Secret Scrimmage

[superjohn]

No no no, their fans justified it by saying they may not have had the same amount of team success but that their “team” of five individual players had better college careers than our “team” of five individual players.

As in Carsen Edwards had a better college career than Kemba Walker and E’Twaun Moore had a better college career than Shabazz Napier, and I for one think that’s true!

Wait, what? Sarcasm doesn't play well online.

You think Carsen Edwards and E'Twaun Moore had better college careers than Kemba and Shabazz?

 

[Rico444]

Maybe's it's because of the Peter Griffin icon that I read most of what @MattMang23 says in a sarcastic tone, but I'm pretty sure he was being facetious and mocking the Purdue fans when he wrote the above post.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

We've been so worried about Center play and wham, Gaffney and Bouknight don't play, they don't seek eligibility for Cole, and Adams must have been our only scholarship backcourt sub and didn't score? Geez. I just wish we could start a season with a roster of available players.

Who is worried about center
Carlton
Whaley
Springs
Akok or Even Polley if desperate
are all bigs and minimally can occupy a guy.
My worry was PG Depth where you can’t fake the QB position.
That’s why with Gaffney out the performance of the kid that played behind AG is so interesting. They might be needed either to get our starting PG off the ball even if it’s only 5 minutes a game.

 

[Waquoit]

I had honestly never heard of E'Twaun Moore.

 

[the Q]

Great results from the scrimmage. We won and I'll take it. That tells me plenty right there. I think the observations regarding us playing well defensively even though we gave up 80 points are valid. We must have shown that we had a defensive identity of unity and toughness and effort. It's still October, this team has miles to go before it's all locked in, so it is great to see Hurley has them playing some cohesive D with rim protection. Good shooting nights come and go, we were down two guards who will both play serious minutes, and we still put up 86 points against a good solid well-coached team and walked away with the win. This is early season stuff you hang your hat on and build from.

The pace of play matters as well.

 

[MattMang23]

Come on now, you must be joking. Only a Boilermaker-colored glasses Purdue fan could ever be clueless enough to think that Carsen Edwards had a better college career than Kemba Walker.

That is completely non-sensical.

Maybe Carsen had better numbers in college than Kemba (I'm too lazy and not interested to look it up) but Kemba has a NCAA ring and will forever be remembered for leading the UConn team to an unbelievable run - something Carsen did not enjoy. Will Carsen be an NBA All Star and earning beaucoup salary? Who knows but Kemba did/is.
The E'Ttwaun - Kemba argument shows two players with similar numbers with the exception in that E'Twaun played much more his freshman year - the biggest difference - Nappier has 2 rings
To me - as stupid as it may sound - Tyler had a better college career than any Purdue big simply because he has 2 rings to zero
I guess it all boils down to what better means and/or in what context it is being applied

Wait, what? Sarcasm doesn't play well online.

You think Carsen Edwards and E'Twaun Moore had better college careers than Kemba and Shabazz?

Maybe's it's because of the Peter Griffin icon that I read most of what @MattMang23 says in a sarcastic tone, but I'm pretty sure he was being facetious and mocking the Purdue fans when he wrote the above post.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I had honestly never heard of E'Twaun Moore.

Him and JaJuan Johnson were really fun to watch at Purdue

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Yes, but we're Carsen and Moore as good as Ben Hansbrough and/or Jimmer?

 

[MattMang23]

Yes, but we're Carsen and Moore as good as Ben Hansbrough and/or Jimmer?

Not as good. In 2011, those were the best players in the Big East and the country respectively. Carsen and Moore never won those awards.

PS, on the use of the apostrophe

 

[ctchamps]

Who is worried about center
Carlton
Whaley
Springs
Akok or Even Polley if desperate
are all bigs and minimally can occupy a guy.
My worry was PG Depth where you can’t fake the QB position.
That’s why with Gaffney out the performance of the kid that played behind AG is so interesting. They might be needed either to get our starting PG off the ball even if it’s only 5 minutes a game.

“We’ve been” as expressed by Ricker is not the same as we are. Until the commitment of Springs there was a lot of concern about the front line in this forum. Many People feel Whaley is too short and Akok too skinny and Tyler an ineffectual rebounder.

