doesn't hit threes. Barnes doesn't get the steals. Amazing year. He is a man out there. Rutgers team was in awe.

[Silkk the Shaka]

I've almost resigned myself to the fact that he will get snubbed for BEast POY.  It's a self-preservation thing.  HOWEVER, the hardware he will be hoisting in March as MOP of the NCAA tournament while he cuts down the net will more than make up for that.

[MU82]

HOWEVER, the hardware he will be hoisting in March as MOP of the NCAA tournament while he cuts down the net will more than make up for that.

[brewcity77]

1) Derrick Rose
2) LeBron James
3) Kevin Durant
4) Dwyane Wade
5) Anthony Davis

Hah! Easy! There's 5 for you!

[🏀]

This isn't hard.

Davis
Sullinger
McDermott
Robinson
Green

More?

Rivers
Jones
Barnes
Zeller
Denmom

[Silkk the Shaka]

This isn't hard.

Davis
Sullinger
McDermott
Robinson
Green

More?

Rivers
Jones
Barnes
Zeller
Denmom

McDermott is all offense, and he plays against crap competition.  Not as good as Jae.

Rivers is a one-dimensional chucker.  Maybe a better pro, but not a better college player at this point by any stretch of the imagination.

You can make a case for the others but it could go either way in most cases.  Harder than you thought I guess.  Jae is a first or second team AA.

[macman320]

Hey Jamailman, you just have to admit, the best juco player in the country turns out to be one of the best players in the country. My big concern is that we have no true jucos next year. You may say tj, but butler, djo, and crowder were true jucos and i hope we have the maturity to replace them.

[Norm]

Neither of the Zeller brothers are better than Jae.

[Hards Alumni]

Neither of the Zeller brothers are better than Jae.

Totally agree.

[Wade for President]

Neither of the Zeller brothers are better than Jae.

Wow.  Don't know about that one.  Cody is one of the more fundamentally sound centers the college game has seen since Duncan played @ Wake Forrest. 

I might be inclined to take Jae this year, but Cody is a flat out stud.

[Avenue Commons]

A better question might be "Name 5 better ALL-AROUND players in the country than Crowder."

Look at Jae's stat line from last night: 27 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, 4 assists, 3 blocks in 36 minutes. Previous game he beat down UConn's Drummond, a consensus Top 5 NBA pick, while playing a lot of the game down low. I think he is a remarkable basketball player. I'm happy for him that he is getting the credit he deserves. There aren't 5 better all-around players in the country than Crowder. No way.

I absolutely guarantee he goes no later than the 40th pick in the NBA draft. In fact, I think one of the late picking teams in the first round (think Bulls and Jimmy Butler kind of pick) take him knowing he may not be an NBA star but will be a solid bench player. He's the kind of pick the Spurs typically made back when they were a power.

Critics of Jae who say he is too slow to guard NBA small forwards and not big enough to guard NBA power forwards are simply wrong. The inverse is the reality: he's too fast/smart for NBA 5s with too much range and too big/physical for NBA 4s. He's built like a tight end but can bring the ball up the court and play out on the perimeter and pull up and knock down the 3. This enables him to force opposing Ds to cover and spread the defense. This is a huge part of the modern NBA that doesn't allow hand checks and is all offenses that run sets to allow the guards to attack the basket for a bucket or kick out to the open man for 3. Down low he is so wide at 6'6" that he can guard guys bigger than him and get boards, like he did in the UConn game. The "big man" will always be a part of a game with 10 foot baskets, but it is more about motion offenses now and being a tweener is no longer than the deadly label it once was. Jae fits right into today's NBA.  

[LloydMooresLegs]

He's the kind of pick the Spurs typically made back when they were a power.

They still are.

The inverse is the reality: he's too fast/smart for NBA 5s with too much range and too big/physical for NBA 4s.

