Goodman's Top 50 Point Guards in the Country

[GGGG]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/20643571

No Junior???

[brewcity77]

Ridiculous.

[Wade for President]

Wow.  I honestly think (hope) Junior is going to a huge year.  We go only as far as he can take us.

[Knight Commission]

Based on his play last year, especially down the stretch, there is no way he was a top 50 point guard, in fact he was a huge liability for us.  He has the potential to be much better.  I think/hope he will step it up this year.

[MerrittsMustache]

1) D.J. Cooper at #24? Seriously? I didn't realize that chucking up wild shots and turning the ball over made one a solid point guard. Ohio would have beaten UNC last season if not for Cooper's forced shots and horrid play.

2) If Junior isn't better than the PGs at Drexel, Belmont and Indiana State then MU is in trouble this season.

3) Aaron Craft would be 30 spots lower if he wasn't "traditional." The media loves scrappy white guys.

[BrewCity83]

As we saw last year with Jordan Taylor, the pre-season rankings are irrelevant.  The post-season rankings are what counts. 

[GGGG]

Junior had a couple bad games, but a "huge liability???"  Hardly.  As I said last year, he is not a superstar, but you can win with him.  And he is definitely in the top 50 nationwide.

2) If Junior isn't better than the PGs at Drexel, Belmont and Indiana State then MU is in trouble this season.

He's better than Jake Odom.  My goodness is he better.

[Slim]

Another motivational tick for Buzz.

[BCHoopster]

Junior has a huge weakness which I wonder was worked on in individual workouts, a very weak left hand dribbling and his inability to use his left had around the basket, which is why
he gets blocked so often on drives.  If he worked on that and his shot, he is definitely Top 50.  He does no how to make the hard pass look easy.

[Bieberhole69]

Can't say i'm surpised.  He didn't really excel at any particular part of his game last year.  Having said that, I'm pretty comfortable with him running the point this year.

[Dr. Blackheart]

As I said before, Junior led the BE in plus/minus last year. When on the court, he makes others better. He has said he was working on his shot and dribbling all summer. 

That said, the one weakness of his play, and in fact of all our returning guards, is turnover rate. MU doesn't have Jae's and DJO's points/play to cover its tracks.  Buzz said he stressed this this summer in his deep dive studies into making the team better. 

Pangos is a top 10 PG. 

[Lennys Tap]

Junior had a couple bad games, but a "huge liability???"  Hardly.  As I said last year, he is not a superstar, but you can win with him.  And he is definitely in the top 50 nationwide.

Exactly. You don't go 27-8, 14-4 in conference and make the Sweet Sixteen with a "huge liability" at arguably the most important position. That's just ignorant. I suppose if we had a serviceable PG Knight would have us 37-0 with a rout over Kentucky in the national championship. Silly.

[avid1010]

Based on his play last year, especially down the stretch, there is no way he was a top 50 point guard, in fact he was a huge liability for us.  He has the potential to be much better.  I think/hope he will step it up this year.

stop this

[wojosdojo]

Can I give Jeffy boy a nice little tweet?

[Dawson Rental]

What a silly article.  Here's what they say about Mark Lyons who they rank as the 11th best PG.

""Cheeks", as he is called, is a talented scoring guard who has played off the ball for his college career."

Excuse me isn't supposed to be a ranking of point guards, or is it a ranking of point guards and other short guards?

Also, Rotnei Clarke gets ranked 20th, even though this is his first year playing point guard.  What???

I'm kinda surprised that they didn't rank Reggie Smith.

[mileskishnish72]

I would tend to agree that Junior's inability to go left is a significant shortcoming, and I can recall a couple of occasions last year when he drove me to try to tear out what little hair is left, but I don't think it's fair to call him a huge liability. There was a vast difference last year between the MU offense when Jr. was on the floor vs. when he was not. I hope he has the kind of a year that will leave Goodman eating a healthy dose of crow.

[Benny B]

Who cares whether Junior is #1 or #300?  Evidently, he and the rest of the team weren't bothered by "who is the better PG" when they sent Murray State - and their #1-rated PG - packing last year.

Individual accolades are great, but I'm sure Junior and everyone else on the team is more concerned with wins and losses.

[Big Daddy 84]

Individual accolades are great, but I'm sure Junior and everyone else on the team is more concerned with wins and losses.

Exactly right..if you have ever met JC and spent anytime with him he is a 100% team guy...the only number that matters is when the clock reads 0:00 MU has at least 1 pt more than the other team..

