Evan Fitzner to IU

[ebridges24]

Okay, this has turned into the Davis injury thread

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[WayneFleekHoosier]

I am fascinated by Fitzner. Not the BIG I was hoping for but if he can stretch the floor like his stats suggest that opens up driving lanes for our athletic wings and guards and for pick n pops galore.

Defense is where he will have to prove the fit to me.


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[ray]

6 hours ago, ap2345 said:

I watched the game against Washington and I'm intrigued. The guy can play and is way more skilled than Davis so we'll see what happens.

Way more skilled than Davis?  Wow!  If that is indeed true, then count me intrigued as well.  

People forget that Davis has not had a full, healthy, well-conditioned season in an IU uniform yet.  He was at one time the nation's #1 recruit in his class.  He made Duke's defensive post presence look ridiculous.  Yeah, he has foul troubles and he's easily winded from lack of conditioning and injuries, but Davis is a very skilled post player.  

If this guy is "way more skilled than Davis", then look out Big Ten Conference!  I doubt he is, but he might have more of an impact next year than Davis will.  So, I'm all for this addition.  I'm just not going to believe he's way more skilled than Davis until I see more.

[IUfan_Charlie]

3 hours ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

IIRC, De'ron's rating dropped quite a bit throughout his high school career. He's a plodder, and Archie's system isn't made for players like that. I think Jake Forrester is the kind of big guy we will see Archie going after in the years to come. 

IIRC Davis was the top ranked player in the country going into high school. If it wasn't for that he probably wouldn't have been ranked where he ended up. He never put up huge numbers in high school and he was averaging basically the same stats he was as a freshmen when he was a senior. 

[ray]

4 hours ago, btownqb said:

Davis isn't a high 4 star. He's a slow-footed JR coming off a major injury and has no outside shot and is limited physically. 

He was a high 4-star...11th best center in his class...and had offers from Arizona, UCLA, Oregon, Connecticut, Indiana, and others.

[CSP]

13 minutes ago, ray said:

He was a high 4-star...11th best center in his class...and had offers from Arizona, UCLA, Oregon, Connecticut, Indiana, and others.

And none of that matters now. That's my point. He's an average basketball player. 

[CSP]

25 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I am fascinated by Fitzner. Not the BIG I was hoping for but if he can stretch the floor like his stats suggest that opens up driving lanes for our athletic wings and guards and for pick n pops galore.

Defense is where he will have to prove the fit to me.


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 What's nice in those comments from the st Mary's people, a few mentioned he was a solid defender

[RaceToTheTop]

51 minutes ago, btownqb said:

I didn't realize he was playing hurt or this is the first time I am hearing of it? Either way.. his defense was exposed well before the injury. 

He was hurt.  His defense definitely had not been good, but it had gotten worse as the season had gone along up even prior to the season ending injury.  He went from a guy at the beginning of the season who showed flashes of the ability but was not as good as we thought he would be coming into his freshman year to a guy who -- from combination of lack of development and injury -- wasn't able to stay on the court much.  He averaged under 13 minutes/game in this last three games and although he lacked foot speed at the beginning of the season, by that time he simply didn't look like he could move well because of lingering injuries.

[RaceToTheTop]

6 minutes ago, btownqb said:

And none of that matters now. That's my point. He's an average basketball player. 

I think people's expectations of him after his freshman year were a little to high.  They'd see the tears he go on where for a short while he'd look like he was a really, really good post presence.  But he was only playing in small chunks as a freshman and could afford to be aggressive because he wasn't going to play enough minutes for us to have to worry about him getting in foul trouble.  When you are only playing 14 minutes/game like he did then, you can be aggressive and use up your energy.  But he's not a guy who you would ever project out to see what he would do in 28 minutes per game because he's not a 28 minute per game player.

[Bailey7878]

I am fascinated by Fitzner. Not the BIG I was hoping for but if he can stretch the floor like his stats suggest that opens up driving lanes for our athletic wings and guards and for pick n pops galore.

Defense is where he will have to prove the fit to me.


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The way some are talking him up I'm about ready to expect 16 and 10 a game from him.

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[Bailey7878]

I am fascinated by Fitzner. Not the BIG I was hoping for but if he can stretch the floor like his stats suggest that opens up driving lanes for our athletic wings and guards and for pick n pops galore.

Defense is where he will have to prove the fit to me.


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

The way some are talking him up I'm about ready to expect 16 and 10 a game from him.

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[ray]

15 minutes ago, btownqb said:

And none of that matters now. That's my point. He's an average basketball player. 

When someone claims a player wasn't a 4-star recruit when I know he was I will point it out (even though rankings are admittedly subjective).

There is no point arguing whether the skills Davis successfully used to manhandle the opposition's defenders during stretches of some very big games is useful in basketball today.

It's all good  We just disagree.

[lillurk]

Y’all, I like this pickup, but he’s listed at like 215 pounds, or five pounds less than Moore was last year at the same height. Additionally, he has no history of rim protection. He’s not functionally a 5. Could he play alongside Juwan and Smith? Sure, but I doubt he’ll be the one asked to guard Ward or Wesson et al. in such a lineup.

The guys asked to guard those bruisers before Fitzner will be, in some order dependent on health, availability, etc., Davis, Morgan, Thompson, Forrester, Moore, even Smith.

