It'll probably end up being First and TKR at the 5 most of the game unless Berg or Jacobsen are ready to go.
Catchings Reopens Recruitment
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Plenty of teams finish top 4 in conference without a rim protector. They keep players out of the paint by blocking out, moving, helping and playing good defense.
Our defense was just fine last season when Edey was on the bench. We gave up rim protection but gained pick and role ability.
The B10 isn't stacked this coming season. We aren't facing a string of top 20 teams with great big men all over.
We ain't playing Berg or Jacobson 30 minutes a game. That is a pretty unrealistic expectation to place on either of them. TKR is going to play the five at least 20 minutes a game. I don't know why folks can't make peace with that.
mmmm, SMith is a good rebounder, TKR is decent, Heide appears to be and we are hopeful, but limited impact to date. Colvin - no idea.
Not convinced. And not much beef in there. We go from dominating teams to getting dominated. (by some)
Talented, but not convinced it would be successful against big teams.
Heide crashes the boards a lot, had over 6 rebounds per 40 minutes in conference play. Statistics support my position except for Colvin although he was higher than Jones, Loyer, and Morton per 40 as a true freshman. But he’s very athletic and came up with some big rebounds and I think he will be fine. You can make an argument TKR’s rebounding stats weren’t great but he was on the court a lot with Edey, but I think he will be just fine.
"Finish top 4 in conference" what a weird, largely meaningless metric. Edey was only on the bench for short spurts which I have repeatedly said is not the issue. Bottom line I'd be surprised if TKR-CH-MC-BS-FL is competitive defensively for long stretches night in night out against good teams. That doesn't suggest that Berg or Jacobsen have to play 30 minutes. What a weird leap. It's also weird people are hung up on who is "playing the 5". TKR can pair with Furst or DJ and still "play the 5" on offense. Honestly I hope we have very little "playing the 5" on offense this year. We're going to have a couple guys that can post up if we want to run some sets that way, but largely we should be getting up and down the floor, let BS drive and kick to shooters, and running a lot of motion like we always do. CMP has a lot of combinations he can turn to and I suspect it will be a different combo each game that works best.
Listen purdue will be fine they have 2 guys at 7 feet tall so its not going to be easy on teams to score down low on purdue
On offense with the motion and screens and ability for everyone to hit the 3 including Jacobson, TKR, and furst I don’t think the “5” is that important either. On defense TKR is good at bodying up even against the ballos and did fine against DJ Burns.
Unless you have 4 perimeter guys who have the lateral quickness to stay in front of their man, and we don’t, you need a rim protector.
Sure we do...Heide and Colvin can, Smith is decent at it, and we have several frosh who can.
Teams killed us on the pick and roll last year. It's not like we led the league in defense. We were decent at defense and really good at offense. Like elite level.
This year we will be better at defense on the pick and roll. We will be able to switch more. We probably won't be able to play as tightly to the three line.
Throwing unprepared frosh simply because they provide rim protection (and that's yet to be proven at this level) is not something Painter is going to do
Williams didn't provide rim protection, he still started over Edey.
OK, let me rephrase it: if Fletch is in the game, we need a rim protector.
What teams killed us on the pick and roll? I’d say only a few…UConn, maybe northwestern (they shot lights out both times from the perimeter though)…who else? Generally asking because I can’t think of any others because it seems so long ago 😂 .
I’d also say teams couldn’t stop our PnR with smith and edey and that netted out most of the other teams’ PnR offense.
Multiple teams targeted our drop coverage on the pick and roll with success.
Doesn't mean we sucked but we weren't a defensive juggernaut either.
Same with next season. We will be better at one thing and worse at another. We will neither suck nor be awesome at defense.
One dude isn't destroying us on defense. Few teams are going to have three awesome penetrators at the same time such that you can't "hide" Loyer on one of them if necessary.
What we might lose on defense in rim protection, we gain in pick and roll coverage and we will have a team more capable of fast break points and a more dynamic offense.
Rushing out a frosh or guy who hasn't played a meaningful minute thus far creates its own potential problems as well.
True somewhat, but hard to hide Loyer on switches that occur.
Loyer likely will start, but I see his Min/game decreasing. Like a light switch, when he's on, lots of minutes. But when off, CMP has even more alternatives this year, and I am sure he will use them.
Disagree. See Northwestern games, North Texas game… a defense is only as good as its weakest link…
Loyer was in much more danger with Catchings. With him gone, it's pretty clear Painter HIGHLY values what Loyer brings, so Loyer is going to play a ton of minutes. With Catchings gone that eases the conflict between Colvin and Loyer for the 2 because now the 3 opens up.
I was actually in favor of starting Colvin over Loyer at the 2, but with no Catchings, that isn't likely anymore.
Loyer isn't THAT bad on defense. He's a little worse than smith. Yes, he's likely to be the worst perimeter defensive option on the floor in most lineups, but there are ways to mitigate that on pick and rolls against particularly dangerous perimeter players, like hedging, or fighting through the screen.
And you bring in other issues tossing in a frosh Jacobson or a limited (thus far) minutes player like Berg into the starting lineup just because Loyer might sometimes trail his man.
History shows there is no question CMP will play all non RS frosh early as he widows down his rotations. Those ready on D will see more minutes than those not. But even Colvin who was lost on D early last year saw minutes. He does that every year.