JC is about making others around him better...  as mentioned look at his +/- diff when he is on the court versus off...  OK he is not Derrick Rose..but we do not have to have our power forward bring up the ball either.

He is a true point guard and more importantly he is a great ambassador for MU..

Some of you on this board should heed this advice from A. Lincoln---"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

[Skatastrophy]

Exactly right..if you have ever met JC and spent anytime with him he is a 100% team guy...the only number that matters is when the clock reads 0:00 MU has at least 1 pt more than the other team..

JC is about making others around him better...  as mentioned look at his +/- diff when he is on the court versus off...  OK he is not Derrick Rose..but we do not have to have our power forward bring up the ball either.

He is a true point guard and more importantly he is a great ambassador for MU..

Some of you on this board should heed this advice from A. Lincoln---"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

+1

He's also one of the most competitive people I've ever met.

As always: Thanks for chiming in, Daddy

[Knight Commission]

Exactly. You don't go 27-8, 14-4 in conference and make the Sweet Sixteen with a "huge liability" at arguably the most important position. That's just ignorant. I suppose if we had a serviceable PG Knight would have us 37-0 with a rout over Kentucky in the national championship. Silly.

I stand by my comment. In our loss to FLA, he was 0 -5 in FG's, had 3 TO's and only 5 assists...Niv could have done as well if he didnt shoot the ball.

In our 2 Louisville losses he was 5 -17 shooting, 15 TO's and only 11 assists

In the Cincy loss at the end of the year he was 1 - 8, with 5 assists and 3 TO's.

Simply put, when he had bad games, we lost....he was a liability and I wish he was off the court. I dont think he will be this year. Im sure he is a nice guy , hard worker but so was Dwayne Streeterr.

[GGGG]

I stand by my comment. In our loss to FLA, he was 0 -5 in FG's, had 3 TO's and only 5 assists...Niv could have done as well if he didnt shoot the ball.

In our 2 Louisville losses he was 5 -17 shooting, 15 TO's and only 11 assists

In the Cincy loss at the end of the year he was 1 - 8, with 5 assists and 3 TO's.

Simply put, when he had bad games, we lost....he was a liability and I wish he was off the court. I dont think he will be this year.

Heh...so you are going to select the losses where he played poorly and completely gloss over the wins where he played well.  Murray State for instance.

[Knight Commission]

Heh...so you are going to select the losses where he played poorly and completely gloss over the wins where he played well.  Murray State for instance.

He didnt play well in the W's either down the stretch, esp. as the PG for a Top 15 program.....

[chapman]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/20669899

The top 50 Wings is out now.  Lockett at #45.  Will get a chance on Nov. 9 against OSU's LaQuinton Ross, who averaged 2.0 ppg as a freshman and rated higher than Lockett at #39, and later this season against Sam Dekker  (#37), Florida's Kenny Boynton (#15), Georgetown's Otto Porter (#5), and possibly UNC's Reggie Bullock (#18).  Not snubbed from the list completely, but Lockett's numbers and experience says he shouldn't be behind all of those guys.

[The Equalizer]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/20669899

The top 50 Wings is out now.  Lockett at #45.  Will get a chance on Nov. 9 against OSU's LaQuinton Ross, who averaged 2.0 ppg as a freshman and rated higher than Lockett at #39, and later this season against Sam Dekker  (#37), Florida's Kenny Boynton (#15), Georgetown's Otto Porter (#5), and possibly UNC's Reggie Bullock (#18).  Not snubbed from the list completely, but Lockett's numbers and experience says he shouldn't be behind all of those guys.

You can make a legitmate case that he shouldn't be behind Ross or Dekker, but he is rightly ranked behind Boyton, Porter and Bullock.  

[brewcity77]

From what I hear, LaQuinton Ross isn't even going to start. His name is strictly on this list from hype, which he has failed to live up to. That's why these lists are so questionable. LeBryan Nash at 7? He was okay, but was an utter flop considering his freshman year hype, why expect different, because he has a freshman PG? Ben McLemore, Archie Goodwin, Wayne Blackshear, Gary Harris, Rasheed Sulaimon, and Glenn Robinson are all somewhat laughable, as none have done anything at this level and while they are fairly high rated prospects, it's hard to project non-top 10 freshmen as better than a guy who's been as consistently good as Lockett has been the past 2 years.

Most of this list is based on "what if" scenarios, not on any actual measurable evidence of what these guys have done. At least a third of the names on the wing list is based solely on potential.