What to do with Chip Armelin?

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Big Ten Championship

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What does this kid need to do to crack the starting lineup. We would have been killed by Michigan St. had he not been playing. What if he had played the first five minutes when we scored about 6 points.

He is one of our most athletic players
He is one of our best scorers
He creates excitement on the offensive end
He actually tries to steal the ball once in a while
He can finish at the rim
He can run in transition
He has incredible upside for the future of the program

Wow, I thought I was writing about Rodney Williams. The big difference is that Rodney cannot shoot, and he just stands around on offense. Sometimes he is lost. He creates no excitement.

To simplify, I would rather see Chip with the ball in his hands than Rodney.
 


Blake, Austin, Chip, Trevor, Ralph should be our starting five IMO. Too slow w/ the three bigs and I see no reason to play Rodney over Chip or Austin.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Just play him.
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I dont know who should start and what position he should play, but I do know that he is a threat on the floor, and we do not have man of them. IMO, he should be playing 20-25 minutes a game the rest of the year between the two wing positions, depending on the match ups...
 

DontHassleTheHoff said:
Blake, Austin, Chip, Trevor, Ralph should be our starting five IMO. Too slow w/ the three bigs and I see no reason to play Rodney over Chip or Austin.
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I wouldn't mind seeing some of that line-up. It just might be the time to try something different. I don't really like the 'big' line-up and it doesn't seem to be working.
 


Big Ten Championship said:
What does this kid need to do to crack the starting lineup. We would have been killed by Michigan St. had he not been playing. What if he had played the first five minutes when we scored about 6 points.
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He needs to do a ton to crack the starting lineup. If he had played the first five minutes, Michigan State would have scored about 80 points.

I thought the usage of Chip against Michigan State was great - when it was 27-23 and we couldn't score, I thought that was the ideal time to put him in - nothing is working offensively, give him a couple of chances to get it going. That's how I'd use him this year - let him to try spark something on offense from off the bench when nothing else is working.

He's fun to watch, but has issues that are going to hold him back. Great coaching opportunity, could turn into something nice is he develops.

And.. really, the guy comes in 4/30 from 3FG... and hits his first two. If those don't fall, many are probably scolding him for taking the shots.
 

Chip is a "make something happen" guy IMO, I'm not sure how 30 minutes would look on him. Give him a solid 20 and he'll make his greatest impact to me. And I mean the dude played the clutch minutes, how much more do you want?
 

Chip could easily turn into Vincent Grier for us. Great slasher/dasher, 100% excitement, but n bad bad bad jump shot. I loved Grier, and I love Chip.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
He needs to do a ton to crack the starting lineup. If he had played the first five minutes, Michigan State would have scored about 80 points.

I thought the usage of Chip against Michigan State was great - when it was 27-23 and we couldn't score, I thought that was the ideal time to put him in - nothing is working offensively, give him a couple of chances to get it going. That's how I'd use him this year - let him to try spark something on offense from off the bench when nothing else is working.

He's fun to watch, but has issues that are going to hold him back. Great coaching opportunity, could turn into something nice is he develops.

And.. really, the guy comes in 4/30 from 3FG... and hits his first two. If those don't fall, many are probably scolding him for taking the shots.
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I've watched him on defense. I fail to see these glaring errors that would have turned MSU into a scoring machine. Chip played the last 10 minutes of the first half and I believe the Spartans put in about 9 points during that time. It's a myth. This team needs energy and scoring desperately and he provides both. He's not perfect, far from it, but I'm not exactly seeing any real great two way players on the Gophers. Can you name a guy who has great skills on both ends of the court for the Gophers?
 



He needs to play. He makes things happen. He makes mistakes, too -- poor shot selection, out of control drives to the basket. If we had five all-Americans he could play behind, that would be one thing. But every player on our team is flawed, and it's particularly excruciating to watch most of them try to score. Or watching Rodney NOT try to score. Nothing else is working right now anyway.
 

gall0249 said:
Chip could easily turn into Vincent Grier for us. Great slasher/dasher, 100% excitement, but n bad bad bad jump shot. I loved Grier, and I love Chip.
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There really is a little Grier in his game. Shifty slasher with a very heavy reliance on the left hand. Their jumpshots definitely aren't the purest around though...
 

