Pulley Day 3 Impressions (Gopher players)

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Colton- Running the floor more than I ever saw, faster, stronger, better in transition. He played great D even though he was called for cheap fouls. He had a couple of nice post moves too with a up and under and a jump hook. Around 20 points 8 redbounds, very soft touch, i think it was 6/6 or 8/8 on free throws. He didn't miss. Very impressed with his ballhandling as well, put it on the floor and went to the hoop. The only thing he did wrong was 2 bricks off of the backboard.

Al- Floor general, never gave up on a play, about 20 points 10 assists is my guess. His usual defense with surprising new range. He hit 3 NBA three pointers, 50% from three tonight.

Eliason- This kid will be special, soft touch around the hoop, good D on Royce (didn't get bullied) even a three point play in transition. Around 10 points tonight.

Hollins- Smart player, had a nice dunk on a break away, couple of assists and a free throw, didn't play much. He did take 2 threes, one went in and out, the other got swatted by bostick. He will be good in time.

Maverick- 1st half he didn't look that special to me, but in the 2nd half he made some plays that gave me some hope. 1st, he got the ball at the key in transition, ran straight at Royce and 6'11" center Levi Jones, and did a pretty lefty lay in, then later had a spot up jumper just inside the three point line. Also, as said in his ESPN bio, swatted many balls in the passing lanes. Was only scored on once by El Amin which isn't an easy defensive assignment.

Lastly, a little add on, Jacob Thomas is Devoe Joseph 2.0 and its a shame we didn't sign him. Style of play, Shot, and build are almost identical to Devoe. He will be a nice player for Dan Monson of all people.
 

Thanks for the notes.

Just an FYI, Jacob Thomas did not have the grades to go to Minnesota. His recruitment was covered extensively by Johnny Gopher and others on this site.
 

Thanks for the notes.

Just an FYI, Jacob Thomas did not have the grades to go to Minnesota. His recruitment was covered extensively by Johnny Gopher and others on this site.

Nor is he eligible (yet) to play at LB State (last I read).
 

Jacob is still confident he will be good to go at LBSU so who knows, nobody thought Rodney had a chance to qualify either but I don't think Jake had a chance to get into MN which is why he wasn't recruited very hard.

Once again last night I loved Zierdon's game and I think he will be a very successful college player, unfortunately nowdays coaches are so obsessed with kids having to be a certian size to play a position that I'm afraid issiah will hear alot of questions about his heigth and athleticism and will get passed over but some school is going to get very lucky with this kid. At this point unfortunately it propably won't be us.

I really liked what I saw from Ellison and this kid is far from an unskilled project, he needs alot of weight and experience but if you looked at how far Colt had come last night and then thought back to how he looked just like Elliot a couple years ago, there is alot to work with.

Austin is also exactly what we thought, nothing flashy or spectacular but does alot of the things Damien did. Still haven't seen him shoot but thats the part of his game that worries me the least.

Maverick was a concern but he's playing behind Nolen and going against El Amin and playing point in a new city halfway across the country is not easy so I will cut him some slack and see how much he improves this summer before making any real judgements.

Royce, well, not impressed and he had his attitude last night, no hustle, pathetic defense, even for Pulley, still very much out of playing shape.
 

Royce, well, not impressed and he had his attitude last night, no hustle, pathetic defense, even for Pulley, still very much out of playing shape.

Unfortunately I think some folks learned a few new phrases from Royce last night when the double-technical was called.

Eliason gets to play every day with three other centers, two of whom are experienced juniors... not a bad situation for him to be in with respect to developing for the future.
 


Eliason

Glad to hear Eliason looks to have potential. This recruiting class was looking pretty iffy. Do we look the jc route for a pf if Trevor can't play?
 

Do Tubby and staff go to watch these games?
 

Coaches, I believe, are banned from summer league games.
 

Glad to hear Eliason looks to have potential. This recruiting class was looking pretty iffy. Do we look the jc route for a pf if Trevor can't play?

I think there are 3 solid prospects - Walker, Eliason, Hollins - and 2 "iffy" spring fill-ins (Osenieks, Ahanmisi) in the 2010 class signed by Gophers.
 



Well, I think Mav just needs some time to get used to his teammates, and work on his skills and strength this summer. If he works hard at those things he will be fine. He was 2/3 from the feild tonight, so just from what i've seen I think he will be effiecient, steal savvy, and with work a decent point guard.

Also, Colt will have a huge season this year. As I said above so many new facets to his game now its hard to believe if you have'nt seen him. He did an in and out crossover flawless like Al Nolen, and I was like WHATT? I didn't know Colt could even dribble with his right hand.
 

If we have 2 "iffy's". Why not take a chance on Minnesota players? (Noreen, Jett, Thomas)
 

Glad to hear a more upbeat report. Like I said, I've got nothing against Maverick and Elliot. When I was there, I wasn't impressed. Hopefully it'll be very helpful for these guys playing against this level of athlete.
 

Thanks everyone for posting to this topic. You guys are so fortunate to be able to get this HP preveiw of the incoming talent. Thanks for sharing your observations. To my knowledge, we don't have anything like HP in Phoenix and the Weatherup Center (ASU's new $5M basketball practice facility) won't let civilians observe the floor in offseason and only with special permission from Herb during the season.

I was sick when I read the Day 1 first post about Maverick but I also want to attribute that to FR jitters in a new venue with a lot to prove to folks and teamates as a very late addition to the recruiting class.

What I saw last year was that Colt was more effective than and probably deserved more PT than III. IMO Tubby did not want to indicate to III that he was potentially second to Colt in his SO season and have him think about transfering his JR & SR years. If III doesn't show as much improvement as Colton, he will not get the PT that he did last year but it's doubtful that he would transfer for his SR year. Without significant improvement, III will definitely contribute but he won't be the force that Colt is promising to be.
 



