BGleas

If that's how it's going to play out, then recruiting these "outside the top 100" guys so they can develop is a bad strategy, not a good one. It only works if they're going to stay 4 years and realize their potential here.    I think Zeisloft is the perfect example. It seems like he's a marginal talent, but will bring great leadership and intangibles, all great things and many people are excited for what he'll bring this season. But, let's be real, if Zeisloft came here as a freshmen he'd most likely be a guy we're claiming is a candidate to transfer, right? He'd most likely be an oversign victim.   

Putting Hollowell at point guard was a horrible decision (and yes, I said it at the time so I'm not being revisionist). The kid had yet to even establish himself at his natural position at this level. The best move for Hollowell last season, still being young and getting comfortable at this level, would have been to put him in a position to be successful, not introduce him to a totally new position. It was a coaching mistake. Hollowell certainly had other issues, but putting at point guard before he had established himself and gotten comfortable certainly contributed to his poor season IMO.

Maybe I'm being too technical in this discussion, but what you're describing is great, and I agree Troy could be great attacking the rim. But, what you're describing is not playing point guard. Just dribbling off a screen doesn't make you a point guard. Yogi said Troy was the backup point guard, and just like it was with Hollowell, it's a a terrible idea.

What are we talking about here though? Playing point guard and dribbling the basketball aren't the same thing. There's a difference between being the floor general, getting the team into it's sets, etc., and just making moves with the dribble. That clip was largely Troy just making moves, good moves for sure, but it wasn't him playing point guard.   

While he definitely had to make improvements with his handle during his career, Vic was still always a guard. Troy is a wing/stretch 4,not the same thing.    IMO, Troy is more comparable to Hollowell. Regardless, we don't want Troy initiating offense, we want him finishing it. 

It's always going to work out, it's not like we're going to try and trot out 18 scholarship guys. That doesn't mean it's what's best for the team or the program.   

I love Troy and think/hope he's due for a big year, but having him be the backup point guard is a horrible decision, just like it was with Hollowell. A coaches job is to put people in a position to be successful and this would not be doing that for anybody. 

I'll trust the staff on adding him to the '15 class. Obviously the talent is off the charts. One thing I think would be a disaster and I'd honestly have to severely question Crean's judgement on, would be somehow adding him to the team in the second semester. If they want to add him as a walk-on in the second semester and have him practice sort of like a redshirt, that's fine. But the idea of considering adding him to the roster to play is insane to me.

He played because Hanner and Davis weren't ready to play yet. If Hanner had been performing like everyone had hoped when he was recruited, Howard would not have been playing.

For most teams in the Big Ten.

It will all get worked out, but that doesn't mean it will get worked out in a way that is best for the program. While it will be worked out, it would not be a good thing to have 4-5 more freshmen next season. It just means even more roster turnover, and once again not having talented veterans.    No matter who replaces them, losing any of Yogi, JBJ or Troy would not be a good thing. IMO 2015-16 could be another year where we challenge for a conference title and deep tourney run, if the veterans come back. But if we lose those guys, it will "work out", but will be another year of no veterans and hoping we "surprise" and can finish in the top half of the conference. 

Not too totally change the course of the discussion, but it's tough, for me at least, to answer that question without knowing who our oversign guys will be replacing. If our top 7-8 (Yogi, JBJ, Troy, Stan, Hanner, Davis, RoJo, Holt) are all staying next year, then my preference is to adding just Morgan and another big.    If we're losing any of our top 8, then that would change the discussion. We'd need some type of instant impact wing or guard. The problem is, while nice players, I'm not sure I see Shake or OG as instant impact guys. For example, OG might replace Troy in terms of style/position, but OG most likely isn't going to do that as a freshmen. 

I'm with you Wayne. I'd take either/both, I think both have the chance to be good, but I won't be too upset either if we lose one or both either. While they're both good, I don't think either is a program changer or so done that isn't replaceable.

He can by 13.

Remember when Terrance Jones held a press conference and committed to Washington, and then Cal literally called him while Jones was still at the press conference and flipped him to UK?

I have no clue whether we'll get him or not, but not sure of where the pessimism on this one comes from? He took his visit, said he liked it and said it would be a week or two and then he'd announce. It's pretty much followed his timeline to a T. In terms of what I've seen, nothing else has come out of his camp.

They definitely play their share of cupcakes, but I think their "marquee" games are better than ours.

I could be wrong, but I never really thought he played pg for them? Regardless, while he puts up numbers, he's one of the more inefficient scorers in the league.

Agree, the answer is really both.

While I'd of course love to land Shake, the most important thing for the 2015-16 Hoosiers is having our top 8 from this coming season return. If we have Yogi, JBJ, Troy, Hanner, RoJo, Stan, Devin, Zeisloft and Holt coming back, then we should be good. Add Morgan and whoever else, and we should be really good!

I remember being so hyped when I was 16 and for Christmas my parents got me this cassette with a wire that connected to you discman, plug the cassette into your car and then you could play cd's in your car through the discman. That's old school!

My freshmen year of college we didn't have cable in our dorms and my roommate and I just had Braveheart on a loop on our VCR player. When you got back to the room you'd just pick up wherever it was at. Good times!

My issue with the NCAA on this, is mainly the timing of the event. Football programs can have Pro Days on their campus, but that's different because those are post-season, before the draft and only with guys eligible to be drafted.    This isn't a scouting combine, this is a promotional/recruiting piece for Cal/UK. I'd have less of a problem if it was for just guys declared for the draft and after the season. This is more about being on ESPN and having all those NBA scouts on campus on a recruiting weekend, than it is about helping his current players.    With that said, Cal is a great marketer and knows what "sells".   

Yeah, I wasn't posting to support Matta as a coach, just saying that his teams typically have a lot of tall/long wings. A lot of guys that look like Troy Williams, for instance. The Evan Turner teams for example, I think they started Turner, Diebler, Lightey and Buford, all about 6'6"-6'8" wings. 

I agree with your post in general. Everybody is different and he's welcome to do what's right for him, I'd just question whether he really gave it enough time. That's the only thing for me, is did he really give it a chance?