Observations on a Tuesday night

[GatoLouco]

1. Indiana State is really fun to watch and it's not just Milk Chamberlain, though that helps. Their ball movement is really outstanding, it reminds me of our ball movement at times, before we inevitably seem to get a bit tired and more stagnant. Easier said than done, they have guards with extremely good handles and quick first steps. They kind of stink on defense though. I have watched a good 6 or 7 games of theirs so far and am really impressed. Not sure how many, if any of those players will be in Terra Haute next week. Would bet money their coach is announced by some program the day after the NIT final
2. Watched almost the entire first half of the McDonald's All American game. The two kids going to Rutgers are extremely impressive. One is another Ron Harper offspring, this one is a point guard, shorter than his bro, but much quicker and athletic. The other looks like the reincarnation of Kevin Durant.
3. Saw one of the talking heads call Braden Smith the most underrated guard in the country. This goes well with one of those break segments advertising some BTN network show where Smith says "being under estimated is the story of my life". While the kid's quote is understandable, could have been before the season start and he is, after all, a kid, WTF is up with the talking head? What else should have happened? Should he have been B1G POTY? Should it have been down to him and Edey for national POTY? The kid got all B1G honors. This all very much sounds ridiculous and just a Purdue type of branding, whine regardless. Just whine.

 

[loyolacat]

Agree Indiana State is fun to watch.
Schertz at Indiana State turned things around pretty quickly..this is his 3rd year. Came from a Division II school Lincoln Memorial where he was very successful. Rumor mill said he turned down Louisville but St.Louis U is waiting for his season to end. I think Indiana St makes a big effort to keep him...he has really energized the program.

 

[Sec.112]

The Braden Smith love is out of control.

I like Robbie Hummel a lot, but he's also an admitted Purdue homer ... and somewhat understandably so. He's been a PR machine for Smith all year. Please, let's hear one more time how Smith was left off the Bob Cousy list.

Is Smith the kind of player opposing coaches need to scheme for? No way!!

Shut up and get the ball to Edey. You're getting PLENTY of national recognition.

 

[GatoLouco]

Agree Indiana State is fun to watch.
Schertz at Indiana State turned things around pretty quickly..this is his 3rd year. Came from a Division II school Lincoln Memorial where he was very successful. Rumor mill said he turned down Louisville but St.Louis U is waiting for his season to end. I think Indiana St makes a big effort to keep him...he has really energized the program.

I can understand turning down Louisville. Grass is not always greener. It's a mammoth of a job and one where I can see someone being successful while completely miserable at the same time.

But, respectfully, Saint Louis seems to be a notch below a coach with this type of hype.

 

[GatoLouco]

The Braden Smith love is out of control.

I like Robbie Hummel a lot, but he's also an admitted Purdue homer ... and somewhat understandably so. He's been a PR machine for Smith all year. Please, let's hear one more time how Smith was left off the Bob Cousy list.

Is Smith the kind of player opposing coaches need to scheme for? No way!!

Shut up and get the ball to Edey. You're getting PLENTY of national recognition.

My beef is not so much with the love, or excessive love. It's with the idea of how under rated he is.

It comes from a place of "don't think Purdue is just Edey, there has to be more there". But it has been going on for so long, dude has been considered all B1G, that it's just silly by now.

 

[techtim72]

I keep wondering why Smith was all-Big 10. Toss the ball to Edey, utilize a screen, break to the basket or pump a three. Repeat.

 

[SmellyCat]

I think the Cousy list thing was the real catalyst for all the "underrated" talk. There was so much uproar (not just from Purdue homers) about him being left off - and keep in mind, this was just a watch list and not even the final nominees, if you want to use that word - that the whole world seemed to have overcorrected this oversight. Sure, he belonged on the watchlist, but wasn't RJ Davis also not on there?

He's a pretty good point guard, much better than average, but he's not some kind of superstar. If he'd been on the original list, most would still be regarding him that way. He wasn't, so he's "underrated." Puke.

