I’d expect Nixon to primarily guard a guy like Culver despite the size difference. I don’t expect most teams best perimeter scorer to have that kind of size. No idea how we are going to guard one of big guys with perimeter skills. Hopefully Zion.
INSIDER: What I know about Rasir Bolton waiver timeline
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I’d expect Nixon to primarily guard a guy like Culver despite the size difference. I don’t expect most teams best perimeter scorer to have that kind of size. No idea how we are going to guard one of big guys with perimeter skills. Hopefully Zion.
I actually was looking at that on kenpom and gave up because I have no idea who is coming back or not. It seems like most of the studs are smaller guards.
What those stats don't really take into account are guys currently on the team that progress and guys that come onto the team and help out right away. These stats hammer us in the fact that they basically take all of the production numbers away from guys that have left the program. So sure, if no one steps up and assumes a role, that number may be true. If Bolton is eligible and we get some production from either Terrence, Jackson, Griffin, or Leech, we're going to make the tournament. I think Bolton is going to be a prolific scorer next year, we have a lockdown defender who isn't afraid to take tough shots in Nixon, we have 3 big men that I think are going to be very good next year, and we honestly might have a Big 12 POY candidate in Halliburton. I know many might think that's a stretch, but he was the best player on the U-19 USA team this year and his game seems to be developing into something really really special. The progression of those other guys plus maybe a surprise would make this team tournament eligible.
I would say it will be a combination of Tyrese, Nixon, Terrence and Griffin on a guy like that. Terrence and Griffin both fit the profile but we'll see if their defensive ability allows them too. Tyrese has the length to be able to stay on a guy like that and should be able to use his length to overshadow his weight. Nixon will be a guy that gets up underneath someone and makes them very uncomfortable. If the guy would try and post up we'd have help on the back side and then scramble out of it when they pass out.
I'm excited for Nixon, but I hope that he's a very low volume shooter.
I'm excited to watch this team come together and play as a team. If you or anyone else has any time, go back and watch on youtube the 2016-2017 holiday tournament in Orlando against Gonzaga. We were swinging the ball, moving it around, making the extra pass, etc. The ball movement was absolutely beautiful in that's why we were successful that year. It did take us some time to figure things out, but we won some big games because that team was incredibly unselfish.
I hope he shoots whenever he is open or has a good feel.
A lot of flexibility in our potential lineups. If we get good development from the returning guys, we should be able to go big, small or whatever based on match ups.
Someone is going to have to try to stay in front of Dotson. There were many times against Iowa St last season, that he got the rim at will. Hopefully Nixon will be perfect for that.
Jared Butler 6-3 185
Davide Moretti 6-2 175
Ochai Agbaji 6-5 215
Desmond Bane 6-5 215- I think will be one of the toughest matchups for the Big 12. Avg'd 15 pts & 6 rebs, while shooting 55% from the field and 42.5% from 3.
Also newcomers like Jalen Wilson at KU. Chris Clark, TJ Holyfield, and Jahmius Ramsey at Texas Tech. De'Vion Harmon and Alondes Williams at OU.
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Which, if other teams do their research, will be quite often. His defensive presence will net him lots of playing time.
I don't think we should judge Nixon's offensive ability until we see him with our full team. Sure his efficiency numbers were sub-par at CSU, but he was "the guy". I'm also guessing that he had a lot put on his shoulders on the defensive end. So when you're playing a ton every game, running around chasing the other teams best guard, and then are expected to score on the other end, it's going to be very hard to have great shooting percentages. In contrast, I think there were a lot of people who thought that Shayok was going to be the outright best defender on the team this past year because "he was from Virginia and they're all about defense". I thought that he exerted so much energy sometimes on the offensive end, that he was sometimes slow on the defensive end and was sometimes a step late.
The Barttorvik projections actually do have a model for player improvement and roster changes (e.g., guys coming off redshirt years and freshmen coming into the program).
Returning players are "improved" based on a simple historical model where freshmen improve the most once they are sophomores and then have small improvements each of the next two or three years until they exhaust their eligibility. Incoming freshmen are given projected efficiencies given their size and recruiting rankings. Interestingly, Barttorvik describes incoming freshmen much like the NBA might with draft capital -- the top few recruits are equivalent to bringing in an All-American, but the talent decays rapidly. By the time you are in the 50-75 range and certainly by 100, most freshmen are interchangeable/the returns to their freshmen seasons are so random that, for projection purposes, you can basically treat them as all the same. The projections for Grill and Jackson are the same, for instance, given their "equivalent" rankings.
