Pre conf. grade

49ers Basketball Forum 🏀
1

Winding down on Christmas night and I thought I pass out some grades.

PG- B…Mitch has shown spots of greatness but more levels of mediocrity. I wish Mitch would assert himself more and I get the feeling he is trying to play his role, but I wish he would be more dominant like he was in High school when he was the go to. Lee has been a pleasant surprise. Hype always follows the recruits in…but he looks good. He could end up being real good.

SG- B… I like BP. I know he isn’t loved by everyone but he is a great shooter and adds a true weapon to our offense. Plus he has no fear. I graded us a B simply on lack of depth with shooters. Sager isn’t panning out like I thought and anyone else filling in at the 2 makes us a liability somewhere else.

SF- A-… Eddie is the man. He shows up every night and fills up every stat in the book. He is going to be very hard to replace and he will be a guy we talk about on this board for the next 20 years. A true warrior. I also love EJ and what he brings. When he figures out his roll he could be a real difference maker. This would have been a A but Ed got lit up by Kenny Winston.

PF- B… I love Curt but he hasn’t brought it every time out. Some guys just don’t look like they are working as hard as others but I don’t think that is the case with Curt. He just doesn’t have the same intensity for the UNC-A’s as he does the Alabama’s. And for a Naismith finalist…I just haven’t seen it yet. I do like Nance and I think he has added some much needed depth.

C - C… Everytime we run a play for Iti I get scared. Bad things seem to happen. I love when he rebounds and when he is going to the basket, but when he receives it in the post…watch out. He is still a work in progress and I’m glad he came back. Still could become a major force.

Coach- B… If you had to say what our record going into the Cable Car was going to be I would guess 75% of us would have had 8-1 or 7-2. We seem to always give one away and between Alabama, Davidson, Indiana, and Valpo the other loss was probable. I am not crazy about how ineffective our trap has been and how it has led to countless easy looks but I trust he knows what he is doing. I am glad to let him lead this ship because he is talented and also family. One makes him capable and the other makes him loyal.

Thank you guys for creating a website like this for all us diehards to have a place to vent, debate, and embrace the spirit of our great university. And thank you for giving me a place to reflect on a quiet Christmas night.

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I basically agree with your assessment with the exception of PF. I would give this position (Withers) a C. I really expected much more from him this year, especially as a junior with the summer he had. He has played fair but hasn’t dominated anyone and at times he is invisible on the floor.

Overall, if we win the Cable Car and go 9-2 in pre-conference I would give the team, and therefore Lutz, a grade of B-. I really thought that we had the talent to go undefeated but knew we would let a couple slip away, we always do. The Rutgers game hurt. I am still optimistic for the remainder of the year.

3

My grades:

PG: C+ Mitch hasn’t really brought anything to the table for us this year. He’s a solid defender who is extremely athletic, however as a PG he has not done a good job at setting the offense at all. He needs to slow the tempo down in the halfcourt/

SG: B Brendan has done a fairly good job in my assesment, he’s hit some clutch shots and is shooting a better percentage then last year in addition to playing much better defense and bringing better intangibles. He really needs to start hitting his FT (3/4 for a good start) and improve his shot selection.

SF: A Eddie has really been reliable and steady for us, even when he doesn’t shoot well he’s a good defensive rebounder and plays solid defense.

PF: B- Curt has had a few good games, but has been largely quiet. He needs to really step it up in the Cable Car Classic as well as in conference.

C: B- I’m not as down on Martin as some are, he’s played really well this year and has shown a dramatic improvement on offense, my concern is his improvement on defense has been less than stellar.

Bench: A EJ has filled Butter’s 6th man role very nicely. He is a dynamic addition to our squad as is LeeMire Goldwire. Lee has been phenomenal off the bench and has provided some big shots and plays although he is plagued at times with freshman inexperience. Chris Nance has brought toughness and understanding off the bench to fill our post. Overall a big question mark has been answered by the solid OOC play by our bench.

Coach: C+ Lutz has been beaten by second half adjustments once, almost got beaten another time, and he was less than impressive against Alabama. However he made some very great adjustments against Davidson and drew up an awesome play for Indiana. He’s had some moments and his rotations have been good. However his playcalling and timing is suspect, and their is reason to be concerned about Curt’s lack of motivation.

4

Ya’ll, Charlotte doesn’t do +/- grading.

The upside to Curt being a C is maybe he will stick around one more yr.

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[i]Originally posted by JKniner[/i]@Dec 25 2004, 09:46 PM [b] Winding down on Christmas night and I thought I pass out some grades.

PG- B…Mitch has shown spots of greatness but more levels of mediocrity. I wish Mitch would assert himself more and I get the feeling he is trying to play his role, but I wish he would be more dominant like he was in High school when he was the go to. Lee has been a pleasant surprise. Hype always follows the recruits in…but he looks good. He could end up being real good.

