College Bball Thread

[BGleas]

26 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

I would agree.  Zeller showed the world we can be good without Bob Knight.  These recruits were at least alive during those years.  

He's also probably the one guy, at least postbthe NC State game in the BIG/ACC Challenge his freshmen year that if he was playing i thought we had a chance against anyone in the country. 

[HoosierInParadise]

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/old-school/that-was-big-the-respectful-gesture-john-calipari-made-that-secured-derrick-rose-to-memphis

I did not know that Rose was so close to coming to IU....

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using BtownBanners mobile app

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich]

The Field of 68 has Trey Burke sitting at #7. He was a special player, but I'm still taking Zeller and Oladipo over him. Always. 

It does bring me to another point, 2012-2013 was a special year. Not just because Indiana was really good, but because college basketball seen a lot of great college talent. They may not have turned into amazing pros and HOFs or anything, but as college players and college teams, there were several great ones. I still consider that the best Big Ten we've seen the past decade. 

[go iu bb]

2 hours ago, mbredenk101 said:

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/old-school/that-was-big-the-respectful-gesture-john-calipari-made-that-secured-derrick-rose-to-memphis

I did not know that Rose was so close to coming to IU....

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using BtownBanners mobile app
 

Yeah, IU had a very good chance of landing him. The article was incorrect about him and EJ being HS teammates but they were good friends. Maybe they played AAU together, I don't remember. 

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich]

53 minutes ago, go iu bb said:

Yeah, IU had a very good chance of landing him. The article was incorrect about him and EJ being HS teammates but they were good friends. Maybe they played AAU together, I don't remember. 

Well considering how the season ended up... Might as well have won a title and fired everyone first. 

[HoosierTrav]

1 hour ago, go iu bb said:

Yeah, IU had a very good chance of landing him. The article was incorrect about him and EJ being HS teammates but they were good friends. Maybe they played AAU together, I don't remember. 

Yes they were teammates on EYBL Meanstreets. Best AAU backcourt ever. 

[HoosierHoops1]

22 hours ago, go iu bb said:

Yeah, IU had a very good chance of landing him. The article was incorrect about him and EJ being HS teammates but they were good friends. Maybe they played AAU together, I don't remember. 

They played aau together for Mean Streets

[HoosierHoops1]

20 hours ago, HoosierTrav said:

Yes they were teammates on EYBL Meanstreets. Best AAU backcourt ever. 

DR top ranked PG, EG top ranked SG.

[str8baller]

On 7/28/2022 at 7:44 PM, Loaded Chicken Sandwich said:

They may not have turned into amazing pros and HOFs or anything, but as college players and college teams, there were several great ones. I still consider that the best Big Ten we've seen the past decade. 

Zeller is frustrating because I think he could’ve been better. Not a ton of desire to improve, but he was so talented and smart that he’s still the best we’ve had this century. Phenomenal player.

 

Oladipo’s peak in the NBA was pretty high. For one season he was a borderline top 10 player. Just as he was hitting his stride he got some serious injuries. He’s the most improved player I can remember at IU…maybe ever. He could barely dribble his freshman year. That kind of improvement is almost unheard of. 

[Honkyman]

10 hours ago, str8baller said:

He’s the most improved player I can remember at IU…maybe ever. He could barely dribble his freshman year. That kind of improvement is almost unheard of. 

I saw Victor Oladipo in high school when played on a a great DeMatha team that included Quinn Cook and Jerami Grant. He was a defensive specialist. Most of his points came from layups and dunks. But to say Oladipo could barely dribble his freshman year of college is wildly inaccurate. 

[Southside]

1 hour ago, Honkyman said:

I saw Victor Oladipo in high school when played on a a great DeMatha team that included Quinn Cook and Jerami Grant. He was a defensive specialist. Most of his points came from layups and dunks. But to say Oladipo could barely dribble his freshman year of college is wildly inaccurate. 

Barely is probably a bad word to use, but his early dribbling was pretty rough at times. His body always wanted to go faster lol, and it just took some time for things to come together. 