Yes, will have guys step up and grow into roles, but other squads will, too. We would just have to have basically every guy step up into a new role with aplomb, have no major injuries or other drama go down, and have everything else go right for what you describe to happen. We lost a lot of talent after last season, and I think we still underrate just how good Marial Shayok was as a SG and Nick as a PG. We can do it, but what you describe should be at the ragged edge (top 5%? top 1%?) of potential outcomes. I do not want you disappointed.
Nixon might have the dog in him, but I do not know if he is big enough. He might stay in front of a Wade type on the perimeter and get under him, but I imagine he is going to be too short to do much to him on the block after a few post moves.
Haliburton might do well against wing types, but he is still really skinny. He should not be guarding anybody near the block. He would get killed trying to do that.
Griffin and Lewis are the ones with the physical/athletic profile to do what we describe here, but neither of them has shown much in live action so far in their career. Along with Bolton becoming eligible, one of those two emerging as a contributor who can hold their own on defense against that type is probably the key to the season. If you can play Griffin or Lewis at the 4 and be confident about it, the amount of lineup and positional flexibility that we have suddenly skyrockets for our offensive sets, and our defense is going to be much better against those hybrid types that have killed us in the past. Time for one of them to act like a 4* recruit.
But Solomon is the best defensive big -so which will the staff value more? Solo may not fill the box score, but when healthy ISU was so much better when is was on the court.
I know that those ratings somewhat take into account new guys and production from returners but they put the least number those guys would produce instead of a middle ground. Yes we lost those four guys as well but we also gained two of the top 15 available transfers that will be able to pick up some of that slack. I also think that Tre Jackson is going to be a really good scorer off the bench and is going to pick up college basketball very quickly. Our 3 bigs should be really good and if Griffin and Terrence play to their potential, you're looking at a pretty good team. Obviously if none of those things happen, we wont be making the tournament, but I am betting on the fact that they will be good. Also, guys like Seth Davis are still picking us around a 5-6 seed for the tournament next year even with the guys we lost. We'll all know more when Rasir gets his response from the NCAA and we start getting into the fall practices.The Barttorvik projections actually do have a model for player improvement and roster changes (e.g., guys coming off redshirt years and freshmen coming into the program).
Returning players are "improved" based on a simple historical model where freshmen improve the most once they are sophomores and then have small improvements each of the next two or three years until they exhaust their eligibility. Incoming freshmen are given projected efficiencies given their size and recruiting rankings. Interestingly, Barttorvik describes incoming freshmen much like the NBA might with draft capital -- the top few recruits are equivalent to bringing in an All-American, but the talent decays rapidly. By the time you are in the 50-75 range and certainly by 100, most freshmen are interchangeable/the returns to their freshmen seasons are so random that, for projection purposes, you can basically treat them as all the same. The projections for Grill and Jackson are the same, for instance, given their "equivalent" rankings.
Yes, will have guys step up and grow into roles, but other squads will, too. We would just have to have basically every guy step up into a new role with aplomb, have no major injuries or other drama go down, and have everything else go right for what you describe to happen. We lost a lot of talent after last season, and I think we still underrate just how good Marial Shayok was as a SG and Nick as a PG. We can do it, but what you describe should be at the ragged edge (top 5%? top 1%?) of potential outcomes. I do not want you disappointed.
Nixon might have the dog in him, but I do not know if he is big enough. He might stay in front of a Wade type on the perimeter and get under him, but I imagine he is going to be too short to do much to him on the block after a few post moves.
Haliburton might do well against wing types, but he is still really skinny. He should not be guarding anybody near the block. He would get killed trying to do that.
Griffin and Lewis are the ones with the physical/athletic profile to do what we describe here, but neither of them has shown much in live action so far in their career. Along with Bolton becoming eligible, one of those two emerging as a contributor who can hold their own on defense against that type is probably the key to the season. If you can play Griffin or Lewis at the 4 and be confident about it, the amount of lineup and positional flexibility that we have suddenly skyrockets for our offensive sets, and our defense is going to be much better against those hybrid types that have killed us in the past. Time for one of them to act like a 4* recruit.
Also I wasn't trying to say that Nixon or Tyrese were going to guard the tweener guy the whole game I was saying if they got switched out to one of those guys they would be able to handle themselves for a possession or two. Griffin and Lewis would exactly what we are looking for but they have to be able to show that they are capable.
This should all be based on matchups. Solo gives us a lot defensively, but so does Conditt as well. If he progresses he could be making a case to start too. Having Solomon back for the really big guys like OSU's will be very big for us though.
