Ironically, if he’s playing the 3, I’m not sure he has to drive past.  You could spot him up and he could shoot over guys, or you could even post him up and let him go to work against smaller defenders, which is a situation his post abilities are more suited for.  It will be interesting to see how he’s utilized.

Hey I’ll take a Paul Pierce thank you very much

I hope Watford makes it pro, but I don’t see him leaving early at all.

I just hope Hanner stays for more than 2 years.

I agree, Watford has a long way to go before going pro. He just doesn’t have good foot speed or agility to play on the perimeter in the pros, nor the strength and jumping to play inside.

I hope he does get to the NBA, but after having a huge senior season.

I like Jeremy’s game too. But Yogi is by far the most complete (defense, awareness, etc.)

Hollowell’s game reminds me much more of Paul Pierce than Melo.  Hollowell, like Pierce, is a good but not great athlete.  Both have an outside shot, a mid ranger and the ability to get to the basket, but the biggest similarity is in how they create space.  As I said before, neither are great athletes, but they both a smooth way of creating space to get their shots off.  Its a great skill to possess that requires a high bball IQ.

Hollowell is the most complete, all around player in IU’s 2012 class.

Not really a surprise. It is a bummer though.

fat chance on leaving early. He will be borderline 2nd round if he plays as you project.

Just having him around the current players and prospective recruits when they are on campus in any job that allows him to be seen and heard is a plus and I would be very surprised that if and when a full time assistants job opens up that he will not be the one to immediately fill it. My guess is that Director of BB operations is just a way for him to be around to have a positive effect on IU bball as a whole and gives him a job that is as close to being an assistant as possible without breaking any rules.

We could probably use a few kids that bring the “bad mood” mentality to the game. Coverdale looked like he was PO’d his entire career.

Sheehey’s attitude was brought up this week. We need a little attitude!

In terms of Watford, I remember this more than anything. His FR year he was getting stuffed at the basket like a Thanksgiving turkey 3 times a game. Last year he finished stronger and this year? We’ll see. The kid improved a lot last season. With ups and downs. But he was just a SO on a bad team. I think we should give the kid some credit.

I’ve been hearing this for a couple weeks now. Just hoping that it wasn’t going to be true.

You say he was constantly defending out of position and this wasn’t right because his man was usually taller and bigger than him but we expect TP to go up against opponents that are even more of a mismatch, height and weight wise,  than the players that CW goes up against. TP & CW are the same height and TP only outweighs him by 20 pounds and it probably is even less than that now from what I seen at HH last Saturday night. While I agree that CW, and IU, are best served by not playing the 4 he has got to learn how to excel other than when he is taller and bigger than the guy guarding him, especially if he wants to play any amount of time at the next level. I like CW and think he is very pivotal to how we do this year. Nor am I trying to dog him or tell you you are completely wrong about him but rather I am stating what IMHO he needs to be better at for his AND IU’s sake.

All good brother. You’re right. What I remember the most about Melo during that run is him smiling and having a great time. By the way, almost single handedly? Man he pretty much did it himself. Incredible performance. One of the best ever I think.

Keep up the good work Gleas.

If Hollowell came in and averaged 20/10 as a freshamn in a bad mood I could probably live with it.

If CW worked on his handles in the offseason I think we’d see a lot more fluidity instead of his sometimes herky-jerky stuff. I’d love to see him grab a board, dribble the ball up on the wing and either pop a trey, post and dish or work a nice hesitation dribble move while going to the rim.

Didn’t mean to come off as grumpy, my bad! Looks like I read your post wrong, I thought you meant Melo had a crap attitude while at Syracuse. I’m not a Melo fan or anything, but thought that was inaccurate. 

Sorry for misinterpreting. 

Wake up a little grumpy Gleas?

Actually, Melo has the crap attitude now. And it’s really, really crappy. I enjoyed watching his run at Syracuse.

The point of my post was to give Jeremy a compliment. Please focus on that part instead.

Alex,
Do you think Calbert was brought in to really take over BB Ops or to be brought into that position knowing he will be switched in the near future due to available slots on assistance?
I totally agree that CC could do volumes for our coaching staff.
BC

Agree Jerry. I’ve said this on ITH and Hoosier Nation numerous times, Christian Watford is a college version of Rashard Lewis. He’s a face-up/perimeter 4. He’s doesn’t have the handles or athleticism to play the 3. 

Where his penetrating is effective is when he’s playing the 4 and being defended by 4’s who aren’t used to defending the perimeter. It’s tough to imagine the dribble-drive being effective when 2/3’s of the perimeter players (Hulls/Watford) aren’t great at penetrating. The thing is, for a perimeter 4 to be really effective you need a strong big in the middle. We haven’t had that the last 3 years, but now we do with Zeller.