Otherwise we’re in agreement. Al had almost a full season last year and rarely demonstrated he could run the team. Although not by any means etched in stone it would have been preferable to not start out with a sub 25% shooting game. BA continues his minimal contribution role. Christian is an excellent rebounder and gets points but he’s demonstrated an inability to run a team. The only other player is Jalen whom I think is going to be a good player but not necessarily capable of running the team as a freshman.

We desperately need Al to significantly improve to make up for the production loss of JA.

 

[gtcam]

Have no idea what all your faces are all about
My comment was made in general and not as a reply thinking that you agreed with Purdue folks - maybe next time I will preface
But if you in reality do agree with them, so be it

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Al had almost a full season last year and rarely demonstrated he could run the team.
We desperately need Al to significantly improve to make up for the production loss of JA.

This. So many posters here have year after year anointed AG as a superstar in waiting based on his McD HS AA status from 4 years ago. Based on past performance I don’t see that happening.
Will be estatic if I’m wrong. For now, I’m simply looking for him to play smart and under control, and get a few assists. We know his D will be good.
If he can become a competent PG this year I’ll be happy.

 

[Candyman]

Al had almost a full season last year and rarely demonstrated he could run the team. Although not by any means etched in stone it would have been preferable to not start out with a sub 25% shooting game. BA continues his minimal contribution role. Christian is an excellent rebounder and gets points but he’s demonstrated an inability to run a team. The only other player is Jalen whom I think is going to be a good player but not necessarily capable of running the team as a freshman.

Its a scrimmage that doesn't count. Even if it did count we won so as a PG (without Jalen) he would be 1-0. Al ran the team when Jalen was out and did a damn fine job as we lost on last second shots to Cincy and Wichita State. Stop putting so much emphasis on a scrimmage. Trying to predict the season based on a scrimmage that no one here seen. Nice that you're already looking who can replace Al to run the team.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This. So many posters here have year after year anointed AG as a superstar in waiting based on his McD HS AA status from 4 years ago. Based on past performance I don’t see that happening.
Will be estatic if I’m wrong. For now, I’m simply looking for him to play smart and under control, and get a few assists. We know his D will be good.
If he can become a competent PG this year I’ll be happy.

And yet there are freshmen around the country getting more fanfare who have done even less and who weren't as good in HS. He has the talent. Hasn't had the health. He's our best player and I'm not worried about him.

 

[Get a Job]

“We’ve been” as expressed by Ricker is not the same as we are. Until the commitment of Springs there was a lot of concern about the front line in this forum. Many People feel Whaley is too short and Akok too skinny and Tyler an ineffectual rebounder.

Otherwise we’re in agreement. Al had almost a full season last year and rarely demonstrated he could run the team. Although not by any means etched in stone it would have been preferable to not start out with a sub 25% shooting game. BA continues his minimal contribution role. Christian is an excellent rebounder and gets points but he’s demonstrated an inability to run a team. The only other player is Jalen whom I think is going to be a good player but not necessarily capable of running the team as a freshman.

We desperately need Al to significantly improve to make up for the production loss of JA.

who*

 

[MattMang23]

Have no idea what all your faces are all about
My comment was made in general and not as a reply thinking that you agreed with Purdue folks - maybe next time I will preface
But if you in reality do agree with them, so be it

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I had honestly never heard of E'Twaun Moore.

He played for the Celtics.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Yes, but we're Carsen and Moore as good as Ben Hansbrough and/or Jimmer?

Not as good. In 2011, those were the best players in the Big East and the country respectively. Carsen and Moore never won those awards.

PS, on the use of the apostrophe

Undone by autocorrect.
How about two wrong's make a right?

 

[ctchamps]

Its a scrimmage that doesn't count. Even if it did count we won so as a PG (without Jalen) he would be 1-0. Al ran the team when Jalen was out and did a damn fine job as we lost on last second shots to Cincy and Wichita State. Stop putting so much emphasis on a scrimmage. Trying to predict the season based on a scrimmage that no one here seen. Nice that you're already looking who can replace Al to run the team.