SG- B… I like BP. I know he isn’t loved by everyone but he is a great shooter and adds a true weapon to our offense. Plus he has no fear. I graded us a B simply on lack of depth with shooters. Sager isn’t panning out like I thought and anyone else filling in at the 2 makes us a liability somewhere else.

SF- A-… Eddie is the man. He shows up every night and fills up every stat in the book. He is going to be very hard to replace and he will be a guy we talk about on this board for the next 20 years. A true warrior. I also love EJ and what he brings. When he figures out his roll he could be a real difference maker. This would have been a A but Ed got lit up by Kenny Winston.

PF- B… I love Curt but he hasn’t brought it every time out. Some guys just don’t look like they are working as hard as others but I don’t think that is the case with Curt. He just doesn’t have the same intensity for the UNC-A’s as he does the Alabama’s. And for a Naismith finalist…I just haven’t seen it yet. I do like Nance and I think he has added some much needed depth.

C - C… Everytime we run a play for Iti I get scared. Bad things seem to happen. I love when he rebounds and when he is going to the basket, but when he receives it in the post…watch out. He is still a work in progress and I’m glad he came back. Still could become a major force.

Coach- B… If you had to say what our record going into the Cable Car was going to be I would guess 75% of us would have had 8-1 or 7-2. We seem to always give one away and between Alabama, Davidson, Indiana, and Valpo the other loss was probable. I am not crazy about how ineffective our trap has been and how it has led to countless easy looks but I trust he knows what he is doing. I am glad to let him lead this ship because he is talented and also family. One makes him capable and the other makes him loyal.

Thank you guys for creating a website like this for all us diehards to have a place to vent, debate, and embrace the spirit of our great university. And thank you for giving me a place to reflect on a quiet Christmas night. [/b]


Man I wish you were one my professors I would have graduated Some Cum Loud.

I’d Have to grade them out as follows:

PG- C - The PG who played against LBS was awesome but since then it have been very average. Not as many assists as I would expect from my PG and he is not taking to the basket like he can. Confidence seems to be waning. Lee has had some real nice moments and seems to get better every game, but overall can’t give our PG play more than a C.

SG- B - Plav have been very good for the most part. I love that he wants the ball and think his overall shot selection has been good for the most part, but not great with the occaisonal off balance 28 footer. I think his passing is better(has missed out on alot of assists because our guys can’t catch the ball) and his defense isn’t hurting us. Overall he creates alot more openings for the other players when he is on the floor and really stretches out and puts alot of pressure on the opponets defense.

SF- B+ - Eddie has been a warrior and I love his heart and think it elevates the whole team. His offense has been good for the most part and his defense has been good for the most part. That being said, the missed free throws against Rutgers and un-Eddie like defensive preformances against Rut and Bama keep him from receiving a “A”. EJ has been a "B"back up for the most part. Would like to see a little better shot selection and see him finish around the basket a little better. Defense has been ok and rebounding good.

PF- C - Curtis has been my biggest disapointment so far this season. His score is not where I would expect. There is little excuse for Jr. Ben Wallace not to be averaging in the 9 to 10 rebs a game range. His play has been uninspired and lackadaisical for the most part except for a few moments of greatness. Right now he would make third team all conference on reputation alone.

C - B - We’re getting 13pts 8.7 Rebs 2.5 Blks in 35 mins from our center position.
Personally I’m pretty happy with that. Iti has been decent and Nance has been a very pleasant surprise.

Coaching- B - Think it has been decent. I can’t really blame them for the horrendous FT shooting. I do question Wither leading our trap and us staying with it in times when we are getting killed with it. I question trying to let the air out against Bama when we were only up 6 and we were killing them when we attacked them. Would really like to see us get better at putting teams away and stay away from the “prevent” mode we go into which usually prevents us from winning.

6

I’m far too exhausted (lazy) this Monday back at work to do every position in detail but my grades are pretty much on par with Jimmy’s.

My only changes would be:

PF: Adding a “-” to that C for Curt. Not the season I (or anyone else) expected from the big guy. Curt has far too much talent to half-a$$ it for the majority of our games. The word on him in high school was that he played uninspired at times and I’m seeing a great deal of that this year. We can’t afford to have a stud like Withers only turn it on when he wants to. He needs to step up and be the Curt (and then some) that he was last year.

C: I’m actually going to award this position with a better grade and give it a B instead of a C. After Iti’s pathetic play last season, I think he has come a long way this year. Sure, he has had several flashes of last year but he has put together some nice games, especially as of lately. I wasn’t expecting Iti to improve as much as he has and I think his best games are still ahead of him. But one of the biggest reasons for me giving the higher score is because of foul trouble. Seemed like Iti fouled out of every game last year or always got into early trouble. He has done a great job this season of controlling that, while still being pretty aggressive in the paint. Just wish he would quit getting his shot blocked. That should never happen to someone his size…lol. And Nance has been a pleasant suprise. He has provided some quality off-the-bench minutes when Iti needed a rest.

