Deonte Burton - future Charles Barkley?

[Lennys Tap]

Let's see.  IIRC, that team had Clyde Bradshaw and Skip Dillard.   It seems to me that Ray only played about 6 players and I can't recall who the bigs were. 

Starting guards were Bradshaw and Gary "The Music Man" Garland. Aguirre and Curtis Watkins at forward, Jim Mitchem at center. Outstanding team, though not as good as the 79-80 or 80-81 teams who disappointed in the tournament.

[tower912]

Right.  I'm thinking of the teams the next couple of years that flamed out in the tourney.   

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Let's see.  IIRC, that team had Clyde Bradshaw and Skip Dillard.   It seems to me that Ray only played about 6 players and I can't recall who the bigs were. 

Ff team at DePaul:

Bradshaw
G. Garland
Jim Mitchum
Aguirre
Curtis Wadkins

They literally had no bench, but that is not why Aguirre played as suggested above. He was far and away their best player...and (at least) Garland and Bradshaw played in the NBA.

[brandx]

Let's see.  IIRC, that team had Clyde Bradshaw and Skip Dillard.   It seems to me that Ray only played about 6 players and I can't recall who the bigs were. 

IIRC, Dillard & Cummings and Grubbs came the next year.

I think it was Aguirre, Bradshaw, and Garland and a bunch of stiffs.

[flooda_34]

The Bull. Enough said.

[KenoshaWarrior]

I thought the same thing a few weeks ago.   
He is a player in the Barkley type Mode lets just say that.

[MU82]

Aguirre was an All American and led his team to the Final Four as a freshman! I am sure he averaged more than 20 points per game. I still say he was the best college player I've ever seen.

I do like Burton, but come on!

If Aguirre is the best college player you've ever seen, you didn't watch that Final Four very closely ... because he was only the third best player in it!

In the Indiana State-DePaul national semifinal, Bird went for 35 on 16-for-19 shooting, and there wasn't even a 3-point line back then. Oh, he also had 16 rebounds and 9 assists. And he also played on a team that wouldn't even have had a .500 record without him. Aguirre had a solid game, too, with 19 points ... but please.

Actually, he maybe was only the fourth best player in that Final Four, because Kelser was amazing for Michigan State.

[Boozemon Barro]

Round Mound of Pound Town

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

If Aguirre is the best college player you've ever seen, you didn't watch that Final Four very closely ... because he was only the third best player in it!

Does the fact that I already said this mean anything? Aguirre was a freshman in 1979. He went on to become the #1 pick in the draft after his junior year.

[NYWarrior]

for folks of a certain age ... Deonte's game reminds me of Jerome Lane's game and body type.  A physical & intimidating force (Deonte seems more nimble, however).

http://deadspin.com/5979082/jerome-lanes-backboard+smashing-dunk-was-25-years-ago-today

[MU82]

Does the fact that I already said this mean anything? Aguirre was a freshman in 1979. He went on to become the #1 pick in the draft after his junior year.

I didn't mean to come on so strong but still ... unless you are talking about players you saw in person, it's hard to believe you rank Aguirre as No. 1. Because, again, you did see Bird and Magic and David Thompson and Bill Walton and Olajuwon, right?

I thought Aguirre was great, too, but given that he only played 2 years of college and was an All-American as a freshman, he wasn't exactly your run-of-the-mill frosh.

[tower912]

for folks of a certain age ... Deonte's game reminds me of Jerome Lane's game and body type.  A physical & intimidating force (Deonte seems more nimble, however).

http://deadspin.com/5979082/jerome-lanes-backboard+smashing-dunk-was-25-years-ago-today

I thought about him.   He, too, was an undersized, muscular 4.   If Deonte reached that level, it would bode well for him and the team. 

[Lennys Tap]

I love what I've seen from Deonte. Explosive athleticism and quickness, perfect form, sweet touch on free throws and pull up jump shots from the elbow and baseline. A little too fearless on offense sometimes and he gets caught watching the ball a bit too much on D, but he's going to be really good. Props to JayBee for being the one person on the board who said he'd be our most productive freshman.

[Galway Eagle]

I didn't mean to come on so strong but still ... unless you are talking about players you saw in person, it's hard to believe you rank Aguirre as No. 1. Because, again, you did see Bird and Magic and David Thompson and Bill Walton and Olajuwon, right?

I thought Aguirre was great, too, but given that he only played 2 years of college and was an All-American as a freshman, he wasn't exactly your run-of-the-mill frosh.

He played three years of college.

[MU82]

He played three years of college.

You are, of course, correct.

Hopefully my last mistake of 2013. Then I can start 2014 with a fresh slate and, if lucky, average fewer than one mess-up per week!

[Galway Eagle]

You are, of course, correct.

