State Basketball Tournament

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atsgopher said:
Great shot! However, not so sure we missed. I don't think I'd complain about him, but from the video I saw, he seemed like he had weak ball handling skills and looked a little awkward moving without the ball too. Granted it was a low sample size.
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Yeah it had to be a very small sample size. I'm sure you didn't bother watching last night either. Hopkins played a Diamond and One against him with Chambers on him for a bit and they still could stop him from scoring 43 last night.
 

ethomasp31 said:
Yeah it had to be a very small sample size. I'm sure you didn't bother watching last night either. Hopkins played a Diamond and One against him with Chambers on him for a bit and they still could stop him from scoring 43 last night.
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What JP did last night against Hopkins was the greatest state championship performance I've ever seen. His ball handling my look awkward, but it is pretty darn good. Nice assist and rebounds to got with those impressive drives and three balls.
 

GoodasGold said:
Just my observation: Sure wish our D1 Gopher studs could throw free throws like these high schoolers.
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Despite the Wisky game, the Gophers rank towards the top of the B1G in free throw shooting.. so I suppose you meant.. Sure wish most D1 players...
 

ethomasp31 said:
Yeah it had to be a very small sample size. I'm sure you didn't bother watching last night either. Hopkins played a Diamond and One against him with Chambers on him for a bit and they still could stop him from scoring 43 last night.
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Part of that was because they couldn't stop that back door cut to save their lives. How many easy dunks and layups did he have from that one move alone? Really, really effective
 

ethomasp31 said:
Yeah it had to be a very small sample size. I'm sure you didn't bother watching last night either. Hopkins played a Diamond and One against him with Chambers on him for a bit and they still could stop him from scoring 43 last night.
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He was as big as any player Hopkins had on the floor in game played with an AAU style. A perfect storm for him to shine. Let's see him go inside and score and shoot over bigger players before putting in the college hall of fame.
 


Macura scored in a variety of ways. Post, drives to the basket, three's, free throws and pull up jumpers. He handles the ball well and is in constant motion on the floor. He whines a bit but the kids competes and plays hard.

Macura is a baller. Poor man's Jimmer Fredette.

Actually Amir Coffey was the biggest player on he court and supposedly is ranked in the top 30 for his class. What did his box score look like last night?
 

Roland Brooks said:
Macura scored in a variety of ways. Post, drives to the basket, three's, free throws and pull up jumpers. He handles the ball well and is in constant motion on the floor. He whines a bit but the kids competes and plays hard.

Macura is a baller. Poor man's Jimmer Fredette.

Actually Amir Coffey was the biggest player on he court and supposedly is ranked in the top 30 for his class. What did his box score look like last night?
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Physically Amir is very thin and young. In college JP will not be facing fifteen year old kids. He's a great high school player but that doesn't always translate to college success. As many have proven . He could be very good simply because he can put the ball in the hoop. I wouldn't mind him being a Gopher but I'm not really ready to cry about the love we lost either.
 

There is a two year age difference not five. Plus the other thing I forgot is that Macura was the most athletic player on the floor. His Dunks were with ease and with force. Hopkins had to have someone on the floor over 15 didn't they.

Macura balled and Hopkins couldn't do a thing about it.
 

Blackhammer - you should stop now. Macura is one of the best high school scorers I've ever seen. He's a great outside shooter, can hit the mid range jumper off the dribble, and can finish well with either hand. He scored fewer than twenty points once this year, and had games of 55, 51, 48, 44, not to mention 43 in the state championship game, all while playing in the best conference in the biggest class in the state. If you think he can just score against "fifteen year old kids", watch this clip:


That is a high level college jump shot, coming off a screen, getting his feet set, squaring himself to the basket. If you don't think he's legit, that's fine. You must not watch much hoops. His ceiling is much closer to "NBA level talent" than "greathigh school player".
 



rychart45 said:
Blackhammer - you should stop now. Macura is one of the best high school scorers I've ever seen. He's a great outside shooter, can hit the mid range jumper off the dribble, and can finish well with either hand. He scored fewer than twenty points once this year, and had games of 55, 51, 48, 44, not to mention 43 in the state championship game, all while playing in the best conference in the biggest class in the state. If you think he can just score against "fifteen year old kids", watch this clip:


That is a high level college jump shot, coming off a screen, getting his feet set, squaring himself to the basket. If you don't think he's legit, that's fine. You must not watch much hoops. His ceiling is much closer to "NBA level talent" than "greathigh school player".
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I tend to agree. He looked like a high division 1 player last night. It was the first time I have seen him play and he was by far the most dominant force on the floor. Assuming he continues to get stronger he sure looks like an all conference type player at the next level. To say he was not a big miss for the gophers is not true, in my opinion.
 

I never said he could only score agains fifteen year olds. Coffey was mentioned as not playing well in matching up with JP. He is a great High School scoring machine. His post up game will be much more challanged at the next level. His ability to create space as he shoot from deep impressed me the most about his game. Do think the pace of last nights game played right into his strengths as a player.
 

What I'm trying to convey and I think Blackhammer agrees is we still haven't seen great evidence on him yet to draw that "Can't miss" type of conclusion. Kid skills need some polish. If he does polish those skills he will play very well. However, the same skills are usually mastered by the time a kid reaches college, thus, I'd say take a cautious approach before anointing the kid.

I've seen a lot of players have great box scores in high school games that never turned into huge college stars. Think Aaron Middendorf from Caledonia. He shot lights out and controlled the game in 97' championship scoring 45. A box score not much different than Macura. He went on to a solid career at Northern Iowa. However, not a can't miss.