Coaching: Gotta give Bobby a C here and it’s not because of free throws. Bluntly,I think Bobby has been outcoached in several games this year. And I’m also giving him a C for his inability ot control his temper in most of the games as well as for not utilizing some of our better weapons more. And giving the green light so much on our perimeter shooting hits a nerve in me. Also, while we have a pretty nice record right now, most of our wins have come against inferior competition so the jury is still out in my opinion. I like Bobby a lot and I think we’ll get better as the season progresses but if we’re only grading on what we’ve done thus far, then that’s what I have to give him.

7

Curt not feeling the love…

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[i]Originally posted by lutz9er[/i]@Dec 25 2004, 10:21 PM [b]The upside to Curt being a C is maybe he will stick around one more yr.[/b]
Get over that, he could have averaged 20 and 12 and wouldn't have sniffed the first round this year. Ryan Gomes was HUGE last year, making all-american teams left and right and getting national recognition and he was a high-mid 2nd round pick at best if he had stayed in last year. Truth is, Withers isn't anywhere on any NBA scout's radar as a realistic first round pick right now. If he plays well for the next season and a half and impresses in the pre-draft camps, he will slip into the 2nd round.

Okay, enough of that, here are my grades:

PG: B. I like that I don’t really remember anything Mitch did on offense, we have three guys who need to be taking most of our shots and Mitch isn’t one of them. We all wanted a PG who just ran the offense and didn’t gun up three’s all the time. That’s what Mitch has done, and he’s played really well on defense. Obviously he has room to improve, but he’s doing what our offense asks him to.

SG: A. Plavich single handedly won us the Davidson game and he did have that Indiana shot, we’d be 5-4 without him. We all wish he was more consistent, but oh well.

SF: A+++++++ Can’t ask anymore of Eddie. He had the FT game against Rutgers, but he’s turned the FT corner since and the rest of his game has been on each and every game. He does whatever we need him to do on any given game. The definition of a college basketball player.

PF: D. Curt hasn’t shown up, plain and simple. Keep waiting for him to bust out, but hasn’t happened consistently yet. He disappears during games and can’t seem to make a shot late in any game. But he has shown flashes of why he’s our most talented player, but he just doesn’t seem comfortable out there.

C: A. This is based on my expectations vs what we have seen from Iti. He has played with more intensity and agressiveness than I ever thought we would see. Last year it seemed like he had one foot in the NBA already, this year he actually seems dedicated to Charlotte and helping us win games. His defensive discipline has improved drastically, he dunking is more agressive and better this year. He does take too many chances with his passes(his one bright spot last year) and gets too mad when coach takes him out of games, but I expected nothing out of him, but he’s shown signs of being a good player which is why I give the A.

Drayton: C. just hasn’t been hitting his shots, getting decent rebound #'s and shooting good from the FT line. Gotta think he’s gonna shoot better in conference, but hasn’t quite been the dynamic scorer I heard he would be.

Leemire: B. Tough call here, preseason expectations where sky high but Phifer lowered those expectations considerably. Taking a look as of what to expect from a freshman PG, I am slightly impressed. His shooting has been a big surprise and his dribbling/passing skills are jaw-dropping at times. It’ll be intersting to see how much he shoots when he is a starter later in his career, but for now he’s a great guy off of the bench.

Nance: C. The guy comes in the game and gets one stupid foul in a game, and then he gets taken out. There’s playing with intensity and there’s playing with rage, Nance definitely falls in the later. I like that he punishes people who drive the lane with a clean, hard foul, but I hate seeing him swinging elbows everytime he grabs a rebound. Needless fouls. He attacks the glass hard which is really nice, often leading to nice tip-in points. I thought he would keep Iti on the bench a lot this year, but he’s only done that once. Good, tough player, just not overly impressive.

Bobby: B. He’s got 2 Tech’s(I believe, Bama and Indiana), one just plain hurt us, the other helped us start getting calls. I question some of his substitution patterns at times, but overall he’s still the same Bobby who has led us to great success for 6 seasons now, you’ve gotta take the good and the bad with him, as with any coach or player. if" there, but either way I will take

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[i]Originally posted by Butter49er[/i]@Dec 28 2004, 02:20 AM [b] SF: A+++++++ Can't ask anymore of Eddie. He had the FT game against Rutgers, but he's turned the FT corner since and the rest of his game has been on each and every game. He does whatever we need him to do on any given game. The definition of a college basketball player. [/b]

Completely agree.

While Eddie might not light it up every night, or after this year even make it to the NBA… I’ld take a team with 8 EB’s any day of the week. Eddie is the fuckin man. Impossible to say too many good things about him. He sets a bar not many can touch.