Our starting center | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Our starting center

Palatine said:
Here's the bottom line for me. IMHO opinion, Cobb is at his ceiling and Carlton is nowhere near his.
Expand ...
That's where we differ, the bottom line for me is who can better help us win the next 5 games. Cobb raised his ceiling a lot when he got in terrific shape during the off season, defense with respect to Cobb can be taught, with Carlton most of the offensive qualities he lacks either cannot period or can take much much longer for him to learn.
 
my2cents said:
Carlton should go into the Cement business. He is covered in the stuff.
He can jump about 8 inches, has cement in his shoes.
He catches more balls with his face and head, than his hands. Cement there too...
Expand ...
The bigger problem with Carlton is he doesn't even know when to jump. Leaving his feet and fouling Collins under the basket with his body was laughable. All he had to do was just stand there with his hands up but didn't have the instincts to do even that. That mistake led to two free throws for Collins at a critical time in the game.
 
huskyrob1 said:
The bigger problem with Carlton is he doesn't even know when to jump. Leaving his feet and fouling Collins under the basket with his body was laughable. All he had to do was just stand there with his hands up but didn't have the instincts to do even that. That mistake led to two free throws for Collins at a critical time in the game.
Expand ...
Don't underestmate that little head fake. Dan Issel made a HOF career out of it. It puts lots of guys into the paratrooper club. That said it wasn't a good look for Carlton. But overall defensively he is light years ahead of Cobb.

Cobb's reshaping of his body was impressive. And he is much better than Carlton on the offensive end. But we can score even when Cobb isn't. On defense only Yakwe provides the presence that Carlton does and we need that a whole lot more.
 
Palatine said:
Don't underestmate that little head fake. Dan Issel made a HOF career out of it. It puts lots of guys into the paratrooper club. That said it wasn't a good look for Carlton. But overall defensively he is light years ahead of Cobb.

Cobb's reshaping of his body was impressive. And he is much better than Carlton on the offensive end. But we can score even when Cobb isn't. On defense only Yakwe provides the presence that Carlton does and we need that a whole lot more.
Expand ...
Agree on Yakwe, but we need to keep the defense honest when we have the ball to free up Adams and Vital, we can do that with Cobb right now much more effectively than we can with Carlton. I will say that Carlton has improved his footwork but still needs a lot of work on offensive skills, something that is only going come during the off season.
 
Since every front court player is very one dimensional either on the defensive or offensive side, Hurley will have to make frequent substitutions for those positions. I'm talking like a substitution every minute or two of play. And couple that with a 3 to 4 guard lineup double teaming and recovering on the defensive end. Villanova has a similar system and are not known for their big men but they make it work. In other words Hurley will need to coach the hell out of this team in games.
 
.-.
UConn_Top_Dog said:
Villanova has a similar system and are not known for their big men but they make it work. In other words Hurley will need to coach the hell out of this team in games.
Expand ...
Wasn't their big draining 3s on us and taking the ball up the court?
 
tzznandrew said:
Wasn't their big draining 3s on us and taking the ball up the court?
Expand ...

Yes true. Not saying our bigs can do that. Maybe Cobb can shoot a couple threes. But in general, we can't afford to leave one dimensional players on the floor for long stretches.
 
UConn_Top_Dog said:
Yes true. Not saying our bigs can do that. Maybe Cobb can shoot a couple threes. But in general, we can't afford to leave one dimensional players on the floor for long stretches.
Expand ...

In the post, all we have is one dimensional players. If that.
 
Calhoun's Court said:
Carlton just seems disinterested. Looks like he is going half speed most of the time.. Out of position for rebounds often.
The talents there but if Hurley can't bring it out I don't know who can.
Expand ...
The talent would eradicate this discussion if there was that much
 
Hoophound said:
Cobb is the answer for today. I’d rather let him get comfortable and hope he can allow us better offensive flow. If he gives up more points so be it. Just give him a few games to acclimate and then re-evaluate. I’d like more of a chance to see if he is a net positive because I’m crystal clear Carlton is not.

Carlton needs another year in the weight room and a lot of eggs. I’m not giving up on him. He just needs strength and an attitude adjustment. No fire there.
Expand ...
I think Carlton knows he cannot play at this level. He doesn’t want to be touched. How many legitimate bigs did he face in high school?
 
mauconnfan said:
Carlton - we knew he was not really athletic and played below the rim. But with basketball smarts you can be that and still get around, he can't against athletic and stronger foes. He's not really strong and he's proven to be as slow as when he came in last year. He knows where the basket is but can't get shots off unless it's a 6'6 center from UMKC. Back up maybe?

Whaley - I held out hope but there's something missing besides even the fact he has no offensive game. He obviously is athletic and I think he has some smarts but there has been little to no impact in the small sampling he's been given.

Yakwe - our best guy when it comes to toughness, athleticism for sure but offensively not good. But if he's healthy this year I'm really good with him out there as long as he can stay out of foul trouble, which probably ends at about 15-18 minutes a game best.