You are correct certain combos will work better than others when using frosh. But CMP knows that & always manages lineups well.
While I am not as big a Loyer fan as some, there is NO question he will start & play alot. But it is a fair statement to say he will likely see bench time when cold from the floor. CMP has alot of options....even more than last year @ the 2 & 3 where Loyer plays.
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Starting lineup. I didn't say any of those guys can't or won't see minutes. One of them has to given we only have two players with any size who isn't Berg or a Frosh. Just like one or two of the frosh guards likely has to given Heide likely playing a lot of 4. Someone has to provide backup minutes at the 1-3 slots.
BYU just signed a 6’8 international guard…hmmm wonder if that means they’re out on catchings?
If so, that leaves FSU or Nc state (who is over the 13 scholarship limit at the moment).
If so, that leaves FSU or Nc state (who is over the 13 scholarship limit at the moment).
I wonder if Catchings pictured his options as being BYU, Florida State, and an overcommitted NC State when he decommitted.
Probably not…haha. I did some research and see that even with that kid just signing, byu still has 2 open scholarship spots so he could still go there. Not sure why he didn’t commit right away…unless they didn’t meet him at his $$$ expectations or couldnt guarantee a starting spot.
Still wonder why he waited so long. He kind of screwed himself as other teams would have swooped him up.
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A lot of 17-18 year olds act before they think. Emotions, rather than reason, direct their decisions.
They just signed Egor Demin a projected top 10 6'-8"-6'9" guy with all the tools. Are we sure it's BYU now. I think they possibly got something better.
Man, that kid really screwed himself.
Man, that kid really screwed himself.
I had heard it was likely gonna be one or the other. Whoever committed first. I think Kanon might have missed his opportunity. Making his decommittment look even more questionable.
Is there even a world in which paint would even consider resigning him? I don’t think so!
Is there even a world in which paint would even consider resigning him? I don’t think so!
I dunno. They have 11 out of 13 signed and Egor apparently was already committed and just hadn’t signed yet prior to Kanon visiting. They play “different positions”, but Kanon will have to also compete against Mag from Rutgers and a dude from Utah, as well as an upperclassman for a starting spot…BYU is probably what’s best at this point for college teams, but I’d guess he goes to FSU. Or he just returns to OTE.
Dodged one bullet. Wouldn't think he'd make the same call.
I kind of assumed he was just going back to OTE. I don't think he will do well in college basketball, no matter where he goes. He just needs to go back to OTE for another year and enter the draft.
No I think that ship has sailed. Smith also apparently unfollowed him on social media…I know a bit dumb, but I assume that means there’s not a path back to Purdue.
I would assume he’s going to make this decision soon since all teams have started practicing.
Agreeed. Although OTE is horrible for his development. Tried watching a few of those games and they’re just not good from a fundamentals stand point. Hope it all works out for him but always will wonder “what if” he had come to Purdue and developed here. Oh well.
One thing I don't understand is why anyone would hate on Fletcher? He has been the starter for two years on a team that has been ranked #1 and just competed for a national championship! What else could he have done? To expect a freshman to take minutes from him is laughable IMO.
One thing I have come to realize is freshman who come to campus in June have a much smaller learning curve. They will have 5 months to prepare and become a part of the team. The real test for them is figuring out what role helps the team. They will only see the court when they have that figured out IMO.
One thing I have come to realize is freshman who come to campus in June have a much smaller learning curve. They will have 5 months to prepare and become a part of the team. The real test for them is figuring out what role helps the team. They will only see the court when they have that figured out IMO.
They see a kid who isn’t a lock down defender/not ripped/falls down a lot and they don’t think he’s that good….when in reality he just shot 44% and was 50% from march up until the NC game. They want him to be consistent… maybe more like a 12-16 pt guy every night.
Kid is a competitor and is going to get better. His mins may decrease a bit due to how many guys we have in the backcourt but he has won quite a few big games so far in his short career.
I’d be very surprised if this is actually the case. If this happens it means that either Berg or Jacobsen are really good. Good enough to have bumped TKR from his preferred and more natural low post scoring position. Having them be that good would add another dimension to this year’s team. I don’t think TKR at the 5 is a significant problem especially on the offensive end.
I think the only thing we will suffer from with TKR at the 5 is rim protection. Jacobson seems to be great at that aspect, but he looks pretty thin to start in the B1G. We will see, generally Painter puts his best crew on the floor, so if one of the bigs is solid and the better lineup is shifting TKR to the 4 and Heide to the 3 (or Colvin if he is better) I don't think it's really about "bumping" TKR and is more about the best combo of players for the team.
Since both of the 7'ers are also mobile TKR could still play some fluid post game which could wreck havoc on other teams. Imagine the 7'er who is a threat from 3 pulling the opposing teams rim protector out, and TKR slips into the post for an entry pass and an easy 2.
Exactly. I think the 4 and 5 will all be interchangeable this year. I think Trey will be our post guy when he’s in, since he has a lot of moves down there and we can have whomever is playing opposite of him be more on the perimeter, or at least not clogging the lane.
I think the 2-5 positions will have a lot of guys who can play multiple positions and paint and staff will have a lot of options with different lineups.
