EagleOutsider.com

This is from the Lousiville based Courier-Journal. Pitino had some impressive things to say about Coach Christian and what he's been able to accomplish so far.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sp ... /22512417/


Opening statement: I was watching the broadcast of the Virginia-BC game and BC had 'em on the ropes. Tony Bennett told the announcers that Boston College was the toughest prep he's had this year. Then, after watching six tapes of Boston College, I totally agree. I don't say this because I recruited (BC coach Jim Christian), or because we went (to the same) high school -- I'm not patronizing him in any way -- this young man's going to be a tremendous coach. His offensive scheme is off the charts. They do things offensively that great teams don't do. They isolate you well. They know where to go and who to go at. They move the basketball well. They slip screens. They are a nightmare to guard.

Fortunately for us, we played great offense also. The last two games, we left the Duke game, and everybody was concerned about our shooting woes. The last few weeks, we made a concerted effort of getting paint touches before we shoot the ball, and we've done a good job of that.

Christian's Xs and Os have impressed me from early on. He's also drawn up some late game plays that have worked perfectly, and would have resulted in some additional wins with better players.

Recruiting gets a B so far - too many misses on top local talent, but he is bringing in guys that seem to be significant upgrades talent wise. Just recruiting an athletic big is an upgrade.

i dont know how anyone who has watched the games can be disappointed with christian up to this point...last year we had anderson / rahon instead of brown / batten and we were 5-14 (1-5) at this point with 8 of those 14 losses being by double digits. this year we're 9-10 (1-6) with only 3 double digit losses and only one true blowout in a much more difficult schedule.

he's got a wasteland of talent...the coaching looks good despite it. they play hard. they play defense

commavegarage {l Wrote}:i dont know how anyone who has watched the games can be disappointed with christian up to this point...last year we had anderson / rahon instead of brown / batten and we were 5-14 (1-5) at this point with 8 of those 14 losses being by double digits. this year we're 9-10 (1-6) with only 3 double digit losses and only one true blowout in a much more difficult schedule.

he's got a wasteland of talent...the coaching looks good despite it. they play hard. they play defense

That's odd part of Pitino's quote, the offense is not where I have noticed drastic improvement. Press break and defense is where it is obvious. I've seen some good plays - the backdoor cuts in particular stand out as do the inbounds plays, but the difference in coaching is that he has a bad team playing defense. That's why they stay in games.

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

commavegarage {l Wrote}:i dont know how anyone who has watched the games can be disappointed with christian up to this point...last year we had anderson / rahon instead of brown / batten and we were 5-14 (1-5) at this point with 8 of those 14 losses being by double digits. this year we're 9-10 (1-6) with only 3 double digit losses and only one true blowout in a much more difficult schedule.

he's got a wasteland of talent...the coaching looks good despite it. they play hard. they play defense

That's odd part of Pitino's quote, the offense is not where I have noticed drastic improvement. Press break and defense is where it is obvious. I've seen some good plays - the backdoor cuts in particular stand out as do the inbounds plays, but the difference in coaching is that he has a bad team playing defense. That's why they stay in games.

i dont follow pitino enough / at all to know if this praising is common occurrence for him. ill tell you one thing, he's excellent working the officials (especially in comparison to jamie dixon)

commavegarage {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

commavegarage {l Wrote}:i dont know how anyone who has watched the games can be disappointed with christian up to this point...last year we had anderson / rahon instead of brown / batten and we were 5-14 (1-5) at this point with 8 of those 14 losses being by double digits. this year we're 9-10 (1-6) with only 3 double digit losses and only one true blowout in a much more difficult schedule.

he's got a wasteland of talent...the coaching looks good despite it. they play hard. they play defense

That's odd part of Pitino's quote, the offense is not where I have noticed drastic improvement. Press break and defense is where it is obvious. I've seen some good plays - the backdoor cuts in particular stand out as do the inbounds plays, but the difference in coaching is that he has a bad team playing defense. That's why they stay in games.

i dont follow pitino enough / at all to know if this praising is common occurrence for him. ill tell you one thing, he's excellent working the officials (especially in comparison to jamie dixon)

Dixon should have gotten about 10 technicals that game. The EO Coaching Staff egging him on from a few rows back was epic.

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Christian's Xs and Os have impressed me from early on. He's also drawn up some late game plays that have worked perfectly, and would have resulted in some additional wins with better players.

