Torvik has Bruce Thorton as the best BT player.
Stopped reading right here. In no way shape or form do we (well me at least) care what anything related to anything named for the little sisters to the south.
Bruce Thornton has a pretty good case as being the best player.
And so does Braden “Brady” Smith
Thorton is a nice player. He shot 43% from the field and 33% from three last season. Even if you believe that Braden's assist stats are inflated by Zach's presence he's a far more efficient scorer and much better rebounder than Thorton. Oh, and by the way as a point guard, he averages 50% more assists than Bruce.
I remember him having a mid range game, but can't recall how well he runs the team (did he play some 1?) or 3pt shooting. He was physical in the mid range game I'm thinking, but I'm drawing a blank on other things since I only got to see him a bit.
I think you could say that their non-conference schedule rankings have stayed pretty consistent throughout the last few years. The only shot they possibly have of getting enough wins to get into the NCAA Tournament is to pad that pre BT schedule.
I'm not sure we've fully seen the real Smith or Thornton yet. Both should be in the Top 3 for B1G POY. I'm sure there will be some completely random 3rd guy because that's just the norm. Maybe Sandfort from Iowa or something.
Dude, don’t you know!? They’re playing the system! They’re so smart! Why play against P5 teams when you can play cupcakes that you (should) smash by 20 and pad your resume with those wins?! All the blue bloods are doing it….oh wait…all the top teams are doing it….oh wait…IU always wins by 15-20 against these type of teams right?! RIGHT!?
Can you elaborate on what you mean by that? I'd expect both to continue to improve and there are certainly questions on how Braden's role changes without Zach. What do you think we may see from Thorton that we haven't seen yet aside from overall improvement with another year of experience?
Well you alluded to it with Smith. We have no clue how he will pay when he's the #1 priority of an offense an of the opposing teams defense. As for Thornton, he's had to play for a bad coach and bad teams so we will get to see more of how he plays on what should be a much better Ohio State team. In 11 games with Diebler he averaged 15.6 points, 6.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds. Shot 35.6% from 3 and Ohio State went 7-4, including a win over Purdue where he had 22 points. For context, he averaged 15.8 points under Holtman but less assists, rebounds and shot worse from the field.
Smith won't be the #1 priority for Purdue offensively.
Why would he not be? He's the best player on the team and the best offensive player.
He's the point guard so of course he'll have the ball in his hands. But I'd wager we are still very post-centric with TKR and to a lesser extent Jacobsen. And when not leveraging the post, we will be looking for a lot of shooters.
If we are post centric with the positions 1-3 we have this year, we aren’t going to be using our strengths to the fullest ability and don’t think we will be that successful.
We will see. In the only game that Zach Edey missed in his career, TKR had 24 points. And TKR was the leading scorer on the European trip that Edey missed as well.
Correct. And that’s how the offense was setup…last year and the year before. New players. New strategy. New offense (well maybe back to motion and a lot of “MOVE”). Braden is our best player and just like Zach, will be the guy.
Braden was the #1 priority in high school as were many players in college. However, it wasn't his scoring that brought him to Purdue. It was his ability to control a game, his vision to see things things in advance and pass the ball exceptionally. That is what brought him to Purdue. Those metrics are sometimes obscure to some. That said, he can score and will score, but his greatest love is to win and do whatever he needs to do to make that happen. Sometimes he scores and sometimes he defers to a teammate. He would tell you that he loves assists. He was set on taking Purdue to the final four when he committed, but we didn't know it would happen due to things that just happen, but it did in his second year. If a person measures Braden on typical metrics, his very strong intangibles that affect the game may not be noticed.
Cool bro. No one is saying anything bad about Smith. You don't have to convince anyone about him.
Back burner? Is that what you read in these comments?
never took it that way. Just saying that metrics may not measure him accurately
I think you’re missing the point, which is Braden can dominate the game without being the #1 scoring option. If teams allow him to score he can kill you with dribble penetration, pull ups and three point shooting but it they scheme to limit his looks, which they may this year, he can be just as effective creating open looks for teammates.
Sure. But Smith's usage rate will probably be about the highest in the B1G. And it should be.
Go ahead and say it mr reese. Its the basketball IQ thing.
It is and some say his younger brother is very much that way.
If you include assists in your usage calculation, maybe, but I'm not sure he'll be a Buie / Shannon usage guy in terms of scoring. If it gets close to that level he's likely the BTPOY and a first team AA.
Westfield?It is and some say his younger brother is very much that way.
If we are saying he's the best player in the B1G... Then he's B1G POY and 1st team AA right?
Well then he's gnna have to average 18+ ppg, 7+ apg. And a 30+ percent usage rate will get him there. Edey was at 33.4% last year. I'd say Smith will be in the 28-30 range. Smith will also need to up his shooting percentage inside the 3 point line and he can easily get to that 18+ ppg.
Yep. Exactly what Cassius Winston did. He upped his ppg from 12->18 and won BTPOTY and was an AA First team his jr year. Braden can do the same.
