*** Official U18 Euro Championship Thread ***

[acgclone]

I think he can and will play this year some. There will be some games like UT and KU I hope he doesn't for his sake. But especially in the noncon against cupcake central and no McKay I hope he gets 15-20 MPG.

I'll take the under on that, but I hope you're right. If he gets north of 10 min/game this year, it can only mean that Fred thinks he has something to add to our success.

 

[Wesley]

I don't see him putting on a lot of weight this year. Most of that seems to be done in the off season. Once practice begins and the games start there's not really time to add weight. I think he'll be able to contribute a little bit with where he's at right now, and at the very least gain some experience in the non con, but I don't see any major physical changes for him this season. He is what he is and there's really nothing wrong with that.

Mrs. Hoiberg's cookies. Good to add some weight.

 

[VeloClone]

Mrs. Hoiberg's cookies. Good to add some weight.

GeorgesFan can send the cookies she used to send to Georges to Georgios.

 

[CyCal]

He didn't say he was going to start him on the wing only that he cN play him at the wing with bigger lineups. Hogue and Nader can both play a PF spot. Edozie will get minutes over Tsalmpouris early in the season due to experience and defense. Once McKay starts playing there won't be many minutes for either. Think about it
You will have Morris, Niang, BDJ, Hogue all probably gettin about 30 a game then you have Nader, Long, Thomas, McKay who will get plenty of minutes. Not to mention Custer and Dorsey Walker. So how is he getting 10-15 minutes a game on a top 25 team when he even get those minutes on the U18 Greek team??

Niang wouldn't have to START at the 3 for Tsalbo to play 10 minutes, just slide that way occasionally. I may well be too high on him because he is a 7-foot shooter, it just seems to me that he brings a unique and valuable skill set that we don't have with any other player. I think that will be enough to get him around 10 minutes a game (Especially if we are about to drill a couple of the weaker teams and have guys like SDW and GT play extended minutes in the second half). I will concede that 15 minutes is probably a little ambitious though, because it really will be a dogfight for minutes next year.

If this tournament has shown us one thing, it is that GT can be reasonably effective, even when he is getting spotty minutes and that is exactly what you want out of a bench player.

 

[sadam]

His tournament 3 pt % should be pretty darn good.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

There is no way he averages 10-15 minutes a game. Maybe in blowout games but not for the season.

I agree. There are minutes to be had, but Daniel Edozie will be ahead of Tsalbo at the 5 on the depth chart. Meanwhile, I'd suspect we see Tsalbo playing about as infrequently as Daniel did last year pre-NCAA Tournament. Probably get some great opportunities early on with McKay ineligible, but once he's back I doubt we see much of him the rest of the way.

 

[WhatchaGonnaDo]

His playing time will be similar to Naz or SDW's respective freshman seasons

 

[BryceC]

I'll take the under on that, but I hope you're right. If he gets north of 10 min/game this year, it can only mean that Fred thinks he has something to add to our success.

Over the whole season I'm definitely taking the under. However, in the noncon I hope we have some serious blowouts which allows him to get some experience on the court in the American game.

 

[GoClone]

20 more lbs.

Bulking up would be huge for GT. While all kids/people are different, I remember another ISU "project" player that bulked up tremendously in just one summer to make himself ready for BIG XII play. That was Justin Hamilton.

Our staff might want to might check out how Justin did it.

p.s. I am sorry to bring up something from those "Dark Days" of Iowa State basketball.

 

[kucyclone]

Greece is in the semifinal tomorrow vs. Serbia, which beat Greece in the first matchup, in which Tsalmpouris played seven minutes. The game starts, I believe, at 10:30am central time. And I think there is live video for it, but I could be wrong about that. There's a link for TV on the schedule, or the FIBA Youtube channel might also work.