I figured we could probably make use of a thread like this.

Feel free to post thoughts/analysis of players... who you want, who you don't, potential draft day trades, boxscores, etc.

Big time NCAA action tonight. Here are some guys I like tonight:


Michael Beasley - 25 points and 6 boards upsetting undefeated #2 Kansas:

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280302306


Derrick Rose - 10 points, 9 boards, 6 assists:

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280300248


DJ Augustin - 14 points, 4 assists:

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280300245

If anyone happens to notice times when K State is on national tv please note it here. I was busy last night and missed their big upset.

Memphis seems to play 90% of their schedule on espn so catching Rose won't be a problem.

In the handful of games I've seen Rose play I haven't been blown away. When I think of college players who have blown me away as freshman I think of Carmelo and AI. Last season I saw Oden play a lot and he wasn't ready for the NBA last season (I didn't see Durant much).

I don't love Memphis's offense for evaluating for the NBA.... it is always so herky jerky. When they get in the half court set it is 5 passes that accomplish nothing... and then one of their studs drives or chucks up a three. Then they have the big men to dunk the rebounds.

pants wrote:
In the handful of games I've seen Rose play I haven't been blown away. When I think of college players who have blown me away as freshman I think of Carmelo and AI. Last season I saw Oden play a lot and he wasn't ready for the NBA last season (I didn't see Durant much).

I don't love Memphis's offense for evaluating for the NBA.... it is always so herky jerky. When they get in the half court set it is 5 passes that accomplish nothing... and then one of their studs drives or chucks up a three. Then they have the big men to dunk the rebounds.


That's actually pretty correct.

I still really like Rose, despite that fact.

College Wolf wrote:
pants wrote:
In the handful of games I've seen Rose play I haven't been blown away. When I think of college players who have blown me away as freshman I think of Carmelo and AI. Last season I saw Oden play a lot and he wasn't ready for the NBA last season (I didn't see Durant much).

I don't love Memphis's offense for evaluating for the NBA.... it is always so herky jerky. When they get in the half court set it is 5 passes that accomplish nothing... and then one of their studs drives or chucks up a three. Then they have the big men to dunk the rebounds.


That's actually pretty correct.

I still really like Rose, despite that fact.

I also like the potential I've seen. I mostly just give my reservations becuase I'm skeptical of the hype. I don't think he is a sure thing (he has a heckuva lot more talent than anyone in our current back court).

Every year the media picks a couple college guys as the next big thing. Rose fits the bill and will be promoted in the NCAA tournament a if he'll be an allstar next season. They'd do this if the best NCAA player sucked or if the best NCAA player was as good as LeBron.

This year Rose, Mayo, Beasley, Gordon, and Love are their guys for better or worse.

Agree with you Pants about having certain players be "the guys"...

Another big night in NCAA Ball.


Ty Lawson - 16 points and 10 assists. I like Lawson, just not with a top 3 pick.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280310153


Kevin Love - 20 points and 10 boards:

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280310026


Eric Gordon - 16 points and 3 assists. It should be noted that he's not 100%.
DJ White - 22 points and 17 boards:

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280310275


Brook Lopez - 31 points and 13 boards:

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280310264


Chase Budinger - 29 points and 8 boards.
OJ Mayo - 23 points, 5 assists, 4 boards:

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280310030

I hadn't looked at NBADraft.Net since last summer until just now, and I was kind of suprised that both Bill Walker (K. State) and Chase Budinger (Zona) are nowhere to be found. Although sometimes NBADraft.net will exclude guys based on thinking that they will not be coming out after this year (Conley Jr. wasn't anywhere on there for most of last year, for example). I wonder if this is why?

I watched most of the USC/Arizona game last night.

Based on what I saw last night (and I watched about half of 2 other USC games this year), OJ Mayo doesn't seem all that special to me. Granted, watching a guy play for portions of 3 games does not give me a good sample size by any means, but based on what I have seen, he doesn't seem all too spectacular. Also, I thought he was going to be one of these big, athletic-type point guards in the NBA, but he doesn't even play PG for USC, and he does not play like a point guard by any means, IMO.

Besides watching last night, I also attended an Arizona Wildcats game in November when I was down in Tucson, and both times I have come away impressed with Chase Budinger. He has a pretty good basketball body (taller & stronger than I thought), can shoot the lights out, and seems like a real heady player. Of course, this is against college competition, so how it will translate to the NBA is tough to say.

Bayless (PG for AZ) is #7 right now on NBADraft.net's board for next year?! Wow. He has been relatively good in the 2 games I have seen, but he didn't really stand out to me. He is quick and does seem to play good D.

Like I said, I don't really have enough of a sample size to feel real confident in these judgements, but these are just my initial thoughts on the stars of these 2 teams based on the 2 or 3 games I have seen.

I think they don't list guys in their draft projections until they know for sure, or really really really think they will be declaring.

The reason I say that is because I've seen Bill Walker on it earlier, and also Budinger was in the Top 10 for quite a while too.

I like Budinger's size and athelticism, but I'm not sure he's worth a lotto pick? I'd take him with a mid to lower first round pick though for sure.

Sometimes I like Mayo, sometimes not. I wouldn't draft him Top 4 though, especially because of possible character issues/whatever.

Another huge day of college ball:



Hasheem Thabeet: 24 points and 15 boards
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280400041


Michael Beasley: 23 points and 13 boards
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280402306


Derrick Rose: 15 points and 5 assists
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280400235


Kyle Singler: 24 points and 10 boards
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280400150


Brook Lopez: 14 points and 5 boards
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280400024


AJ Abrams and DJ Augustin: 25 and 17 points
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280400066

Donte Greene is a stud. He's officially number three on my draft board.

Derrick Rose is amazing. There's no way we can't take him if he's available. The reason they lost the game tonight was because they shot waaaay too many threes (they are a bad three point shooting team to begin with), and missed too many free throws (they are one of the worst FT teams in Division 1.)


http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=280540235

He was pretty awesome last night at getting those little mid-range shots in the lane, which I hadn't seen him hit before, and so that's encouraging. And his defense was surprisingly good as well.

At the same time, I'm not expecting him to be the second coming of Terrell Brandon, but doesn't Rose's lack of FT-shooting ability concern you at least a little? He's at 67% on the year (Craig Smith territory), and he missed a couple of huge ones down the stretch last night. For a guy who was keeping his team in the game primarily with his scoring, it makes me a little uneasy that he can't hit FTs (or 3-pointers for that matter) with much regularity.

His "upside," though, does seem pretty tempting.

wtd3 wrote:
He was pretty awesome last night at getting those little mid-range shots in the lane, which I hadn't seen him hit before, and so that's encouraging. And his defense was surprisingly good as well.

At the same time, I'm not expecting him to be the second coming of Terrell Brandon, but doesn't Rose's lack of FT-shooting ability concern you at least a little? He's at 67% on the year (Craig Smith territory), and he missed a couple of huge ones down the stretch last night. For a guy who was keeping his team in the game primarily with his scoring, it makes me a little uneasy that he can't hit FTs (or 3-pointers for that matter) with much regularity.

His "upside," though, does seem pretty tempting.

He's only a freshman in college, so I'll take the "bad" with the good. Remember how horrible of a shooter Lebron was coming into the league? That didn't take him long at all to become deadly from 3PT land.