 

[PURPLECAT88]

is Smith even a top 5 point guard in the B1G? I'd certainly take Buie, Young, Baldwin and Walker ahead of him. Also Damask if you count him as a point guard. He's solidly in the next group with Thornton, Hawkins and Johnson.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

I can understand turning down Louisville. Grass is not always greener. It's a mammoth of a job and one where I can see someone being successful while completely miserable at the same time.

But, respectfully, Saint Louis seems to be a notch below a coach with this type of hype.

SLU reached out to Schertz as soon as they fired Travis Ford.
Loyolacat's description of his career path is correct. He was at Lincoln for 13 seasons before Indiana State.
He's somewhat short, somewhat chunky and bald. He's 48 years old.
Not the flashy image most Power 6 schools want.

My understanding/interpretation is that SLU and Schertz have a deal and are waiting until Indiana State finishes its season. If true, he gets full credit for respecting his school and team.
He is currently making 350k at Indiana State... figure he gets a million at SLU.

 

[GatoLouco]

He's somewhat short, somewhat chunky and bald. He's 48 years old.
Not the flashy image most Power 6 schools want.

So, like the opposite of Tony Bennet, who is a handsome fella with an incredibly boring playing style.

 

[GatoLouco]

is Smith even a top 5 point guard in the B1G? I'd certainly take Buie, Young, Baldwin and Walker ahead of him. Also Damask if you count him as a point guard. He's solidly in the next group with Thornton, Hawkins and Johnson.

All one has to do is to imagine swapping players for smith and imagining if the team would be better

Buie - F*** no. Would not even smell tourney last season
Ohio State - Nope, they rely on Thornton scoring
IL - nope, even if light finger could score 50, they'd be more of a 70 pt a game team
Baldwin - Penn State would go into Rutgers territory, their defense focus damaged
IA, MSU, also no
.
.
IN, NE, RU, WI - probably better with Smith

MN, MD, MI - maybe

But yeah, all B1G. One thing I am pretty confident about, he'd not make all B1G, first, second or third in any other place other than Purdue. Overrated, laughable.

 

[Hungry Jack]

DJ Horne will run circles around Smith on Saturday. Still, I think PU wins because Edey will shut down Burns on offense.

So that leaves PU in the final with UConn. Smith will get torched against those guards. And with Edey having his hands full with Clingan, Smith won't be able to coast on his game.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

I think Smith is underrated on this board, where he gets a lot of hate, but the idea that he’s underrated nationally or in the conference is absurd. We’ll see next year what he does, though.

 

[TheC]

I think Smith is underrated on this board, where he gets a lot of hate, but the idea that he’s underrated nationally or in the conference is absurd. We’ll see next year what he does, though.

To be honest, there is some animosity on this board against Smith because of Purdue fans saying that Smith is better than Boo. That was laughable. Smith is a decent shooter when he gets wide open threes because everyone is collapsing on Edey. He occasionally can drive the ball, again due to all the attention on Edey, but no way could he create the way Boo does as Boo is the pure focus of every defense. Smith is clearly not the focus of defenses when they play Purdue. Smith also gets picked on from time to time when he's on defense. Finally, for such a great point guard, I was surprised how much trouble he has handling the ball when someone is playing tough on- ball defense against him as he tries to get the ball up the court. Wisconsin's guard ate him alive during that BTTT game.

 

[SmellyCat]

To be honest, there is some animosity on this board against Smith because of Purdue fans saying that Smith is better than Boo. That was laughable. Smith is a decent shooter when he gets wide open threes because everyone is collapsing on Edey. He occasionally can drive the ball, again due to all the attention on Edey, but no way could he create the way Boo does as Boo is the pure focus of every defense. Smith is clearly not the focus of defenses when they play Purdue. Smith also gets picked on from time to time when he's on defense. Finally, for such a great point guard, I was surprised how much trouble he has handling the ball when someone is playing tough on- ball defense against him as he tries to get the ball up the court. Wisconsin's guard ate him alive during that BTTT game.

