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Eastern

I'm torn on Robert Phinisee. I'd like to see him at Purdue simply because he's a local kid that is a DI scholarship-worthy talent but on the other hand, he's another very small guard. Purdue has had (or still has) more than enough of those in recent years.
It's certainly a trade off, but it is a trade off worth making if you can get a well rounded point guard with great quickness.
 
It's certainly a trade off, but it is a trade off worth making if you can get a well rounded point guard with great quickness.

I don't know. We'll have to see how the scholarship situation works itself out. I'd really prefer that Purdue NOT have a backcourt of two or more guards 6'0 and under.
 
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I'm torn on Robert Phinisee. I'd like to see him at Purdue simply because he's a local kid that is a DI scholarship-worthy talent but on the other hand, he's another very small guard. Purdue has had (or still has) more than enough of those in recent years.
Don't forget that players move on and we will need more
I don't know. We'll have to see how the scholarship situation works itself out. I'd really prefer that Purdue NOT have a backcourt of two or more guards 6'0 and under.
i would absolutely take Phinese, C Edwards, and N Eastern as my three guard back court. Bring Sasha in for additional perimeter punch. That's pretty damn good.
 
Don't forget that players move on and we will need more

i would absolutely take Phinese, C Edwards, and N Eastern as my three guard back court. Bring Sasha in for additional perimeter punch. That's pretty damn good.
What's Phinisee shooting like. I love our current team where our starting 1 to 5 can all shoot. I am so wary of Purdue teams that can't shoot or put only 1.5 shooter on the floor at any time. Brings back flashbacks of the Johnson era where once we fell behind by 5+ points at any point, the game was over. The opponent just sagged and dared us to make layups in crowded lanes. It was pathetic to watch and led to horrible team morale. The players wrongly bore the brunt of what was evidently bad recruiting.
 
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Don't forget that players move on and we will need more

i would absolutely take Phinese, C Edwards, and N Eastern as my three guard back court. Bring Sasha in for additional perimeter punch. That's pretty damn good.
Seems like the coaching staff is placing a higher priority on Jeremiah Francis At the PG spot.
 
Not sure about Phinisee, but I know Eastern's "strength" isn't his outside shooting. He's capable, but he's not in the class of a Mathias, Cline, Carsen, or Vince from 3.

We are supposed to have a great shooter in every class

Who's the shooter in the next class?
Not Eastern, Wheeler or Haarms
Stefanovic is only 38%
 
We are supposed to have a great shooter in every class

Who's the shooter in the next class?
Not Eastern, Wheeler or Haarms
Stefanovic is only 38%
sasha will shoot >40% as an upperclassman if he was playing in the current team. But if he plays on team that can't shoot, his shooting percentage will take a beating.
 
We aren't on Epperson's visit list and I don't think we are in his top four. I would love to see us go get Robert Phinisee. I would love to run a three guard look. Harms can shoot and Wheeler looks like he would be a very promising wing. Keep the offense spread out and flowing. Add another big man with skill and we could be scary good going forward. I will be very dissapointed to miss out on Phinisee because he is right in our back yard and he is an athletic guard and that can do it all. He should be our top target. I was incredibly excited about Boogie and so far he has really lived up to the hype. Having a very good freshman year and he is just really fun to watch. Losing Biggie will hurt but we should still compete for a run in the Big Ten and should be an NCAA lock provided we don't get the injury bug. Maybe we can add a fifth year transfer big man to help the void, because I see Epperson as a long shot. Anyway, Boiler Up! Future should be bright.
Phinisee will be a very average college player. Pass.
 
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A few things to consider Aaron Wheeler has grown to 6'9 as per Aaron Wheeler he also is close to 200 lbs . He plays the 4 now his arms are B1G ready in the last game I watched he had 5 blocks and 9 rebounds they won by 40 he played maybe half of the game . He is long and athletic and can jump out of the gym . The most impressive part of his game comes off of rebounds if he gets an offensive rebound its going back up quickly on the defensive rebound kid is going the length of the court in a flash . Compares to Tyler Cook of Iowa or Reggie Lynch of Minnesota although he is slightly less talented but more athletic . He could play the 3, 4, or 5 for us .

Eden Ewing he will play the 4 he is not a 5 he is a good solid player who won't hurt you . IMO he will play for us but unlikely to be a starter .

My 2018 starting 5 with the current roster Eastern, Cline, Edwards, Wheeler, and Taylor . We will be long and athletic .

