Dragan Sekelja- Baylor freshman

[BigTime]

I don't see what the love affair with the Aggies in pre-season predictions is all about. Most pre-season predictions pick them 4th-6th in the big 12. If Elonu had stayed, I could see that.

In the past, they were able to control the boards with Davis, Elonu and Jones. With Davis and more of a finesse post in Loubeau, I think they struggle down low. And their guards don't shoot well enough to beat teams from the outside in my opinion. Sloan, Roland and Dash Harris are good defenders but not good outside shooters. And without an inside game, those jump shots will not be open shots as much as they were in years past .

I would put A&M behind Baylor, Missouri, Iowa St, Kansas, KSt, OSU, OU and Texas personally. We will see soon enough.

Baylor, ISU, and OSU will all finish ahead of A&M imo. The question will be whether or not Mizzou will.

Mizzou is the team that is getting too much hype in my opinion.

Kansas
Texas
Oklahoma
Kansas State
Oklahoma State
Baylor (DFW has got me sold)
ISU
A&M
Mizzou
Tech
Colo
Nebraska (still love you Doc)

 

[BanjoCharley]

Looks like a combination of Arvydas Sabonis, Rik Smits and Julius Michalik.

For you old timers he sounds like a villain from Mission Impossible (the TV series.)

 

[DFWHoopster]

I think A&M gets more respect because Turgeon is regarded as a better game coach than Drew. Talent wise Baylor typically has had more.

Turgeon inherited some good talent and he has done well on the recruiting trail. He had a lot better frontcourt than Baylor the last two years. Really, I was baffled by a decision Turgeon made against the Bears in the 5 OT game. A&M fouled out all of Baylor's bigs in the 1st OT if memory serves me right. Baylor went very small- 4 guards and Richard Hurd (6'5" walk-on at center). Turgeon immediately took out Jones and Davis and matched Baylor's small lineup. That cost A&M the game in my opinion. A&M shot like 60 FTs or something crazy. But after Turge went small, Jerrells drove to the hole on almost every possession and got fouled or made a layup with no post defender to discourage him...

Baylor tried to recruit all those guys that the Aggies landed. This year the tables are turned and Baylor is stronger in the frontcourt than A&M. I'm sure Cheno will be the first one to come on this board and retract his comments about Turgeon being a better game day coach than Drew if the Bears sweep the Ags this year...

 

[CarlWeathers]

Mizzou is the team that is getting too much hype in my opinion.

Well rivals agrees with you, picked them 8th in the big 12 75th overall.

 

[Cheno]

I'm sure Cheno will be the first one to come on this board and retract his comments about Turgeon being a better game day coach than Drew if the Bears sweep the Ags this year...

I didn't say he was a better game day coach. I said I believe he's widely regarded as a better game day coach which is why I believe A&M is usually given more respect in the rankings than Baylor. It's certainly not because they have more talent.
I personally don't think either Turgeon or Drew are anything to write home about when it comes to game day coaching. I do think Turgeon's teams are sounder defensively.

 

[campbest]

I personally don't think either Turgeon or Drew are anything to write home about when it comes to game day coaching. I do think Turgeon's teams are sounder defensively.

Fact.

 

[Sawyer]

Too much hype?

Can you show me where MU is getting too much hype? I've seen almost none. And what hype is there is well deserved. You don't go from Big 12 champs, 31 wins and the elite 8 to 9th place in the Big 12 in one year.

 

[sys]

Too much hype?

Can you show me where MU is getting too much hype? I've seen almost none. And what hype is there is well deserved. You don't go from Big 12 champs, 31 wins and the elite 8 to 9th place in the Big 12 in one year.

mu went from 9th in 2008 to 3rd in 2009. why is it impossible that they revert to a 8th or 9th place finish in 2010?

especially given that the north looks significantly stronger top to bottom this year.

 

[Sawyer]

If Zaire Taylor and JT Tiller get into a fight at 2AM because they don't want to pay for chicken wings, Taylor gets his jaw broken and is kicked off the team, Justin Safford decides to bust someone in the face with the butt of a shotgun, and Keith Ramsey decides to coast through his senior season without ever giving an ounce of effort... then you will come close to the crap that factored into the 2008 finish. At one point MU was playing with six scholarship players that season. True, it's not impossible for MU to fall back to that... but it's highly unlikely.

Predicting worse than last year I understand. Outside of Kim English, I don't think anyone expects MU to actually repeat what they did last year. But they will still be pretty good, and far from the 9th best team in the Big 12.

 

[coolm]

He sounds like he will make big trouble for moose and squirrel.

 

[MNsooner]

This is a big year for my opinion of Scott Drew (like my opinion matters :ez-laugh. I have always slightly forgiven their bad defensive play because they lacked a solid front court. It is hard to stop guards from getting to the rack with out a solid front court and even harder to defend when you have no front court depth to give fouls with. Now that they have a decent front court and good athletes they have no excuse not to improve on defense. We will see by the end of the season if Drew can coach D. If they are solid by the end of the season then it is unreasonable to say that Drew is an awful defensive coach. On the other hand if they don't improve this season, they will probably never be good on D under Drew.

