2023 Mackenzie Mgbako COMMITS TO INDIANA UNIVERSITY!!!

[Between2Halls]

50 minutes ago, IUskim said:

Is that kyrie?

Yea

[Drroogh]

43 minutes ago, iuswingman said:

Staying in front of guards was JHS's biggest issue as well (at least on defense).

Yea, his length could be the great eraser as long as he can keep close enough to utilize it.

MM won’t be asked to guard the likes of Boo Buie or Nigel Pack!! Neither was Kopp

[btownqb]

Just now, Drroogh said:

MM won’t be asked to guard the likes of Boo Buie or Nigel Pack!! Neither was Kopp

MM also won't be handling the ball half as much as JHS did. 

[KoB2011]

1 hour ago, iuswingman said:

Staying in front of guards was JHS's biggest issue as well (at least on defense).

Yea, his length could be the great eraser as long as he can keep close enough to utilize it.

JHS was playing next to Trey and Kopp, MM is playing next to Trey and X. There's a pretty big difference just from that, and then MM is longer than JHS on top of it.

Could a team run out three small quick guards and give us trouble? Yeah, they could, we still have length on them and have Ware at the rim. But good luck to that team against MM in the mid post. 

[ledies22]

Not sure why we are comparing JHS and MM. MM replaces Kopp. X replaces JHS. As it stands, I’d say we are better defensively this year than last. Especially 1-3. 

[dgambill]

1 hour ago, ledies22 said:

Not sure why we are comparing JHS and MM. MM replaces Kopp. X replaces JHS. As it stands, I’d say we are better defensively this year than last. Especially 1-3. 

1-3 maybe…but we lost IUs all time leading shot blocker this year…also a reason why a lot of teams didn’t get to the rim and test our guards a lot more then they did. They settled for a lot of midrange shots. Yet to be seen if Ware and company can deter drivers next year.

[Kdug]

16 minutes ago, dgambill said:

1-3 maybe…but we lost IUs all time leading shot blocker this year…also a reason why a lot of teams didn’t get to the rim and test our guards a lot more then they did. They settled for a lot of midrange shots. Yet to be seen if Ware and company can deter drivers next year.

From what I’ve read and seen from Ware, I don’t think there’s much of a drop, if any, from TJD to him defensively. Blocks aren’t everything on defense, but Ware had a very similar block rate to TJD (8.8% vs 9.0% for TJD).

 

The drop off in production comes on offense, which hopefully is made up for at the other positions.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Kdug

[btownqb]

26 minutes ago, Kdug said:

From what I’ve read and seen from Ware, I don’t think there’s much of a drop, if any, from TJD to him defensively. Blocks aren’t everything on defense, but Ware had a very similar block rate to TJD (8.8% vs 9.0% for TJD).

 

The drop off in production comes on offense, which hopefully is made up for at the other positions.

Especially once Woodson, staff, and Clif Marshall start working with Ware. 

TJD shot blocking abilities weren't magnified solely because of his talent to do so. Extreme amount of prep in game film and weight training. IMO Kel'el is about to get an education in both. 

[KoB2011]

6 hours ago, ledies22 said:

Not sure why we are comparing JHS and MM. MM replaces Kopp. X replaces JHS. As it stands, I’d say we are better defensively this year than last. Especially 1-3. 

I agree. We are better defensively IMO and probably offensively too because we have more options, although that’s TBD. 

[dgambill]

5 minutes ago, KoB2011 said:

I agree. We are better defensively IMO and probably offensively too because we have more options, although that’s TBD. 

Well…offensively while we might be more versatile…we don’t have that guy you can just dump the ball into and basically get an automatic 2pts. We don’t have a guy that can just break down a defense and get an open jumper like JHS. We lost a lot of punch…I’m not saying we won’t be as good but it’s yet to be seen if we have anyone that can create instant offense on their own like Trayce and Jalen did. They bailed us out a lot last year. 

[02Hoosier]

1 hour ago, dgambill said:

Well…offensively while we might be more versatile…we don’t have that guy you can just dump the ball into and basically get an automatic 2pts. We don’t have a guy that can just break down a defense and get an open jumper like JHS. We lost a lot of punch…I’m not saying we won’t be as good but it’s yet to be seen if we have anyone that can create instant offense on their own like Trayce and Jalen did. They bailed us out a lot last year. 