Cobb - Hate to say even with his awful defense he's our best option at this point when Yakwe is not on the court. He can score the ball even though he missed a big bunny the other day, he can pass it too. He rebounds ok just because he is tough when going after a board but man he's dreadful on D. never in the right spot you just hope no one sees his guy wide open after he hedges too long or his guy misses a 4 footer.

Polley - Tyler had a rebound come his way the other night on the baseline his hands weren't even ready and it went OOB's off of him. This just can't happen especially to a guy who has hardly ever gotten a rebound while amongst opposing bigs in traffic. He shows flashes of offense though and I doubt he will miss that many open attempts again. Need him to play and improve but he really needs to man up and hit some people, make some plays.

Our front court is really not good at all I feel for Dan because of this. But somehow he needs to figure out enough between them and Jalen ending his drought so they can win some games especially vs. those who we should beat. Right now Tulane and ECU scare the crap out of me never mind that fact we will be 0-4.
Expand ...
Carlton. Yes back up in umkc.
 
.-.
MervthePurvis said:
I think Carlton knows he cannot play at this level. He doesn’t want to be touched. How many legitimate bigs did he face in high school?
Expand ...
At DeMatha; one of the historically best high school programs in the country and Team Loaded in AAU he played against legit bigs. I’m too lazy to research their schedules but I’m pretty confident based on his teams.
 
Ewekon said:
So did lots of other kids that can't ball.
Expand ...
Which has zero relation to whether they play a legit slate of top teams; which they do. They also have developed loads of NBA players as recently as Markelle Fultz.
 
This is when chief chimes in and suggests that Hurley should hire Clyde Vaughn.
 
.-.
CAHUSKY said:
At DeMatha; one of the historically best high school programs in the country and Team Loaded in AAU he played against legit bigs. I’m too lazy to research their schedules but I’m pretty confident based on his teams.
Expand ...
I knew he went there but wasn’t sure who he may have faced. As bad as this group is think of the guys Ollie turned back from. Zach “lipstick”brown. Prince Ali. Willie turtle Jackson(?). The one that hurt was the FSU guy. Three name player. Aside from my digression, just going to a good school doesn’t mean you’re good yourself. Ask mark Sanchez.
 
MervthePurvis said:
Aside from my digression, just going to a good school doesn’t mean you’re good yourself. Ask mark Sanchez.
Expand ...

You asked whether or not he had faced legitimate big men before. Enough with the goalpost moving.
 
Our front court is not good, but boxing out is teachable. You can live with missed shots and bad defense if your guys don't have the talent to hang, but getting outrebounded consistently when the opposing team misses free throws is unacceptable. That's on Hurley if it doesn't get better.
 
Rico444 said:
Our front court is not good, but boxing out is teachable. You can live with missed shots and bad defense if your guys don't have the talent to hang, but getting outrebounded consistently when the opposing team misses free throws is unacceptable. That's on Hurley if it doesn't get better.
Expand ...

Our bigs have been doing an awful job boxing out on FTs for a while now. Painful to watch them jump to the ball and it hits the rim again while it goes over their head due to crappy timing. But college basketball needs to get FTs in order too it’s an issue at times for the player with the advantge because of what they allow the next guy in to do. I mean how is all of a sudden it legal to push that guy in from behind in a fully physical manner? Watch the games it’s crazy what they allow. No matter if you don’t box out at all it’s on you and our guys are a bit lazy trying to keep people off the boards on FTs.
 
mauconnfan said:
Our bigs have been doing an awful job boxing out on FTs for a while now. Painful to watch them jump to the ball and it hits the rim again while it goes over their head due to crappy timing. But college basketball needs to get FTs in order too it’s an issue at times for the player with the advantge because of what they allow the next guy in to do. I mean how is all of a sudden it legal to push that guy in from behind in a fully physical manner? Watch the games it’s crazy what they allow. No matter if you don’t box out at all it’s on you and our guys are a bit lazy trying to keep people off the boards on FTs.
Expand ...
Rebounding is desire. You push for it and try to coach it but you cannot instill desire. Say what you will but CV has it. Undersized Ardrien and Freeman had it. Even Roscoe had it. I question Carlton but it just may be lack of ability.
 
Ewekon said:
Rebounding is desire. You push for it and try to coach it but you cannot instill desire. Say what you will but CV has it. Undersized Ardrien and Freeman had it. Even Roscoe had it. I question Carlton but it just may be lack of ability.
Expand ...

Good call on those guys and yes CV really has it very impressive. John Thomas in the 70’s had it and a really impressive rebounder in the 80s was Besselink he was 6’6 best and was a double figure rebounder, made himself a very good rebounder. So many others I just wish we had a few now.
 
.-.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,347
Messages
4,566,266
Members
10,468
Latest member
ADD3LA


Top Bottom