Expectations for 2018-2019

"Looking forward THT, believe he has a higher rating that Wig. if he can chip in 10-11 per game that would be huge."


Wigginton ranked #24 by Rivals, THT #31. It's close but Wigginton was a higher ranking out of high school. But to your point, I think I'm more excited about THT's prospects than I was with Wigginton, even though I was very excited to see Wigginton play too. THT's just such a fluid game and for a guy his size, it's hard not to be excited.

With THT we'll have another one of those patented "Matchup Nightmares". Too big for the quick guys and too quick for the big guys. And with the guys we have coming back, he won't have nearly as much pressure on him to be dominant right away. Just progress throughout the season and kick ass in March.
 
With THT we'll have another one of those patented "Matchup Nightmares". Too big for the quick guys and too quick for the big guys. And with the guys we have coming back, he won't have nearly as much pressure on him to be dominant right away. Just progress throughout the season and kick ass in March.
Hopefully. Still a tall task to come into the Big 12 as a freshmen, and be that matchup nightmare. I'm sure he'll have his moments next year, but nothing like Sr.Burton, Fr-Sr Niang, or Kane.
Burton Jr year may be +expectations: 20 mins, 10 pts
 
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Hopefully. Still a tall task to come into the Big 12 as a freshmen, and be that matchup nightmare. I'm sure he'll have his moments next year, but nothing like Sr.Burton, Fr-Sr Niang, or Kane.
Burton Jr year may be +expectations: 20 mins, 10 pts

I'm not expecting him to be dominant right away. But I think we'll see flashes.
 
Agree, the floor should be 20 wins and on the right side of the bubble with this team. I could honestly see this team making a deep tournament run. Like Sweet 16 type season.

A lot has to go right - avoid the injury bug, find some outside shooting or hope the guys in house come along, find some veteran leadership just to name a few things - but I'm not ruling it out. The talent will be there for sure.
 
Hopefully. Still a tall task to come into the Big 12 as a freshmen, and be that matchup nightmare. I'm sure he'll have his moments next year, but nothing like Sr.Burton, Fr-Sr Niang, or Kane.
Burton Jr year may be +expectations: 20 mins, 10 pts

Yeah, but he also won't have the tough expectations on his shoulders like Wigginton did coming in. We'll be more balanced as a team, usually opening up better passing lanes, allowing more opportunities for him. I'd say our scoring average goes up next year. So 10 ppg from him would still be a solid contribution.
 
Hopefully. Still a tall task to come into the Big 12 as a freshmen, and be that matchup nightmare. I'm sure he'll have his moments next year, but nothing like Sr.Burton, Fr-Sr Niang, or Kane.
Burton Jr year may be +expectations: 20 mins, 10 pts

Good point. Deonte wasn't the Deonte that we remember from his senior year. A lot of moments of brilliance interspersed with some bad decisions or trying to do too much.
 
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A lot has to go right - avoid the injury bug, find some outside shooting or hope the guys in house come along, find some veteran leadership just to name a few things - but I'm not ruling it out. The talent will be there for sure.
I don't think the outside shooting is going to be as big of an issue as some might think.

Wigginton shot .406 on the season with over 60 makes.

Babb started off the season 12 of 27 which is .444. We all know he got hobbled as the season progressed which likely affected his elevation and shot.

Shayok is a .374 career shooter who has never shot below .328 in his three years in college. These numbers are on over 150 attempts.

Lewis started to get it as he got more playing time late in the season. He closed out the season 9 of 17 (.529). In all likelihood this isn't a fluke since he shot 55% from three as a junior and senior in high school with 120 makes. He hit 61% from behind the arc as a senior.

Long shot .429 but on only 21 attempts so it is likely too small of a sample to be relevant.
 
I'm hoping Lewis is on the phone with Naz on Sunday seeking advice on how to train the offseason between his Freshman and Sophomore seasons.
Interestingly Lewis is shooting a better 3P% in conference play than Naz did as a sophomore, 31.2% (24/72) to 35.7% (10/28). I’m guessing if Lewis had logged enough conference minutes (334) alongside Kane and Georges to get that many attempts he’d have at least the same percentage.

Naz was clutch, which distorts things. He also benefited from “changing positions “.
 
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Interestingly Lewis is shooting a better 3P% in conference play than Naz did as a sophomore, 31.2% (24/72) to 35.7% (10/28). I’m guessing if Lewis had logged as enough conference minutes (334) alongside Kane and Georges to get that many attempts he’d have at least the same percentage.

