(2019) PF - Zeke Nnaji to Arizona

[goonaha]

I know I'll get shouted down, but I really don't see Brooks, TJD, and Zeke all coming. I feel good about both Brooks and TJD, which makes the two picks for Zeke intriguing/uncomfortable.  Yes, I know they could theoretically be 3,4,5 on the court, but I don't like it for class balance. Should be a 3 man class, one guard (Harris, Bouknight, Franklin/Newman, Ramsey, etc.), two forwards (Brooks and TJD).

[Brass Cannon]

22 minutes ago, VO5 said:

While I definitely agree, I think we need an impact guard more than anyone else in this class. And yes, that includes TJD. We’ll be really thin there after Romeo leaves

I’m not so sure about needing an impact Guard. We should have Phinisee, Green, Durham and Hunter. 2 of those 4 should be able to be impact players if not already by 2019 for sure

[cthomas]

16 minutes ago, goonaha said:

I know I'll get shouted down, but I really don't see Brooks, TJD, and Zeke all coming. I feel good about both Brooks and TJD, which makes the two picks for Zeke intriguing/uncomfortable.  Yes, I know they could theoretically be 3,4,5 on the court, but I don't like it for class balance. Should be a 3 man class, one guard (Harris, Bouknight, Franklin/Newman, Ramsey, etc.), two forwards (Brooks and TJD).

A three man class would be ideal, but I expect four and possibly five by this time next year. I don't want that to happen, but the playing time situation might lead to it. Four and five star kids typically don't want to wait too long to see meaningful minutes.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Put it this way.... IF

Romeo-Keion Brooks
Juwan-TJD
Fitzner-Nnaji

In my mind it’s about perfect.


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[WayneFleekHoosier]

Put it this way.... IF

Romeo-Keion Brooks
Juwan-TJD
Fitzner-Nnaji

In my mind it’s about perfect.


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The Difficult thing would be.....

Starters

1. Best PG
2. Brooks
3. Smith
4. TJD
5. Best C

The tough thing is we will have several players that will feel like they should be starters. Durham, Race, Hunter etc etc etc.



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[WayneFleekHoosier]

Elite programs have four and five stars coming off the bench.

That can be true. Hopefully that will be us soon.


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[Stuhoo]

46 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

The Difficult thing would be.....

Starters

1. Best PG
2. Brooks
3. Smith
4. TJD
5. Best C

The tough thing is we will have several players that will feel like they should be starters. Durham, Race, Hunter etc etc etc.



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And the deliciously wonderful thing would be:

Best pg

Brooks

Hunter

Smith

TJD

with Al, Zeke, Jake, Race, Newman, and Damezi off the bench.

oooh, I think I feel faint.

 

[VO5]

1 hour ago, Brass Cannon said:

I’m not so sure about needing an impact Guard. We should have Phinisee, Green, Durham and Hunter. 2 of those 4 should be able to be impact players if not already by 2019 for sure

That’s super thin. If we have an injury, it sets us back quite a bit. We have a boatload of forwards/centers if we end up getting TJD, Nnaji, and Brooks. Brooks can’t play SG imo. Not yet anyway

[Brass Cannon]

13 minutes ago, VO5 said:

That’s super thin. If we have an injury, it sets us back quite a bit. We have a boatload of forwards/centers if we end up getting TJD, Nnaji, and Brooks. Brooks can’t play SG imo. Not yet anyway

4 players is super thin?  Even if 1 gets hurt there wouldn’t be enough minutes for the other 3. 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

That’s super thin. If we have an injury, it sets us back quite a bit. We have a boatload of forwards/centers if we end up getting TJD, Nnaji, and Brooks. Brooks can’t play SG imo. Not yet anyway

Brooks can play SG. So can Damezi.

Imo.

Brooks marketing team promoting him as a guard, anyway.


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[ebridges24]

I think Romeo is going to stay for 3 years and Jerome is going to turn into a great point guard.

[GloryDays]

The Difficult thing would be.....

Starters

1. Best PG
2. Brooks
3. Smith
4. TJD
5. Best C

The tough thing is we will have several players that will feel like they should be starters. Durham, Race, Hunter etc etc etc.



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I agree,but look at Duke,Carolina ,Kentucky etcetera.
They regularly have 5 bench guys we would start.
Hopefully we can get to that point.

