Ohmygodyouguys. The jump shot. The body type. The passing and ball-handling. And the jump shot. This is it. This is what we've all been waiting for. This is the next guy in the Kevin Garnett/Hakim Warrick/JaJuan Johnson line. The face-up 4 with a killer jumpshot and perimeter skills who has the size and athleticism to also play in the paint. This is it. He's here. Charles mother effing Buggs.
Here is how ESPN describes his strengths:
Strengths:
Charles is an exceptionally live-bodied face up four man for the next level. He's a graceful athlete with very quick reflexes and he's an elite leaper. Two-hand dunks with ease while also showing good touch with his jumper and in the lane. He changes ends very well plus he's an extremely intelligent kid who wants to be coached and get better. Doesn't really have any bad habits and there's a hunger about him to improve.
Oh. my. god. Will some one please just come and hit me over the head so I can go into a coma until next year? He was hurt a large part of his senior year which scared some teams off, but went to prep school and reclassified as a 2012 recruit and besides the Gophers, held offers from Arkansas, Clemson, Marquette, Seton Hall, and West Virginia among a couple others. Sounds like a very talented kid who got hurt and kind of dropped off the recruiting map, and thanks to hard work by Tubby and staff (according to articles Tubby is the reason he's heading to Minnesota) could end up being a diamond in the rough. Except he's probably going to be even better than a diamond. He's going to be like a Burmese Ruby.
So pumped. I haven't been this set up for disappointment since Antoine Broxsie transferred in.
- I was going to do a preview of every big 10 team one at a time and try to get them done before the regular season starts but at this point that obviously isn't going to happen. Instead here's a shorter preview style, and if you really want I have teams 6-12 broken down in greater detail in other posts on this very blog (links included)
12. Penn State - Not only is Talor Battle gone, but so is everybody else. I like Tim Frazier, a lot, but he's not the guy who can carry a team. 1 win would be a good season.
11. Nebraska - At least they're good in football.
10. Iowa - Some interesting talent and a good future, but this isn't their year yet.
9. Indiana - Similar to Iowa, things seem to be moving in the right direction talent and recruiting wise, but they're at least a year away.
8. Northwestern - I'm not falling for this again. Not to mention that even though the Wildcats only lose 1 player, that player has been their starting point guard for 4 years.
7. Wisconsin - It's certainly possible I'm underrating them for the 10th year in a row, but Jordan Taylor is due for a major regression to the mean season and I don't see anybody here who can pick up that slack.
6. Purdue - Depending on Hummel (who looked good in the exhibition game I watched some of), they could be a lot better than this or a lot worse. So many questions outside of Lewis Jackson that they're probably the toughest team to really get a read on.
5. Minnesota - This feels about right. If Sampson turns in a stellar senior year and somebody steps forward to not just play the point capably but to actually play well (will have to be Hollins) they could challenge for 2nd. On the other hand, if Ralph is disinterested and nobody proves to be a Big 10 caliber point guard they could be looking at 8th.
4. Illinois - They lose a lot off last year's squad, but getting rid of McCamey might be addition by subtraction and with Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson they have two of the most talented wings in the entire conference. Similar to the Gophers, someone will have to step up to play the point (they have a highly regarded freshman and a transfer from Bradley) and how that works will likely be the biggest factor in how good this team ends up being this year.
3. Michigan - It's very sad to me that Darius Morris went pro because he rocked and he would probably vault Michigan up to the #2 spot with an outside chance at challenging for #1. But, he did have a first round guarantee and probably wouldn't be moving up so there you go - even though they aren't playing. The impressive thing is based on Beilein's recruiting lately it's likely we won't see them outside the top 5 for a while.
2. Michigan State - I don't particularly feel confident about putting Sparty in second place here, but I can't really convince myself any of these other teams are better. They should be a safe team this year, however, because Draymond Green is really flipping good, and the kind of player who can essentially guarantee your team won't go in the toilet. Seriously if he doesn't have at least two triple-doubles this year I'll be shocked.
1. Ohio State - Where even to begin? Sullinger is back. Buford is back and won't have to defer to Lighty. Aaron Craft is about to become a monster, and they bring in one of the best classes in the country. Again. This dynasty is out of control. Most sportsbooks have futures on conference winners right now and you can get Ohio State at -125. Considering they're basically guaranteed to win it this year that's a freakin' bargain.
- So I guess Bill Smith getting fired is a pretty big deal. I'm having trouble making myself care about it but that's mainly because my brain is already in basketball mode with everything getting started. Don't get me wrong, I'm very much in favor of the move. I don't even have to try very hard and I can come up with a top 5 Bill Smith terrible moves list: the Santana trade, the Delmon for Garza trade, the Hardy for nothing trade, Ramos for Capps, and spending a stupid amount of money to sign Nishioka. I'm sure there are more (like getting rid of Billy Bullock so they could get a journeyman minor league reliever on the 40-man roster or whatever the details were) and I'm struggling to think of a single good move that was made during his tenure (I'm sure there were, I just can't come up with anythng). So I'm pretty happy to have Ryan back. It's not like he can do much worse. Also does it mean I'm a bad person when I saw it come across the ESPN ticker that Wilson Ramos was kidnapped in Venezuela that my first though was "good thing they traded him"? Probably, huh? Say la vee.
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2 comments:
Smith also shipped Morales (10000000000000x better than Craptera) for basically nothing. What a racist.
Buggsy Mogues is going to have to grow a few inches to be akin to your comparison players, but it does look like he can knock down a jumper at least. Has a little natural fade away on the jumper, which will hurt him from longer distances.
Illinois and Michigan are too high and Wisconsin and NORTHWESTERN are too low on your rankings, imo.
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