Recruiting gets a B so far - too many misses on top local talent, but he is bringing in guys that seem to be significant upgrades talent wise. Just recruiting an athletic big is an upgrade.

We still are going to have to dive into the transfer pool. We need a backup PG, starting SG and a backup PF for next year.

eepstein0 {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Christian's Xs and Os have impressed me from early on. He's also drawn up some late game plays that have worked perfectly, and would have resulted in some additional wins with better players.

Recruiting gets a B so far - too many misses on top local talent, but he is bringing in guys that seem to be significant upgrades talent wise. Just recruiting an athletic big is an upgrade.

We still are going to have to dive into the transfer pool. We need a backup PG, starting SG and a backup PF for next year.

eepstein0 {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Christian's Xs and Os have impressed me from early on. He's also drawn up some late game plays that have worked perfectly, and would have resulted in some additional wins with better players.

Recruiting gets a B so far - too many misses on top local talent, but he is bringing in guys that seem to be significant upgrades talent wise. Just recruiting an athletic big is an upgrade.

We still are going to have to dive into the transfer pool. We need a backup PG, starting SG and a backup PF for next year.

is that a lot?

The PG part is very concerning. I have no idea whether the idea that Robinson or Hicks can play holds any water.

the more i watch owens, the more i think his athletic scholarship should be in track & field

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

commavegarage {l Wrote}:i dont know how anyone who has watched the games can be disappointed with christian up to this point...last year we had anderson / rahon instead of brown / batten and we were 5-14 (1-5) at this point with 8 of those 14 losses being by double digits. this year we're 9-10 (1-6) with only 3 double digit losses and only one true blowout in a much more difficult schedule.

he's got a wasteland of talent...the coaching looks good despite it. they play hard. they play defense

That's odd part of Pitino's quote, the offense is not where I have noticed drastic improvement. Press break and defense is where it is obvious. I've seen some good plays - the backdoor cuts in particular stand out as do the inbounds plays, but the difference in coaching is that he has a bad team playing defense. That's why they stay in games.

Drastic improvement on defense from last year would include all 5 players making it past the half-court line. No one played any defense last year... so it was impossible for there not to be improvement. I think offensively (especially on inbounds) that there is much better opportunities being created (admittedly I am only talking about a very, very small sample of games I have bothered to watch).

Christian's tenure will be all about the players he is able to land. If he brings in some decent ACC talent, I am certain he will maximize it and we'll get some damn good years. If, however, he continues to strike out, he will be scouring the MAC for a safe landing spot.

HJS {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

commavegarage {l Wrote}:i dont know how anyone who has watched the games can be disappointed with christian up to this point...last year we had anderson / rahon instead of brown / batten and we were 5-14 (1-5) at this point with 8 of those 14 losses being by double digits. this year we're 9-10 (1-6) with only 3 double digit losses and only one true blowout in a much more difficult schedule.

he's got a wasteland of talent...the coaching looks good despite it. they play hard. they play defense

That's odd part of Pitino's quote, the offense is not where I have noticed drastic improvement. Press break and defense is where it is obvious. I've seen some good plays - the backdoor cuts in particular stand out as do the inbounds plays, but the difference in coaching is that he has a bad team playing defense. That's why they stay in games.

Drastic improvement on defense from last year would include all 5 players making it past the half-court line. No one played any defense last year... so it was impossible for there not to be improvement. I think offensively (especially on inbounds) that there is much better opportunities being created (admittedly I am only talking about a very, very small sample of games I have bothered to watch).

Christian's tenure will be all about the players he is able to land. If he brings in some decent ACC talent, I am certain he will maximize it and we'll get some damn good years. If, however, he continues to strike out, he will be scouring the MAC for a safe landing spot.

I've been one of the biggest Christian critics from the get go, it took convincing from some on here to even let me give him a chance.

But so far he has landed
2014 Class: 128th ranked overall Idrissa Diallo
2015 Class: 107th ranked overall AJ Turner
2016 Class: 121st ranked overall Ty Graves

Now that's not to say he has been great or anything like that, but BC hasn't had recruits like this in a long time. So while the Falzon situation was ridiculous and he probably should have landed Sharma, missing on Mann and Terrell was certainly not ideal. He was starting at a disadvantage in all those situations except Falzon, having to play catch up clearly cost him with those kids but he has still found a way to bring in more talent than Donahue in 8 months than that idiot brought in in 4 seasons (not that its saying much to out recruit that clown, but any upgrade in talent is a good thing right now).

