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Username Post: Butler        (Topic#20643)
bradley 
PhD Student
Posts: 1842

Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
11-08-17 10:30 AM - Post#235656    

The show begins. Butler, BYU and St. Joe's within a week -- good tests. According to ESPN, Butler has two of the top 50 players in the country, #36 and #50 --- 6'7" forward Martin with bulk and 6'2" converted SG to PG. KenPom has Butler at #44 and Hinkle Fieldhouse is a very tough place to play. Butler has big starting frontcourt which may well be a problem.

Stephens will have to take on Martin and he will face a similar challenge like he experienced against ND Colson in the Tournament.

Butler has received uneven reviews from predictions of finishing 2nd in the Big East to the middle of the pack as they lost two talented starters.

May come down to if Tigers can keep their cool at Hinkle when Butler goes on a run. I remember VCU game last year -- tough on the road.

 
SRP 
Postdoc
Posts: 4894

Reg: 02-04-06
11-08-17 12:57 PM - Post#235668    
    In response to bradley

MH was very upbeat about this Tiger team's defensive potential, to my surprise, saying they could be better than last year. This would be the game to show that, because Butler usually Ds up pretty hard, so scoring may be not so easy, especially in that building. As usual, good three-point shooting would paper over a lot of other weaknesses should they surface.

 
Tiger69 
Postdoc
Posts: 2801

Reg: 11-23-04
11-08-17 01:32 PM - Post#235671    
    In response to SRP

Given the venue, first game, new players, etc., I will be satisfied if we can stay within a dozen points. Closer, I'm optimistic. Otherwise, jury is still out.

 
JadwinGeorge 
Senior
Posts: 357

Age: 75
Reg: 12-04-15
11-08-17 05:57 PM - Post#235694    
    In response to Tiger69

Henderson has voiced a lot of optimism about his team, something he need not do in public at this point. He has compared one of his freshmen to Ian Hummer and says another is ready to play at the college level. And, as Steve Postrel notes, he says this team can be better than last year's best-in-the-league defense. I have found him to be more reserved in the past than these comments suggest. Not sure what to make of it but if he can get a win or two in the first week we may have another special team.

 
Tiger69 
Postdoc
Posts: 2801

Reg: 11-23-04
11-08-17 06:55 PM - Post#235701    
    In response to JadwinGeorge

I hope that you are right. I'm a little superstitious when the coach sounds optimistic. Don't want to get my hopes to rise to unrealistic heights.

 
bradley 
PhD Student
Posts: 1842

Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
11-08-17 10:24 PM - Post#235715    
    In response to JadwinGeorge

Coach made very positive comments last year at Media Day and then the Tigers struggled in non-conference play. I suspect that he made the glowing comments this year as part of coach speak to get his team to have the proper mental outlook going into the season. As a fan, I would prefer that he does not set unrealistic expectations but he is probably doing it for the team. My preference is that he makes sure that the team is not over confident.

I did like to hear Cannady keep talking about playing good defense this year so Coach is working on his head.

At the end of the day, his comments to the press/public really has little bearing as long as the team is focused and ready to go. Unfortunately, that was not the case at the beginning of last year until they had St. Joe's outmuscle them and kick the Tigers' butt at Jadwin.

 
JadwinGeorge 
Senior
Posts: 357

Age: 75
Reg: 12-04-15
11-09-17 12:03 PM - Post#235731    
    In response to bradley

Difference between this year and last is stark. Last year's rotation was set through the first nine players on Day 1 of practice. Tigers were a near-unanimous choice to win the regular season Ivy title. At the time of the St. Joe's game the team had learned, literally that day and almost without warning, that Caruso was leaving the team. I believe Caruso had his own agenda regarding a return to California. This year the team will need huge contributions from first year players, in the manner of Weisz and Cannady as freshmen. Henderson knows this and is evidently comfortable with his hand. We'll find out a lot in the first 6 days.

 
SRP 
Postdoc
Posts: 4894

Reg: 02-04-06
11-09-17 01:54 PM - Post#235744    
    In response to JadwinGeorge

The other mild surprise to me from early interviews was MH characterizing Much as a post player on offense. He showed a bit of that on his highlight reel but seemed very much a face-to-the-basket type. Of course, so was Hans Brase and is Alec Brennan, and they still got forced into playing back-to-the-basket offense (I think it's really inhibited Brennan, who is a natural "stretch four").

 
Tiger81 
Masters Student
Posts: 409
Tiger81
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
11-09-17 02:34 PM - Post#235752    
    In response to SRP

Butler game notes now posted on Princeton's web site: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/princeton.s...