I see a solid NBA role player future for Jae, but don't think you are right about Jae with 4s and 5s; he works against college 4s and 5s (and 3s) because Jae can still D them up, but he will not be able to D up NBA 5s and the bigger/stronger 4s.  Though I agree generally with the "inverse" concept, I think you are downplaying the difficulty he will have defensively against bigger and more athletic NBA talent.

[Dr. Blackheart]

As good as Jae has been playing, last night was a let down game.  Broke his string of double doubles. 

[Hards Alumni]

Wow.  Don't know about that one.  Cody is one of the more fundamentally sound centers the college game has seen since Duncan played @ Wake Forrest. 

I might be inclined to take Jae this year, but Cody is a flat out stud.

Jae:  17.7 PPG  7.7 RPG  2.1 Assists/g   1.2 TO/g   2.4 STL/g   1.0 Blk/g

Cody: 15.7 PPG 6.6 RPG   1.2   Assists/g     1.5  TO/g   1.3 STL/g   1.3 Blk/g

Jae wins every category except blocks... and Zeller is much taller.

Yes, Cody has the potential to be great, but this year its not really even close.

[dwaderoy2004]

Jae Crowder, quite simply, is pissing excellence right now.  There is not a shot on the floor he cannot make.  Last night he made the threes, the 18 footer, the elbow jumper, drove to the hoop, tip ins, reverse layups...it was all on display.  I believe he missed a couple last night, but in conference games, he's still knocking down like 80% of his free throws.  Defensively, as others have pointed out, he's improved his decision making in regards to fouls, and part of that is that his timing is incredible right now relative to knocking the ball out of guys hands and elevating for blocks at the right time to avoid fouling.  There was about a 3 minute sequence last night where every rutgers possession ended with a jae rebound, block or steal and he scored on all three of our possessions.  He's a machine right now.

Partially lost in all of this is how well DJO has been playing as well.  He now leads the conference in scoring at 19.7 ppg (conference only) after scoring at least 21 points in the last 4 games.  These two...if they stay in this zone...watch out.

[Golden Avalanche]

This isn't hard.

Davis
Sullinger
McDermott
Robinson
Green

More?

Rivers
Jones
Barnes
Zeller
Denmom

I don't even know half the people on this list.

[damuts222]

 I have always loved the trailing man three pointer from straight on. Made famous by Lazar Hayward, Crowder has inherited the shot. Jae has been on fire. From my short decade of watching MU hoops I don't recall a hot shooting stretch as good as either Jae's or DJO's last night, except for Novaks outburst against UCONN.

[nyg]

This isn't hard.

Davis         Kentucky
Sullinger     OSU
McDermott  Crieghton
Robinson     Kansas
Green         Michigan State

More?

Rivers       Duke
Jones        WVA
Barnes      UNC
Zeller        UNC
Denmom    Missouri

Hope this helps.

[MerrittsMustache]

If you're looking for 5 players who are more talented than Jae, that list could easily be compiled. If you're looking for 5 players who are playing better than Crowder right now or have better all-around stats this season, you'd be hard-pressed to make that list.

Those are 2 very different questions.

[Silkk the Shaka]

If you're looking for 5 players who are more talented than Jae, that list could easily be compiled. If you're looking for 5 players who are playing better than Crowder right now or have better all-around stats this season, you'd be hard-pressed to make that list.

Those are 2 very different questions.

Exactly right.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Hey Jamailman, you just have to admit, the best juco player in the country turns out to be one of the best players in the country. My big concern is that we have no true jucos next year. You may say tj, but butler, djo, and crowder were true jucos and i hope we have the maturity to replace them.

Buzz lamented this very thing in a press conference recently and I don't blame him.  Although you might not count TJ Taylor since he was a highly touted recruit out of high school, he has spent the last year ordering his meals by the number and taking the passenger van to games.  I think it counts.  We do need a couple more though.  I'd like to have one or two on the roster at all times.  My guess is we'll pick up one or two in the 2014 class to balance out the scholarships.  I'd also venture a guess that he will be the best JUCO player in the country and will have a major impact on our program.  That's a pretty safe bet at this point.

