I’d rather have George than Andrew lol
The Point Guard Debate
- Thread starter dk423
- Start date
No politics
Glad I didn't mention LincolnNo politics
Lol. I was up at 400 a.m. to make my flight. Jackson was a pretty good general, how I csme up with Washington is funny.
Actually so many new faces, seeing them around our hotel at this point only recognize a few for certain
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Thought he meant Larry Washington.
Great analysis, agree with everything you said. The only thing I’d add is the defensive aspect of the point guard position. We were exposed by Alabama’s elite guards, but I thought Rick did a good job in the ISU game of mixing and matching players (Mitchell and Jackson) to mitigate Linsey’s impact on the game. Actually thought Darling did a decent job guarding last night, made a few steals and was rarely caught out of position. His physical limitations will continue to be an issue with bigger quicker pgs. that we’ll need to game plan for.
mullinmagic
Member
Clearly you didn't read my post because if you did then you would notice I was correcting the loss total he listed and said nothing about guard play. He said 3 of 4 losses and I corrected him because in the eyes of no one does that Michigan scrimmage count as a loss. Reading comprehension, Orville.
Redenbacher
Well-known member
No, I regrettably did read your post. LMF's whole point --not to mention the actual title of the thread--is about the quality of our guard play. You injected a completely irrelevant point about which games count and don't count for NCAA tourney selection. Thanks for playing.
You watched yesterday’s game and thought darling showed no evidence of being able to play worth those guys?
ready! 
Other than being useful dribbling the ball up the floor and making some hustle plays, I do not think he is a player at this level. But he is what there is unless and until one of the other two projects get it together. Or Pohto or Liotopoulos beat him out in practice.
Other than getting the ball up the floor against a press, I can get 4.33 points, 1.66 assists and 1 TO per game from basically anyone - along with better size and athleticism on defense. And those stats are not far off what he did the last time he was at the high-major level (although in fairness he was a freshman then.
But mostly my eye test says "12 mpg backup PG."
I don't want to keep killing (or overkilling) the issue, but there is nothing about either the stats or the eye test that says "yeah, we're good at PG." At least IMO.
mullinmagic
Member
I'll say it again. 2 of 3 losses. It's a fact. It's not irrelevant in the eyes of the selection committee but if you want them to have that loss then you go with that, Mr. irrelevant
I couldn’t disagree more about the eye test.
Yesterday we were so much better whenever he was in. The offense ran smoothly and we got good looks. You look at his box score and come to the conclusion that no production must have meant no impact. We scored 96 points.
7 points from free throws we got on passes he made.
Beautiful drive and kick right away to Sanon who missed the corner 3. Beautiful pass in transition to zuby who missed the layup. Another one to Sanon in the second who missed the layup. Great feed to to Hopkins at the free throw line who missed the jumper. Hes the one who fed sellers on the first 3 of the 2nd half, but since sellers took his time, no “assist”.
And he’s on the floor, getting deflections.
Defensively he got beat bad one time yesterday. Their PG finished 2-8.
3 games vs high majors and he’s +31 in those games. While we are 1-2. Go figure.
I'll say it again. 2 of 3 losses. It's a fact. It's not irrelevant in the eyes of the selection committee but if you want them to have that loss then you go with that, Mr. irrelevant
dk423
Well-known member
He's by far our most crafty defender on the perimeter. The bar is very low. But still. I am still not totally convinced he can be played big minutes -- like the 16 minutes in the first half against Iowa St and Lipsey/Toure --, so the Pettiford test will be worthwhile.
One reason I wish we had another legitimate PG is so he doesn't play with fear on defense. Charges, steals, rebounds -- he does all the small, energy things we complain that Sonon and Ian can't seem to consistently do. Unlike them, there's no real suitable replacement for Darling on the bench.
I have a lot more confidence on the offensive side of the court with Darling in. Maybe it's more of a hockey assist, but there's a level of competence and organization that I find more credible vs. Hopkins or Zuby barreling into the lane or guys running off screens.
The fouling is an issue and it makes sense. He has to scrap and claw and the other team knows it. I do think these last two games each had one egregiously bad call against him. But those happen and he has to avoid them.
So you're saying they are playing true positionless basketball.
Looks like the team will be playing inside out all year. It’s not ideal but as long as a bunch of those front court assists are kickouts for threes it'll have to do. He signed shooters not facilitators, it is what it is.
These effing refs have got to stop calling touch fouls 30 feet from the basket that impact the outcome ( by foul trouble) while incidental contact does not affect play. One or two warnings before blowing the whistle may be more effective
Potential? 20 minutes and it's guaranteed.