Though, if we keep missing on all the local kids in 2016 and 2017, then it's Christian will have a lot of explaining to do.

eaglesfan06 {l Wrote}:

HJS {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

commavegarage {l Wrote}:i dont know how anyone who has watched the games can be disappointed with christian up to this point...last year we had anderson / rahon instead of brown / batten and we were 5-14 (1-5) at this point with 8 of those 14 losses being by double digits. this year we're 9-10 (1-6) with only 3 double digit losses and only one true blowout in a much more difficult schedule.

he's got a wasteland of talent...the coaching looks good despite it. they play hard. they play defense

That's odd part of Pitino's quote, the offense is not where I have noticed drastic improvement. Press break and defense is where it is obvious. I've seen some good plays - the backdoor cuts in particular stand out as do the inbounds plays, but the difference in coaching is that he has a bad team playing defense. That's why they stay in games.

Drastic improvement on defense from last year would include all 5 players making it past the half-court line. No one played any defense last year... so it was impossible for there not to be improvement. I think offensively (especially on inbounds) that there is much better opportunities being created (admittedly I am only talking about a very, very small sample of games I have bothered to watch).

Christian's tenure will be all about the players he is able to land. If he brings in some decent ACC talent, I am certain he will maximize it and we'll get some damn good years. If, however, he continues to strike out, he will be scouring the MAC for a safe landing spot.

I've been one of the biggest Christian critics from the get go, it took convincing from some on here to even let me give him a chance.

But so far he has landed
2014 Class: 128th ranked overall Idrissa Diallo
2015 Class: 107th ranked overall AJ Turner
2016 Class: 121st ranked overall Ty Graves

Now that's not to say he has been great or anything like that, but BC hasn't had recruits like this in a long time. So while the Falzon situation was ridiculous and he probably should have landed Sharma, missing on Mann and Terrell was certainly not ideal. He was starting at a disadvantage in all those situations except Falzon, having to play catch up clearly cost him with those kids but he has still found a way to bring in more talent than Donahue in 8 months than that idiot brought in in 4 seasons (not that its saying much to out recruit that clown, but any upgrade in talent is a good thing right now).

Though, if we keep missing on all the local kids in 2016 and 2017, then it's Christian will have a lot of explaining to do.

Milon is also around the top 150. It isn't the type of classes Buzz Williams is putting together, but these kids are recruited by other peer schools and will be a significant talent upgrade

@jacklegwin: Another 3 from Ty Graves. I'll say it again, best pure shooting PG in the nation.

@coreyevans_10: Solid showing thus far by Ty Graves. Nice passes off the dribble drive and two 3s off the pull

Graves is back to his old tricks after whatever bizarre incident happened in that ESPNU game. He has changed his # to 24.

the problem for VT's recruiting classes is they're going to be coached by buzz williams

VT has actually recruited quite well the last few years - Harrell, Finney-Smith, Emelogu... the problem is, they all leave!

eepstein0 {l Wrote}:

eaglesfan06 {l Wrote}:

HJS {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

commavegarage {l Wrote}:i dont know how anyone who has watched the games can be disappointed with christian up to this point...last year we had anderson / rahon instead of brown / batten and we were 5-14 (1-5) at this point with 8 of those 14 losses being by double digits. this year we're 9-10 (1-6) with only 3 double digit losses and only one true blowout in a much more difficult schedule.

he's got a wasteland of talent...the coaching looks good despite it. they play hard. they play defense

That's odd part of Pitino's quote, the offense is not where I have noticed drastic improvement. Press break and defense is where it is obvious. I've seen some good plays - the backdoor cuts in particular stand out as do the inbounds plays, but the difference in coaching is that he has a bad team playing defense. That's why they stay in games.

Drastic improvement on defense from last year would include all 5 players making it past the half-court line. No one played any defense last year... so it was impossible for there not to be improvement. I think offensively (especially on inbounds) that there is much better opportunities being created (admittedly I am only talking about a very, very small sample of games I have bothered to watch).

Christian's tenure will be all about the players he is able to land. If he brings in some decent ACC talent, I am certain he will maximize it and we'll get some damn good years. If, however, he continues to strike out, he will be scouring the MAC for a safe landing spot.

I've been one of the biggest Christian critics from the get go, it took convincing from some on here to even let me give him a chance.