 

[DFWHoopster]

MNSooner- I agree with what you said. I suspect Sooner and Aggie fans will experience some of the same frustrations on defense this year that Baylor fans had over the last 3 years. Gallon will likely be a good offensive player and rebounder. But freshmen sometimes struggle with defending pick and rolls and foul trouble. It will be interesting to see how OU transitions defensively without the Griffins.

Baylor will be a lot better defensively for 2 reasons:

1. Ekpe Udoh is a terrific defender- one of the best in the country.

2. Baylor has traded short guards- Jerrells/Dugat for taller guards- Dennis/McLaughlin.

My concerns about Baylor are on offense- outside of Dunn and Carter, they have no proven offense. Udoh is supposed to be really solid offensively but did not show that at Michigan.

Sawyer- gotta love Kim English. Been following him on Twitter. Seems like a great kid.

 

[campbest]

MNSooner- I agree with what you said. I suspect Sooner and Aggie fans will experience some of the same frustrations on defense this year that Baylor fans had over the last 3 years. Gallon will likely be a good offensive player and rebounder. But freshmen sometimes struggle with defending pick and rolls and foul trouble. It will be interesting to see how OU transitions defensively without the Griffins.

Baylor will be a lot better defensively for 2 reasons:

1. Ekpe Udoh is a terrific defender- one of the best in the country.

2. Baylor has traded short guards- Jerrells/Dugat for taller guards- Dennis/McLaughlin.

My concerns about Baylor are on offense- outside of Dunn and Carter, they have no proven offense. Udoh is supposed to be really solid offensively but did not show that at Michigan.

Sawyer- gotta love Kim English. Been following him on Twitter. Seems like a great kid.

Udoh was never a scorer in high school or at Michigan...what's changed?

I'm just really excited to see Sekelja work alongside Tim Duncan, this could be really special.

 

[DFWHoopster]

Udoh was never a scorer in high school or at Michigan...what's changed?

I'm just really excited to see Sekelja work alongside Tim Duncan, this could be really special.

He better be good offensively or you all are never going to let me live down the Tim Duncan comparison... He has looked very polished offensively in scrimmages at Baylor. That has been a major focus during the transfer year- to hone his offensive moves. His ability to score has surprised the Baylor coaches.

 

[coolm]

good comedy is lost on you people

 

[One More Rebound]

good comedy is lost on you people

It would help if your jokes were from this century...

 

[Sawyer]

Sawyer- gotta love Kim English. Been following him on Twitter. Seems like a great kid.

He's got me really close to joining twitter... I've resisted for quite some time, but I'm about ready to jump on the bandwagon. He is such an impressive kid off the court... pretty much the epitome of what a student athlete is supposed to be. Works hard at the game and in the classroom and a first class representative of the university.

 

[BigTime]

Too much hype?

Can you show me where MU is getting too much hype? I've seen almost none. And what hype is there is well deserved. You don't go from Big 12 champs, 31 wins and the elite 8 to 9th place in the Big 12 in one year.

Not many teams lose that much talent, and then fail to replace the scoring punch or land a quality big. DeWitt and Famous should have been tigers.

Where do you think that Mizzou will finish? You are one of the most biased guests on this board imo.

 

[CrimsonOberon]

I, too, can go out to the three-point line, where I have a shot that neither falls nor looks very good. Think Baylor might be interested in me?

That line was puzzling to me, too.:ez-laugh:

That's like saying, "he can take you off the dribble, but his shot looks ugly and never goes in."

 

[Sawyer]

Not many teams lose that much talent, and then fail to replace the scoring punch or land a quality big. DeWitt and Famous should have been tigers.

Where do you think that Mizzou will finish? You are one of the most biased guests on this board imo.

Biased? How am I any more biased than anyone else?

I expect MU to finish somewhere in the top six next year. I think ISU, CU, Texas Tech and Nebraska are clearly the four worst teams in the Big 12. UT, ku and OU are pretty clearly the three most talented teams. Between that, I think the remaining five are fairly close. Because MU returns so much in the backcourt, I put them in the top half of those five.

As for losing scoring punch without replacing it... Carroll is a HUGE loss. He will be missed. The others, though, are definitely replaceable with what MU already has. Lawrence was a fairly smart player who limited mistakes and hit threes if left open. English will step in and be a much better all-around player. MU upgrades there. Lyons was a skilled player who did give MU a scoring threat at the 5, but he was also incredibly streaky, an average (at best) defender and never really fit into Anderson's 40 minutes of hell style of defense.

It would've been great if MU landed Famous and Dewitt qualified. Stone and Underwood are both good prospects IMO, but not ones that I'm expecting to add a whole lot this year. MU will need Bowers, Ramsey and Safford to increase their production. I don't think that's a whole lot to ask, though.

And for what it's worth... don't be surprised if Dewitt is suiting up at semester.