I recently talked to Phinisee's hs coach a long time personal friend of mine he said Rob has not expressed a favorite . In his opinion it will come down to where he feels comfortable . Coach Peckinpaugh said he gets calls from teams inquiring about Rob endlessly he tells them all that Rob is open to the entire recruiting process . I have watched him play several times this year kid is legit he is going to play wherever he goes . I like our chances with him there is no doubt that he is a Purdue fan always has been .

IMO the next 5 we sign will be Isaac's buddy 7'2 Adam Trapp from Esko Mn. 2018 class he is as close to a lock as any recruit I have tracked since entire 2012 class .
I don't think Taylor ever sees the court at Purdue again.
 
We are supposed to have a great shooter in every class

Who's the shooter in the next class?
Not Eastern, Wheeler or Haarms
Stefanovic is only 38%

I wouldn't really look at high school players' percentages.

Often times, they're asked to shoulder a HUGE load, and take difficult shots, thus lowering their shooting percentage significantly.
 
Not sure about Phinisee, but I know Eastern's "strength" isn't his outside shooting. He's capable, but he's not in the class of a Mathias, Cline, Carsen, or Vince from 3.


PJ came in and had a glaring weakness of outside shooting. Now he is a very consistent shooter. Traditionally, PGs aren't dead eye shooters. Eastern is more than capabale of shooting, especially after a year or two to get used to the college game. Sasha will be a very good replacement for Mathias. Very similar type players. Phinisee can drive and pass. You can Improve shooting, but you can't teach athleticism and he has a very good feel for the game. I would love to see a three guard lineup, but I agree that we need to make sure we have capable shooters. Otherwise we could fall prey to what IU currently suffers from. One of the reasons why I love the addition of Sasha. It is really difficult to find a guard like Boogie that can slash, shoot, and pass at a high level. It is unlikely we pick a player up like that every year. I would hate to miss out on a player like Phinisee because we think we can land somebody "better" and miss out. If he wants to come to Purdue, sign him up!
 
PJ came in and had a glaring weakness of outside shooting. Now he is a very consistent shooter. Traditionally, PGs aren't dead eye shooters. Eastern is more than capabale of shooting, especially after a year or two to get used to the college game. Sasha will be a very good replacement for Mathias. Very similar type players. Phinisee can drive and pass. You can Improve shooting, but you can't teach athleticism and he has a very good feel for the game. I would love to see a three guard lineup, but I agree that we need to make sure we have capable shooters. Otherwise we could fall prey to what IU currently suffers from. One of the reasons why I love the addition of Sasha. It is really difficult to find a guard like Boogie that can slash, shoot, and pass at a high level. It is unlikely we pick a player up like that every year. I would hate to miss out on a player like Phinisee because we think we can land somebody "better" and miss out. If he wants to come to Purdue, sign him up!
Bad example to use. PJ could shoot in high school. Shooting was never a weakness for PJ. He always could shoot despite what his freshman numbers might have looked like. He got better through practice and shot selection. But PJ could shoot. If you are shooting 35+% on high volume attempts in high school as the primary offensive threat on your team, you are a shooter.

I am fine with signing Phinisee. I want him to come espcially as he is a local kid. But I am very wary of loading up on a college team that can't shoot. It's a recipe for disaster here at Purdue. As limited as our team was in Humel's 5th year, we still made the NCAA and won one tourney game just on the strength of our 3 point shooting (Robbie, Rhyne, DJ Bird). The next 2 years, we had good athletes but never had a line up with more than 2 shooters. Both were disasters
 
Bad example to use. PJ could shoot in high school. Shooting was never a weakness for PJ. He always could shoot despite what his freshman numbers might have looked like. He got better through practice and shot selection. But PJ could shoot. If you are shooting 35+% on high volume attempts in high school as the primary offensive threat on your team, you are a shooter.

I am fine with signing Phinisee. I want him to come espcially as he is a local kid. But I am very wary of loading up on a college team that can't shoot. It's a recipe for disaster here at Purdue. As limited as our team was in Humel's 5th year, we still made the NCAA and won one tourney game just on the strength of our 3 point shooting (Robbie, Rhyne, DJ Bird). The next 2 years, we had good athletes but never had a line up with more than 2 shooters. Both were disasters
*****
being friends with a guy who has a nephew that played AAU with PJ and is now on the IUPUI team as a forward...with "little" interest from Iowa and Purdue he told me when PJ was offered that he was a very good shooter, but didn't think he would play any. So from one that knows more than most that told me he could shoot...I tend to believe like you...an adjustment was needed. THAT said, it does appear to me that his shooting pocker is lower this year...
 
So we are obsessed with shooters now but I see lots of complaints about us not getting the athletes each game in which our guards struggle to keep their man from getting to the basket. There is such a thing as balance and taking Phinisee doesn't mean Painter can't add another shooter as well. I still would like to get him and think he and Eastern would compliment each other fairly well at the PG position.
 
