'13 Top 10 Backcourts in College Bball (cbssports)

[MCNPA]

We got three maybe 4 if you like Pointer who have been mentioned as having NBA talent in the front court. The front court guys playing to potential is what can make this team special. Big mans game, right?

College game is a guards game. Basketball as a whole is becoming more and more a guards game.

Teams count on their guards because they don't have talented bigs. Sure, you need good guard play, but if you got a couple of good bigs your in business. Obekpa is our best chance to be a game changer. If Sanchez and Sampson score and board the guards not pressured to shoot lights out. When teams are missing something, it's usually bigs, not guards. We all looking for coach to get us bigs. I do understand a top guard can take over the game in crunch time. Get to the rim, get fouled and make them.

It's impossible to disagree with you that having good bigs is great. No one could. Just think the college game is a guards game. All the great teams seem to have great guards, they don't alway seem to have great bigs.

Last year's UConn team was damn good and this year they are going to be great. All I know of is that Wolf kid as one of their bigs but I don't think he's anything special. What drives them is clearly their 3 headed monster guard lineup of Calhoun, Napier, and Boatright.

Wolf actually followed up his legal problems, and Kevin Ollie revoking his scholly, by signing a pro contract in Germany this summer. This year's team will only be better because they're playing in a conference where all but a few teams suck. Unless Kenton Facey plays more like a top 50 than a bottom 100. They they might actually be a little better. But they do have a very good backcourt.

Did Facey even get eligible?

Nope... Don't believe so. They have a good backcourt, but nothing in the frontcourt at all. Decent forward in Daniels but no bigs to speak of. They can be pretty good, but teams will key on their lack of frontcourt production and exploit it.

 

[SJU1512]

Ok. I'll say this, and I'd like some feedback. I don't know if this is close to our best backcourt ever (I don't think it is). It does have the potential if Phil Greene stays healthy, and Jordan plays up to his potential, as being our deepest backcourt in our history, with 4 guards capable of starting.

I'm with you. In addition to the sheer depth, I think things could really fall into place nicely in terms of their roles and how they complement each other, elevating each of their games. Branch/Jordan's playmaking ability should allow Dee to play without the ball a lot more, getting/taking better shots without working as hard for them. Greene should move into a reserve role where he can focus on his biggest strength (burst/streak scoring) off the bench as opposed to managing the team from point for 30 minutes a night. By contrast from the brief clips in Europe Branch looked to be much more assertive, with the ball in his hands a lot/making decisions/managing the flow of the game which suits him best and is what we want. Finally Jordan seems to have the ability to do almost anything asked of him - again they were brief clips but 3 games in Europe showed difficult finishes in traffic, incredible court vision, and absurd athleticism (I knew how quick he was, but that windmill in warmups one game and his rebounding generally showed bigtime leaping ability).

I believe these four will push for about 85-90 (or more depnding on matchups) of the available 200 minutes, and think they will exceed expectations. Maybe not our best backcourt ever, but like you said their is a lot of depth and I also think the potential for them to enhance their collective performance based upon the synergy of their individual skillsets is huge. Europe certainly seemed to preview that potential.

 

[austour]

We got three maybe 4 if you like Pointer who have been mentioned as having NBA talent in the front court. The front court guys playing to potential is what can make this team special. Big mans game, right?

College game is a guards game. Basketball as a whole is becoming more and more a guards game.

Teams count on their guards because they don't have talented bigs. Sure, you need good guard play, but if you got a couple of good bigs your in business. Obekpa is our best chance to be a game changer. If Sanchez and Sampson score and board the guards not pressured to shoot lights out. When teams are missing something, it's usually bigs, not guards. We all looking for coach to get us bigs. I do understand a top guard can take over the game in crunch time. Get to the rim, get fouled and make them.

It's impossible to disagree with you that having good bigs is great. No one could. Just think the college game is a guards game. All the great teams seem to have great guards, they don't alway seem to have great bigs.

Last year's UConn team was damn good and this year they are going to be great. All I know of is that Wolf kid as one of their bigs but I don't think he's anything special. What drives them is clearly their 3 headed monster guard lineup of Calhoun, Napier, and Boatright.

Wolf actually followed up his legal problems, and Kevin Ollie revoking his scholly, by signing a pro contract in Germany this summer. This year's team will only be better because they're playing in a conference where all but a few teams suck. Unless Kenton Facey plays more like a top 50 than a bottom 100. They they might actually be a little better. But they do have a very good backcourt.

Did Facey even get eligible?

Nope... Don't believe so. They have a good backcourt, but nothing in the frontcourt at all. Decent forward in Daniels but no bigs to speak of. They can be pretty good, but teams will key on their lack of frontcourt production and exploit it.

Olander and Phil Nolan are not striking fear in UConn's opponents. True.

 

[ccnobz]

Ok. I'll say this, and I'd like some feedback. I don't know if this is close to our best backcourt ever (I don't think it is). It does have the potential if Phil Greene stays healthy, and Jordan plays up to his potential, as being our deepest backcourt in our history, with 4 guards capable of starting.

I'm with you. In addition to the sheer depth, I think things could really fall into place nicely in terms of their roles and how they complement each other, elevating each of their games. Branch/Jordan's playmaking ability should allow Dee to play without the ball a lot more, getting/taking better shots without working as hard for them. Greene should move into a reserve role where he can focus on his biggest strength (burst/streak scoring) off the bench as opposed to managing the team from point for 30 minutes a night. By contrast from the brief clips in Europe Branch looked to be much more assertive, with the ball in his hands a lot/making decisions/managing the flow of the game which suits him best and is what we want. Finally Jordan seems to have the ability to do almost anything asked of him - again they were brief clips but 3 games in Europe showed difficult finishes in traffic, incredible court vision, and absurd athleticism (I knew how quick he was, but that windmill in warmups one game and his rebounding generally showed bigtime leaping ability).

I believe these four will push for about 85-90 (or more depnding on matchups) of the available 200 minutes, and think they will exceed expectations. Maybe not our best backcourt ever, but like you said their is a lot of depth and I also think the potential for them to enhance their collective performance based upon the synergy of their individual skillsets is huge. Europe certainly seemed to preview that potential.

good post, agree