Glad to hear Eliason looks to have potential. This recruiting class was looking pretty iffy. Do we look the jc route for a pf if Trevor can't play?

I’ve said this before, but I’ve seen EE play a few times and I felt that he needs to red shirt, but it’s very possible he can become a force. He’s picked up a lot of bad habits playing against Nebraska 6’3 centers. Also Nebraska coaches (in general) never take out their best players. This might sound like a good idea at first but you have to realize if they are never coming out they are not playing with 100% effort on the floor. They are always trying to save something for the end. It’s not just EE this happens to all the good players here in Nebraska.

EE does a lot of things poorly right now. One is the hustle, but again if you know no matter what happens you will be playing 95% of the game you’d try to save something too. Still, Don Meyer says you want your centers to get from the defensive block to the offensive block in 4 seconds; realistically 5-6 is what you’re looking for. I never saw EE do it in less than 10. Tubby will fix this very fast by sitting him everything he doesn’t sprint back. The idea of transition will be beat into his head the moment he sets foot on campus. But it’s still one of the things he will have to a just too.

EE also does a poor job of getting hip to hip contact with his defender. This is most likely due to the fact that he’s 6’11 and everyone else is 6’5. Still this is a very important skill that all college centers need to have. In general all of his post position skills are under developed. He doesn’t seal the defenders well at all, he opens himself to the middle rather than baseline on lob passes, he often takes three dribbles when one will do ect.

But his Sep 15th four man preseason practice squad is going to have Iverson, RSIII, Walker, if they are planning on playing him. This would mean Mbakwe trail didn’t go well for him. I’ve seen at other schools you can get a lot of work done in these four man groups, but it’s a matter of building muscle memory. A lot of coaches will tell you it takes 20,000 reps to build muscle memory. It comes down to him, will he work? From what coaches here tell me yes.

He does have good hands, I do feel he tries to work hard, and he does know how to finish. In the end a lot of good coaches wanted him Tim Miles, Dana Altman, Ben Jacobson. I talked to a Colorado State GA at a Meyer coaching clinic he told me Miles and Jacobson pulled out because they felt he was a lock for Stanford. Now Altman is kind of a d**k but he’s a good coach, everyone here knows Miles, and Jacobson. I never talked one on one with the kid, and that’s a good list of coaches that have and liked him. So I have to believe he’s going to good, but he’s just not even close to ready.

The best thing for him is to RS and hit Newell’s big man camp, and maybe Don Meyer’s if this isn’t his last year of running camps as well.
 


Glad to hear Eliason looks to have potential. This recruiting class was looking pretty iffy. Do we look the jc route for a pf if Trevor can't play?

Well we still have Dominique Dawson, and from what my HP program says he dropped 20 points in his first game, maybe we could consider an offer if he keeps that play up.
 

If we have 2 "iffy's". Why not take a chance on Minnesota players? (Noreen, Jett, Thomas)

I'm not going to call Osenieks iffy at this point, I think hes going to be a good pick up, but I'm a little concerned about Maverick. Who knows its early. If he flops and Jett is solid in STL I will be smh.

I saw that stat also, Dominique Dawson with 20pts. That was a shocker to me, anyone see that game?
 

Just curious but I thought I read that Seantrel Henderson was going to play in the HP. Did any one see him and if so how did he play?
 

Just curious but I thought I read that Seantrel Henderson was going to play in the HP. Did any one see him and if so how did he play?

I didn't see him because I didn't go on tuesday, but definately heard he was there on tuesday.
 

I'm not going to call Osenieks iffy at this point, I think hes going to be a good pick up, but I'm a little concerned about Maverick. Who knows its early. If he flops and Jett is solid in STL I will be smh.

I saw that stat also, Dominique Dawson with 20pts. That was a shocker to me, anyone see that game?

Oto "iffy" only because of possibility his foreign transcripts won't get him through NCAA Clearinghouse.
 

I'm not going to call Osenieks iffy at this point, I think hes going to be a good pick up, but I'm a little concerned about Maverick. Who knows its early. If he flops and Jett is solid in STL I will be smh.

I saw that stat also, Dominique Dawson with 20pts. That was a shocker to me, anyone see that game?

Like I have said before, Dominique will shock a bunch of people this year. He is a good kid with right attitude.

Go Gophers
 

I saw Dawson play earlier this week and I was very surprised by his progress from last year. He was listed in the HP program as 6-9 and I think he was listed at 6-7 last year. Dawson ran the floor extremely well. He is stronger than last year, but needs to get stronger. He is much more aggressive on the boards than last year and jumps pretty well. He still has some problems catching passes in traffic, but he looks much improved. Dawson has a decent looking shot, but it is eratic at this point. He also has a nice half hook in the lane. He is on a very poor HP team this year and he has gone from a bench player on a good team last year to a go to guy on a bad team this year. That should help his progress and confidence. I would not be surprised to see him get some minutes this year for the Gophers, especially if Trevor isn't on the team. He doesn't play the same position, but his progress from last year reminds me of Damien Johnson's progress between his freshman and sophomore years. I'm not sure Dawson will become the player Damien did, but I am very interested in watching his progress.
 

I am confused I thought Dawson was like a 6'7" 240 lb power forward, yet he doesnt play the same position as Trevor? Was the weight wrong?
 

It was kind of confusing phrasing but I think he was saying that Dawson doesn't play the same position as Damien.

I am confused I thought Dawson was like a 6'7" 240 lb power forward, yet he doesnt play the same position as Trevor? Was the weight wrong?
 




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