Mathias

[GodFamilyCountryPurdue]

I've been busy since going to the game Saturday and I know I read a thread on here somewhere about Dakota, but I'm going to start a new one anyways. Dakota has improved tremendously on man-to-man defense! I was very pleased with what I saw Saturday with him defending Rice. He stuck with him and made him work for everything he got (when he was on him). He even drew the charge (which was a bad call, but I'll take it). He moves his feet very well and keeps his hands off his man. Now that he has that part of his game shored up (which was probably hurting due to illness), he is becoming a fantastic all-around player. His shot is starting to fall, his defense is vastly improved, and he's 110% hustle. If AJ stays, we're going to be a very dangerous team next year. We're starting to be that this year. I like it.

 

[*4purdue*]

I think both Mathias and Stephens have improved defensively. DM is ahead of KS on offense right now. KS needs to work on his passing skills and get some confidence in his shot.

 

[BoilerNGold013]

I've said this a lot but I have been shocked at Dakota's improvement on the defensive end. To play the type of defense that he did on Rice, you have got to be a pretty damn good athlete. He is the type of defender that Byrd never was. He can guard 1-3 at a high level. He has great lateral quickness and quick hands. I don't know if he can dunk or not but his vertical athleticism is shockingly good. Imo, other these last four games, he is already at the same level of a senior Ryne Smith.
His and Vince's defense has come light-years from what it was during the non-conference. Also, I wish Stephens could bring the same discipline he now has on the defensive to his offensive game. The passes he makes are just freaking terrible!

 

[purduepete87]

Ditto regarding his D. I think he has gotten into better shape during the course of the season. His body looks better, as if he has lost or re-distributed 10-15 lbs.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[GodFamilyCountryPurdue]

Yes. Stephens has been more aggressive on defense lately. I think he's always been a good defender, but these last few games he's turned it up. It's nice to see that his offensive slump hasn't caused him to slack on defense (lately).

 

[Purdue Grad in Texas]

Originally posted by purduepete87:
Ditto regarding his D. I think he has gotten into better shape during the course of the season. His body looks better, as if he has lost or re-distributed 10-15 lbs.

Posted from Rivals Mobile

He was coming off an illness at the beginning of the season too.

He made some nice steals late in the year.

 

[Boiler Buck]

Agree. Dakota has been tremendous in terms of improvement this year. Big question marks early on caused by the coach who over hyped him a bit while at the same time Dakota played like crap.

Now he is producing big time on both ends, just fantastic improvement from the beginning. Very impressed.

As far as him and Stephens, Stephens will probably improve now that he knows he has big time competition who has supplanted him at his spot. Best thing for him really. And Cline coming in next year will be great competition for both too, unless Painter red shirts him which could be a possibility due to the having luxury of having both Matthias and Stevens @ the 2. But Cline's talent could just as easily go ahead and just pass up Stephens too....maybe even Dakota....wouldn't that be a cool deal?

 

[PU52Chevy]

The chance to have 3 of the following 4 in the PG and SG spot that can shoot: PJ, Stephens Mathias and Cline on the floor at the same time will keep defenses honest and open the middle.

Insert Edwards who can also shoot at the 4 spot............

Opens the middle for AJ, Haas and Taylor.


Life is good...............no red shirts.

 

[purduefan101]

Mathias has quickly become my favorite player on this team. He reminds me A LOT of Robbie. The offense clicks when he's in the game...

This guy gets it...

 

[Lionheart1]

Can Mathias take Octeus' place next year?

 

[iuindy05]

IU alum who comes around here, but never posts out of respect for this is a Purdue board.

But, I can't help myself on this one....Redshirt Cline?? Are you crazy?? That kid should be your first Mr. Basketball since Glenn Robinson and although I am no sort of expert, I totally agree with Dan Dakich that Cline deserves to be a McDonald's All-American.

That is all i needed to say....

 

[lbodel]

When Mathias came, he was referred to as Ryne Smith, but ahead of Ryne Smith and with more potential (which Ryne himself said he was extremely ahead of).

Mathias has improved his defensive play in one season as much as Ryne Smith did in 3 years. And that's no knock on Ryne cause he dramatically changed while at Purdue.

I'm excited to have Dakota for 3 more years.