That’s true… hopefully the increased versatility corresponds with playmaking development for someone (doesn’t necessarily matter who). We have X that can break down an offense arguably better than JHS although his mid range jumper may not be as good. I’d argue Malik’s post moves are just as good as TJD’s, which provides us a good option in the post to get buckets. And then you have MM which hopefully will provide us with playmaking ability in a wing that we haven’t had since Romeo.

[Drroogh]

Why are we making player comparisons to players from different positions? MM is not playing the same position as JHS. Romeo didn’t play MM’s position. Malik isn’t playing TJD’s position.  ???

[KoB2011]

13 hours ago, dgambill said:

Well…offensively while we might be more versatile…we don’t have that guy you can just dump the ball into and basically get an automatic 2pts. We don’t have a guy that can just break down a defense and get an open jumper like JHS. We lost a lot of punch…I’m not saying we won’t be as good but it’s yet to be seen if we have anyone that can create instant offense on their own like Trayce and Jalen did. They bailed us out a lot last year. 

I get what you're saying but don't agree. Do we have anyone as good as TJD? Probably not, he was one of the best players in the country and no matter how high the potential for MM and Ware are, they probably aren't going to be as good of college players as Trayce. 

Do we have a guy that can do what JHS did (which I think you overstated quite a bit)? Yeah, I really do think we have that guy in Mgbako. I think Mgbako is every bit as capable coming in of getting to his spot and hitting a tough jumper as JHS is, and I expect him to have at least of as good of a freshman year. I won't hide the fact that I'm really bullish on him. 

Do I think X is better at creating easy looks for everyone else than anyone we had last year? Yeah, honestly I do, by a good amount. That just wasn't the strongest part of JHS's game, and frankly I think it was pretty clear often times last year that not having X out there really held us back and forced JHS and TJD to have to do too much. I expect X to get Trey easy buckets from open threes or back cuts, I expect him to get Mgbako some easy jumpers so he isn't always working hard for them like Jalen had to, I expect him to get Ware and Malik easy buckets that Trayce really didn't get very often. 

So yeah, a lot still TBD, but I think the pieces are in place for us to be better on offense with the added versatility and having a true college PG, which was a developing skill for JHS last year. 

[Reacher]

3 minutes ago, KoB2011 said:

Do I think X is better at creating easy looks for everyone else than anyone we had last year? Yeah, honestly I do, by a good amount. That just wasn't the strongest part of JHS's game, and frankly I think it was pretty clear often times last year that not having X out there really held us back and forced JHS and TJD to have to do too much. I expect X to get Trey easy buckets from open threes or back cuts, I expect him to get Mgbako some easy jumpers so he isn't always working hard for them like Jalen had to, I expect him to get Ware and Malik easy buckets that Trayce really didn't get very often. 

So yeah, a lot still TBD, but I think the pieces are in place for us to be better on offense with the added versatility and having a true college PG, which was a developing skill for JHS last year. 

I totally agree with this. 

[btownqb]

13 hours ago, dgambill said:

Well…offensively while we might be more versatile…we don’t have that guy you can just dump the ball into and basically get an automatic 2pts. We don’t have a guy that can just break down a defense and get an open jumper like JHS. We lost a lot of punch…I’m not saying we won’t be as good but it’s yet to be seen if we have anyone that can create instant offense on their own like Trayce and Jalen did. They bailed us out a lot last year. 

Yes, we do. And they wouldn't have had to bail us out nearly as often had XJ not been hurt. 

[13th&Jackson]

45 minutes ago, Drroogh said:

Why are we making player comparisons to players from different positions? MM is not playing the same position as JHS. Romeo didn’t play MM’s position. Malik isn’t playing TJD’s position.  ???

Because it's May and the season is 5 months away. Now let's do Muggsy Bogues and Manute Bol:

 

[KoB2011]

35 minutes ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Because it's May and the season is 5 months away. Now let's do Muggsy Bogues and Manute Bol:

 

Or because they were valid comparisons - the point that was made was we don't have a guy we can just dump the ball in to and we don't have a guy that can just get to his spot and hit a tough jumper. We do have those guys, they just don't play the same positions as what we had last year.