But so far he has landed
2014 Class: 128th ranked overall Idrissa Diallo
2015 Class: 107th ranked overall AJ Turner
2016 Class: 121st ranked overall Ty Graves

Now that's not to say he has been great or anything like that, but BC hasn't had recruits like this in a long time. So while the Falzon situation was ridiculous and he probably should have landed Sharma, missing on Mann and Terrell was certainly not ideal. He was starting at a disadvantage in all those situations except Falzon, having to play catch up clearly cost him with those kids but he has still found a way to bring in more talent than Donahue in 8 months than that idiot brought in in 4 seasons (not that its saying much to out recruit that clown, but any upgrade in talent is a good thing right now).

Though, if we keep missing on all the local kids in 2016 and 2017, then it's Christian will have a lot of explaining to do.

Milon is also around the top 150. It isn't the type of classes Buzz Williams is putting together, but these kids are recruited by other peer schools and will be a significant talent upgrade

They are all nice pieces... and certainly markedly better than anything Don brought in after Joe Jones left (again not saying much). Look back at all the great BC teams we have had. Each and every one had at least one elite player. Of course, some were not recruited as elite, but we pretty much knew immediately that they were special the second they arrived on campus (that BTW doesn't bode well for Diallo). Perhaps, Christian has that innate ability to identify a superstar like Skinner did. If he does, great. He will have earned our trust to not worry about other offers/rankings. However, until that time, I want to see him land an elite player because we ain't winning anything significant even with a roster completely filled with players in the Top 200.

HJS {l Wrote}:

eepstein0 {l Wrote}:

eaglesfan06 {l Wrote}:

HJS {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

commavegarage {l Wrote}:i dont know how anyone who has watched the games can be disappointed with christian up to this point...last year we had anderson / rahon instead of brown / batten and we were 5-14 (1-5) at this point with 8 of those 14 losses being by double digits. this year we're 9-10 (1-6) with only 3 double digit losses and only one true blowout in a much more difficult schedule.

he's got a wasteland of talent...the coaching looks good despite it. they play hard. they play defense

That's odd part of Pitino's quote, the offense is not where I have noticed drastic improvement. Press break and defense is where it is obvious. I've seen some good plays - the backdoor cuts in particular stand out as do the inbounds plays, but the difference in coaching is that he has a bad team playing defense. That's why they stay in games.

Drastic improvement on defense from last year would include all 5 players making it past the half-court line. No one played any defense last year... so it was impossible for there not to be improvement. I think offensively (especially on inbounds) that there is much better opportunities being created (admittedly I am only talking about a very, very small sample of games I have bothered to watch).

Christian's tenure will be all about the players he is able to land. If he brings in some decent ACC talent, I am certain he will maximize it and we'll get some damn good years. If, however, he continues to strike out, he will be scouring the MAC for a safe landing spot.

I've been one of the biggest Christian critics from the get go, it took convincing from some on here to even let me give him a chance.

But so far he has landed
2014 Class: 128th ranked overall Idrissa Diallo
2015 Class: 107th ranked overall AJ Turner
2016 Class: 121st ranked overall Ty Graves

Now that's not to say he has been great or anything like that, but BC hasn't had recruits like this in a long time. So while the Falzon situation was ridiculous and he probably should have landed Sharma, missing on Mann and Terrell was certainly not ideal. He was starting at a disadvantage in all those situations except Falzon, having to play catch up clearly cost him with those kids but he has still found a way to bring in more talent than Donahue in 8 months than that idiot brought in in 4 seasons (not that its saying much to out recruit that clown, but any upgrade in talent is a good thing right now).

Though, if we keep missing on all the local kids in 2016 and 2017, then it's Christian will have a lot of explaining to do.

Milon is also around the top 150. It isn't the type of classes Buzz Williams is putting together, but these kids are recruited by other peer schools and will be a significant talent upgrade

They are all nice pieces... and certainly markedly better than anything Don brought in after Joe Jones left (again not saying much). Look back at all the great BC teams we have had. Each and every one had at least one elite player. Of course, some were not recruited as elite, but we pretty much knew immediately that they were special the second they arrived on campus (that BTW doesn't bode well for Diallo). Perhaps, Christian has that innate ability to identify a superstar like Skinner did. If he does, great. He will have earned our trust to not worry about other offers/rankings. However, until that time, I want to see him land an elite player because we ain't winning anything significant even with a roster completely filled with players in the Top 200.

