Burgess without confidence??? Are we seeing the same player? He is ready to shoot at all times and brings a ton of energy. Him missing those bunnies is due to being sped up and not having touch just yet. The game will slow down for him (not sure when, could take a whole season), but IMO, his confidence is just fine.
Yeah Furst will need to show he’s a threat or they will clog the lane and TKR and others will not get any space.
in regards to Burgess, after watching Iowa's Owen Freeman progress positively thru out last season maybe Burgess could follow suit, similar builds and skill sets
I want to see him go strong for rebounds and finish better, those 3 or 4 missed bunnies last game were brutal
And they both went to schools 1 state to the west of where they lived!
Yeah for sure! It’ll take some time. I don’t think he had to rely on that type of touch and finish over taller/physical play in HS. He just needs the game to slow down a bit, as he’s sped up a lot. It’ll take some time, hopefully he can adjust by mid Feb. May be a bit rough but don’t give up too quick!
In 2 games, Gillis is averaging almost the exact same mins (20) off the bench (was not going to start) and avg 9 ppg and 2.5 rpg. Shooting 50% from 3.
It'd be great to have one of the 5's be 30-35%. Being able to draw the opponents big out from the rim would really open up the offense. Unfortunately Jacobson looked like the most likely to do that.....
I don’t know that that’s true, my understanding is that RB is the best shooter of the lot. Certainly doesn’t rebound or rim defend like DJ though.
For sure. But give it time. It’s 3 games in. Things will figure themselves out. It may take until mid February, but we need to all understand that we don’t have the NPOTY x2 and the most dominant player in college bball since Shaq in the middle anymore. We are going to be OK, it just won’t be as much dominance as we have had.
Did you watch the game? They looked great with TKR and Heide and painter was thrilled with that and all but said they will play more of that.
Heide had as many rebounds as TKR, Berg, Burgess, and Furst combined and is averaged more rebounds per minute last night than Jacobsons full game. In fact he’s our best rebounder per minute. He’s a very good rebounder.
Having said that I do want to qualify my comment with as I always say it will be matchup and pace of play driven. Alabama started 3 6-10+ players last night and usually has at least 2 on the court at any given time . It’ll be fun to see how paint addresses this. Doubt he puts Gicarri Harris or Loyer on one.
He can jump out of the gym and has strong hands.
in PRE-Big 10 games against much smaller teams. DJ was never going to have the same impact in Big 10 games. Personally i think THIS years team is "maybe" better off, forced to play more experienced, stronger players in the post. Trade his higher ceiling for more meat in the middle NOW. JMO, time will tell.
the loss of DJ is big but that gap would be narrower if Furst's progression would have been alot better since his nice FR yr.
Coupled with Berg being more game ready. Thought the years practicing against Edey he would have been much better. Maybe the learning curve will lessen but not encouraged by him.
I sort of thought someone would just step up at center and be pretty good right away, but I’m not sure that was ever realistic.
Uwe Blab(b?) was very stiff and mechanical in his movements and still was an All american (I think) and had a sniff in the NBA. Doesn't have to be pretty. I'm encouraged by how he grabs the ball when it's available. Strong. Needs more pt. I get the sense he might need more time to get relaxed and into the game than other guys that grew up here playing.
They all have their attributes. none of them are probably going to own the position. But they can all bring their elements to the team when they are on the floor. Raleigh needs to be the outside shooter, Will needs to play BIG inside, Furst D up and energy, run the floor.
Gillis did well and Heide is more athletic than Gillis was. The small ball lineup gives up rim protection but has its advantages in terms of mobility. With great effort and coordinated, connected team defense, deficiencies can be masked. Something will be conceded normally, but Purdue will follow the analytics and concede less efficient shots. I think that potential is there with this lineup to play good enough defense while exploiting mismatches on offense and gaining an overall edge. It won’t be as easy as last year with Edey, but I am looking forward to seeing this group figure it out over time. I certainly expect some bumps in the road early, but I think that this group is a bit like Carsen Edwards’ 2019 team and will likely finish strong.
Could totally be right.
I find that incredibly refreshing given Matt's "Gene's" and inclinations for defense. Bolded for those that say he can't change his tactics.
Will will progress a lot more this year than he would have with DJ playing. Caleb has a lot more to show and he'll do some work as he'll now get enough burn to get into the game . Burgess will get his chance to be the outside shooter to keep them off TKR in the paint. Hated to lose the kid, but I really like what it does for the other guys and their chances to improve. DJ looks like he could be very very good, but he was/is very weak this year and that was going to hurt him adn the team at times. This year to get to stronger might be a big positive for the rest of his career. He comes in 20lbs of muscle stronger and he'll be a force NEXT year. That would not happen as quickly if he was playing and not putting the same intensity into his weight training. Crossing fingers that weight training and training table bears results for him and doesn't take a couple of years like it did for Fletch to not be getting beat up.
There also weren't as many 7 footers back then in the college game & the NBA was a completely different game.
Gillis is playing his role…a culture fit and a guy who is solid that can give you 12-20 mins a night, give you solid shooting from 3 and FTs, and not be too much of a liability on defense. All while bringing toughness and experience.