[MU82]

Jae has become one of the best, most effective, most efficient college basketball players in the nation. He deserves credit for working so hard, and the coaching staff deserves credit, too.

Success in college is so different than success in the pros, though (as everybody here knows). The roster of college superstars who not only have struggled in the NBA but have flamed out is long: Adam Morrison, Marcus Fizer, Shelden Williams, and so on and so on. How is Jimmer Fredette, last year's college player of the year, finding life in the NBA?

Jae has both height and quickness deficiencies that will hamper him at the next level, just as they have hampered Lazar, who was every bit as good as Jae at Marquette. Several times a game, Jae tries to drive against bigger guys and eats his shot or simply doesn't get it off. And that's against college guys.

Unless you are a star, you have to come up with a specialty, the way Novak (shooting), Ben Wallace (shotblocking) and Dennis Rodman (rebounding) have. Wes Matthews was able to make it because he has a 2-guard's body and quickness. I struggle to see what Jae's specialty will be at the next level.

I really, really hope I am wrong because I have enjoyed watching Jae very much and root for him to succeed in the NBA.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Jae has become one of the best, most effective, most efficient college basketball players in the nation. He deserves credit for working so hard, and the coaching staff deserves credit, too.

Success in college is so different than success in the pros, though (as everybody here knows). The roster of college superstars who not only have struggled in the NBA but have flamed out is long: Adam Morrison, Marcus Fizer, Shelden Williams, and so on and so on. How is Jimmer Fredette, last year's college player of the year, finding life in the NBA?

Jae has both height and quickness deficiencies that will hamper him at the next level, just as they have hampered Lazar, who was every bit as good as Jae at Marquette. Several times a game, Jae tries to drive against bigger guys and eats his shot or simply doesn't get it off. And that's against college guys.

Unless you are a star, you have to come up with a specialty, the way Novak (shooting), Ben Wallace (shotblocking) and Dennis Rodman (rebounding) have. Wes Matthews was able to make it because he has a 2-guard's body and quickness. I struggle to see what Jae's specialty will be at the next level.

I really, really hope I am wrong because I have enjoyed watching Jae very much and root for him to succeed in the NBA.

I agreed with you before the season started.  But after watching him this year there's no way he doesn't belong on a roster at least as a tough, heady role player that pushes everyone in practice every day.  Then if he gets a break like Matthews got two years ago with injuries and Novak this year with injuries, he could prove that he belongs.  I think that's worst case scenario for him at the next level.  There's not any one thing that jumps out at you, you're right about that, but over the course of 35-40 minutes he just makes plays with his heightened sense of awareness and otherworldly instincts.  His feel for the game is Wade-esque when he's locked in, which is almost always as of late.  My guess is when scouts come to open their laptops and look at hundreds of ball screens with Buzz like they did with Jimmy, they'll find that Jae did the exact right thing almost every time.  These are things that are getting MU players drafted.  Buzz players are definitely getting a rep for being smart and hard working.  Every team can use one of those.

[🏀]

Don't let my list take anything away from Jae, he's playing like his nuts are on fire, it's incredible to watch.

However, like Merritt said there's a lot players with more talent.

[MU82]

I agreed with you before the season started.  But after watching him this year there's no way he doesn't belong on a roster at least as a tough, heady role player that pushes everyone in practice every day.  Then if he gets a break like Matthews got two years ago with injuries and Novak this year with injuries, he could prove that he belongs.  I think that's worst case scenario for him at the next level.  There's not any one thing that jumps out at you, you're right about that, but over the course of 35-40 minutes he just makes plays with his heightened sense of awareness and otherworldly instincts.  His feel for the game is Wade-esque when he's locked in, which is almost always as of late.  My guess is when scouts come to open their laptops and look at hundreds of ball screens with Buzz like they did with Jimmy, they'll find that Jae did the exact right thing almost every time.  These are things that are getting MU players drafted.  Buzz players are definitely getting a rep for being smart and hard working.  Every team can use one of those.

Again, I hope you're right and I'm wrong!