Expressing a concern doesn't imply a projection of the season. I'm well aware this was only a scrimmage so the concern for me is minor. Nonetheless anyone who doesn't recognize the key player for this team has to be a point guard, and that player most likely has to be Alterique (unless Jalen or Brendan can shock us) is deceiving themselves.

IMO my statement was not an over the top concern nor did it imply I want to replace Al. I actually expressed the opposite. That there is no one who likely can be a replacement. And for the record, like most of the posters in this forum, I very much want Al to succeed. He has been nothing but a great ambassador for the program and has gone through far too much adversity in his bb life not to be a player to root for.

I will be more upset for him than I would be for the team if he is unable to produce and the team struggled this season. How many fans in this forum will have that attitude if that were to happen?

 

[businesslawyer]

“ Although not by any means etched in stone it would have been preferable to not start out with a sub 25% shooting game.

Except he hasn't started out with a sub 25% shooting game. You know how I know that? Because we haven't played a game yet.

Sheesh. How can people have such strong opinions about a practice that they didn't even see?

 

[ctchamps]

Except he hasn't started out with a sub 25% shooting game. You know how I know that? Because we haven't played a game yet.

Sheesh. How can people have such strong opinions about a practice that they didn't even see?

Sheesh. How can anybody get from my statement it was a strong opinion? From a lawyer no less.

It was 4-18. That's a concern. It was a scrimmage. That makes it less of a concern or maybe more of a concern if the opposing team was guarding like they were chairs. The concern is less with the 4-18 than if this is going to be the production for the remainder of the season. Since I don't know if Al will figure things out the concern is valid at this moment.

It's an expressed opinion. I can't see how people want to make an issue over an opinion. If you prefer waiting until the season begins before expressing anything I have no issue with that. But if you think your snark will be adequate to censor me and not express my thoughts FUGGETTABOUTIT!

 

[CL82]

Sheesh. How can people have such strong opinions about a practice that they didn't even see?

It's like you don't know us at all anymore.

 

[businesslawyer]

Sheesh. How can anybody get from my statement it was a strong opinion? From a lawyer no less.

It was 4-18. That's a concern. It was a scrimmage. That makes it less of a concern or maybe more of a concern if the opposing team was guarding like they were chairs. The concern is less with the 4-18 than if this is going to be the production for the remainder of the season. Since I don't know if Al will figure things out the concern is valid at this moment.

It's an expressed opinion. I can't see how people want to make an issue over an opinion. If you prefer waiting until the season begins before expressing anything I have no issue with that. But if you think your snark will be adequate to censor me and not express my thoughts FUGGETTABOUTIT!

Not a big deal. But nothing has "started out" yet. It was a practice against another team in a closed gym. You don't know how hard each team played, you don't know if they played him with a box and one, and you don't know if he just didn't seem to care. To quote Alan Iverson, "it's practice."

 

[mauconnfan]

Rickety it’s not how you start but how you finish. Stay calm and things will work out

Not sure what he said to deserve "Rickety"? Others need to stay calm too in reacting.

 

[ctchamps]

Not a big deal. But nothing has "started out" yet. It was a practice against another team in a closed gym. You don't know how hard each team played, you don't know if they played him with a box and one, and you don't know if he just didn't seem to care. To quote Alan Iverson, "it's practice."

I doubt he just didn't care. If he did the coach would have or should have yanked him. This was not just a practice. This was not a game but it was meant to develop the team for the season. There is only one more opportunity before things count. It's not as if this team is coming from a successful season and can rest on it's laurels. There are a lot of questions but the biggest is who will be the leader on the court?

At least it has been my biggest preseason concern. I can't see how anyone can think otherwise. For all his failures JA was the most productive player for UConn last season. Either one individual player has to step up and make up more than what Jalen contributed or the team as a whole has to contribute more or the team has to be significantly better defensively or the opposition has to be significantly worse or some combo to improve on a 16 win season.

I can easily wait for the season to begin to make an assessment. But why? Assessment should be constant. I'm not isolating this scrimmage and determining things are done for the season. Not by a long shot pun intended. I wouldn't even focus on Al if he had numbers equivalent to CV last season. But he didn't hence a 4-18 game does not reassure me. That may sound pessimistic to pessimists but I'm not pessimistic at all. It's very possible Al can be the player he was in high school. As they say tbd.