 

[nagemj02]

Originally posted by BoilerNGold013:
I've said this a lot but I have been shocked at Dakota's improvement on the defensive end. To play the type of defense that he did on Rice, you have got to be a pretty damn good athlete. He is the type of defender that Byrd never was.

Hey, give Byrd some credit. He was a very physical defender and drew as many charges as anyone I can think of in recent Boilermaker history.

With that (said), Mathias definitely is quicker laterally and I too am surprised by how quick he looked guarding Rayvonte Rice and co. on Saturday. Let's not go overboard with praise about him, but it was sort of impressive. I suppose his lingering injuries might be gone now.

 

[BoilerFan#35]

Dakota is a strong on ball defender still gets lost off the ball though.

 

[lbodel]

DJ Byrd is not a comparison to Mathias. Byrd was 6'5" 225-230, basically a small forward. Mathias is 6'4", under 200 pounds. And I'd doubt if he's ever much over 200.

 

[JohnnyDoeBoiler]

I don't think Coach Painter over hyped him at all. The issue was that Dakota was dealing with the long term after effects of mono (can be an issue for close to a year) along with I believe the flu or something else at the start of the year. Now that his body is healthy and he has caught up physically, Dakota has been able to get to his full ability level at the end of the year.

 

[Boiler Buck]

Originally posted by JohnnyDoeBoiler:
I don't think Coach Painter over hyped him at all. The issue was that Dakota was dealing with the long term after effects of mono (can be an issue for close to a year) along with I believe the flu or something else at the start of the year. Now that his body is healthy and he has caught up physically, Dakota has been able to get to his full ability level at the end of the year.

Painter said something to the effect that Mathias was the greatest passer he ever saw.... I have not seen that yet.

Love the kids improvement and deserves the starting role, but IMO Painter did overhype the kid early on.

 

[Frankie611]

ginally posted by iuindy05:
IU alum who comes around here, but never posts out of respect for this is a Purdue board.

But, I can't help myself on this one....Redshirt Cline?? Are you crazy?? That kid should be your first Mr. Basketball since Glenn Robinson and although I am no sort of expert, I totally agree with Dan Dakich that Cline deserves to be a McDonald's All-American.

That is all i needed to say....

Thanks for the input and l agree no redshirt. You seem really high on Cline, have you seen him play?

 

[Boiler Buck]

Originally posted by Frankie611:

ginally posted by iuindy05:
IU alum who comes around here, but never posts out of respect for this is a Purdue board.

But, I can't help myself on this one....Redshirt Cline?? Are you crazy?? That kid should be your first Mr. Basketball since Glenn Robinson and although I am no sort of expert, I totally agree with Dan Dakich that Cline deserves to be a McDonald's All-American.

That is all i needed to say....

Thanks for the input and l agree no redshirt. You seem really high on Cline, have you seen him play?

I think my red shirt comment was taken out of context....as I also said wouldn't it be cool if he passed up both Mathias and Stephens. (Cline is an offensive stud; one just doesn't know at this point about his D).

I think Cline is Mathias 2.0. Will be great to have two go to shooters. The only way he would RS is if he can't D it up like Smith was in his first year....where Painter admitted it was prob. the thing that should have been done with him because of his D.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

I agree with Painter. Mathias is probably the best passer that Painter has had as a freshman. Hummel was excellent, as is Edwards, but comparing freshman years only, I think that Mathias is at least their equal.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[dumpsterFyre]

Dare I say, Dakota has already surpassed Kendall Stephens in many aspects of the game. Kendall improved his ball handling and perimeter defense this year.

However, Dakota's on-ball defense, ball-handling, passing, and court vision are still much better. This is no knock on Kendall, but rather an endorsement of Dakota to be in the starting lineup.

 

[lbodel]

There's not really a reason it needs to be either/or.

Given that Stephens and Mathias are both above average passers, playing them with Davis wouldn't be out of the question. They'd be 3 solid defenders, 2 solid shooters and 1 physical guard. Not to mention your shortest player would be 6'4".

Not saying this would happen as a starting 5 or 20+ minutes a game, but it's a very viable line-up.

 

[BBG]

Originally posted by lbodel:
There's not really a reason it needs to be either/or.

Given that Stephens and Mathias are both above average passers, playing them with Davis wouldn't be out of the question. They'd be 3 solid defenders, 2 solid shooters and 1 physical guard. Not to mention your shortest player would be 6'4".

