It's trite and cliche, but...

[jrod_06]

There is a lot of talk about Pullen and other "terrible" guards, but you've got to have some trust in Frank's pattern here.  I think its highly likely at least one of the options we have shows tremendous development from his FR to SO years, most likely Russell or McGruder.  I think Irving "is what he is" and will take on more of a Clent Stewart role, granted he's a different body-type/player.  But its good he'll take that role as a reserve and not the feature PG like Stew had to over his career.

IMO, pullen's "leap" between his fr and soph years was because he played as much as he did.  Irving and Russell, combined, didn't get as many minutes per game as pullen did his freshman year, nor were they, combined, as "productive" as pullen his freshman year.  I understand that the reason Irv/Russell didn't play as much was because we had guys in front of them in Denis and Jake that weren't there for Jake (Stew and Blake).  Rodney, of any of the guard-ish freshman, looks like he got the experience (and has the talent) to make a leap from his Fr to So years, and he'll be taking minutes away from Dom, not irv/russ.  

'zacker throwing out the high bbiq 

[yosh]

There is a lot of talk about Pullen and other "terrible" guards, but you've got to have some trust in Frank's pattern here.  I think its highly likely at least one of the options we have shows tremendous development from his FR to SO years, most likely Russell or McGruder.  I think Irving "is what he is" and will take on more of a Clent Stewart role, granted he's a different body-type/player.  But its good he'll take that role as a reserve and not the feature PG like Stew had to over his career.

IMO, pullen's "leap" between his fr and soph years was because he played as much as he did.  Irving and Russell, combined, didn't get as many minutes per game as pullen did his freshman year, nor were they, combined, as "productive" as pullen his freshman year.  I understand that the reason Irv/Russell didn't play as much was because we had guys in front of them in Denis and Jake that weren't there for Jake (Stew and Blake).  Rodney, of any of the guard-ish freshman, looks like he got the experience (and has the talent) to make a leap from his Fr to So years, and he'll be taking minutes away from Dom, not irv/russ.  

We don't need them to make THAT much of a jump.  Just for them to be able to compliment Pullen and be decent big 12 players. 

[sys]

There is a lot of talk about Pullen and other "terrible" guards, but you've got to have some trust in Frank's pattern here.  I think its highly likely at least one of the options we have shows tremendous development from his FR to SO years, most likely Russell or McGruder.  I think Irving "is what he is" and will take on more of a Clent Stewart role, granted he's a different body-type/player.  But its good he'll take that role as a reserve and not the feature PG like Stew had to over his career.

No, I don't have to trust Frank's pattern.  All I know is he ran off a player that was good enough to get 20 minutes/game and 8 points a game for Irving and Russell, who couldn't come close to matching that production in the same backcourt.

to be fair, while brown was a statistically superior player, and also appeared to be a better player to any observer of kstate games... the team was a lot better without him.

neither i, nor you, have any way of knowing if replacing brown had a positive or negative impact on the team last year.  but it's a good bit harder to second guess the decision, when the coach that made that decision, ended up with a team that was substantially better than any(rational)one expected.

[sys]

IMO, pullen's "leap" between his fr and soph years....

there is no comparison to be made between pullen's fr year and irving's.  none.  not at all.  i was a little surprised, looking back at the stats, how similar blake young's jr year stat profile was to irving's.  young was marginally better in most categories, but really it's a decent comparo.

russell didn't play enough to earn a end of year kenpom statline.   

[michigancat]

There is a lot of talk about Pullen and other "terrible" guards, but you've got to have some trust in Frank's pattern here.  I think its highly likely at least one of the options we have shows tremendous development from his FR to SO years, most likely Russell or McGruder.  I think Irving "is what he is" and will take on more of a Clent Stewart role, granted he's a different body-type/player.  But its good he'll take that role as a reserve and not the feature PG like Stew had to over his career.

No, I don't have to trust Frank's pattern.  All I know is he ran off a player that was good enough to get 20 minutes/game and 8 points a game for Irving and Russell, who couldn't come close to matching that production in the same backcourt.

to be fair, while brown was a statistically superior player, and also appeared to be a better player to any observer of kstate games... the team was a lot better without him.

neither i, nor you, have any way of knowing if replacing brown had a positive or negative impact on the team last year.  but it's a good bit harder to second guess the decision, when the coach that made that decision, ended up with a team that was substantially better than any(rational)one expected.

No, it's still pretty easy to second guess.  It'll be even easier when this year's team is substantially worse than anyone expects.

