Wally #3

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Agree with the last two posters. If he had that much talent (unlimited according to one poster), he would have had way more schools after him. He can jump high, cannot play defense, dont really know if he can shoot yet, and has little expereince. All that being said, at least he is athletic, and that can cover up some other areas. Its easy to get a hard on right after a guy has an alley-oop in garbage time.

If he is playing a bunch of meanginful minutes for the gophs this year, then something went wrong, IMO...
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Agree with the last two posters. If he had that much talent (unlimited according to one poster), he would have had way more schools after him. He can jump high, cannot play defense, dont really know if he can shoot yet, and has little expereince. All that being said, at least he is athletic, and that can cover up some other areas. Its easy to get a hard on right after a guy has an alley-oop in garbage time.
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Not trying to make a direct comparison because hopefully Wally, obviously, will end up having more perimeter game, but this sounds eerily similar to what people were saying about Rodney's game when he started.
 

The-Real-Truth said:
I was not going to respond to your garbage posts but I can't help it. If your goal in life is to prove that you are right, you will have a very sad life. You are just trying to say that your points were valid about Tubby's offense and Mav...... I know you are a just a kid. When you become a man, sometimes you have to admit that you are wrong. Mav. had a bad 1st half and so did everybody else. He was great during the 2nd half.

I said that Michigan was not going to be good this year and man I was wrong. See, there is nothing wrong with being wrong. Stop these bashing posts. When you grow up, you will look back and realize what I am saying.

Go Gophers
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Did you see Mav fall over the top of S********ski two times in a row on the defensive end when S*********ski beat him on a cross over drive to the hoop? Both times it was in the 2nd half. Go back and watch it if you want to. But, if you want to think he looked great then it's your right to think that. I just won't agree with you.

As for Michigan...I've been on record stating that they would be a great team and it would be a team the Gophers would struggle to match. Go Blue!!!

Thanks for sharing.
 

WhoFellDownTheGopherHole? said:
Not trying to make a direct comparison because hopefully Wally, obviously, will end up having more perimeter game, but this sounds eerily similar to what people were saying about Rodney's game when he started.
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agree with this. if he ends up like rodney, id be happy.
 

tinyarch said:
Did you see Mav fall over the top of S********ski two times in a row on the defensive end when S*********ski beat him on a cross over drive to the hoop? Both times it was in the 2nd half. Go back and watch it if you want to. But, if you want to think he looked great then it's your right to think that. I just won't agree with you.
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I saw the Gophers score 52 points in the 2nd half with Maverick running the point all but a few minutes. Let's ask this: Who would you rather see running the point when Andre is sitting on the bench?
 


GopherJake said:
I saw the Gophers score 52 points in the 2nd half with Maverick running the point all but a few minutes. Let's ask this: Who would you rather see running the point when Andre is sitting on the bench?
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Julian Welch. I was okay with Mav earlier this season when he was scoring a little bit, but that has fallen off. Welch at least can score some.
 

I think that Ellenson's athleticism is being somewhat overstated. He is a good athlete, an excellent high jumper, but I worry about his basketball athleticism. What I mean is his quickness, and 2-footed explosiveness. I was a high jumper, could dunk very easily off of one foot, but have never dunked off of 2 feet. Being a top notch high jumper does not necessarily make you a top notch athlete. Austin Hollins his way more athletic than Wally at this point. If wally needs a run up to be able to get off the ground, he's going to have a hard time competing for PT. I haven't seen any evidence of him being able to jump off of 2 feet effectively yet. All of his highlights are dunks off of one foot. I hope I am wrong and just haven't seen evidence yet, but I'm a bit concerned.

Now, he doesn't have to be super-athletic to compete and play in the Big Ten, but that means that his skill set needs to be refined. This is my perception of what is going on so far with Wally.
 

tinyarch said:
Did you see Mav fall over the top of S********ski two times in a row on the defensive end when S*********ski beat him on a cross over drive to the hoop? Both times it was in the 2nd half. Go back and watch it if you want to. But, if you want to think he looked great then it's your right to think that. I just won't agree with you.

As for Michigan...I've been on record stating that they would be a great team and it would be a team the Gophers would struggle to match. Go Blue!!!

