Predictions for MVP, Best Newcomer & MIP

[SnowLeopard]

I think the first 2 categories will pretty much turn out the way we expected

Davis or Hammons will be team MVP, and Swanigan or Hill will be Best Newcomer

The most interesting one will be the Most Improved Player. PJ, Vince, Haas, Mathias, Stephens, Smotherman could all stake a claim.

My hunch is that it will be Stephens. Last preseason, many believed he would be the leading and go-to scorer for this team. That did not happen primarily because of injuries. He seems fully recovered now and has developed a couple more offensive moves. He could well be our leading scorer this year. It is amazing that there is so little attention on Stephens amongst the fans right now.

 

[Ryneforpresident]

MVP AJ, newcomer Swanigan, MiP Mathias

 

[mathboy]

I think the first 2 categories will pretty much turn out the way we expected

Davis or Hammons will be team MVP, and Swanigan or Hill will be Best Newcomer

The most interesting one will be the Most Improved Player. PJ, Vince, Haas, Mathias, Stephens, Smotherman could all stake a claim.

My hunch is that it will be Stephens. Last preseason, many believed he would be the leading and go-to scorer for this team. That did not happen primarily because of injuries. He seems fully recovered now and has developed a couple more offensive moves. He could well be our leading scorer this year. It is amazing that there is so little attention on Stephens amongst the fans right now.

Your comment on Stephens is dead-on. Last year at the beginning of the season, he was our leading scorer. He seemed to be able to hit extraordinary long shots with nothing but net. I expect some of that noise we hear from down south about not having proven shooters will fade away once Stephens gets unlimbered.

I see us with a terrific inside passing game between Edwards, Swanigan and AJ, with Mathias and especially Stephens waiting for the kick out for an open 3. I think the offensive muscle on this team is going to surprise a lot of amatuer experts. It's going to be fun.

MVP = AJ Hammons
Best newcomer = Swanigan
Most Improved = Stephens

These will also be our top 3 scorers as well, maybe in that order.

 

[choptalk]

Basketball can't get here soon enough! I think Mathias' shooting will improve.

 

[Boiler Buck]

My hunch is that it will be Stephens. Last preseason, many believed he would be the leading and go-to scorer for this team. That did not happen primarily because of injuries. He seems fully recovered now and has developed a couple more offensive moves. He could well be our leading scorer this year. It is amazing that there is so little attention on Stephens amongst the fans right now.

Maybe so little talk because of letdown in expectations? For me, I have been disappointed in Stephens development....prob. because I expected him to be a huge scorer as a top 60 recruit known for draining threes and scoring, thus I hope what you say is correct as that would be a big jump and turn around my assessment of his play. I think he has the potential, NBA type 2G length, and would LOVE to see that type of output on the floor one expects from a top 60 guy with his length and shooting potential.

 

[proudopete]

I think the first 2 categories will pretty much turn out the way we expected

Davis or Hammons will be team MVP, and Swanigan or Hill will be Best Newcomer

The most interesting one will be the Most Improved Player. PJ, Vince, Haas, Mathias, Stephens, Smotherman could all stake a claim.

My hunch is that it will be Stephens. Last preseason, many believed he would be the leading and go-to scorer for this team. That did not happen primarily because of injuries. He seems fully recovered now and has developed a couple more offensive moves. He could well be our leading scorer this year. It is amazing that there is so little attention on Stephens amongst the fans right now.

Hammons, Swanigan and Stephens.

I agree that we have several guys who can make a leap this year in their games. I feel Edwards would be the easiest to improve as I felt last year he wasn't aggressive enough. It seems he could really do some damage if he looked to score more.
Ray of course will improve and that has to be a scary thought for other teams. He could be a little more aggressive as well offensively as I think he has the skills to take a game over.
Imagine Haas after a year of experience and a summer banging with AJ, Swanigan and Taylor. If he could improve his free throw shooting and his hands a little he could be the best 6th man in the league.
If Mathias continues to improve as he did late last year. I put him in the running for best 6th man as well.
I wouldn't sleep on Basil. That kid has the skills. Now that he has two years of experience, I could see his confidence soar and raise him to a level many folks don't expect from him.

So many options. This should be an awesome season.

 

[thenagemj02]

I have no idea. I think the fanbase consensus for MVP is probably going to be between Davis, Edwards, and Hammons. The best newcomer will probably be Hill, because he has the experience and is proven at the 1 but maybe Swanigan will be more of a standout impact player as a frosh than I am anticipating. The two I have seen mentioned as already looking more improved this offseason are Edwards and Mathias. I will go with Edwards as MIP. I believe he can be an all-around stud.

OP, who would you say was the MVP, best newcomer, and MIP of this past season?

 

[GipperProductions]

I think the first 2 categories will pretty much turn out the way we expected

Davis or Hammons will be team MVP, and Swanigan or Hill will be Best Newcomer

The most interesting one will be the Most Improved Player. PJ, Vince, Haas, Mathias, Stephens, Smotherman could all stake a claim.