[HoosierHoopster]

1 hour ago, Honkyman said:

I saw Victor Oladipo in high school when played on a a great DeMatha team that included Quinn Cook and Jerami Grant. He was a defensive specialist. Most of his points came from layups and dunks. But to say Oladipo could barely dribble his freshman year of college is wildly inaccurate. 

Yeah he averaged a double double including boards as a guard on that DeMatha team, already an excellent defender and Cook got the offensive load and Coach K ran in and grabbed him overlooking Vic. Who got the better end of that deal? Lol 

[str8baller]

2 hours ago, Honkyman said:

But to say Oladipo could barely dribble his freshman year of college is wildly inaccurate.

I’m not going to argue semantics on the word “barely.” But for perspective, as a freshman he averaged 18min a game and was rarely, if ever, the primary ball handler when on the floor. He averaged more turnovers than assists. And that was on a bad 12 win team desperate for a lead guard.  He played a role very similar to the one he did in HS.
 

To go from that to all-pro in the NBA as a playoff team’s lead ball handler* is one helluva an improvement that rarely happens. It’s quite the transformation.  
 

*technically him and Collision split ball handling duties, but it was VO’s ball in crunch time out when they needed a score so I’m designating him as de facto lead guard. 

[Honkyman]

I don't dispute that Oladipo improved greatly in college. Obviously, to be the number #2 pick in the draft and then become an NBA all-star given he was ranked no better than #136 coming out of high school showed enormous progress. To say Oladipo could barely dribble as a freshman in college is a ridiculous statement.

[HoosierHoopster]

1 hour ago, str8baller said:

I’m not going to argue semantics on the word “barely.” But for perspective, as a freshman he averaged 18min a game and was rarely, if ever, the primary ball handler when on the floor. He averaged more turnovers than assists. And that was on a bad 12 win team desperate for a lead guard.  He played a role very similar to the one he did in HS.
 

To go from that to all-pro in the NBA as a playoff team’s lead ball handler* is one helluva an improvement that rarely happens. It’s quite the transformation.  
 

*technically him and Collision split ball handling duties, but it was VO’s ball in crunch time out when they needed a score so I’m designating him as de facto lead guard. 

In fairness it’s not semantics. Vic never had any trouble dribbling, and again he averaged a double double as a guard on the strong Dematha team (and I’ve posted it here bf, a friend who scouted Vic before he picked IU gave me his opinion then that he’d be a star.

Vic was never a primary ball handler, he came in as a 2 or off ball guard, that wasn’t his role. He had high TO’s early bc of his aggressive attacking play and learning to play under control and at the speed of college ball, not bc he was somehow learning how to dribble, come on now.
His offensive game improved all around, including a monster jump in outside shooting, from the 20s to the 40s, but you could see the form in his FT’s, he had all the tools coming in, about as good a recruiting decision as I’ve ever seen

[str8baller]

9 hours ago, HoosierHoopster said:

he averaged a double double as a guard on the strong

Getting ten points and rebounds has nothing to do with ball handling. A weird point to hang your hat on. 

[HoosierHoopster]

1 hour ago, str8baller said:

Getting ten points and rebounds has nothing to do with ball handling. A weird point to hang your hat on. 

So are you really arguing Vic could barely dribble? Really? This entire discussion is weird. His “dribble” was fine man 

[str8baller]

On 7/30/2022 at 10:32 PM, HoosierHoopster said:

So are you really arguing Vic could barely dribble? Really? This entire discussion is weird. His “dribble” was fine man 

He was pretty bad with the ball as a frosh. If it were “fine man” he’d have handled the ball as a freshman instead of Verdell (a walking bad decision machine) and Hulls (couldn’t beat anyone off the dribble).  I forgot Jerimiah Rivers was on that team as a ball handler too until I looked it up…lol. 
 

I think the success of the later teams makes people forget how bad that team was. They were awful. I’m curious as to what you think kept him off the floor on a bad team if it weren’t for him being able to handle the ball? 

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich]

Not that it matters really, but Jason Benetti has made the move to Fox Sports 

[IUc2016]

43 minutes ago, Loaded Chicken Sandwich said:

Not that it matters really, but Jason Benetti has made the move to Fox Sports 

I think it does matter. Jason Benetti is AWESOME.

Would love for him to do big games on FOX and FS1.