Zuby “Beast II”

Marillac2 said:
Big men usually get a lot better as they progress. The kid is a true soph...he will be fine and could really blow up under Pitino. Also, don't discount how much it will benefit him playing in an open court game next year. He's going to be the top run-jump center in the conference. I don't think Pitino will ever be caught with a half-court team again.

Wilcher-Luis-Dunlap-Glover-Taylor-Zuby were born to run. Add a really good smaller guard or two that can push and shoot and we'll be in business.
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Maybe it’s the size, but reminds me of a potential Nate Watson.
 
Jack Williams said:
Do we have any players on the team rn who you think are good enough to start next year? Every other post from you these days is saying someone on our team isn’t very good
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Our top 3 scorers next year are not on this roster right now. Rick will be bringing in some big time transfers for next year.
 
Zuby has shown flashes of good play and at times very good. At other times not so good. He, like Wilcher, have a way to go before they become consistent contributors. Here’s hoping both make that jump this coming season. With our portal success to date, they are going to have to.
 
Zuby had never played as a post player with his back to the basket and his inexperience there showed. He will be pencilled in as a starting 4, with spot minutes at the 5. He is staying on campus this summer to work on improving and will be coached within ncaa boundaries. I've been told that facing the basket he has been a good outside shooter and can put the ball on the floor. We saw flashes of that.

What we may see is a dramatic improvement if Rick plays Zuby to his strengths and if Zuby improves his game this summer. I'm going to guess it will have us wondering why Rick didn't play Joel and Zuby in tandem, as some here speculated.

No question Zuby is a very athletic big.
 
Silly Donovan said:
Zuby has shown flashes of good play and at times very good. At other times not so good. He, like Wilcher, have a way to go before they become consistent contributors. Here’s hoping both make that jump this coming season. With our portal success to date, they are going to have to.
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Zuby is not a good offensive player. He is very active on defense and on the boards, which sometimes results in a number of easy put backs.

While I think it’s reasonable to look forward to improvement, I don’t expect he’ll ever be a good offensive player. Several on this site have posted we don’t need offense out of the 5 spot. I disagree and think that will be a weakness unless we get some alpha guard and wing scorers. Time will tell.
 
Beasts of the East said:
Zuby had never played as a post player with his back to the basket and his inexperience there showed. He will be pencilled in as a starting 4, with spot minutes at the 5. He is staying on campus this summer to work on improving and will be coached within ncaa boundaries. I've been told that facing the basket he has been a good outside shooter and can put the ball on the floor. We saw flashes of that.

What we may see is a dramatic improvement if Rick plays Zuby to his strengths and if Zuby improves his game this summer. I'm going to guess it will have us wondering why Rick didn't play Joel and Zuby in tandem, as some here speculated.

No question Zuby is a very athletic big.
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Zuby was so challenged offensively this year that Pitino refused to play him at the 4 for even spot minutes . Now he’s going to play the majority of the time at the 4? Who’s going to man the 5; the USC kid or the 7 foot freshman? Where is the offense going to come from?
 
Boo Harvey said:
Zuby was so challenged offensively this year that Pitino refused to play him at the 4 for even spot minutes . Now he’s going to play the majority of the time at the 4? Who’s going to man the 5; the USC kid or the 7 foot freshman? Where is the offense going to come from?
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Also, if Ledlum returns, I suspect he will get the majority of the minutes at the 4.
 
Boo Harvey said:
Zuby was so challenged offensively this year that Pitino refused to play him at the 4 for even spot minutes . Now he’s going to play the majority of the time at the 4? Who’s going to man the 5; the USC kid or the 7 foot freshman? Where is the offense going to come from?
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If he starts making layups he”ll get his points. He can guard all five spots effectively.
The team was better with him in the game than Soriano. Just needs to be consistent. He will take a step forward this year. If it a big one he will be great!
 
Boo Harvey said:
Zuby was so challenged offensively this year that Pitino refused to play him at the 4 for even spot minutes . Now he’s going to play the majority of the time at the 4? Who’s going to man the 5; the USC kid or the 7 foot freshman? Where is the offense going to come from?
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I'm not speculating. Zuby has been promised the 4 by Rick with backup minutes at the 5. It is why we are targeting starting 5's in the portal. If this wasn't true Zuby would be gone. As a junior he wants starter minutes and plenty of programs would give him that. At the very least he will be given that opportunity (starting 4).. Maker is considered a project.

Ledlum and Dingle returning is considered a very long shot, but I'd bet Ledlum would see time at the 3 and 4.

With the portal, too many variables but when the dust settles virtually guarantee Rick will be talking Zuby as a 4. I'm pretty sure he has mentioned this already.
 
The “Zuby is offensive challenged” was an unfair trope from the preseason that never looked to really be the case. He was a pretty good FT shooter, showed flashes of being able to put the ball on the floor, and even a quality jump shot by end of the year. Add his defense, and I think he will surprise most people.
 
dk423 said:
The “Zuby is offensive challenged” was an unfair trope from the preseason that never looked to really be the case. He was a pretty good FT shooter, showed flashes of being able to put the ball on the floor, and even a quality jump shot by end of the year. Add his defense, and I think he will surprise most people.
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No disrespect and I love zuby. He made great progress and his contributions on defense and with his effort were always there. I’ve got no worry about him being a 20-25 minute guy at the 5 next year. But he was more than solid on D and on the boards, if he wasn’t offensively challenged, he’d have been a much bigger contributor this season. Him looking somewhat comfortable shooting a wide open 3, does not really tell me anything. Mitchell Robinson has clips of him draining 3s in workouts, I don’t think it translates to games.

I agree with Boo, we heard the “4” talk last off season too. I would not believe it until I see it. It’s not that he can’t play the traditional PF spot, it’s that a 5 playing next to him isn’t really ideal for how we or most teams play.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
No disrespect and I love zuby. He made great progress and his contributions on defense and with his effort were always there. I’ve got no worry about him being a 20-25 minute guy at the 5 next year. But he was more than solid on D and on the boards, if he wasn’t offensively challenged, he’d have been a much bigger contributor this season. Him looking somewhat comfortable shooting a wide open 3, does not really tell me anything. Mitchell Robinson has clips of him draining 3s in workouts, I don’t think it translates to games.

I agree with Boo, we heard the “4” talk last off season too. I would not believe it until I see it. It’s not that he can’t play the traditional PF spot, it’s that a 5 playing next to him isn’t really ideal for how we or most teams play.
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I also expect Zuby to play 25 minutes — maybe a 10/15 split between the four and five.

But the roster was really flawed last year. We had no third string center. Zuby could not have played the four, I think in large part, due to that + the team workload of learning a second position in year one under Pitino. This full offseason will make a huge difference in unlocking him.

Think of the other “offensively challenged” big men in our history. Zuby is immensely more talented than all of them. Him hitting threes in real game situations in February and March IS different than instagram stories of shooting in an empty gym
 
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