You HAVE to have the players, but this is why Fran is a great coach.

If Basabe doesn't get the fire in his belly I would expect him to less and less time.

I would prefer he get it together, we have seen what he can do when he gets after it. He is fun to watch when he is active and involved.
 
Hard to type t h i s ...but I agree with Ghost on Basabe. He hasn't had a bad stretch of games or nagging injuries etc., he just hasn't played well all season or figured out how to do little things to help the team aside from scoring (outside of a handful of games). Two fouls, bench, 1 foul, bench, night over.

I think there are guys like White, Gatens and Marble who are hell-bent on pushing themselves to improve (shooting at 10pm) and guys like Basabe and Archie who want to play, but not work, at basketball. Sweeping generalization I know, but I have given up on the karma, confidence, Anthony Robbins stuff at this point with Basabe. Not sure there is a kid I have rooted harder for to prove me wrong, but he just looks disinterested.
 
The thing that gives me hope with Basabe is that he played with passion more often than not last year, it just has not carried over. It isn't something he needs to create, it's something he needs to rediscover. I'm just not going to hold my breath.
 
hawkIhoops said:
I think there are guys like White, Gatens and Marble who are hell-bent on pushing themselves to improve (shooting at 10pm) and guys like Basabe and Archie who want to play, but not work, at basketball. Sweeping generalization I know, .
Click to expand...


Basabe works hard. You don't think it was hard work for him to lift weights and bulk up? I had seen him shooting at the Field House gym last summer prior to him going to the Team USA stuff. Basabe works hard and it's point less to say he doesn't unless you have solid evidence. Also Basabe came back with a decent looking stroke from 15 feet, but he is just really hesitant to shoot it when open for some reason. He really needs to start shooting those shots more often as it will only help to space the floor more.

Basabe does not have the basketball skills of the guys you listed and never will. Basabe seems to not have a great "feel" for the game. He seems to pick up stupid fouls which cost him minutes on the floor.

Last night Basabe was fighting like hell for post position and had established position a few times and Iowa did not feed him the ball. I am still convinced Iowa is one of the worst passing teams in the nation. They just have an inability to make quick post feeds.

Basabe is a guy who is going to have to score his points on put backs, shooting and making those 12-15 foot jump shots and running the floor. He will not make a living scoring from the low post but he can at least draw fouls and get some free throws.

I think people over analyze him way too much. Like Ghost said, he is what he is but he just needs to be a bit more away and improve that jump shot even more.
 
Compared to last year, Basabe looks extremely slow off the floor, as if he lost all his fast twitch muscles. I have no idea, but it doesn't seem like a weight issue to me. At least not anymore.

If his main problem was consistency or concentration or even his work ethic, it seems like he would still have certain plays where he would explode off the floor. Even when he makes a nice play or two these days, he doesn't look all that quick or explosive.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
Compared to last year, Basabe looks extremely slow off the floor, as if he lost all his fast twitch muscles. I have no idea, but it doesn't seem like a weight issue to me. At least not anymore.

If his main problem was consistency or concentration or even his work ethic, it seems like he would still have certain plays where he would explode off the floor. Even when he makes a nice play or two these days, he doesn't look all that quick or explosive.
Click to expand...

Disagree. In the IU game he blocked back to back shots where he got off the floor quickly.

I do think we are not good at feeding the post. Having a good passing big man like Woody in the high post could make a diff for Mel next year. Dump down passes to Mel on the move or posting up against another power forward instead of a center could really spark him.
 
GhostofBTT said:
Most people just assume this is going to happen. I am not. He is who he is. After he had that big game vs. Indiana, we had all of these posts about how "focused" Mel is now, and how he put himself together mentally.

Then he had has 10 points and 10 rebounds in the last three games COMBINED.

My only expectation for him next year is to be a capable backup for Aaron White.
Click to expand...

Focus, schmocus. He needs to develop his offensive game. As Crean said after the IU game, they knew what he would do, they just didn't cut him off on his drop step to the left on the right block. Wisconsin, Illinois and Nebraska did a better job. I expect that to happen before next year and Melsahn will be a force again.
 
JHHawk said:
Disagree. In the IU game he blocked back to back shots where he got off the floor quickly.

I do think we are not good at feeding the post. Having a good passing big man like Woody in the high post could make a diff for Mel next year. Dump down passes to Mel on the move or posting up against another power forward instead of a center could really spark him.
Click to expand...

Having a point next year whoever that is will help tremendously. Marble does ok he just isn't a point imo. That one time in the first half when Bryce penetrated and dished for a dunk I was like wow we hardly ever see that anymore.
 
i think it is a combination of not being ready or prepared for the season and other team being more prepared for him. he is not sneaking up on teams this season.
which is why i think alot of kids have a slump their sophamore season, coming into his freshmen season nobody knew about him, this time around teams are prepared and know who he is,
 
He's got 2 years left. I wouldn't call him a waste just yet. Time for his game to evolve. I think it will. It's hard to fix a golf swing on the golf course. The same can be said about a post player during the season.
 
I don't know about Melsahn, but I was very frustrated vs Neb. Mel was posting up like a mad man, he had his defender pinned, and we were not getting the ball to him.
Like other posters have said, we do not feed the post at all. That better change next year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top