Diallo is a big man that was hurt. Not sure he bodes anything until he steps on the court. Regardless, the closest example to a guy like him is *** *******, and he wasn't a world beater as a frosh

Smith was an elite prospect when he arrived on campus. He was a little underrated first time around but then he spent a PG year in Worcester.

jhiggi02 {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Smith was an elite prospect when he arrived on campus. He was a little underrated first time around but then he spent a PG year in Worcester.

I was referencing his first go around, when he didnt have any offers save cal state fulerton. I remembered he PG'd but didnt know he was an elite prospect the second time around, ill take your word for it though... NEPSAC class A is good ball

Regardless, doesnt change the fact that from 97-2010 we only had 2 elite players that were highly touted/we thought they would be elite "the second they stepped on campus".

http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jan/30/sports/sp-norwoodcol30

Rakim Sanders and *** *******?

correction: he didn't get tossed from school and he refined his skill at plex intramural games

they needed to change the rules for him

jhiggi02 {l Wrote}:

HJS {l Wrote}:

eepstein0 {l Wrote}:

eaglesfan06 {l Wrote}:

HJS {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:

commavegarage {l Wrote}:i dont know how anyone who has watched the games can be disappointed with christian up to this point...last year we had anderson / rahon instead of brown / batten and we were 5-14 (1-5) at this point with 8 of those 14 losses being by double digits. this year we're 9-10 (1-6) with only 3 double digit losses and only one true blowout in a much more difficult schedule.

he's got a wasteland of talent...the coaching looks good despite it. they play hard. they play defense

That's odd part of Pitino's quote, the offense is not where I have noticed drastic improvement. Press break and defense is where it is obvious. I've seen some good plays - the backdoor cuts in particular stand out as do the inbounds plays, but the difference in coaching is that he has a bad team playing defense. That's why they stay in games.

Drastic improvement on defense from last year would include all 5 players making it past the half-court line. No one played any defense last year... so it was impossible for there not to be improvement. I think offensively (especially on inbounds) that there is much better opportunities being created (admittedly I am only talking about a very, very small sample of games I have bothered to watch).

Christian's tenure will be all about the players he is able to land. If he brings in some decent ACC talent, I am certain he will maximize it and we'll get some damn good years. If, however, he continues to strike out, he will be scouring the MAC for a safe landing spot.

I've been one of the biggest Christian critics from the get go, it took convincing from some on here to even let me give him a chance.

But so far he has landed
2014 Class: 128th ranked overall Idrissa Diallo
2015 Class: 107th ranked overall AJ Turner
2016 Class: 121st ranked overall Ty Graves

Now that's not to say he has been great or anything like that, but BC hasn't had recruits like this in a long time. So while the Falzon situation was ridiculous and he probably should have landed Sharma, missing on Mann and Terrell was certainly not ideal. He was starting at a disadvantage in all those situations except Falzon, having to play catch up clearly cost him with those kids but he has still found a way to bring in more talent than Donahue in 8 months than that idiot brought in in 4 seasons (not that its saying much to out recruit that clown, but any upgrade in talent is a good thing right now).

Though, if we keep missing on all the local kids in 2016 and 2017, then it's Christian will have a lot of explaining to do.

Milon is also around the top 150. It isn't the type of classes Buzz Williams is putting together, but these kids are recruited by other peer schools and will be a significant talent upgrade

They are all nice pieces... and certainly markedly better than anything Don brought in after Joe Jones left (again not saying much). Look back at all the great BC teams we have had. Each and every one had at least one elite player. Of course, some were not recruited as elite, but we pretty much knew immediately that they were special the second they arrived on campus (that BTW doesn't bode well for Diallo). Perhaps, Christian has that innate ability to identify a superstar like Skinner did. If he does, great. He will have earned our trust to not worry about other offers/rankings. However, until that time, I want to see him land an elite player because we ain't winning anything significant even with a roster completely filled with players in the Top 200.

HJS, this is some of your best work yet and that is a pretty damn impressive feat!

The only elite recruit we landed that panned out was Reggie Jackson.

Bell, Smith, Dudley and Rice all had major questions the second they stepped foot on campus...

But please don't let those pesky facts get in-between you and your revisionist history.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Absolutely none.