So we are obsessed with shooters now but I see lots of complaints about us not getting the athletes each game in which our guards struggle to keep their man from getting to the basket. There is such a thing as balance and taking Phinisee doesn't mean Painter can't add another shooter as well. I still would like to get him and think he and Eastern would compliment each other fairly well at the PG position.
I agree with the balance. still prefer at least one of our 1 or 2 guards to be a consistent shooter. We can have a 2/3 thats a primary shooter or primary athlete whos minutes depend on match needs, a stretch 4 and a center. That way, we can put in a line-up with 3 shooters. Shooting deficient line-ups scare me. I'm still traumatized by the Johnson era. People blamed character, culture, fit. The actual problem was recruiting balance.
 
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We talk about this season and next season being excellent opportunities to make deep NCAA runs

But 2019 won't be too shabby - we should at least make the NCAA tournament. The guard play will be excellent with plenty of returning minutes in Carsen, Eastern, Cline plus whatever we get from the front court of Taylor, Haarms, Ewing.
Purdue needs to get away from "not too shabby"...it has a long history of such, but needs to develop one of being more than that...had an opprtunity with Hummel, Johnson and Moore to do that and failed to do it after...have/had that same opportunity in this three-year window including last year and needs to do so this time.
 
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Purdue needs to get away from "not too shabby"...it has a long history of such, but needs to develop one of being more than that...had an opprtunity with Hummel, Johnson and Moore to do that and failed to do it after...have/had that same opportunity in this three-year window including last year and needs to do so this time.
We have a very balanced team. Probably the best offensive team I have seen in 17 years of following Purdue basketball. The only time we have ever had a starting 5 all capable of taking and making 3's. We also have a nice mix of drivers, and down-low bangers. We play good defence too in spurts and have an all-american candidate. We have to make some noise this year!
 
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Everything is based on Taylor if he can stay healthy or not. I agree that he's the natural blocker in our team but he just cannot stay healthy. The team we have right now is lack of athleticism, CMP cannot put Haas, Mathias, Albrecht and PJ on the court at the same time, lineup like this is a huge disaster because they're not athletic enough to speed up. After PSU game I think our defect is pretty obvious, we have smartest players but intelligence is not the only thing important, we also need speed. Based on our next year's roster I think CMP really wants to make some improvement.
From what I see so far, Wheeler is really athletic, and he has some dunk skills similar to Bridges, remember Bridges in high school was a twirling dunker. His speed can be a great help to us. Even though Haarms is listed as F now but based on what I saw in training that they are training him like a 5. The difference between Haas and Haarms is that Haarms is more like AJ, he's skinny and has speed, Haas is too slow and he cannot jump high enough to block, maybe he can be a blocker as well. Maybe he's not good enough to stay inside like Haas but remember Michigan's Wagner, he's 6'11 from Germany, big Europeans don't usually stay inside and they prefer to stay outside and shoot. If Haarms is a great shooter, it doesn't matter if he plays 4 or 5, all depends on Painter's decision. I don't know much about Ewing but he kinda looks like Vince, he can play 3 or 4. The only thing I'm sure about is that he cannot be RSed. About Sasha, he's still raw. If Epperson or some other guys commit, he will be guaranteed RS. He looks like Dakota and if we build him up he can easily get into defense role. And one more thing about him, he can dunk, so let's say that he's more athletic than Dakota. When Mathias first came, he didn't shoot this well but he improved a lot. Sometimes they just need time to improve.
 
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good post, daisy rail

why can't ewing redshirt? i would have thought he has 3 years to finish his eligibility


Everything is based on Taylor if he can stay healthy or not. I agree that he's the natural blocker in our team but he just cannot stay healthy. The team we have right now is lack of athleticism, CMP cannot put Haas, Mathias, Albrecht and PJ on the court at the same time, lineup like this is a huge disaster because they're not athletic enough to speed up. After PSU game I think our defect is pretty obvious, we have smartest players but intelligence is not the only thing important, we also need speed. Based on our next year's roster I think CMP really wants to make some improvement.
From what I see so far, Wheeler is really athletic, and he has some dunk skills similar to Bridges, remember Bridges in high school was a twirling dunker. His speed can be a great help to us. Even though Haarms is listed as F now but based on what I saw in training that they are training him like a 5. The difference between Haas and Haarms is that Haarms is more like AJ, he's skinny and has speed, Haas is too slow and he cannot jump high enough to block, maybe he can be a blocker as well. Maybe he's not good enough to stay inside like Haas but remember Michigan's Wagner, he's 6'11 from Germany, big Europeans don't usually stay inside and they prefer to stay outside and shoot. If Haarms is a great shooter, it doesn't matter if he plays 4 or 5, all depends on Painter's decision. I don't know much about Ewing but he kinda looks like Vince, he can play 3 or 4. The only thing I'm sure about is that he cannot be RSed. About Sasha, he's still raw. If Epperson or some other guys commit, he will be guaranteed RS. He looks like Dakota and if we build him up he can easily get into defense role. And one more thing about him, he can dunk, so let's say that he's more athletic than Dakota. When Mathias first came, he didn't shoot this well but he improved a lot. Sometimes they just need time to improve.
 
