Comparative point guards 101

[ghostzapper]

I was thinking about point guards and how it really is the "quarterback position" on the basketball court. The play of the point guard often is the biggest factor in how effective a team plays and how team chemistry develops over time. All of this has led me to think about the point guards that we were seriously involved with in the last three recruiting classes. All three of these guards were similarly rated in their classes (see below). One of these point guards we landed (Jordan) and two we missed out on (Whitehead and Briscoe).

My question is directed to anyone who is familiar with these 3 players and has actually seen them play. Can you compare and contrast the abilities, merits and flaws they have? Which of these three do you believe would have helped our program the most and why?

Rysheed Jordan 17th* in the class of 2013
Isaiah Whitehead 14th* in the class of 2014
Isaiah Briscoe 13th* in the class of 2015
*According to ESPN's top 100 recruiting list

Lastly do you think going forward we are best served by shooting for top ten to twenty talent like this or focus on a slightly lower rated type of player who might stay and develop over four years.

Today we saw both Sterling Gibbs (Seton Hall) and Bill Garrett Jr. (DePaul) lead their teams to big east victories. Both of these players are very good point guards who will likely stay four years for their schools. They were highly rated top 100 talents out of high school but not at the very top tier of their class. Going forward Is there a player out there like this for us and will we be able to get him to come to our program?

 

[Joeche]

Under our style of play, I find it hard to know who the PG is. It seems no one has the primary job of distributing the ball in our offense.

 

[Section9]

Under our style of play, I find it hard to know who the PG is. It seems no one has the primary job of distributing the ball in our offense.

When Branch is on the floor, that's his job, although you're right, many times it's hard to determine if Phil, Dee, Sheed or even Dom are the point guards.

 

[ghostzapper]

I was thinking about point guards and how it really is the "quarterback position" on the basketball court. The play of the point guard often is the biggest factor in how effective a team plays and how team chemistry develops over time. All of this has led me to think about the point guards that we were seriously involved with in the last three recruiting classes. All three of these guards were similarly rated in their classes (see below). One of these point guards we landed (Jordan) and two we missed out on (Whitehead and Briscoe).

My question is directed to anyone who is familiar with these 3 players and has actually seen them play. Can you compare and contrast the abilities, merits and flaws they have? Which of these three do you believe would have helped our program the most and why?

Rysheed Jordan 17th* in the class of 2013
Isaiah Whitehead 14th* in the class of 2014
Isaiah Briscoe 13th* in the class of 2015
*According to ESPN's top 100 recruiting list

Lastly do you think going forward we are best served by shooting for top ten to twenty talent like this or focus on a slightly lower rated type of player who might stay and develop over four years.

Today we saw both Sterling Gibbs (Seton Hall) and Bill Garrett Jr. (DePaul) lead their teams to big east victories. Both of these players are very good point guards who will likely stay four years for their schools. They were highly rated top 100 talents out of high school but not at the very top tier of their class. Going forward Is there a player out there like this for us and will we be able to get him to come to our program?

I asked last week if going forward we might benefit long term by targeting a lower profiled recruit as our future point guard (like a Sterling Gibbs or a Billy Garrett Jr.) instead of the top twenty type players (like Jordan, Whitehead or Briscoe). The question for me comes down to measuring the value of having a player focused on a four year college career versus a player that views their college time as a stepping stone to the pros.

Given the events of the past week (Jordan's absence and Gibbs and Garrett Jr. being the starting point guards for the only undefeated teams in conference play) I restate this question. Where do we go looking for our next point guard now that the Briscoe ship has sailed, Branch will graduate and Jordan's future with us is uncertain?

Our best point guard in the last twenty years was probably Eric Barkley. He was highly ranked out of high school and was gone after two years with us to the pros. However he was the point guard on our two best teams in the post Lou Carnesecca era.

Right now the only point guard we are currently being mentioned with for next season is Marcus LoVett, Jr. from Chicago (listed as a four star recruit who is rated just outside the ESPN top 100). However I have not heard anything that says we are high on his list. We need much for next year but nothing is more important than a good point guard to help run the show