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Justin Smith


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Could the DeRon Davis injury be a good thing for Justin Smith and him playing more?  I know he started and had 20 points on 7-10 shooting with a few 3 pointers and free throws.  Now I was unable to watch the game but how'd he look on defense?  I am curious to see him progress through the rest of the season.  I think he can be a great player for this team moving forward.  Sorry if their is already another topic for Justin Smith that I may have missed.  

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I think Justin will benefit big time from De'Ron absence. I was very impressed with Justin's D. He guarded Murphy most of the game. Held him to 5-14 (or something like that) shooting. Also avoided foul trouble. CAM commented on how he did well going up against perhaps the best in the conference. 

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I think the potential was always there for Justin.  What had been missing was the opportunity.  With Davis down, that opportunity finally came.  And, Justin flat out seized it.  Will be tough to take him out of the lineup now, even if he has an off game.  He's proven that he can meet the challenge in a tough environment, so I doubt he has to worry about what happens should he have a bad game.

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Obviously you never want to see someone get hurt, but yes this is a great opportunity for Smith. There will be games where we miss Davis (MSU, Purdue, any team with great size), but I really like the change that Smith brings. He's a long, athletic, skilled player that spaces the floor and brings a different element to the team. I don't think it's a coincidence that RoJo's biggest game of the year, one in which he got to the basket and finished better than he had all season, came in a game with this lineup. It spread the floor and created much better spacing. 

I don't want to overreact, and Smith will absolutely have struggles, but I think having a "4" alongside Morgan who can play on the perimeter, is skilled and can shoot, and if Morgan keeps making 3's as well, will really open the offense up for everyone. I said this before, but with Morgan (not shooting well) and Davis playing together the lane was so clogged and nobody on the perimeter could get to the basket. That played a part it our guards having a very difficult time getting easy baskets and developing any confidence. 

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Ok, so when/will we see Moore get some more floor time this year? I know he is big, long and athletic but does he have enough of the head game to see the floor?  What ive noticed from him, he has looked a little lost but is that from not wanting to mess up (much like the rest of the team has looked at times)?  

As for Smith, I think he played great and hope he can keep up the solid play. Realistic solid play, not out of his mind like he was last game.....

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3 minutes ago, 3Ballin said:

Ok, so when/will we see Moore get some more floor time this year? I know he is big, long and athletic but does he have enough of the head game to see the floor?  What ive noticed from him, he has looked a little lost but is that from not wanting to mess up (much like the rest of the team has looked at times)?  

As for Smith, I think he played great and hope he can keep up the solid play. Realistic solid play, not out of his mind like he was last game.....

His offensive potential is much higher than McSwain's, but I think right now, the other facets of his game are well behind Freddie's.

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13 minutes ago, CauseThatsMyDJ said:

His offensive potential is much higher than McSwain's, but I think right now, the other facets of his game are well behind Freddie's.

There are two other factors you are forgetting.

  • Clifton's ability to be super-tall exceeds Freddies
  • Clifton's potential to be here next season exceeds Freddie's

And, no, I'm not saying he should get Freddie's time.  But, there have been several games that I thought were opportunities to get Moore some PT, even before Davis was injured, and we did not see him.  

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10 minutes ago, 5fouls said:

There are two other factors you are forgetting.

  • Clifton's ability to be super-tall exceeds Freddies
  • Clifton's potential to be here next season exceeds Freddie's

And, no, I'm not saying he should get Freddie's time.  But, there have been several games that I thought were opportunities to get Moore some PT, even before Davis was injured, and we did not see him.  

Maybe he is just nowhere close to ready.  You could really crush his confidence if you feed him to the wolves too soon. 

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3 hours ago, BGleas said:

Obviously you never want to see someone get hurt, but yes this is a great opportunity for Smith. There will be games where we miss Davis (MSU, Purdue, any team with great size), but I really like the change that Smith brings. He's a long, athletic, skilled player that spaces the floor and brings a different element to the team. I don't think it's a coincidence that RoJo's biggest game of the year, one in which he got to the basket and finished better than he had all season, came in a game with this lineup. It spread the floor and created much better spacing. 

I don't want to overreact, and Smith will absolutely have struggles, but I think having a "4" alongside Morgan who can play on the perimeter, is skilled and can shoot, and if Morgan keeps making 3's as well, will really open the offense up for everyone. I said this before, but with Morgan (not shooting well) and Davis playing together the lane was so clogged and nobody on the perimeter could get to the basket. That played a part it our guards having a very difficult time getting easy baskets and developing any confidence. 