Thanks for sharing.
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Mav played much better defense than Andre did, he got beat a couple of times but he forced Northwestern to work harder, I thought it made a difference, then when Austin got hot it was over.
 

jovs said:
Mav played much better defense than Andre did, he got beat a couple of times but he forced Northwestern to work harder, I thought it made a difference, then when Austin got hot it was over.
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I have no problem with Mav playing in spurts of 5 minutes or less. But, he's got to have some good weak-side help defense around him. Mav is a nice guard if he played for North Dakota or some other mid-level school, but I won't agree with the assessment that Mav played "great". That, in my opinion, is a significant overstatement. Against Northwestern, Mav didn't hurt us. I could agree to a statement like that.

As for Wally, he was a step slow on defense and still doesn't fully understand his responsibility for weak-side help defense. He reminds me of a left-handed Sam Jacobson in many ways. Sam was defensively slow, but he made up for it on the offensive end as a clutch shooter and strong attack to the hoop. I can see Wally playing a similar role as he gets his feet wet. The upside on Wally is significantly better than Mav. With Mav, what you see is what you're going to get. Mav has just about reached his potential, in my opinion.
 



One big difference between Sam and Wally is the pure explosiveness of Sam. He was extremely explosive off of 2 feet, was able to get very good elevation on his jumpshot, and finish strongly and under control at the hoop. These are all atributes of Jacobson that are yet to be seen from Wally. Like I stated earlier, he might have these atributes in his arsenal, but from highlights that we've seen from his high school years, and from what we've seen so far this year, I fear he doesn't.

But, there is hope. I would not have said that Austin is an elite athlete when he was a freshman, probably just a good one. But after watching him this year, some of the explosive plays he has made (or almost made i.e. the missed put back dunk on Sunday) around the hoop get him pretty close to that group. With a few years of maturity, weight lifting, explosive training, etc, we could see some more of this out of Wally.
 


Wow Run Gopher Run not on the Wally bandwagon, it will be fun to look back at your posts some day and laugh even more.
 

New 1500 ESPN article: Gophers' Wally Ellenson not regretting decision to forgo redshirt year

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ellenson said. "I wanted to play this year. If I could help one second of a game I was going to play this year. I don't want to be in college for five years. I have more goals and dreams in the game of basketball, so I just wanted to get playing right away."

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/...retting_decision_to_forgo_redshirt_year010913

Go Gophers!!
 



So...here's the poll.

Wally Ellenson...

A) ...like Sam Jacobson

B) ...like Isaiah Dahlman

Jacobson went on to star at MN. Dahlman ended up at the end of the bench at MSU. If you had to predict, which pathway will Wally end up taking?
 

tinyarch said:
So...here's the poll.

Wally Ellenson...

A) ...like Sam Jacobson

B) ...like Isaiah Dahlman

Jacobson went on to star at MN. Dahlman ended up at the end of the bench at MSU. If you had to predict, which pathway will Wally end up taking?
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I'll go "C" - like Mike Bauer, hopefully minus the injuries. Bauer ended up having a very nice career at the U and played pro ball for a long time.

Go Gophers!!
 

tinyarch said:
So...here's the poll.

Wally Ellenson...

A) ...like Sam Jacobson

B) ...like Isaiah Dahlman

Jacobson went on to star at MN. Dahlman ended up at the end of the bench at MSU. If you had to predict, which pathway will Wally end up taking?
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I doubt that Wally ends up on the bench for MSU.
 


Goldiegirl said:
Wow Run Gopher Run not on the Wally bandwagon, it will be fun to look back at your posts some day and laugh even more.
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I never said that I wasn't on the Wally bandwagon. I'm from Wisconsin and followed him through his HS career. I'm also big into track and field, and was very excited to see Wally chose the Gophers. I'm just expressing concern that, because Wally is an extraordinary high jumper, we assume he is a great athlete. As I said in other posts, I haven't seen enough of him in non-highlight reel dunking videos to see what else he can do besides jump really high off of one foot. I've only said that I fear that he can't be explosive off of two feet.