I don't personally agree Malik is on the same level as TJD in terms of doing that, but I do expect MM to be as good as JHS at that, plus he'll have X to help him get easy buckets and Jalen had no one to help him get easy buckets. 

[13th&Jackson]

10 minutes ago, KoB2011 said:

Or because they were valid comparisons - the point that was made was we don't have a guy we can just dump the ball in to and we don't have a guy that can just get to his spot and hit a tough jumper. We do have those guys, they just don't play the same positions as what we had last year.

I don't personally agree Malik is on the same level as TJD in terms of doing that, but I do expect MM to be as good as JHS at that, plus he'll have X to help him get easy buckets and Jalen had no one to help him get easy buckets. 

All valid points. Just injecting a little satire

[02Hoosier]

57 minutes ago, KoB2011 said:

Or because they were valid comparisons - the point that was made was we don't have a guy we can just dump the ball in to and we don't have a guy that can just get to his spot and hit a tough jumper. We do have those guys, they just don't play the same positions as what we had last year.

I don't personally agree Malik is on the same level as TJD in terms of doing that, but I do expect MM to be as good as JHS at that, plus he'll have X to help him get easy buckets and Jalen had no one to help him get easy buckets. 

I probably could’ve elaborated on my point about Malik a little more. Overall he’s not on the level of TJD yet but he’s shown a soft touch and proven to finish with finesse around the rim. I was pretty surprised last year how polished his moves were. I think he’ll surprise some people this year with how effective he’ll be around the rim.

[Drroogh]

7 minutes ago, 02Hoosier said:

I probably could’ve elaborated on my point about Malik a little more. Overall he’s not on the level of TJD yet but he’s shown a soft touch and proven to finish with finesse around the rim. I was pretty surprised last year how polished his moves were. I think he’ll surprise some people this year with how effective he’ll be around the rim.

I believe he will surprise as well but he couldn’t even supplant Race last year. By the way he is projected as filling Race’s spot not TJD’s

[KoB2011]

18 minutes ago, 02Hoosier said:

I probably could’ve elaborated on my point about Malik a little more. Overall he’s not on the level of TJD yet but he’s shown a soft touch and proven to finish with finesse around the rim. I was pretty surprised last year how polished his moves were. I think he’ll surprise some people this year with how effective he’ll be around the rim.

I agree with you, I think he is a capable scorer. Not sure where I think he'll slot in on scoring this year with MM and Ware in the fold, but I think without those two he'd have been around ~14 ppg. He's a really good offensive player and rebounder. 

[02Hoosier]

1 hour ago, Drroogh said:

I believe he will surprise as well but he couldn’t even supplant Race last year. By the way he is projected as filling Race’s spot not TJD’s

I’m aware he’ll likely be playing the 4 and replacing Race in most cases, but I never said he was taking over TJD’s spot. I was simply mentioning Malik as a candidate to dump it off to to get a bucket when needed (similar to how we could dump it off to TJD to get a bucket).

[IowaHoosierFan]

2 hours ago, Drroogh said:

I believe he will surprise as well but he couldn’t even supplant Race last year. By the way he is projected as filling Race’s spot not TJD’s

Not at all surprised a Freshman was unable to replace a 6th year 4 year Starter. 

[IUFLA]

2 hours ago, Drroogh said:

I believe he will surprise as well but he couldn’t even supplant Race last year. By the way he is projected as filling Race’s spot not TJD’s

I think that was for 2 reasons... Woody values experience, and at the beginning of the year Race was a much better defender (by the end marginally better... Malik did improve over the year, but still fouled too much)...

Offensively, I don't think there's any question that Malik is better than Race... In a lot of facets... 

 

[Victobmyboy]

Getting to hung up on spots. With 4/5 out and switching you don’t have designations anymore. On defense woody uses nail, slot, rim. We have 3 legitimate guys who can be the nail. IU will be way more versatile next year on both ends. I see woody using Zoom for X and MM. Then you have guys who can legitimately clean up if they miss.