Emitt Holt...Better than advertised, or an aberration?

[Bigdaddy76 111]

I gotta say that I was very impressed by him the last game. He has really good, soft hands, and able to catch it in traffic. Not sure about ya'll, but I sure didn't see this coming after getting him so late in the recruiting process. I know that its only 1 game, but he looks like he could really help this team. Not just this year, but in the future. 

[HoosierCoop 3,927]

He is not Zeller,

but that transition layup that he did was very "Zelleresque"

[Beachfront Property 619]

I think it is a little bit of both. 

 

He's not capable of getting 15 points every game, but we don't need him to.

 

What we need him to do is give us twenty minutes of defense and rebounding. Offensively, we don't need him to do anything special. All he needs to do is take advantage of our spacing and the fact we will always have three great shooters out there with him.

[cjvz20 896]

Being a Pistons fan he kinda of reminded me of a young rodman. I just watched they game and all he did was hustle up and down the court non stop. Hope crean can learn how to play two bigs together cuz I think he could help hmp be better. Like what I saw though

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

I think this thread is way way premature. How can we have any idea if it was an aberration without a comparative game? He's had one game with significant minutes and it was great. If he has another game with significant minutes and it's terrible maybe it was an aberration, if he has a third and it's great then he might just be better than advertised. Is JBJ worse than advertised because he didn't have a great game?

[Myrmidon76 614]

Holt did some things defensively against a team that regularly uses bulldog type tactics down low to establish position that really caught my eye. Things that freshman don't usually know how to incorporate into the game with so few minutes. As well, the game doesn't appear to be too fast for him. Some guys come in and get the deer in the headlights look on their face when they realize the pace of the game is nothing they have ever experienced. I think he isn't ready to start, but now Hanner has motivation to improve on a quicker pace, or lose your spot. That's the biggest plus to me with all this. At this point, I am not ready to name him our savior in the post, but his play against a post type team like Pitt cant be overlooked. The Zeller-like layup was a bonus, but I hope Holt stays in to rebound before taking off.

[hoosierinIll 335]

I think it is a little bit of both. 
 
He's not capable of getting 15 points every game, but we don't need him to.
 
What we need him to do is give us twenty minutes of defense and rebounding. Offensively, we don't need him to do anything special. All he needs to do is take advantage of our spacing and the fact we will always have three great shooters out there with him.

This. I think we all liked what we saw out of him the previous games where he didn't get much PT but his strengths all came together Tuesday night for him to have a really good night. He doesn't need to be all B1G, but he does bring some intangibles to the game. He has soft hands, has good timing on rebounds and blocks, finishes pretty well around the basket and has a killer wingspan that allows him to player longer than what he really is. When coach Jackson puts some muscle on that frame look out!

[hoosierinIll 335]

And by the way, he has great energy and passion when he plays...which is hard not to like!

[Candystriped 67]

He has an instinct for rebounding and thats what we need at his position. Don't forget that the coach at Vermont Acadamy thought if  Holt would've went there for a year and had a little more exposure he would've been a high D1 commit. It may be only one game but the guy has good instincts. His instincts are better than Hanner and Troy's as far as rebounding goes. I just hope Coach Crean continues to give him good minutes

[mesaiufan 30]

I thought Hanner played with more energy when he came in for Emmitt in the 2nd half. Maybe the play of Emmitt will light a fire in Hanner. I hope so.

[Parakeet Jones 3,750]

To the original question: somewhere in the middle.

 

The play that he made that made me jump of my couch on Tuesday was where he caught a pass in the paint, made a move to the basket, got hit pretty hard by a Pitt defender, and still finished to get the and 1.  God bless HMP, but he can't finish after contact or even hold onto the ball half of the time after contact.  

 

We here a lot of talk about finding diamonds in the rough, and this kid may be one.  Let's just not get our expectations for him this year too high.  His four year career is a different story though.  

[bleedhoosier 3,627]

The knee Jerk feeling I have is Holt is better in every area of the game except we haven't seen his back to the basket with the ball in his hands. I say we work a switch in and let him post up a smaller player to start. He is doing exactly what we need him to. Even if he only got 6 or 8 points he is exactly what this team needed, from a small sample

[coonhounds 8,941]

.I am going to say heck yes he is better than advertised he is a basketball player when he is moving with the ball it looks natural and I think he can b a big time player for us. I feel he should start and or get the bulk of the minutes because I think he is just a all-around better player than anybody we have at that position

[GloryDays 5,920]

Not highly advertised and pretty dammed good.

[CampHoosier 3,697]

His biggest contribution, to me, was his defense. When watching the game, he got out in front of the defender every possession with his hands up. That's something Hanner hasn't done. He also saw the switches down low regardless of being in the zone and realized where he needed to be. You can't teach court awareness in the time he's been at IU. He straight up knows how to play. 

[Hutch89 2,939]

I think this thread is way way premature. How can we have any idea if it was an aberration without a comparative game? He's had one game with significant minutes and it was great. If he has another game with significant minutes and it's terrible maybe it was an aberration, if he has a third and it's great then he might just be better than advertised. Is JBJ worse than advertised because he didn't have a great game?

 

Totally premature, but isn't this thread all about speculation anyways?  of course, we'll have to see more games to make a fair assessment, but i think the OP started it to really ask if we all think that Holt would continue to play like he did last game, or if that possibly was his max potential on display.  

Either way, I'm crazy excited to see if he can do it again.  If so, we will be so much better off!    Also, just based off his first real performance, i'm anticipating him being a really solid player for us in a couple of years. 

[Stuhoo 80,839]

Better than advertised, but likely not as greatly better as we saw against Pitt.

[GloryDays 5,920]

  I saw a freshman take it to the hole with strength,agility and finish thru contact. He anchored the zone like he knew how to play it.He has the tools and looks to have the fire also.

  Most players get better with added weight training and experience.I cant imagine that he wont also.I think we're in for a treat with this kid.

[ALASKA HOOSIER 11,276]

I'm impressed yet hesitant

[Hovadipo 56,213]

Remember when people said that if he went to that academy, top schools would swarm?

Welp...