My hunch is that it will be Stephens. Last preseason, many believed he would be the leading and go-to scorer for this team. That did not happen primarily because of injuries. He seems fully recovered now and has developed a couple more offensive moves. He could well be our leading scorer this year. It is amazing that there is so little attention on Stephens amongst the fans right now.

Taylor could turn out to be a real defensive pain in the you know what to Caleb in practice if he's totally healed and along with Basil give us a 5 minute bust of super energy

 

[woggy718]

How about DPOY? Hammons or Davis?

 

[PU pit bull]

Haas may be my MIP. Just having a year under his belt, learning the ropes physically and mentally from the likes of AJ, has got to equate to a much improved player. Kid is certainly going to be wise to all the bullsh*t calls the officials made last season. Look out for Haaszilla this season!
I really can't wait to see what Taylor, Cline, and Hill bring to the table as well. Damn, I just realized that I haven't even mentioned Caleb, Stephens, Basil, Davis, PJ, Vince, etc.

LET THE BEATINGS BEGIN!!!!!

 

[purdue4sure]

Taylor could turn out to be a real defensive pain in the you know what to Caleb in practice if he's totally healed and along with Basil give us a 5 minute bust of super energy

This. I hope he's in the mix for MIP.

That's what makes this season so promising. If all of the players are healthy and show improvement, this could be a special season.

 

[Schnelk]

Uhhh, you ready for hoops Pit??? hahaha! Me too.
Oh, and I love it: Haaszilla! I can hear BOC when you say that

 

[PU pit bull]

Uhhh, you ready for hoops Pit??? hahaha! Me too.
Oh, and I love it: Haaszilla! I can hear BOC when you say that

I'm ready Freddy!!!! I will ALWAYS pull for PU in football, but I am passionate about PU basketball. I have killed in the name of PU basketball......

 

[CRBoiler]

MVP: AJ Hammons. This is his year to dominate. I'm confident he's putting in the work to be ready. If not AJ, then it could be Biggie, Vince, Davis, Stephens, or even Mathias. We have a lot of highly valuable players this year IMO.
Newcomer: Caleb Swanigan is the safe bet, though Hill or even Cline could surprise
Most Improved: Dakota Mathias. I vote for Dakota because he improved at a fast rate last season (& also throughout HS), and this year he seems healthy from the start. I think he will continue to get better and better. I realize I am in the minority, but I think Dakota will end up starting at point.

 

[gokandaly]

MVP - Davis
Newcomer - Swanigan
Most Improved - Dakota, although I'm a believer in PJ and think he's going to be very solid

 

[thenagemj02]

How about DPOY? Hammons or Davis?

I'm going to go with Hammons right now. I still think he can improve in doing things such as guarding high ball-screens or coming over for weakside help at the right moment. I think Davis could improve in generating more steals such as when his man picks up or is lazy with their dribble. I think he could anticipate a little bit better and pick off some telegraphed passes as well.

Last season's team was improved but they still weren't scoring points off of steals (or turnovers in general) at the level of say, the Kramer-Grant Purdue teams.

 

[sixpackpete]

I am not saying that it is going to happen but if Davis works on effectively filling in at the point 10 minutes or more while remaining the defensive stopper AND hitting from the field like he did late last year he could very well be the MVP.

 

[GS Thomas]

Hammons, Swanigan, Edwards

 

[PU52Chevy]

AJ-MVP (alt-Davis)
Biggie-NC (alt- Hill)
Taylor-MIP (alt-Stephens)

Taylor is the man...taking that train thru his Senior year and beyond...he will be my favorite all the way until he graduates...love his passion for Purdue and hoops!

 

[BoilerExpress]

MVP - AJH
Newcomer - Swanigan
MIP - Mathias (close 2nd would be Stephens IMO)

 

[02Boilermaker]

Put me in the camp that thinks Kendall can show some real improvement this season. While his frosh & soph numbers ended up being fairly similar, he was on a trajectory of improvement until that finger injury hit. I can't remember anyone trying to quantify the effects of the injury, so I went to the game logs to give it a try...

-FT% after the injury was 63.6% vs 76.9% pre-injury vs 86.5% as a frosh
-3pt% after the injury was 32.9% vs 42.9% pre-injury vs 37% as a frosh
-Kendall scored in double figures in 10 of 18 games before the finger injury against Illinois. He only did that in 3 of 15 games after the injury. As a freshman, he was in double figures in 11 of 32 games.

Of course, the B1G competition he faced after the injury was tougher than the mostly non-conf slate before he got hurt. Yet, that FT% shouldn't really depend on opponent & was the most startling drop-off to me. I'm hoping a healthy Kendall (who I thought showed better shot selection as the season progressed, of course that's purely subjective) will thrive with defenses concerned with yet another big scoring option on the floor for Purdue this season.

 

[Matt18Jones]

MVP Hammons
Newcomer Swanigan
MIP Basil Smotherman