Hopefully my last mistake of 2013. Then I can start 2014 with a fresh slate and, if lucky, average fewer than one mess-up per week!

Hopefully that's the same attitude that our BBall team has

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I didn't mean to come on so strong but still ... unless you are talking about players you saw in person, it's hard to believe you rank Aguirre as No. 1. Because, again, you did see Bird and Magic and David Thompson and Bill Walton and Olajuwon, right?

I thought Aguirre was great, too, but given that he only played 2 years of college and was an All-American as a freshman, he wasn't exactly your run-of-the-mill frosh.

Too young to remember Walton or Thompson, but IMO Aguirre was a better college player than Olajuwon, who didn't develop any offensive game until he got to the NBA. In fact, he was not even the best player on those Houston teams, Drexler was. In fact, I thought Ewing was a better collegiate player than Olajuwon.

[Goose]

Ewing was fantastic college player. He changed the game from the minute he got on the court. A lot of great players have mentioned on this thread and Burton is not close to any of them at this point. Will be interesting to see how things shake out size wise with him in the future. If he grows a few inches we will be awfully tough to stop.

[Galway Eagle]

Seriously Burton's pretty close to Hayward freshman year.  Hayward was 16.3 mpg and 6.6 ppg 3.6 reb Burton is 12.4 mpg 5.4 ppg 2.1 reb.  No reason to think with the same minutes he wouldn't equal Hayward's numbers and I would love to have a second coming of Lazar (especially when we have him at PF or SF not Center)

[Nukem2]

Too young to remember Walton or Thompson, but IMO Aguirre was a better college player than Olajuwon, who didn't develop any offensive game until he got to the NBA. In fact, he was not even the best player on those Houston teams, Drexler was. In fact, I thought Ewing was a better collegiate player than Olajuwon.

Well, Aguirre was the better offensive player.  Olajuwon was far more of a factor on the defensive end.  Call it a push...?

[NYWarrior]

Too young to remember Walton or Thompson, but IMO Aguirre was a better college player than Olajuwon, who didn't develop any offensive game until he got to the NBA. In fact, he was not even the best player on those Houston teams, Drexler was. In fact, I thought Ewing was a better collegiate player than Olajuwon.

Always an interesting debate ... Ewing and Akeem scored at just about the same clip per 40 mins but Olajuwon was a far better rebounder and shot blocker

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/hakeem-olajuwon-1.html

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/patrick-ewing-1.html

....both guys were incredible collegiate players

[keefe]

Does the fact that I already said this mean anything? Aguirre was a freshman in 1979. He went on to become the #1 pick in the draft after his junior year.

You mean the 78-79 season? I remember it was Spring Break and we had about 12 guys crammed into/around a 1960's vintage Volvo in Ft Lauderdale that night listening to the Marquette-DePaul Sweet Sixteen Round game on whatever Chicago station broadcast DePaul. Maybe it was the Old Style we hauled down from Marquette Liquor or all the herb but we already chalked this up as a win and were looking ahead to finally playing UCLA.

I mean, it was DePaul for Crissakes. A team we routinely trashed. Aguirre single-handedly beat Marquette that night. And instead of going to the Elite 8 to face off against UCLA, finally, we went home and Aguirre took DePaul to the Final Four where they lost to Larry Bird.

We didn't realize it at the time but DePaul had eclipsed Marquette and the dynasty built by Al was now in steep decline. It would be decades before we recovered. The truth is that the bluest Blue Chips came to play for Al. Hank was a great tactician but he lacked Al's charisma. And when Ray Meyer beat out Hank for Aguirre the worm had turned.

[Goose]

Keefe

Once again spot on. Sad part was many knew of the decline before the university did.

[Bob "Big Daddy" Wild]

I think the Barkley and Aguirre comparisons are a bit aggressive.  Both of those players were legends.

The player that comes to mind when I see burton is PJ Tucker from his days at Texas.
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/PJ-Tucker-NBA-Draft-Scouting-Report-2865/

[NersEllenson]

I think the Barkley and Aguirre comparisons are a bit aggressive.  Both of those players were legends.

The player that comes to mind when I see burton is PJ Tucker from his days at Texas.
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/PJ-Tucker-NBA-Draft-Scouting-Report-2865/

No doubt my initial post comparing Deonte to Charles is a huge reach - as Barkley goes down as one of the Top 50 NBA players of all time.  But, just looking at Barkley and Burton physically - some real similarities.  That rebound and coast to coast dunk was vintage Barkley in his prime.  If Deonte can develop a back to the basket game, like Barkley did - he'll be a handful.  Barkley was "undersized" but his unique combination of brute strength and explosiveness, negated the heigh limitation.  I'm really excited to see Burton grow at MU - think he'll be an absolute star by his junior year, if not showing a lot of star quality already as a sophomore next year..