Don't forget about the freshman wings, either. Maybe one surprises us and makes a play for big minutes.
Justin Smith
- Thread starter nallen34
- Start date
Don't forget about the freshman wings, either. Maybe one surprises us and makes a play for big minutes.
Looking at his initial contact list. I'd say it's us and Xavier if he wants out of the BiG.
Last edited:
I'm going to require clarification on how many wins and/or tournament victories we are about to achieve next year.
Would Smith becoming our figurative grand slam be a contextual equivalent to baseball, tennis, racing, rugby, or golf?
Interesting questions. Better than what we were asking last season, right? Last year it was which overwhelmed freshman are we going to play, or do we have anyone that can play the 3/4?
The floor should be much higher imo. Can we assume the returning guys improve? If so, we should be a tournament team. We’ll be an older, deeper, and more complete team. Longer and more athletic. We can play two bigs or we can play 3 or even 4 wings. We can have more positions that shoot on the floor.
Last edited:
That is in an interesting lineup discussion. My guess is if Harris is eligible, it's Harris, Bolton, JCL, Smith, Solo. If Harris is not eligible, it's Bolton, JCL, Johnson, Smith, Solo. The ball handling with that second group concerns me.
I would disagree with the bottom assessment of calling Prentiss/Jacobson and JCL/Smith a wash. I'm not sold on it being a tournament team either but that is a significant roster upgrade.
Last edited:
Nixon was not a high-major player. Maybe a bench guy.
Jacobson was an okay 5 but a terrible fit at the 4.
JCL and Smith are proven high-major starters and much more natural fits at the 1-2 and 4 than Nixon and Jacobson were ever going to be at this level.
I can see some caution before saying this is a tournament team with Haliburton about to be a Top 3 pick or something like that, but what we have picked up so far should make us forget all about missing anybody else we "lost."
JCL and Smith are nowhere near a wash to Nixon and MJ...Smith and MJ offensively maybe but Smith is a far better rebounder and defender and it’s not close.. JCL will be a better shooter than Nixon..Nixon shot selection was atrocious.
Harris could be as effective scoring wise as TH was IMO..TH was too passive at times as great as his intangibles were..
JCL> Nixon
Smith> Jacobsen
Javon > Lewis
Not to mention I think 2 of the frosh will be far more impactful than any of the frosh last year..
What backs this up? JCL was effectively the Big East version of Nixon last year. How is Jacobson not even close to Smith?
It’s very optimistic to think Harris will be as effective in scoring as TH. Shooting, maybe. Then there is ball control and defense.
I'd say Smith starts at the 4. If Harris gets a waiver, Johnson becomes the super sub.
If Harris doesn't Johnson starts at the 3 and Jackson becomes the main sub and will man the point when in causing everyone else to slide up as needed.
If Harris doesn't Johnson starts at the 3 and Jackson becomes the main sub and will man the point when in causing everyone else to slide up as needed.
Smith averaged 10.4 points last year and shot around 50% from the floor, while Mike averaged 7.8 points last year and shot around 43% from the floor. Smith could also effectively guard a 3 and a 4 on the defensive end. Smith is better than Mike.
Although it wasn't a ton better, JCL did shoot a better percentage at every level than Nixon. Also, after watching some of the full highlights of his games last year, most of his misses came on pretty good looks that I would not mind him shooting at all. Nixon on the other hand was notorious for taking head scratching shots left and right.
JCL took good shots. Go back and watch the Texas Tech game. He completely disappears from the offense when his shot isn't falling. There is no "forcing it" (Game was very defensive minded). When it came to down the stretch he looked for hit shot and hit them. I am optimistic that the shots he will see at Iowa State are better looks than what he got at DePaul.
One game? Come on now. It’s not his upside I’m disputing. Your bad games matter too.
He took good shots but still shot poorly in Big East play? Ouch, it would be better if he was taking a bunch of bad, forced shots due to his over-usage imo.
I would not down play the Big East last year. They were pretty solid from top to bottom. I'd rather he take good shots and shoot at a higher percentage than take poor shots and shoot at a lower percentage like Nixon did.
Pretty similar production, even with it being Jacobson’s worse year, MJ had better outside shooting and rebounding. Smith should be a better defender, but the reviews from some IU fans has been mixed, and does he want to be a 4/5?
