Wufan wrote:I think UNI is better next year. There's an interesting battle at PG between Washpun and Mitchell…not sure if that is good or bad for the team, but I'm glad there is solid competition. Bohannon has been MUCH better in Valley play than he was in the non-con, and that has helped tremendously. Morgan will be a player…the sooner the better for the Panthers. Buss has really stepped up and will continue to cause match up problems and Tuttle will be the best returning big in the MVC next year. What is UNI lacking in separating itself from the 3-7 pack? IMO, the Panthers need one (or two) of their bigs to be able to step up and play 20 minutes of solid basketball backing up Buss and Tut, AND they need another deep threat that can play defense to back up Morgan and Bohannon.
Panthers are my early pick for 2nd place next season. Ill St and Mo St are right there.
Ah...the lack of post depth - been covered ad nausea in the last couple days.
The PG battle is interesting at UNI. Mitchell has been the guy since the second he stepped foot on campus but that has changed the last couple weeks. He is in some sort of funk. Some rumor he isn't 100% healthy and thats part of it, there seems to be a large mental piece of it as well as he just looks disinterested a lot. The WSU game he showed a ton of energy against FVV trying to prove he belongs in the discussion for best PG but then disappears against Drake, Eville, etc... He's shown great flashes offensively by going over 20 multiple times. There is no consistency from him which has led to Washpun being the starter right now. Washpun is a freak athlete and the biggest knock on him out of HS was he couldn't shoot. Well, that has been fixed. He is careless with the ball at times though which causes issues late in games against a press. UNI has a kid coming in next year that was a HS teammate of Jeremy Morgan that seems to be the future at UNI at PG. There is those who want him to RS and have 4 years to start but he has the talent to come in and play right away. He's put multiple games of 60 plus points up in AAU games, he's had multiple games of 20+ assist in AAU games. He's one of the top 3 players in the state...my big knock from watching him play is his shot release is long and slow. Works in HS - won't work against MVC PGs.
Matty Bo is a great shooter but a half step slow on D. I think he'll work hard on that over the off season. While he won't be 100% as fast if he can go from a half step slow to a 1/5 step slow I'll take it. He is extremely dangerous for UNI offensively. His OOC was very out of character for him. I think his conference play is what we see from him going forward.
Morgan is going to be very special for UNI...very excited to see what kind of progress he makes going into next season.
Tuttle will be Tuttle.
UNI gets some guys into the mix next year that could be HUGE for the team.
6'6 wing Paul Jespersen is eligible. He is a VERY good defender. He isn't a huge threat on offense but could be the missing piece of intensity on the outside that UNI has been missing. He was a starter in the ACC. Robert Knarr is every bit the shooter (maybe better by some reports) as Bohannon. It's if he can get healthy. He missed his sr year of HS with a torn ACL and then retore the same ACL this year. Bennett Koch is apparently the most talented of the Koch brothers, and tallest, but needs to gain a good amount of weight. He's beaten Adam one of one. He needs about 20-30lbs though. Klint Carlson is an interesting piece for UNI. He was one of the top 5 players in IA last season as a SR. Put up great numbers, but at 6'7 what position does he play? He'll probably get put into a 4 so we'll see how that goes. Ted has played this year. He has the body to play but needs to get adjusted to the speed. Jake says he has the best footwork of any post player he's seen in a while but his hands (as you've seen with the fouls he picks up) need work. He relied on his size in HS.
Going into next year I think the rotation looks something like this
PG: Mitchell, Washpun, Bo
SG: Washpun, Bo, Morgan, Knarr
WG: Morgan, Jesperson, Buss, Singleton
This is where it gets tougher because of everything. If Ted is read to roll then he plays the 5 and Tut plays a 4 and we go to a traditions 2 post system when they are both on the floor. Tut and Ted will split most of the time a the 5 with Koch seeing some time. I see a mix of Tuttle, Buss, Carlson, Singleton, and Jesperson at the 4