Basketball 20-21

Has Watford improved in any area? Seems slower footed. Heavier maybe.

funny I thought I musta hit enter. I asked similar questions.

 

He’s solid all around, and big, but I’m not sure he’s improved much. Maybe a little as a leader. He was shooting free throws after the game last night.

 

watford has improved, he is a better passer. he plays farther from the basket and distributes more.

he is a poor man's naz reid, if we judge naz by how he was playing near the end of his freshman season. naz is bigger and stronger and more athletic.

naz went undrafted, which was a travesty. he is playing well now and has a solid NBA role and job. i dont know if watford will every reach that level.

i think watford played high school ball vs lil white losers and he ruled over them. he earned 5 stars on that performance. he is a good SEC player for sure but 5 star players are supposed to be first rounders.

 

Southeastern Conference
@SEC
The LSU at Missouri men’s basketball game of Jan. 9 has been postponed due to a combination of positive tests, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Missouri basketball program.

edited to add:
The LSU at Missouri men's basketball game of January 9 has been postponed due to a combination of positive tests, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Missouri basketball program, consistent with Southeastern Conference COVID-19 management requirements. A make-up date has not been determined at this time.

With the South Carolina at Ole Miss game scheduled for Jan. 9 also postponed, the LSU at Ole Miss game originally scheduled for Feb. 17 will now be played at 8:30 pm ET on Jan. 9 and will be available on SEC Network. Additionally, the Mississippi State at Vanderbilt game on Jan. 9 will now start at 6 p.m. ET on SEC Network.

The SEC's COVID-19 management requirements, as developed by the SEC's Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force, are available on SECsports.com. (full report).

 

manning trasferred

 

thats incredible they can reschedule so fast

 

manning out

san jose st guard seneca knight in

the transfers are outta hand

 

we have a whole fuckton of basketball stuff to digest

topic numero uno: change of schedule

i think late schedule changes favor the more athletic streetball team that doesnt use a design offense or specific plays. thats LSU. their "plays" are often just "clear out for player X or Y to take it to the hoop". and that shit works on everyone. no need for scouting the defense.

also, missouri is really good. young teams are better at the end of the season. so thats also good if they play missouri later rather than earlier.

LSU lost early to st louis ( who is a very very good and highly ranked team) and i think they would have had a better shot if it hadnt been the first game against real compentition for a 45% of lsu's players. LSU's useful bench depth is largely first year players. cook, gaines, o'neal.

one hopes that LSU is still improving and will be hitting on all cylinders and peaking in a few weeks.

topic numero dos: loss of manning

manning was a good player and tried on defense, and he is athletic. he was key to a win last year when he rejected two consecutive game winning shots by being very quick with his blocks. he was a pogo stick and sent back two consecutive potential winners. it was awesome. also he is one of maybe two reliable alley-oop targets along with wilkinson. who doesnt love an oop?

but, it was his last year anyways and he wants minutes. and he has a free transfer because of virus. might as well go somewhere and get big minutes as a showcase for the pros.

alex fudge is arriving now as a freshman early enrollee and i think he will praictive with the team. he is a 3 level scorer and athlete and should help with the loss of manning at practice.

wade says depth pays off mostly in practice. thats when it matters. when your main fellas are driving against real guys instead of volunteer trainers and equipment managers. so fudge will help so tey can still do real 5 v 5 scrimmages in practice. and also that problem is solved by:

topic numero tres: incoming transfer seneca knight:

knight sucked in high school and had few offers. but he has picked up the pace and been a fairly dangerous high volume shooter and scorer for san jose state. my guess is he had improved so much he was now on too small a stage and moved along. another guy on his team did the same and transferred to the big stage at gonzaga. knight is from the BTR- LAF area

like i said before, nothing is more convoluted and fucking stupid than NCAA rules, so i am never sure of anyone's status. its possible both knight and fudge will be at practice immediately. fudge is very good. he described himself as a more athletic watford, and i can buy that. from his videos he does look kinda like a weaker skinnier smaller faster more athletic watford. likes to put the ball on the floor and move to the basket. that doesnt sound amazing but consider how few college players over 6-6 or so can dribble the ball and move to the hoop. watford can. days slightly barely can. emmit williams could not.

 

not only am i saying i dont know, i am saying i anti-know. i couldnt be more clueless. i find NCAA rules indecipherable and arbitrary in normal years.

i do think its possible, given that manning and BPJ are gone, that their scholarships are held by fudge and knight as of the spring semester which starts maybe monday or some time very close to now. presumably this means they can practice? or play even? who the fuck knows.

also it seems like you would have be lebron for wade to let you play ahead of guys who have been practicing hard for months and months.