Naz was clutch, which distorts things. He also benefited from “changing positions “.
Excellent point.

I was more going for the fact that Naz seemed to go into each off season with something he decided to work on and came back with moderate - if not marked - improvement in that area all the while not regressing in the other parts of his game. If Lewis can identify what his game lacks the most and make it significantly better in the off season he can be more than just a contributor.
 
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Lewis could be a real nice player if he gets stronger and serviceable on D.
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Lewis could be a real nice player if he gets stronger and serviceable on D.

He'll certainly get a little stronger before he leaves ISU, but he didn't struggle this year due to his physical profile. As others have said, things seem to be moving too fast for him right now. I think the ceiling is still very high with him though and I'm not selling my stock yet. Could be a plus three point shooter and better than serviceable on D in my opinion. Does really need to develop some inside the arc moves though.
 
He'll certainly get a little stronger before he leaves ISU, but he didn't struggle this year due to his physical profile. As others have said, things seem to be moving too fast for him right now. I think the ceiling is still very high with him though and I'm not selling my stock yet. Could be a plus three point shooter and better than serviceable on D in my opinion. Does really need to develop some inside the arc moves though.

I was going to say — I felt he had two major weaknesses in his game:

1. Defense
2. Playing in the paint

He never rebounded much and seemed to have problems finishing contested shots. Some of that is experience to find the crafty angles, but some of that is just the muscle to draw fouls or finish through any legal contact.

He could really use both.
 
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oops i posted the following in a thread that has nothing to do with basketball; that should tell you how accurate the post is i guess:

I remember a interview with Prohm early in the season where he said they only way ISU can have success this year was to play fast. I knew we were doomed them. Should have slowed everything down to get things to mesh first. You can always speed things up later. Also when ISU lost as many games as it did the proper response is not "Its a simple game". Mad Fran has said that same phrase many times. At least Prohm can recruit. I expect a dumpter fire by February next year. Hope I am wrong I really do. Prohm seems smart so maybe he can get this thing working again. Ya great idea lets play as fast as we can with 6 or 7 usable players and a bunch are newbies. More turnovers more injuries great damn idea Prohm. Dang that guy needs to get it figured out this offseason and get his head out of you know where. The big 12 suckz every march because it plays balls to the walls all Big 12 season and then March Madness comes and everything slows down and they dont know how to play slow and the 3 pointers dont fall as well when things slow down. Oklahoma recently was the exception to the rule because their 3 pointers just kept fallin all the way to the final 4.
 
Excellent point.

I was more going for the fact that Naz seemed to go into each off season with something he decided to work on and came back with moderate - if not marked - improvement in that area all the while not regressing in the other parts of his game. If Lewis can identify what his game lacks the most and make it significantly better in the off season he can be more than just a contributor.
Absolutely. Naz isn’t in the NBA without getting significantly better each offseason. He did shoot 40% on 3Ps for his sophomore season, and that rate for conference play as an upperclassman. As a senior he shot 64% on 2Ps while more than doubling his attempts. Like you already implied, Lewis can become a very good player if he works like Naz.

Does any recall there thoughts on Naz prior to ‘13-‘14? I remember being disappointed he couldn’t even fill in spot minutes at pg, but not discouraged in his potential to be a solid 3rd guard. He ended up being more than that. In some ways Lewis is already playing near sophomore Naz level in conference play, based on natural gifts. Intep things has similar distortion to freshman Naz due to inconsistent minutes.

I was going to say — I felt he had two major weaknesses in his game:

1. Defense
2. Playing in the paint

He never rebounded much and seemed to have problems finishing contested shots. Some of that is experience to find the crafty angles, but some of that is just the muscle to draw fouls or finish through any legal contact.

He could really use both.
Surprisingly his Reb % is higher than Wigginton’s and DJ’s.
 
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There were a lot of posters who thought Naz should transfer out after his freshman season and predicted he would never be a big 12 player.
Never is a long time, and that talk is fine, albeit distasteful for some, if the assumption that we can bring in someone better is true.
 
Never is a long time, and that talk is fine, albeit distasteful for some, if the assumption that we can bring in someone better is true.
I guess, I should have actually answered the question you asked. My thoughts were that Naz could contribute down the road - probably as a junior - but he had a lot of work to do. I didn't want him to transfer by any means. I was as shocked as anyone when he came out in his first game of his sophomore season and canned 8 threes.
 
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