"Probable Starters"

Amir Bell
Devin Cannady
Myles Stephens
Richmond Aririguzoh
Ryan Schwieger

So ... 4 Gs/1 C (although Stephens might be considered more of a F), no Gladson or Brennan and neither of the more highly-touted frosh (Much and Desrosiers).

I don't know how definitive games notes are, but that sure took me by surprise!


 
Tiger69 
Postdoc
Posts: 2801

Reg: 11-23-04
11-09-17 02:48 PM - Post#235755    
    In response to Tiger81

Wow, 9 man (at least!) rotation. I was surprised, too. Could MH want his other two inexperienced freshmen to have a look at the action before inserting them? Can't figure not starting Gladson, though. But, Aririguzoh is high energy and could be a game changer if he hones his skills quickly enough.

 
1LotteryPick1969 
Postdoc
Posts: 2260
1LotteryPick1969
Age: 73
Loc: Sandy, Utah
Reg: 11-21-04
11-09-17 02:56 PM - Post#235757    
    In response to Tiger69

I'm not completely surprised by Aririguzoh. He looked like a natural in the post during his limited PT. I wonder if the deciding factor was his defense, including rim protection.

 
1LotteryPick1969 
Postdoc
Posts: 2260
1LotteryPick1969
Age: 73
Loc: Sandy, Utah
Reg: 11-21-04
11-09-17 03:08 PM - Post#235758    
    In response to Tiger81

https://campussports.net/2017/07/07/princeton- bask...

Schwieger appears to have Carmelo Anthony skills.

 
Tiger69 
Postdoc
Posts: 2801

Reg: 11-23-04
11-09-17 05:50 PM - Post#235769    
    In response to 1LotteryPick1969

Yup, the video must have sealed the deal.

 
JadwinGeorge 
Senior
Posts: 357

Age: 75
Reg: 12-04-15
11-09-17 08:13 PM - Post#235776    
    In response to Tiger69

Total surprise!!! Not sure what it means, if accurate, except that this team is very deep in talent.


 
SRP 
Postdoc
Posts: 4894

Reg: 02-04-06
11-09-17 09:13 PM - Post#235781    
    In response to JadwinGeorge

That lineup has only Cannady under 6'4" and the tallest man is the mobile Aririguzoh at 6'9", so they should be able to switch all screens. I liked the brief snippets of Aririguzoh last year, so if he's improved his offense a bit he could definitely help.

 
jadwinjungle 
Freshman
Posts: 45

Age: 26
Reg: 10-02-17
11-09-17 10:42 PM - Post#235787    
    In response to SRP

Agreed, this seems like a very versatile team on defense with the 4 perimeter starters, along with Much, Desrosiers, LeBlanc who are in that similar 6'5" to 6'7" range. Aririguzoh and Brennan are both quite mobile for bigs as well. Gladson seems to be the only one who could have trouble switching onto perimeter players, so perhaps that was the deciding factor in starting Aririguzoh.

If Aririguzoh has really improved enough to be a starter in game 1 of his sophomore year, that would be extremely impressive and a testament to his work ethic since he was thought to be a raw project coming in. Getting even more excited to see how the team looks this year

 
bradley 
PhD Student
Posts: 1842

Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
11-10-17 10:56 AM - Post#235796    
    In response to JadwinGeorge

Very surprising especially against a big front court like Butler. Then again I thought that Coach could have gone with a bigger line up against big time non-conference opponents in the past.

 
TigerFan 
PhD Student
Posts: 1871

Reg: 11-21-04
11-10-17 05:27 PM - Post#235843    
    In response to bradley

I'm surprised but not stunned. Richmond has not played that many years of basketball and was expected by people that knew his game to improve rapidly at Princeton. He plays great interior defense, which will be critical this year.

I've heard Ryan called the "sleeper" of this class (as Richmond was in last year's).

Go Tigers!

 
mrjames 
Professor
Posts: 6062

Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
11-10-17 06:36 PM - Post#235852    
    In response to TigerFan

Yeah, I’ve been calling BS on that starting lineup since it’s been posted. Very easily could be wrong, but if that’s where Princeton’s really at, it’s not a good thing.

 
Tiger69 
Postdoc
Posts: 2801

Reg: 11-23-04
11-10-17 10:09 PM - Post#235865    
    In response to mrjames

We'll find out real soon. No one ever guessed that Caruso would emerge as a game changer. Or, possibly, this could indicate injury (ies) to some players.

 
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