[biteoftheapple]

Moore will have to impress the coaching staff so much more than last season to be included on any play list.

[BGleas]

1 hour ago, Bailey7878 said:

I am trying to figure out why some people on here think a guy who averaged 6 points at St. Mary's is going to come in and start in the big ten? I think you guys expectations are way out of whack for this kid. Way out of whack. I'd say 15 mns a game.

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I have seen very few people, if any, say he's going to start. A lot of us are saying he's going to play ahead of Davis, yes, but for most us this is coming from a group that wouldn't have Davis in our starting lineup anyways. We think he'll be the backup 5 ahead of Davis. 

I expect Fitzner to play somewhere around 15-20mpg, probably netting out around 18. I expect him to play a very similar role to Max Beilfeldt the year he was here, and despite what many think Fitzner actually comes to IU way more proven than Bielfeldt was. Max took about 60 3's his first three years at Michigan shooting about 28%. Fitzner has taken over 300 in his three years at St. Mary's making over 40%. 

Max was on a team that played in big games, but he didn't play much at all. As a freshmen at St. Mary's Fitzner started, averaging 23.5mpg, 8.7ppg on 46.8% from the field and 41% from 3, to go along with 4.4rpg. From what I've gathered the main reason his role reduced is because St. Mary's switched systems and he had an upperclassmen big ahead of him. 

[AZ Hoosier]

26 minutes ago, Bailey7878 said:

The way some are talking him up I'm about ready to expect 16 and 10 a game from him.

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Not saying that he absolutely will, but let's see what Archie and the staff can do with him. Even if he never gets to 16/10, he's gonna help a lot, especially with Davis' injury and all the questions about his recovery or redshirting... and he can shoot the 3 at 40%.

[ray]

5 minutes ago, lillurk said:

Y’all, I like this pickup, but he’s listed at like 215 pounds, or five pounds less than Moore was last year at the same height. Additionally, he has no history of rim protection. He’s not functionally a 5. Could he play alongside Juwan and Smith? Sure, but I doubt he’ll be the one asked to guard Ward or Wesson et al. in such a lineup.

The guys asked to guard those bruisers before Fitzner will be, in some order dependent on health, availability, etc., Davis, Morgan, Thompson, Forrester, Moore, even Smith.

I agree, which is why I don't see him as the "perfect fit" like so many others.  We have a lot of wings and a couple stud guards already on the roster.  I'm not saying his shooting won't be appreciated or he won't have an impact...I hope he does...but if he has a huge impact then it's likely because others couldn't perform to our expectations.  He'll likely play the role we hoped Clifton would play (the role Clifton mentioned wanting to play), which was outside.  I may be wrong, but I still wish we had landed another "true big" to play inside...if nothing else, to help Juwan, Race, and Forrester in practice.  I'm happy for him and I'm sure he'll contribute, if nothing else he'll force more effort from others in practice.  However, I don't see him as the big we "needed" to refresh Juwan or play for an injured Davis for lengthy amounts of time.

[Brass Cannon]

2 hours ago, Bailey7878 said:

I am trying to figure out why some people on here think a guy who averaged 6 points at St. Mary's is going to come in and start in the big ten? I think you guys expectations are way out of whack for this kid. Way out of whack. I'd say 15 mns a game.

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About as crazy as a walk on from Vermont who only scored 4 points a games at vermont starting and being productive in the big 10. 

Jeez how longs it been since we saw that?

[lillurk]

Just now, ray said:

I agree, which is why I don't see him as the "perfect fit" like so many others.  We have a lot of wings and a couple stud guards already on the roster.  I'm not saying his shooting won't be appreciated or he won't have an impact...I hope he does...but if he has a huge impact then it's likely because others couldn't perform to our expectations.  He'll likely play the role we hoped Clifton would play (the role Clifton mentioned wanting to play), which was outside.  I may be wrong, but I still wish we had landed another "true big" to play inside...if nothing else, to help Juwan, Race, and Forrester in practice.  I'm happy for him and I'm sure he'll contribute, if nothing else he'll force more effort from others in practice.  However, I don't see him as the big we "needed" to refresh Juwan or play for an injured Davis for lengthy amounts of time.

Sam Vecine made the point on Twitter that he (Sam) believed Fitzner was a nice addition for IU but also that ideally Fitzner was an insurance policy for IU’s younger players (Moore, Thompson, Forrester, etc.).

[CSP]

19 minutes ago, ray said:

When someone claims a player wasn't a 4-star recruit when I know he was I will point it out (even though rankings are admittedly subjective).

There is no point arguing whether the skills Davis successfully used to manhandle the opposition's defenders during stretches of some very big games is useful in basketball today.

It's all good  We just disagree.

There is no agreeing or disagreeing if he was a 4 star or not. I assumed everyone knew that? He's a JR now and that ranking that stood by his name 2 years ago is literally even less meaningful than it was back then. You don't play well.because of the amount of stars you have. My comment wasn't meant to be taken literal, like I know someones opinion of him was that he was a "4 star"... he hasn't played anywhere close to that. 

Manhandle? He doesn't even have a 20pt game to his name. 

Fitzner fits us better than Davis does.. bottom line.