I disclaimed my post earlier implying maybe I missed the rest of his resume, whereas he normally dribbles smoothly and plays much quicker; otherwise, at 6-5 175 the kid has some work to do before he will even see the floor in college. Criticism certainly doesn't diminish the skills he has, just highlights where he must improve to start someday for Xavier. I didn't get to watch the championship, so you guys tell me; did he show the requisite quickness to get down the floor and create some shots for himself? He looks like he needs space for his shot, can he make it himself? What happens when every player is 6-5 or taller, and quicker, stronger, polished?
 

atsgopher said:
What I'm trying to convey and I think Blackhammer agrees is we still haven't seen great evidence on him yet to draw that "Can't miss" type of conclusion. Kid skills need some polish. If he does polish those skills he will play very well. However, the same skills are usually mastered by the time a kid reaches college, thus, I'd say take a cautious approach before anointing the kid.

I've seen a lot of players have great box scores in high school games that never turned into huge college stars. Think Aaron Middendorf from Caledonia. He shot lights out and controlled the game in 97' championship scoring 45. A box score not much different than Macura. He went on to a solid career at Northern Iowa. However, not a can't miss.

I disclaimed my post earlier implying maybe I missed the rest of his resume, whereas he normally dribbles smoothly and plays much quicker; otherwise, at 6-5 175 the kid has some work to do before he will even see the floor in college. Criticism certainly doesn't diminish the skills he has, just highlights where he must improve to start someday for Xavier. I didn't get to watch the championship, so you guys tell me; did he show the requisite quickness to get down the floor and create some shots for himself? He looks like he needs space for his shot, can he make it himself? What happens when every player is 6-5 or taller, and quicker, stronger, polished?
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I don't know. There are tons of kids in college that have unpolished skills. The shooting in the collegiate game is atrocious.
 



afurry91 said:
I don't agree nor do I disagree. It is what it is. The higher levels have chosen to utilize it. Most high schools have not. It's not a big deal and it goes unnoticed 99% of the time.

Just saying that Hopkins isn't the only bad guy. Shakopee allowed it to happen.
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+1. Shakopee can stay in the zone but they should have at least extended it at some point. No win situation if you don't; Hopkins either hits a shot to win it or they go to another overtime
 

I think it's ironic that everyone here hates Novak, yet he is the only Minnesota coach that seems to push a positive image about the U (Blake, Royce, Coleman). We have locked down Hopkins pretty well and I think Novak is a huge part of that.

He's one of the only reasons that I have hope we can land Coffey.
 


afurry91 said:
I think it's ironic that everyone here hates Novak, yet he is the only Minnesota coach that seems to push a positive image about the U (Blake, Royce, Coleman). We have locked down Hopkins pretty well and I think Novak is a huge part of that. He's one of the only reasons that I have hope we can land Coffey.
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Agreed. Hopkins kids go to the U. I love Hopkins for that very reason.
 

Offensively what does Macura NOT do well where you think he would need to polish his skill set?
 

afurry91 said:
I think it's ironic that everyone here hates Novak, yet he is the only Minnesota coach that seems to push a positive image about the U (Blake, Royce, Coleman). We have locked down Hopkins pretty well and I think Novak is a huge part of that. He's one of the only reasons that I have hope we can land Coffey.
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+1. Never understood that.
 

afurry91 said:
I think it's ironic that everyone here hates Novak, yet he is the only Minnesota coach that seems to push a positive image about the U (Blake, Royce, Coleman). We have locked down Hopkins pretty well and I think Novak is a huge part of that.

He's one of the only reasons that I have hope we can land Coffey.
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+4 I woudn't find Dave Thorson so irritating if a few of his players went to Minnesota. He was on 45 between games for ten minutes. The guy basically yelled for the whole time about how great DeLaSalle was. It was just over the top too much. Novak seems like a good basketball coach and a decent guy.
 


atsgopher said:
What I'm trying to convey and I think Blackhammer agrees is we still haven't seen great evidence on him yet to draw that "Can't miss" type of conclusion. Kid skills need some polish. If he does polish those skills he will play very well. However, the same skills are usually mastered by the time a kid reaches college, thus, I'd say take a cautious approach before anointing the kid.

I've seen a lot of players have great box scores in high school games that never turned into huge college stars. Think Aaron Middendorf from Caledonia. He shot lights out and controlled the game in 97' championship scoring 45. A box score not much different than Macura. He went on to a solid career at Northern Iowa. However, not a can't miss.

I disclaimed my post earlier implying maybe I missed the rest of his resume, whereas he normally dribbles smoothly and plays much quicker; otherwise, at 6-5 175 the kid has some work to do before he will even see the floor in college. Criticism certainly doesn't diminish the skills he has, just highlights where he must improve to start someday for Xavier. I didn't get to watch the championship, so you guys tell me; did he show the requisite quickness to get down the floor and create some shots for himself? He looks like he needs space for his shot, can he make it himself? What happens when every player is 6-5 or taller, and quicker, stronger, polished?
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He showed the full skill set last night - he can handle the ball just fine. He also flashed his athleticism with a couple strong finishes (dunks) off of back door cuts. And as to your "needs space for his shot"...you must not have watched the video I posted either. I'm not saying he's a Jabari Parker level instant impact guy, but he is really, really good.
 

Who said Macura was a can't miss? Go look at Espn's Top 100's over the last 10 years and there are a lot of misses. The percentage of can't miss players is very minute.

The pace helped but Macura helped create that pace because Hopkins could not guard him. Macura pushed the pace and beat Hopkins at their own game. The pace against CDH was not that that frantic and look what he did.

Players can continue to polish their skills until the day they stop playing. Kids having skills mastered by the time they reach college?? Hmm.

He created space. At times he created five feet of space because no one from Hopkins could stick with him.

The number of points was huge but how he scored them in a variety of ways is what was impressive.
 


Macura had no hesitation about pulling up with even a half an arm's length of space.
 

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