I think it makes a big difference on defense, too.  It was pretty easy to pull Davis away from the basket, then abuse him for other teams and I don't think other teams will be able to do that to Smith.  We do lose something inside against true bigs, but I still think we will be fine rebounding the basketball.  Davis couldn't rebound out of area anyway and Morgan and McRoberts are both strong rebounders.  

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9 minutes ago, 5fouls said:

There are two other factors you are forgetting.

  • Clifton's ability to be super-tall exceeds Freddies
  • Clifton's potential to be here next season exceeds Freddie's

And, no, I'm not saying he should get Freddie's time.  But, there have been several games that I thought were opportunities to get Moore some PT, even before Davis was injured, and we did not see him.  

Freddie McSwain is a severely limited basketball player, and I always thought the idea that he would be our back-up 5 was laughable, but with that said he brings a few "Big Ten ready" attributes in his rebounding, strength and athleticism. We know if he's in the game he can rebound, provide a body that can give resistance and he is a great athlete. 

With Moore, we have no evidence that he does anything at a Big Ten level to this point. It might just be that he simply isn't ready to play at this level yet. 

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Just now, KoB2011 said:

I think it makes a big difference on defense, too.  It was pretty easy to pull Davis away from the basket, then abuse him for other teams and I don't think other teams will be able to do that to Smith.  We do lose something inside against true bigs, but I still think we will be fine rebounding the basketball.  Davis couldn't rebound out of area anyway and Morgan and McRoberts are both strong rebounders.  

Agree, and great point on the defensive end. Unless a team has a big that can just dominate us on the block, the defense is much harder too exploit with Smith and McRoberts in there. It helps on both ends.

Like I said, I hate that he's injured and you never want to have that happen, but there is a little correlation (for different reasons) to the JBJ injury a couple seasons ago. Regardless of what anyone thinks of those players (good or bad), it just changes the way the team plays. We're a different team with more athleticism and perimeter skill on the court. It opens everything up offensively and improves our 3-pt shooting as well. 

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13 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Freddie McSwain is a severely limited basketball player, and I always thought the idea that he would be our back-up 5 was laughable, but with that said he brings a few "Big Ten ready" attributes in his rebounding, strength and athleticism. We know if he's in the game he can rebound, provide a body that can give resistance and he is a great athlete. 

With Moore, we have no evidence that he does anything at a Big Ten level to this point. It might just be that he simply isn't ready to play at this level yet. 

I'm in no way suggesting Clifton gets meaningful minutes in a close game.  And, likewise not suggesting he takes any of Freddie's minutes when he does play.  However, there have been games where the outcome has been decided, even in the pre-conference slate, where it seemed strange that Moore did not get 4-5 minutes. 

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16 minutes ago, 5fouls said:

I'm in no way suggesting Clifton gets meaningful minutes in a close game.  And, likewise not suggesting he takes any of Freddie's minutes when he does play.  However, there have been games where the outcome has been decided, even in the pre-conference slate, where it seemed strange that Moore did not get 4-5 minutes. 

Gotcha. That makes sense, and agree. 

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4 hours ago, 5fouls said:

I think the potential was always there for Justin.  What had been missing was the opportunity.  With Davis down, that opportunity finally came.  And, Justin flat out seized it.  Will be tough to take him out of the lineup now, even if he has an off game.  He's proven that he can meet the challenge in a tough environment, so I doubt he has to worry about what happens should he have a bad game.

Careful, you're sounding a little glass half full there...

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1 minute ago, IowaHoosierFan said:

We gonna keep this going huh.  Alright.  Also, this is the crap i was talking about when i mentioned some admins causing issues.  Well played

Iowa, that's really enough. This was a tongue in cheek humor post. That apparently went over your head. I let your rude post directed at me stand. If you want to talk to me directly, send me a pm. 

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8 minutes ago, IowaHoosierFan said:

I think Smith just needed more time to build his confidence.  And with the loss of Davis, CAM is forced to play him which i think is a good thing.  I really like Smith and his upside.

I really like Smith too. I've said this before, but I can't wait to see a lineup that has Smith, Hunter and Anderson (room for Langford too if he makes the right call :D) in it all together. Reminds me of the teams Matta had at OSU when he really had it rolling where he always seemed to have 3-4 players on the court together that were 6'6" to 6'8" and all long, athletic and skilled. 

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9 minutes ago, BGleas said:

I really like Smith too. I've said this before, but I can't wait to see a lineup that has Smith, Hunter and Anderson (room for Langford too if he makes the right call :D) in it all together. Reminds me of the teams Matta had at OSU when he really had it rolling where he always seemed to have 3-4 players on the court together that were 6'6" to 6'8" and all long, athletic and skilled. 

Disclaimer........when Matta was rolling he had stud point guards.

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