Burton

[CloneFan96]

I think he is incredibly talented but I swear I can see the gears turning. The guy is just thinking too much. He needs to own the paint. I will admit I've cringed every single time I see him shoot a 3 and to his defense he has shot them fairly well. He is so explosive it's crazy. Where has his alley-oop dunks been? He is such a great jumper. He needs to finish his shot with a jam. He needs to own the lane, take charges, finish strong.

I've seen him hit the fade away, but I don't want ISU to live and die by it. I also don't want ISU to live or die by him shooting 3's. He needs to channel the inner Charles Barkley in himself.

Right now he is avoiding the fouls and he is ineffective. Time to unleash the bull in the china store.

 

[casey1973]

He seems like he doesn't know what to do sometimes so he just decides to shoot it. Hard to explain.

 

[Dannynoonan]

He could be a more athletic Kenny Pratt, but Pratt had toughness that burton can dream about.

 

[NetflixAndClone]

He always makes things more difficult than they should be. Instead of a layup and trying to draw contact he will pull up and do a fade away.

Burton you need to muscle your way in there!

 

[Cyclonepride]

I think he just needs to develop a mean streak. He tends to defer when he's not feeling it (which is better than taking a lot of bad shots).

 

[SwirlyBird]

I think he just needs to develop a mean streak. He tends to defer when he's not feeling it (which is better than taking a lot of bad shots).

I think Prohm had to defer him tonight based on his missed shots per playing time.

 

[DRCHIRO]

He's either the best player on the floor or the worst. No in between and you can usually tell in the first 5 minutes what you're going to get.

 

[Sigmapolis]

Everything he does is stupid.

Either in a brilliant, clever way, or in the more conventional way.

Nader on crack

 

[ianoconnor]

It would really help us if he was a bit more of a tenacious rebounder.

 

[IcSyU]

In fairness to him, he's not made to be what we're asking him to do. It's easy to sit back and say "take it to the rim" but the fact of the matter is he's a big guard being asked to be a power forward.

 

[isucy86]

In Burton's defense, he is not a post player. Sure he has a big body, but its hard to defend a guy in the paint who is 4-6 incher taller. From what I've seen, he becomes easily frustrated when he struggles on defense. At times, it impacts his offense and effort on defense.

IMO Prohm needs to bring Burton off the bench. He is either great or bad and typically a starter needs to be consistent. The tough question for Prohm is who starts. Usually not something a coach is still trying to figure out in game 12.

If I was going on who has played best and what I think gives ISU the toughest team, I start: Morris, Mitrou-Long, Thomas, Bowe and Young. A case could be made for starting Weiler-Babb over Thomas, but Weiler-Babb seems to give a spark off the bench with his defense.

 

[bosco]

Sometimes Burton is awake. Sometimes Burton is asleep. The trick is to figure out which is which.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Needs to be our 6th man and embrace it. Bring him off the bench in response to what the other team does to put him in good positions to succeed.

 

[CycloneBBFan]

I'll be happy just to see Burton make a couple of bunnies. Drives me crazy.

 

[CyJack13]

Lazy as hell on defense.

 

[HornacekFan1414]

In Burton's defense, he is not a post player. Sure he has a big body, but its hard to defend a guy in the paint who is 4-6 incher taller. From what I've seen, he becomes easily frustrated when he struggles on defense. At times, it impacts his offense and effort on defense.

IMO Prohm needs to bring Burton off the bench. He is either great or bad and typically a starter needs to be consistent. The tough question for Prohm is who starts. Usually not something a coach is still trying to figure out in game 12.

If I was going on who has played best and what I think gives ISU the toughest team, I start: Morris, Mitrou-Long, Thomas, Bowe and Young. A case could be made for starting Weiler-Babb over Thomas, but Weiler-Babb seems to give a spark off the bench with his defense.

Please give me the case to start Babb over Thomas.......be entertaining to hear...

 

[WastedTalent]

A possible strategy: start Morris, Naz, Thomas, Bowie, Young. Then bring Babb and Burton in at the same time, for either Naz or Thomas and either Bowie or Young. Then Jackson into the game whenever, and Holden if there's foul trouble.
If an opposing post player gets an early foul, I'd immediately bring Burton in, and tell him to attack.
Prohm has got to find out who matches up with who sooner in the game. He eventually got it right tonight, but it took way too long to figure out Young was the only one that could stop Livingston. He's got to try bench guys sooner, especially when it's blatantly obvious a starter doesn't have it.

 

[madguy30]

Please give me the case to start Babb over Thomas.......be entertaining to hear...

He shouldn't start over Thomas but I think he could come in for multiple players and be effective.

People are back to finding everything wrong with Thomas but he's fine. One of the most reliable, yet reliably scrutinized players I can remember.

 

[DRCHIRO]

Please give me the case to start Babb over Thomas.......be entertaining to hear...

I don't think Thomas plays well with Naz. I don't think there are any personal issues but I think it's more of an issue that they are both 2 guards. I don't think that it's any surprise that Thomas broke out last year when Naz was hurt.

I absolutely love both of them but I'd start Babb and bring one of Thomas/Naz off the bench.

On a different note, Monte and Donovan Jackson play really well together and I love when he's in there because I think Jackson is our best perimeter defender.

I'd start Monte, Naz, Babb, Burton and Young and bring Jackson, Thomas and Bowie off bench and give Holden spot minutes. We're deep enough to press all game and force the issue a bit. We're not fun to watch when we get into a half court game.

 

[WastedTalent]

A part of me kind of wanted to see the game go longer, so Prohm would have had to put Burton back in. I wonder what his mindset would be like after having to sit for most of the 2nd half because he wasn't playing well enough. The Gonzaga game proved he can turn it on during the game, after not being at his best.