He's a different type of athlete from Sam Jacobson. I actually like the Michael Bauer comparison. I'd take that result as well, a very solid player who is athletic and has a nice career for the Maroon and Gold. I haven't seen enough to put him anywhere near Sam Jacobson. I would like to see more of him on the floor this year to see what he can do with the big boys since he burned his RS, but I don't know how much more we'll see. Hopefully a lot, because that would mean that my concerns about him were nothing, and he would be contributing to a very good basketball team.
 

RunGopherRun said:
I think that Ellenson's athleticism is being somewhat overstated. He is a good athlete, an excellent high jumper, but I worry about his basketball athleticism. What I mean is his quickness, and 2-footed explosiveness. I was a high jumper, could dunk very easily off of one foot, but have never dunked off of 2 feet. Being a top notch high jumper does not necessarily make you a top notch athlete. Austin Hollins his way more athletic than Wally at this point. If wally needs a run up to be able to get off the ground, he's going to have a hard time competing for PT. I haven't seen any evidence of him being able to jump off of 2 feet effectively yet. All of his highlights are dunks off of one foot. I hope I am wrong and just haven't seen evidence yet, but I'm a bit concerned.

Now, he doesn't have to be super-athletic to compete and play in the Big Ten, but that means that his skill set needs to be refined. This is my perception of what is going on so far with Wally.
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If he was 6'8" this would be valid, but he's a 6'4" wing. How often is he going to be under the basket trying to dunk flat footed?
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
If he was 6'8" this would be valid, but he's a 6'4" wing. How often is he going to be under the basket trying to dunk flat footed?
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I'm not saying standing flat footed under the basket. It's a different type of explosiveness jumping off of 2 feet vs. one, even with a run up. Rodney is a much better 2 footed jumper than a 1 footed jumper. Same with Coleman, Austin, and Mbakwe. You don't see these guys attack the basket and jump off of one foot very often. They plant with two feet and explode up. It's a more versatile way of jumping. I always wished that I was a better leaper off of 2 feet for basketball purposes, but I was a much better single footed jumper. During the game, watch and see how many attacks to the basket in the half-court result in an attack off of one foot. Some, I'm sure, but I would wager that most attacks to the hole are off of 2 feet. It's a more controlled yet aggressive way to attack the basket.

Most of the best dunkers, and most powerful dunkers, are 2 footed jumpers. Even though Lebron comes off to me as a better off of one foot, and his career has turned out ok...

So now that I've contradicted myself, I don't know what to think. :)

GO GOPHERS!!!
 

RunGopherRun said:
I'm not saying standing flat footed under the basket. It's a different type of explosiveness jumping off of 2 feet vs. one, even with a run up. Rodney is a much better 2 footed jumper than a 1 footed jumper. Same with Coleman, Austin, and Mbakwe. You don't see these guys attack the basket and jump off of one foot very often. They plant with two feet and explode up. It's a more versatile way of jumping. I always wished that I was a better leaper off of 2 feet for basketball purposes, but I was a much better single footed jumper. During the game, watch and see how many attacks to the basket in the half-court result in an attack off of one foot. Some, I'm sure, but I would wager that most attacks to the hole are off of 2 feet. It's a more controlled yet aggressive way to attack the basket.

Most of the best dunkers, and most powerful dunkers, are 2 footed jumpers. Even though Lebron comes off to me as a better off of one foot, and his career has turned out ok...

So now that I've contradicted myself, I don't know what to think. :)

GO GOPHERS!!!
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I've never really thought about it but it seems to me that a lot, if not most, dunks while driving the basket come form jumps off of one foot and most of the time when a two footed dunk is thrown down it's from under or near the basket, although Rodney does almost always take off from two feet. Like I said though I've never really thought about it and thus never really paid attention so you could very well be right.
 

Wally's ability to be a sniper is ultimately going to be the most lethal part of his repertoire. Any of the dunks or high flying stuff is only going to be the icing on the cake.
 

WhoFellDownTheGopherHole? said:
Wally's ability to be a sniper is ultimately going to be the most lethal part of his repertoire. Any of the dunks or high flying stuff is only going to be the icing on the cake.
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Hopefully he can be that guy. Coleman's not always going to hit 2/3 3-pointers. It would be nice to have another pure shooter handy.
 



I'm saying don't doubt Wally. I just don't think his learning curve will be as steep as that of some of the other players.
 

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