So first conference game coming Wednesday, I'm super excited but also super concerned.
I know, I know, #11 AP, super high in most polls and services.
Culver I know is criminally underrated despite being pretty highly rated. He's 8 times the player of that injured guy for KSU, even before the injury. What a joke to name that guy the pre-season player of the year. What garbage. Anyway, the point is, Culver is a supreme talent. He's the best player in the Big 12 and he has room to improve, which is not knocking him - I'm saying he's the best and will improve even more. Sadly for Tech fans, he's got what...18 conference games, 2-3 Big 12 tourney games, and then up to 6 NCAA games left in his college career. Then he becomes a multi-millionaire.
In fact, Culver doesn't concern me. Nor Odiase, nor Owens, nor Corprew, nor Francis, nor even Edwards.
Mooney and Moretti don't concern me, either, when they are playing the position they can play - shooting guard. And their defense is fine, better than fine sometimes. As off guards, they are legit Big 12 caliber players. They can shoot, they can defend, they get up and down the court at Big 12 speed.
What concerns me is Tech doesn't have a point guard. Tech's best point guard is Culver, but he can't bring it up and pass it to himself. Edwards isn't a point guard but he is ok with the ball, probably better than Mooney and Moretti under some pressure - but he's a frosh so I automatically expect him to be up and down all season and take some lumps in conference road games. Francis I think can help here, we'll see. He doesn't make too many poor decisions with the ball.
Corprew is pretty crafty with the pass, and he can handle the ball a little it seems, but have not seen enough of him in that role to have a handle on it. I will say this, he seems to be pretty dang good at everything with basketball. He's got a nice looking long jumper that he moves his feet into off the pass, he's a strong player and gets his hands on the ball a lot.
So Tech doesn't have a point guard, I suppose, according to this post, but they did ok against Nebraska (who's pretty good), USC (not that good), Memphis (not that good), and even Duke (pretty dang good). They could not get over Duke without a point guard, though. I'll say this, they would have beaten Duke in Lubbock, point guard or no.
Now it's conference time and Tech opens at a mediocre West Virginia. From what I've seen, middle of the pack Big 12 teams, at home, are still fairly ferocious. Huggins is no dummy, that cat has won a lot of games and he's going to attack, attack, attack whomever is handling the ball for Tech. I would. I would face guard and double team Mooney and Moretti every time they touched the ball, and I would do that until they beat me. I expect every team Tech faces who can do that, will do that. WVU, Kansas, TCU will all do it. Texas will in the half court. Iowa State maybe, not sure on them. Baylor, chumps supreme, will sit back and let Tech eat them alive. Not sure about OU, OSU, or KSU. KSU probably not.
At the end of last season we talked about all the graduation losses for Tech, the loss of Keenan Evans - one of the great players and leaders in Tech history. We said that this season, the here and now, would start to tell the tale of Chris Beard. So here's Tech with one loss on the season to the #1 team in the country, a pretty suffocating defense, new players everywhere, and they are competing at the highest level. I'm concerned about ball handling, but I'm not concerned about coaching.
I know, I know, #11 AP, super high in most polls and services.
Culver I know is criminally underrated despite being pretty highly rated. He's 8 times the player of that injured guy for KSU, even before the injury. What a joke to name that guy the pre-season player of the year. What garbage. Anyway, the point is, Culver is a supreme talent. He's the best player in the Big 12 and he has room to improve, which is not knocking him - I'm saying he's the best and will improve even more. Sadly for Tech fans, he's got what...18 conference games, 2-3 Big 12 tourney games, and then up to 6 NCAA games left in his college career. Then he becomes a multi-millionaire.
In fact, Culver doesn't concern me. Nor Odiase, nor Owens, nor Corprew, nor Francis, nor even Edwards.
Mooney and Moretti don't concern me, either, when they are playing the position they can play - shooting guard. And their defense is fine, better than fine sometimes. As off guards, they are legit Big 12 caliber players. They can shoot, they can defend, they get up and down the court at Big 12 speed.
What concerns me is Tech doesn't have a point guard. Tech's best point guard is Culver, but he can't bring it up and pass it to himself. Edwards isn't a point guard but he is ok with the ball, probably better than Mooney and Moretti under some pressure - but he's a frosh so I automatically expect him to be up and down all season and take some lumps in conference road games. Francis I think can help here, we'll see. He doesn't make too many poor decisions with the ball.
Corprew is pretty crafty with the pass, and he can handle the ball a little it seems, but have not seen enough of him in that role to have a handle on it. I will say this, he seems to be pretty dang good at everything with basketball. He's got a nice looking long jumper that he moves his feet into off the pass, he's a strong player and gets his hands on the ball a lot.
So Tech doesn't have a point guard, I suppose, according to this post, but they did ok against Nebraska (who's pretty good), USC (not that good), Memphis (not that good), and even Duke (pretty dang good). They could not get over Duke without a point guard, though. I'll say this, they would have beaten Duke in Lubbock, point guard or no.
Now it's conference time and Tech opens at a mediocre West Virginia. From what I've seen, middle of the pack Big 12 teams, at home, are still fairly ferocious. Huggins is no dummy, that cat has won a lot of games and he's going to attack, attack, attack whomever is handling the ball for Tech. I would. I would face guard and double team Mooney and Moretti every time they touched the ball, and I would do that until they beat me. I expect every team Tech faces who can do that, will do that. WVU, Kansas, TCU will all do it. Texas will in the half court. Iowa State maybe, not sure on them. Baylor, chumps supreme, will sit back and let Tech eat them alive. Not sure about OU, OSU, or KSU. KSU probably not.
At the end of last season we talked about all the graduation losses for Tech, the loss of Keenan Evans - one of the great players and leaders in Tech history. We said that this season, the here and now, would start to tell the tale of Chris Beard. So here's Tech with one loss on the season to the #1 team in the country, a pretty suffocating defense, new players everywhere, and they are competing at the highest level. I'm concerned about ball handling, but I'm not concerned about coaching.