[sys]

No, it's still pretty easy to second guess.

you're a strangely confident man.

[catzacker]

There is a lot of talk about Pullen and other "terrible" guards, but you've got to have some trust in Frank's pattern here.  I think its highly likely at least one of the options we have shows tremendous development from his FR to SO years, most likely Russell or McGruder.  I think Irving "is what he is" and will take on more of a Clent Stewart role, granted he's a different body-type/player.  But its good he'll take that role as a reserve and not the feature PG like Stew had to over his career.

IMO, pullen's "leap" between his fr and soph years was because he played as much as he did.  Irving and Russell, combined, didn't get as many minutes per game as pullen did his freshman year, nor were they, combined, as "productive" as pullen his freshman year.  I understand that the reason Irv/Russell didn't play as much was because we had guys in front of them in Denis and Jake that weren't there for Jake (Stew and Blake).  Rodney, of any of the guard-ish freshman, looks like he got the experience (and has the talent) to make a leap from his Fr to So years, and he'll be taking minutes away from Dom, not irv/russ. 

We don't need them to make THAT much of a jump.  Just for them to be able to compliment Pullen and be decent big 12 players. 

i suppose they wouldn't but that would depend on how you end that sentence....."don't have need them to make THAT much of a jump.." to accomplish what?  big 12 championship?  another t-4th place finish?  elite 8 run?  if we just want to make it to the tournament, then I suppose they won't have to be that good.  if we want more, they'll have to make a  significant jump.

[yosh]

IMO, pullen's "leap" between his fr and soph years was because he played as much as he did.  Irving and Russell, combined, didn't get as many minutes per game as pullen did his freshman year, nor were they, combined, as "productive" as pullen his freshman year.  I understand that the reason Irv/Russell didn't play as much was because we had guys in front of them in Denis and Jake that weren't there for Jake (Stew and Blake).  Rodney, of any of the guard-ish freshman, looks like he got the experience (and has the talent) to make a leap from his Fr to So years, and he'll be taking minutes away from Dom, not irv/russ. 

We don't need them to make THAT much of a jump.  Just for them to be able to compliment Pullen and be decent big 12 players. 

i suppose they wouldn't but that would depend on how you end that sentence....."don't have need them to make THAT much of a jump.." to accomplish what?  big 12 championship?  another t-4th place finish?  elite 8 run?  if we just want to make it to the tournament, then I suppose they won't have to be that good.  if we want more, they'll have to make a  significant jump.

We could win the league with average play from one guard position.

[catzacker]

IMO, pullen's "leap" between his fr and soph years was because he played as much as he did.  Irving and Russell, combined, didn't get as many minutes per game as pullen did his freshman year, nor were they, combined, as "productive" as pullen his freshman year.  I understand that the reason Irv/Russell didn't play as much was because we had guys in front of them in Denis and Jake that weren't there for Jake (Stew and Blake).  Rodney, of any of the guard-ish freshman, looks like he got the experience (and has the talent) to make a leap from his Fr to So years, and he'll be taking minutes away from Dom, not irv/russ.  

We don't need them to make THAT much of a jump.  Just for them to be able to compliment Pullen and be decent big 12 players.  

i suppose they wouldn't but that would depend on how you end that sentence....."don't have need them to make THAT much of a jump.." to accomplish what?  big 12 championship?  another t-4th place finish?  elite 8 run?  if we just want to make it to the tournament, then I suppose they won't have to be that good.  if we want more, they'll have to make a  significant jump.

We could win the league with average play from one guard position.

agree to disagree.  we couldn't win it with 2 above average guards this year.  sure, wally and gruds should be better. asprilla should/will be an upgrade over luis, but if jake is forced to be the primary ball handler, we won't win the league.  And I think it might be too much to ask for Russell or Irving or even Maple Leaf to be a decent Big 12 point.

[SuperG]

Pullen at the point is necessary for our success next year, and is good for his future also. I loved our freshmen last year, matter of fact
I was all about the fact that mcgruder, wally, and jhr didn't get thrown into the fire alot more, should of let'm figure it out on
the court as we went imo. I'm optimistic about their improvement because I can remember vividly how inconsistent jake was and how
useless jamar used to be, wouldn't be surprised if jam made the same jump yr 2-yr 3 as he did last year.

Excellent 16th post "two-seven".  Jake wants to get in to the association. We need Jake to get in to the association. That's only going to happen at PG.

I think McGruder and Judge are ready to score in double digits next year and that's what will have to happen to allow Jake to concentrate on running the O and dropping dimes.