Interior Presence
- Thread starter rcatalano
- Start date
If you recall in 1983 we finished 3rd in the polls, won the BE Tournament, made the round of 16 and lost to the University of Georgia whose 6 8' center Terry Fair ran circles around sophomore center Bill Wennington who was a McDonalds AA.
We all would love a sky scraper in the middle but skill is far more important.
CO brings a skill we have lacked for a long time.
It's not tallest front court - especially in the big east - but we will definitely be quick. We should hold up fine. We'll still have trouble with some of the few true giants we will play against - but at least we'll have plenty of fouls to give instead of being short-handed like we've been for all these years...
Given how young Obekpa is, his 6'9 is not yet set in stone. UCLA signed a 6'5 180 lb PG/SG African kid from Montverde Academy a few years agon. But when his freshman season finally started, he was the 6'7 220 lb starting PF. And he's now a 6'8 230 4 year NBA defensive star: Luc Richard M'bah a Moute.
I never understood this...when we have 2 6'8 guys and 2 6'9 guys, and people say "we aren't that big"...how much bigger can you get? I mean my god it's not like some people are 8 ft tall lol. At the very most a player on another team can be 1-2 inches taller...is it really that big a deal? It's likely that our 6'8 and 6'9 players are more athletic and quick than say a 7'0 guy. I just don't see how we are still considered small with 6'8 and 6'9 players. It's not like other BE teams are signing 8 and 9 footers. They would be lucky to have a guy who is over 6'9. I mean the difference between someone who's 5'11 and 6'0 is 1 hair. So why would it be any different between like 6'9 and 6'10?
We're big enough as it stands right now. The important thing is that Obepka gives us that downcourt shot-blocking presence that will enable the press, that this coaching staff is so very fond of. In Branch, Pointer, and Garrett (and Wood, should he find his way to the roster) you have guys capable of putting tremendous in-bounds and full court pressure. Now we can really let them play. Last year they were being told to exercise caution...something they won't have to worry about this coming season. This should be fun to watch, indeed. We also won't be locked into a zone defense this year. Dom never had a real opportunity to shut someone down last year. I think this team will be a demon defensively....we'll see! In any event, we have a nice mix here...we have guys who can shoot it...guys who can rebound it...guys who can block it....guys who can steal it....and guys who can handle it. The assist area is the only question mark and we'll just have to see. Thanks Coach Lavin....you've done an incredible job!
I agree. It's not like college basketball--or even the NBA these days for that matter--is crawling with skilled 7-footers. I think many of use are scarred by Ken Johnson and Robert Sacre. The thing many forget about with Sacre's Gonzaga squad is they were crushed by the smallest team in the tournament, BYU, the very next game. The size disparity killed us that game because we had some of the worst offense rebounding I have ever witnessed and my broken remote control can back that up. Garrett has shown that, as a frosh, he was much better than anyone we had on that team on the offensive glass, and I'd bet Sampson will be prolific on that end himself.
Dunlap likes to fall back into a zone after he applies pressure to the ball--I think we will see pressure unlike anything we've seen the last two seasons. The goal of the zone is to get the opposition out of its comfort zone and to become one-dimensional (chuckers), having to make very difficult and predictable passes to find open men. If STJ can impart its style and pace on the game, few teams will have the legs to beat STJ from the outside.
Size is a luxury to me. Give me Anthony Glover a guy who was always undersized but had the will to win any day of the week. And we are now a big team IMO. Teams who are lucky enough to have 6'11 or 7 footers normally are handcuffed because those guys have no skill and basically stink. Anthony Davis's don't grow on trees.
You don't mean Anthony "the black hole" Glover do you? He never saw a shot he didn't like, even if he was double or triple teamed he'd invariably try to juke and head fake his way in the lane and force up a shot while open teammates stood around waiting for the pass that hardly ever came.