We are supposed to have a great shooter in every class

Who's the shooter in the next class?
Not Eastern, Wheeler or Haarms
Stefanovic is only 38%
Wheeler is a 4 and his best feature is speed, he's surprisingly fast but I doubt he shoots. I think Eastern will be able to shoot it's just not his best feature, he likes to drive around like Carsen. If Haarms stays outside he can definitely shoot but he's more likely to be built into a 5.
 
I think we will find when SS gets here, his shooting is better than the 38% reported....simply because he is not "the man" that draws all the defenders like he does in HS. SS is reported to be a great shooter with long range. Prob. alot like Smith was on his HS team...just got alot of harassment as the main guy. Came here, and by JR & SR year was shooting in low 43%+ from three.
 
I think we will find when SS gets here, his shooting is better than the 38% reported....simply because he is not "the man" that draws all the defenders like he does in HS. SS is reported to be a great shooter with long range. Prob. alot like Smith was on his HS team...just got alot of harassment as the main guy. Came here, and by JR & SR year was shooting in low 43%+ from three.
Agree, he's pretty good at long range.
 
Aaron Wheeler is, in fact, a really good shooter from the 3 point line as well as in the mid-range area. I watched a recent game on YouTube (Tilton School Varsity Basketball vs. Brewster Academy on Feb. 20, 2017) The link is ) where he knocked down 3-3 from the 3 point line. Finished with 14 points or so with a couple of highlight dunks. Kid is going to be better than advertised!
 
If wheeler can shoot some, with his length and athleticism. that would be awesome.
 
The real value of a shot blocker is to effect the shooter. Blocking 2 or 3 shots a game is nice, but the value is twofold 1. Getting shooters to alter their shot 2. Getting shooters to shoot further out.

Haas is not a great shot blocker, but he is a rim protector. When Haas is in there I see many big men miss easy shots, because Haas is in good defensive position. I also see a decrease of players driving to the basket for either a layup or a pull up short jump shot. It seemed that when PSU came back late in the game, they made a lot of short jump shots with Haas out of the line up.

One thing I would like to see is when a guard drives not to the rim, but takes it to the backboard (for a bank shot layup) is for Haas to diagnose that and swoop over in anticipation. If he makes one of these sensational blocks ala AJ before the end of the season, this is good PR. The downside is if the driver does not take the shot, then Haas is terribly out of position.
 
The real value of a shot blocker is to effect the shooter. Blocking 2 or 3 shots a game is nice, but the value is twofold 1. Getting shooters to alter their shot 2. Getting shooters to shoot further out.

Haas is not a great shot blocker, but he is a rim protector. When Haas is in there I see many big men miss easy shots, because Haas is in good defensive position. I also see a decrease of players driving to the basket for either a layup or a pull up short jump shot. It seemed that when PSU came back late in the game, they made a lot of short jump shots with Haas out of the line up.

One thing I would like to see is when a guard drives not to the rim, but takes it to the backboard (for a bank shot layup) is for Haas to diagnose that and swoop over in anticipation. If he makes one of these sensational blocks ala AJ before the end of the season, this is good PR. The downside is if the driver does not take the shot, then Haas is terribly out of position.





 
Those videos are all fine and dandy, but Haas averages 1.6 blocks per 40 minutes.

Those are not the stats of a shot blocker.

For comparison, Hammons averaged 5 blocks per 40 mins his Soph year, 4.6 his Junior Year, and 4.1 his Senior year.

Haas definitely has been better in terms of altering shots and help defense, but he's no shot blocker.

No argument here, Deac.

He can still be an intimidating force and alter some shots.....but he's definitely a different defender than AJH.
 
No argument here, Deac.

He can still be an intimidating force and alter some shots.....but he's definitely a different defender than AJH.

Definitely an intimidating force and I really do think he's improved his shot-altering. Hey, and as your videos show, he's had a few nice blocks himself.

I think as as the season has gone on, they have both gotten better at positioning themselves against guys driving into the lane to force a difficult shot.
 
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