DontHassleTheHoff said:
Blake, Austin, Chip, Trevor, Ralph should be our starting five IMO. Too slow w/ the three bigs and I see no reason to play Rodney over Chip or Austin.
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Agree 100%. In moments of frustration I sometimes wonder if Tubby promised Rodney a starting spot or X minutes every game in order to get his commitment? I haven't given up on Rodney & think he'll be a star before he's done at the U, but right now....I agree that Austin at the 2, Chip at the 3 is a more effective group than having Rodney in the line up. Austin is too slender/young to mix it up under the boards right now, but Chip's got the physique, mentality & really is sort of an undersized 3 anyhow.
 

gall0249 said:
Chip could easily turn into Vincent Grier for us. Great slasher/dasher, 100% excitement, but n bad bad bad jump shot. I loved Grier, and I love Chip.
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I completely see the Greer thing & I love it. There's absolutely a ton of Vincent Greer happening there. The slash-dash to the hoop, the herky-jerky ball handling, the unpolished jumper, it's all there. It's a great comparison to one of our favorites & if he can be as good as Vincent Greer then we'll all be in for a great ride. That said I think Chip's shot looks a lot cleaner than Vince's & he could be much a better player. Clearly he's not a super-polished shooter right now & I never expect him to be Blake Hoffarber, but the kid can shoot a little already & he's got "it", imo. With Blake playing out of position, Chip is who I want taking the winning shot right now. Chip had the balls to step back across the 3 point line & shoot a 3 to put us back on top near the end, but missed it. As the announcer said "Freshman mistake, he'd already beat his man and should not have stepped back to shoot the 3" and the announcers were right. What struck me though was that he's got that "get out of my way I'm gonna win this thing for us" gene (In a Willie Burton/Bobby Jackson way, not the Kris Humphries/Lawrence Westbrook way.) that we desperately need right now. I think he's got some (this is so embarrassing) Willie Burton in him as well. Shorter obviously, but Willie could bring it to the hoop! He was aggressive & would out-rebound bigger guys, was disruptive defensively & when the chips were down (no pun intended) he'd just take over & make something happen. As crazy as it might sound, I think Chip could be a legend.
 




Chip's a guy you put out there and just let him play. He has his go to moves. He knows how to get to a spot and get his shot off. He beats people off the dribble and creates advantages.

When he has got past his defender he has finished and also has made some good passes/lobs. Chip has some Vincent Grier in him especially with the left hand scoop from the side of the bucket. He also has some Kelenna Azubuike to him.
 

Just Play Him!

Great posts from everyone and it appears to be a concensus that the kid just needs to get minutes. Just play him Tubby! By the way who is Kelenna Azubuike
 

gall0249 said:
Chip could easily turn into Vincent Grier for us. Great slasher/dasher, 100% excitement, but n bad bad bad jump shot. I loved Grier, and I love Chip.
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This. If this guy was spending two years at a juco developing his game in small gyms, he's another Vince Grier. Might happen yet, but there's a lot less opportunity to develop on the court in the Big 10. Gophers are more fun to watch when this guy is on the court.
 

Roland Brooks said:
When he has got past his defender he has finished
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If by "finished" you mean missed a ton of layups in a big game. Remember Illinois? Followed some of those misses up by not blocking out on the other end and letting the Illini gets second chance points.

He's fun to watch, but... I guess I'll be in the minority in this thread.
 

I'm excited to see him develop

Most players have to advance in the physical and mental (confidence) aspects of the game.

Chip has the "luxury" of already reaching the top of the mountain in self confidence.

If he can add to that confidence the ability to be a good shooter and further his understanding of the gameI think he can really be a good player.

As far as the Grier comparison, he strikes me as a Grier/Townsend Orr hybrid (for comparison sake)
 

Gopher Warrior said:
If by "finished" you mean missed a ton of layups in a big game. Remember Illinois? Followed some of those misses up by not blocking out on the other end and letting the Illini gets second chance points.

He's fun to watch, but... I guess I'll be in the minority in this thread.
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I agree with you. He is a quality spark off the bench and Tubby is using him just fine. He is our flashiest player, but not a starter.
 


He missed 5 layups that rolled out- barely! Bad luck that night. I didnt say he was Jordan.

If you watched that game the 5 shots he missed no one else on the team could have got or created thats important and my point. He does some things others cant do.
 

He did miss a lot of layups in that game. I still can't figure out how some of them didn't fall though. It's not like he was just tossing it up there - they were all in and out. Anyway, he is one of our best/only finishers and playmakers.

Considering he's a freshman and hasn't ever had steady, significant minutes to prove himself, I think he's done pretty damn well. What about his game bothers you so much? I'm not on his bandwagon like others but I certainly think he's deserved more pt than he's gotten, especially in games where Rodney and/or Hollins have done nothing. Don't you think he's at least deserved more pt than he's gotten?

Gopher Warrior said:
If by "finished" you mean missed a ton of layups in a big game. Remember Illinois? Followed some of those misses up by not blocking out on the other end and letting the Illini gets second chance points.

He's fun to watch, but... I guess I'll be in the minority in this thread.
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Sit Colt and start either Chip or Austin. Our offensive game is poor and our starting line-up does not help.
 

chip should play for Jerry Kill. also, If colt had better hands, he could be a tight end.
 



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