Can't Say Enough About Derrick Wilson

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Derrick Wilson scored a bunch in high school. Don't expect that Duane can step in as a freshman and provide instant offense. You are bound to be disappointed.

Not saying Duane will light the league on fire, but I think he is far better suited to have an early impact as a scorer than Derrick. Derrick scored in HS largely because of his strength/size ratio. He played like a running back, scoring through contact. Guys at that level simply didn't have the strength to stop him. At this level, everyone is bigger and stronger, making it harder. Duane is a better perimeter player and has more natural scoring moves.

I still think if we get a scoring spark from a freshman it will more likely be Jajuan Johnson, and if any of the recruiting gurus (Ted, IWB) want to correct me on this they certainly know more than I do about these guys coming in, but I just feel Duane's skillset is better suited to acclimate quickly to D1 ball.

[IWB]

I agree with what you are saying Brew.

The one thing to point out here is defense. Yes, all of the incoming freshmen are talented enough to have an impact right away, and they are all capable of scoring. This year they have bad games where they have 6 points and explosive games where they have 35, but in all games, they are defending high school kids. The difference at the next level is can they be a lock-down defender?

My prediction for the freshman that will have the biggest scoring impact is simple, it will be the one who plays the best defense, because whoever does that, will get the most minutes on the floor leading to the most scoring opportunities.

So don't look at it as a Duane vs Derrick at the point, or Dawson vs Johnson at the 2, look at who can defend on the other end. Is Duane a better defender that Derrick? Is Dawson a better defender than Johnson? No one will know until they defend D1 players when they arrive next summer.

[TheSultan]

Not saying Duane will light the league on fire, but I think he is far better suited to have an early impact as a scorer than Derrick. Derrick scored in HS largely because of his strength/size ratio. He played like a running back, scoring through contact. Guys at that level simply didn't have the strength to stop him. At this level, everyone is bigger and stronger, making it harder. Duane is a better perimeter player and has more natural scoring moves.

I still think if we get a scoring spark from a freshman it will more likely be Jajuan Johnson, and if any of the recruiting gurus (Ted, IWB) want to correct me on this they certainly know more than I do about these guys coming in, but I just feel Duane's skillset is better suited to acclimate quickly to D1 ball.

I don't disagree with you at all. I just think we put way too many expectations for performance on our incoming freshmen, and we always seem to be disappointed.

My favorite example of that was before Vander and Jamail's sophomore year. Scoopers were ragging on Vander all off season, but then talking about how exiting it was going to be to have Jamail. Just because one was "known" and the other "unknown" it shaped everyone's expectations.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

I agree, Sultan, we usually do have unrealistic expectations. Especially next year when we are returning Vander, Davante, Derrick, Jamil, Juan, and potentially Todd and Chris, all of whom will get significant minutes if they return. McKay, as a junior, will also be leaned upon a lot more than I would guess the freshmen will be. That's a team that would go 8 deep, not to mention any improvement from Steve and Jamal. The freshmen will have their work cut out for them to break the rotation.

Though my guess is one of those guys doesn't return, but that's still likely a solid 8-9 man rotation before you start dishing out minutes to any of the new boys.

[AlexJesswein]

We were spoiled by James, McNeal and Matthews.

[kneelb4zerg]

We were spoiled by James, McNeal and Matthews.

We also didn't have many reasonable alternatives when they were freshmen.