This is all true.

I will give him credit that his rebounding numbers are pretty good for a point guard, but i would take Boo over him a hundred times out of a hundred, as would all of you.

I wonder what a Boo/Edey team-up would look like. Imagine the number of alley oops and wide-open threes.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

To be honest, there is some animosity on this board against Smith because of Purdue fans saying that Smith is better than Boo. That was laughable. Smith is a decent shooter when he gets wide open threes because everyone is collapsing on Edey. He occasionally can drive the ball, again due to all the attention on Edey, but no way could he create the way Boo does as Boo is the pure focus of every defense. Smith is clearly not the focus of defenses when they play Purdue. Smith also gets picked on from time to time when he's on defense. Finally, for such a great point guard, I was surprised how much trouble he has handling the ball when someone is playing tough on- ball defense against him as he tries to get the ball up the court. Wisconsin's guard ate him alive during that BTTT game.

He’s better than a decent shooter, he shot 44% from 3 this year and does generate a lot of space with his ball movement.

 

[CatJones]

Smith as a second year player is not as good as Boo as a fifth year grad student, but is currently better than Boo was as a second year player.

 

[SmellyCat]

Smith as a second year player is not as good as Boo as a fifth year grad student, but is currently better than Boo was as a second year player.

Fair enough.

 

[clarificationcat]

This is all true.

I will give him credit that his rebounding numbers are pretty good for a point guard, but i would take Boo over him a hundred times out of a hundred, as would all of you.

I wonder what a Boo/Edey team-up would look like. Imagine the number of alley oops and wide-open threes.

They would have been unstoppable. I really believe that. Edey already is and Boo would have been able to score and distribute so much more easily.

 

[phatcat]

We’ll see next year what he does, though.

This is it. Or, if they get to the finals, how he does v the Husky-dog defense. He a very good player, but in my Blomquist prime, I could have gotten 4-5 assists a game to Edey.

 

[TheC]

Smith as a second year player is not as good as Boo as a fifth year grad student, but is currently better than Boo was as a second year player.

But that is not a guarantee that Smith will reach the heights that Boo reached. Some players peak earlier. Considering how much tougher life will get for him after Edey leaves, we may see him regress. But, he could prove me wrong and take his game to another level.

 

[EagerFan]

Smith as a second year player is miles above Smith as a first year player, and most likely somewhat below Smith as a third year player. He is a middlin' B1G point guard at this point, but should be reasonably valuable next year. And Painter has another 7'2" dude in the wings ready to step in after Edey leaves iirc.

 

[IGNORE2]

Smith as a second year player is miles above Smith as a first year player, and most likely somewhat below Smith as a third year player. He is a middlin' B1G point guard at this point, but should be reasonably valuable next year. And Painter has another 7'2" dude in the wings ready to step in after Edey leaves iirc.

Not all 7 footers are created equal…

 

[SmellyCat]

Not all 7 footers are created equal…

I sure hope not. I’m happy to be done with Edey.

 

[EagerFan]

Not all 7 footers are created equal…

True enough, but Painter has shown an ability in developing big men, so I suspect he gets interest from the better prospects. I could be wrong of course. I'm thinking of guys like Swannigan, Hammons, Johnson, and of course Edey.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

True enough, but Painter has shown an ability in developing big men, so I suspect he gets interest from the better prospects. I could be wrong of course. I'm thinking of guys like Swannigan, Hammons, Johnson, and of course Edey.

Painter has an assistant (Brandon Brantley) who works with the bigs.
The 6'8" former Purdue forward Brantley received the 2nd annual Assistant Coach of the Year award.
He's been on Painter's staff since 2013.

NU would be well-served by adding a specialist for big men, if Battle or McIntosh moves on.

 

[loyolacat]

Schertz took the SLU job...2mil

 

[GatoLouco]

Players will more than likely be entering the portal