[VO5]

47 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

4 players is super thin?  Even if 1 gets hurt there wouldn’t be enough minutes for the other 3. 

4 guys between the 1-2 positions is thin yes. Especially when 1 of them (Jerome) needs some time to gel in that role. He won’t get that much time there this year. I’d like to preferably add 1 true point, and a combo/SG to go along with Brooks and TJD. 

We’ll see what happens. Not saying I would be disappointed at all with Nnaji, Brooks, TJD, and a guard, I just think we need guards more than non-guards for next year.

[VO5]

50 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Brooks can play SG. So can Damezi.

Imo.

Brooks marketing team promoting him as a guard, anyway.


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We will see. I don’t think either is ready for that role. Don’t have the dribbling skills or shot creation for that in college right now.

[Brass Cannon]

Just now, VO5 said:

4 guys between the 1-2 positions is thin yes. Especially when 1 of them (Jerome) needs some time to gel in that role. He won’t get that much time there this year. I’d like to preferably add 1 true point, and a combo/SG to go along with Brooks and TJD. 

We’ll see what happens. Not saying I would be disappointed at all with Nnaji, Brooks, TJD, and a guard, I just think we need guards more than non-guards for next year.

I really think you are exaggerating that it’s thin. 

[VO5]

Just now, Brass Cannon said:

I really think you are exaggerating that it’s thin. 

I don’t. But that’s why we all have opinions right?

[Brass Cannon]

In a roster of 13 players your only going to average about 2.5 per position. That would be 5 total for these two positions. It’s a bit of a fantasy to expect all 5 to be experienced and impact. 

[Maedhros]

3 hours ago, Brass Cannon said:

I’m not so sure about needing an impact Guard. We should have Phinisee, Green, Durham and Hunter. 2 of those 4 should be able to be impact players if not already by 2019 for sure

Last year we had four guards firmly in the rotation, even as we were seldom satisfied with their performance. Even the least of them in minutes, Al Durham, received fifteen per game in Big Ten play. Rolling into a season with just three guards is stretching them dangerously thin.

And that's before I note that two of our three guards need to show improvement before I would consider them reliable options. The third is an unproven freshman who has yet to play a minute at the college level. I won't consider Jerome or Damezi or Keion capable of playing minutes at guard, not until they prove it on the court. So with all that said, I don't see how anyone can feel comfortable with our guard situation, to the point they don't feel we need to land a guard in this class.

[Brass Cannon]

9 minutes ago, Maedhros said:

Last year we had four guards firmly in the rotation, even as we were seldom satisfied with their performance. Even the least of them in minutes, Al Durham, received fifteen per game in Big Ten play. Rolling into a season with just three guards is stretching them dangerously thin.

And that's before I note that two of our three guards need to show improvement before I would consider them reliable options. The third is an unproven freshman who has yet to play a minute at the college level. I won't consider Jerome or Damezi or Keion capable of playing minutes at guard, not until they prove it on the court. So with all that said, I don't see how anyone can feel comfortable with our guard situation, to the point they don't feel we need to land a guard in this class.

I honestly don’t understand this post it’s acting as if those 4 players aren’t going to improve in the next 15 months?  

It’s hardly unreasonable to expect 2 4 star sophomores to be ready to contribute. Plus a senior and Junior that were able to contribute albeit inconsistently already. 

And point of fact I never said we didn’t need a guard. I said we didn’t need an instant impact guard. 

[Maedhros]

13 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

I honestly don’t understand this post it’s acting as if those 4 players aren’t going to improve in the next 15 months?  

It’s hardly unreasonable to expect 2 4 star sophomores to be ready to contribute. Plus a senior and Junior that were able to contribute albeit inconsistently already. 

And point of fact I never said we didn’t need a guard. I said we didn’t need an instant impact guard. 

Trusting that Romeo is one and done, we will have three guards on our roster in 2019, not four. I've not read anyone who believes Jerome or Damezi can play minutes at the two except wishful fans on message boards. And while I believe our current players will improve before the 2019 season rolls around, I can't say with any certainty they will improve to level where we trust them to start on a Big Ten championship caliber team. It took Yogi four years to get to that point. Some like Curtis Jones don't show improvement at all.