Sanders wasn't a bust. Guy averaged 11.3, 12.9, 11.3, 16.6 in four seasons. 1663 career points, including 1048 at BC, which ranks him #37 on BC's scoring list in only three seasons, slotting him right behind Gerrod Abram and Ryan Sydney (also 3 seasons).

He also averages 5.4 rebounds and 2 assists a game over 4 years, 4.2 and 1.7 at BC.

He was a bad FT shooter, at about 61% a game, which actually hurt his point production significantly, since he took 369 of them over his career.

jhiggi02 {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Sanders wasn't a bust. Guy averaged 11.3, 12.9, 11.3, 16.6 in four seasons. 1663 career points, including 1048 at BC, which ranks him #37 on BC's scoring list in only three seasons, slotting him right behind Gerrod Abram and Ryan Sydney (also 3 seasons).

He also averages 5.4 rebounds and 2 assists a game over 4 years, 4.2 and 1.7 at BC.

He was a bad FT shooter, at about 61% a game, which actually hurt his point production significantly, since he took 369 of them over his career.

He wasn't elite by any stretch and this conversation is about elite players due to HJS saying something ridiculous and false.

I will give you the fact that Sanders wasn't a bust but rather a solid piece to the puzzle. I was expecting for him to average 16.6 while at BC and not that total in his last year at fairfield. He was hyped up something terrible

You said he was a bust. He was Ryan Sidney.

jhiggi02 {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Sanders wasn't a bust. Guy averaged 11.3, 12.9, 11.3, 16.6 in four seasons. 1663 career points, including 1048 at BC, which ranks him #37 on BC's scoring list in only three seasons, slotting him right behind Gerrod Abram and Ryan Sydney (also 3 seasons).

He also averages 5.4 rebounds and 2 assists a game over 4 years, 4.2 and 1.7 at BC.

He was a bad FT shooter, at about 61% a game, which actually hurt his point production significantly, since he took 369 of them over his career.

He wasn't elite by any stretch and this conversation is about elite players due to HJS saying something ridiculous and false.

I will give you the fact that Sanders wasn't a bust but rather a solid piece to the puzzle. I was expecting for him to average 16.6 while at BC and not that total in his last year at fairfield. He was hyped up something terrible

Edit: and to you *** ******* addition. He only learned to play the offensive side of the ball by his last year in our program. So while he may have had elite athleticism when stepping foot on campus, he was far from an elite college baseball player when stepping on campus.

You keep changing the parameters. SW was a top recruit, a 4 star and an elite prospect coming out of HS. You keep shifting the paradigm. He and Sanders were the only elite recruits to come to BC other than maybe Southern.

jhiggi02 {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:Smith was an elite prospect when he arrived on campus. He was a little underrated first time around but then he spent a PG year in Worcester.

I was referencing his first go around, when he didnt have any offers save cal state fulerton. I remembered he PG'd but didnt know he was an elite prospect the second time around, ill take your word for it though... NEPSAC class A is good ball

Regardless, doesnt change the fact that from 97-2010 we only had 2 elite players that were highly touted/we thought they would be elite "the second they stepped on campus".

http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jan/30/sports/sp-norwoodcol30

Which you changed to this

Not involving myself with the could Milon/Turner/Robinson/Diallo be elite argument. I think its obvious that one or more of them could show up and take over right away (or in Diallo's case, once healthy) in that I'm not sure how you can close the door on the possibility, but I don't particularly care to get into this.

I do think you have to create tiers of elite player:

Carried Team
Bell
Dudley
Smith
Rice
Jackson

Great Player, but not clear they could have led a team to the tournament without one of the above
Sidney
Williams

Rakim Sanders
Rakim Sanders

eagle9903 {l Wrote}:Not involving myself with the could Milon/Turner/Robinson/Diallo be elite argument. I think its obvious that one or more of them could show up and take over right away (or in Diallo's case, once healthy) in that I'm not sure how you can close the door on the possibility, but I don't particularly care to get into this.

I do think you have to create tiers of elite player:

Carried Team
Bell
Dudley
Smith
Rice
Jackson

Great Player, but not clear they could have led a team to the tournament without one of the above
Sidney
Williams

Rakim Sanders
Rakim Sanders

And ironically, for all his faults Rakim Sanders had almost identical stats to Sidney.

I argue that Sanders, Sidney, and Williams all belong in the same category: talented enough to carry team but never materialized due to chronic knucklehead-ism