Big 12 Underappreciated Players

[DFWHoopster]

I had a magical day playing hoops this morning. Got paired with 4 guys who are all decent but no ringers in the group. We consistently played together as a team- good spacing; guys keeping balls alive to get extra possessions; great pick and rolls and switches on defense. A betting man would have bet on our opponent each game but we rattled off 6 straight.

It got me thinking that all of the little things are not appreciated by fans as much as they should be- setting picks; keeping balls alive on offensive rebounds; boxing out; proper spacing on offense, etc...

Who in the big 12 is very unappreciated in this regard? Taylor Griffin to me is the epitome of this conversation. The guy did every little thing well which enabled OU to win.

Who is OU's guy this year to do those little things? Orlando Allen?

I know Baylor's personnel the best. Baylor's guy is Mark McLaughlin. When he catches the ball, he has a purpose. There is no "And 1" display of dribbling from him. He squares up in triple threat and he is attacking the defense, passing or shooting. When he doesn't have the ball, he is setting picks or in movement. Defensively, he has length and is constantly disrupting passes or forcing opponents into difficult shots. From what I have seen, he will play the most of the freshmen at Baylor in crunch time.

Some others that come to mind:

Bryan Davis- A&M

very active; keeps a lot of possessions alive with hustle; always looking for a pick to set

Muonelo- OSU

rebounds well; sets picks well; seems to stay active without the ball; when OSU needs a stop, I think he is their best on the ball defender

Balbay- UT

does my two favorite things that a point guard should do: passes to shooters above the knees and below the chest- I can't tell you how many PG's throw passes high or low and disrupt a good shot opportunity. Balbay is also good at dribbling to space and using his body as a shield for jump shooters. He got Abrams many good open looks by doing this. Steve Nash is the best at this.

I don't know the North well enough to comment.

Thoughts?

 

[HoHum]

Muonelo is a horrible on ball defender. Ever since he broke his leg his freshman year, his lateral quickness on defense has really declined.

 

[thebigabd]

Zaire Taylor (Missouri)... He is a great defensive player, and Mike Anderson said he had the impact of a 5-star player. He hit game winners against Kansas and Texas, had 128 assists, 55 steals, and is perfect for their system... He only averages 7 ppg so he is under appreciated, but he could play for any team in the Big 12.

Tony Crocker (Oklahoma)... Under appreciated by me, most of the fan base, and all of the Big 12. Tony has been a double figure scorer for 3 straight years and will end his career with a million starts and will have averaged around 10 or 11 ppg for his entire career. Good defensive player, ton of heart, lots of passion (got him a few T's last year).. He loves OU and has been extremely valuable to the program.

Gary Johnson (Texas)... When talking Texas nobody talks about a guy who averages 10 and 5 off the bench for UT. He is a really talented player who would start for most anyone else, but plays behind Pittman and James at UT.

Diante Garrett (Iowa State)... Was one of the Big 12’s top playmakers, ranking third in the league and 36th nationally in assists (5.0 apg)...totaled 161 assists to rank 14th on ISU’s single-season assist chart...one of two players to start all 32 games...was second on the team in scoring (9.8 ppg) and averaged 3.3 rebounds...led the team in steals with 30...

I think these 4 are really good players that nobody ever mentions...

 

[DFWHoopster]

Zaire Taylor (Missouri)... He is a great defensive player, and Mike Anderson said he had the impact of a 5-star player. He hit game winners against Kansas and Texas, had 128 assists, 55 steals, and is perfect for their system... He only averages 7 ppg so he is under appreciated, but he could play for any team in the Big 12.

Tony Crocker (Oklahoma)... Under appreciated by me, most of the fan base, and all of the Big 12. Tony has been a double figure scorer for 3 straight years and will end his career with a million starts and will have averaged around 10 or 11 ppg for his entire career. Good defensive player, ton of heart, lots of passion (got him a few T's last year).. He loves OU and has been extremely valuable to the program.

Gary Johnson (Texas)... When talking Texas nobody talks about a guy who averages 10 and 5 off the bench for UT. He is a really talented player who would start for most anyone else, but plays behind Pittman and James at UT.

Diante Garrett (Iowa State)... Was one of the Big 12’s top playmakers, ranking third in the league and 36th nationally in assists (5.0 apg)...totaled 161 assists to rank 14th on ISU’s single-season assist chart...one of two players to start all 32 games...was second on the team in scoring (9.8 ppg) and averaged 3.3 rebounds...led the team in steals with 30...

I think these 4 are really good players that nobody ever mentions...

ABD- good call on all those players. One thing I really appreciate about Gary Johnson is that he gets really wide in the post. It makes it a whole lot easier for a guard to throw a post entry pass when the player gives you a big target. Too many post players these days post up in a completely vertical position and then wonder why passes are deflected from behind.

 

[sys]

diante garrett kills his team. he's a big reason isu was as bad as they were despite having an all conference type pf and several other bigs that are outstanding shooters.

 

[thebigabd]

diante garrett kills his team. he's a big reason isu was as bad as they were despite having an all conference type pf and several other bigs that are outstanding shooters.

Why do you say that? It seemed to me that ISU was just really young and bad on offense and couldnt rebound. They were at the bottom of the conference in rebounding and scoring offense, but I dont see how Garrett can be blamed for that... Nobody really produced outside of Brackins and Garrett, although I think Staiger is a really good player..

Their bigs other than Brackins were weak except Vanderbeken who did exactly what they recruited him to do.

They will be much better this year with Gilstrap (another go-to scorer on the wing) and Laron Dendy in the post.

 

[sys]

They will be much better this year with Gilstrap (another go-to scorer on the wing) and Laron Dendy in the post.

yes, and with garrett coming off the bench.

pgs that can't shoot kill an offense. you can see the same thing with texas, but at least balbay brings a lot of other virtues to the table.

with garrett, aside from not being able to shoot, he's weak and gets pushed around the court by stronger guards. he also has a lazy handle and average footspeed, so any hope isu has of getting easy buckets in transition (not that they do that much, garrett aside) is killed as soon as he touches the ball.


their rebounding issues are all on their coach. when you drop four guys back as soon as you put the ball up, you pretty much concede the board to the other team. in fact, if you really wanted to push the issue, you could make an argument that garrett's poor speed/defense is a contributing factor in forcing his coach to drop back bigs and wings that should be competing for the rebounds.

you could also argue that mcdermott is just a ridiculous *****. probably some truth to both points.

 

[sanguinetti]

Higgins: Colorado.

 

[Cheno]

KU Brady Morningstar

 

[Sam]

I thought Brady was still recovering from broken ankles he recieved at the OU game and was questionable for this season?
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJL6TB51PDs[/ame]

 

[Cheno]

I thought Brady was still recovering from broken ankles he recieved at the OU game and was questionable for this season?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJL6TB51PDs

Thanks for posting. Brings back a lot of great memories from that game.

 

[tomkar98]

Thanks for posting. Brings back a lot of great memories from that game.

That was an amazing game to be in attendance! To be honest, even though it was the only loss (add that it was KU....), it might have been my favorite home game that year. Davidson, USC, OSU and Texas are also up there.

 

[DenverSooner]

Some OU players from the past that were underapprecaited are:

Kevin Bookout, AJ, Renzi Stone, Tim Heskett, David Godbold. All of those guys made major contributions at OU for four season (most started all four seasons) but were not star players (Bookout sort of was a star).

The walk-ons all across the league are underappreciated. They bust their @$$es knowing they will never play just because they love the game. Typically they also excell in the classroom to help the grade point average of the team.