Not saying this would happen as a starting 5 or 20+ minutes a game, but it's a very viable line-up.

Didn't that already happen? I could of sworn I've seen a lineup here recently similar to what you just described.

 

[vilehoopster]

I think we forget how good Hummel was as a freshman. After his freshmen year, that the following fall, he was the Pre-Season Big Ten Player of the year. Now Hummel never won player of the year in the Big Ten, but still, I don't see Mathias (as good as he has become) being voted next fall as the upcoming Big Ten player of the year.

 

[lbodel]

I don't know if I remember Mathias and Stephens playing together, but maybe it has happened.

 

[GodFamilyCountryPurdue]

I just love how people keep hating on Davis. The guy who's leading our team in 3pt % during B1G play isn't even considered a "solid shooter" by some fans. (smh)

 

[GodFamilyCountryPurdue]

Originally posted by lbodel:
DJ Byrd is not a comparison to Mathias. Byrd was 6'5" 225-230, basically a small forward. Mathias is 6'4", under 200 pounds. And I'd doubt if he's ever much over 200.

Huh? DJ came to Purdue at 6'4" 195. Dakota came here at 6'4" 190. They both play the same position.

 

[olafmetal]

Originally posted by GodFamilyCountryPurdue:
I just love how people keep hating on Davis. The guy who's leading our team in 3pt % during B1G play isn't even considered a "solid shooter" by some fans. (smh)

I recall quite a few pre-season line up predictions that didn't even include him as a starter. I also remember reading multiple times (although it may have been the same person repeating themselves) that Ray was too slow to guard guards and too small to guard fours. The last part is probably accurate but the first part is a testament to how clueless some of the posts here can be.
I think all the sophomores and freshmen have lots of room for improvement. If they can emulate Ray and AJs improvement this year, next year could be a very fun year to watch.

 

[PU pit bull]

Either way, no matter how you slice it, CMP was correct about Mathias, among other things.

 

[Chuchumutha]

Originally posted by lbodel:
There's not really a reason it needs to be either/or.

Given that Stephens and Mathias are both above average passers, playing them with Davis wouldn't be out of the question. They'd be 3 solid defenders, 2 solid shooters and 1 physical guard. Not to mention your shortest player would be 6'4".

Not saying this would happen as a starting 5 or 20+ minutes a game, but it's a very viable line-up.

Stephens an above average passer? C'mon dude.

 

[BarringtonBoiler]

Dare I say, Dakota has already surpassed Kendall Stephens in many aspects of the game. Kendall improved his ball handling and perimeter defense this year.

However, Dakota's on-ball defense, ball-handling, passing, and court vision are still much better. This is no knock on Kendall, but rather an endorsement of Dakota to be in the starting lineup.


Maybe Kendall has reached his potential ceiling as they say! I have nothing against the kid, but I did see him in HS and he was not as impressive as was touted on this board, Having said that his HS career was short due to injuries, but maybe as I have said some kids hit their ceiling alot faster than we would like to admit! Hope I am wrong!

 

[lbodel]

Stephens and Mathias are our 2 best interior feeders, which is not easy to teach.

People have this stigma that he is some bad passes and turns the ball over all the time, but it's not true. He has 40 turnovers in 31 games. He has a lazy pass picked off (on the perimeter) mostly as his turnovers - which stick out because they probably lead to a transition basket.

Stephens' interior passing is a huge asset for Purdue.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

Stephens has more turnovers trying to feed the post than passing around the perimeter, I'm certain. He's a much better passer than he gets credit for on this board.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[BoilerDaddy]

My comparison with Hummel was only about passing as freshmen, not as all around players. Remember that Hummel didn't have a post scoring threat to feed. The '08 team was a 5 out 3 point shooting team.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Inspector100]

Originally posted by Chuchumutha:

Originally posted by lbodel:
There's not really a reason it needs to be either/or.

Given that Stephens and Mathias are both above average passers, playing them with Davis wouldn't be out of the question. They'd be 3 solid defenders, 2 solid shooters and 1 physical guard. Not to mention your shortest player would be 6'4".

Not saying this would happen as a starting 5 or 20+ minutes a game, but it's a very viable line-up.

Stephens an above average passer? C'mon dude.

+1