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Emarion Ellis commits to BU

Big Mike said:
Too me Ellis is an upgrade from Montgomery just by the way he can handle the ball, a way better dribbler and we really seemed to lack that from the outside.....great addition...:-o:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:
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He does look better. Would have been really cool to have him with Montgomery rather than instead of Montgomery. You can tell by who we brought in that coach recognized we had a desperate need for guards who can create their own shot. I’m really hopeful Pettigrew is as good as I think he is and we can start Hickman/Pettigrew/Ellis/Leons. That would be an incredibly athletic grouping that could apply a ton of ball pressure. And they would be ideal at scoring in transition.

The position of most question to me is center. Will Jonovich or Thomas show enough to get the majority of minutes? Or will we play skinnier with Hannah at the 5? I like the idea of Hannah, we’d be so fast/quick. But does he offer enough on offense? If he starts, we won’t have a proven big off the bench. That could lead to some inconsistent stretches.

Obviously all of this will be sorted by the end of the season, especially since coach prefers a short rotation. Overall I’m intrigued by the new players. Three I’m real excited for, and two (and a half) are potentially big wins even if it might take them a couple years in our proven player development environment. Good off season, would have been perfect if Zek had stayed and we still found a spot for Ellis. Great job Coach W
 
Love this signing and was hoping that's who the last piece would be. That's a big get for the program. Hickman/Pettigrew/Ellis/Leons/Hannah in stretches could be the longest, quickest and most athletic group we have had on the court in a long time. Who's excited for the season?
 
ihatetea said:
He does look better. Would have been really cool to have him with Montgomery rather than instead of Montgomery. You can tell by who we brought in that coach recognized we had a desperate need for guards who can create their own shot. I’m really hopeful Pettigrew is as good as I think he is and we can start Hickman/Pettigrew/Ellis/Leons. That would be an incredibly athletic grouping that could apply a ton of ball pressure. And they would be ideal at scoring in transition.

The position of most question to me is center. Will Jonovich or Thomas show enough to get the majority of minutes? Or will we play skinnier with Hannah at the 5? I like the idea of Hannah, we’d be so fast/quick. But does he offer enough on offense? If he starts, we won’t have a proven big off the bench. That could lead to some inconsistent stretches.

Obviously all of this will be sorted by the end of the season, especially since coach prefers a short rotation. Overall I’m intrigued by the new players. Three I’m real excited for, and two (and a half) are potentially big wins even if it might take them a couple years in our proven player development environment. Good off season, would have been perfect if Zek had stayed and we still found a spot for Ellis. Great job Coach W
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Gonna be interesting going from a team that was talent heavy in the post to one that is more balanced to the perimeter. I think the big question will be how Pettigrew comes into play, how much he can contribute etc, and how much Hickman has to still run point.
 
Looks like another good group of recruits to go along with our returning players.
3 starters return along with Hannah to play in the middle. I'm hoping to see as much improvement this year as we seen last year out of him. If so we will be in good shape replacing Mast.
It looks like we have several guys to replace Zek.
This team should be a contender again this season and if these recruits work in with the returning players IMO we will be better than last season.
 
This roster is going to very fascinating to watch. Here are my observations from a supposedly completed roster:

1. Center seems to be the biggest up in the air area due to many potentially capable but no sure shot players. Hannah seemed to have the most polished offensive last year in that he actually became pretty good at getting post points (sometimes he had 8 points in quick spurts). Hannah is still very skinny though on defense. Thomas has the foul issues and is coming from a lower level where it’s not like he dominated yet. Jonovic looked slow and out of place at times, and was never what was promised last year. But he also looked like he has potential to grow. Which of the three steps up? I would hope between 7 post players we can find 2-3 rotation players to fill this spot with one stepping up to grab the main role. I still don’t love the roster construction in terms of posts and guards, but hopefully the six guards/wings can stay healthy. Getting those easy post points like Mast got last year against bigger guys will be interesting. Hannah can do it in most cases, but I’m not sure against the bigger big guys.

2. Point guard will be interesting and need some luck again. I imagine Deen or Hickman is the starting point right now. Will Pettigrew/Burch/Ellis be able to help at all here? What happens in the event of an injury? I don’t love the idea of Duke being the main guy with no one really to step in, and wish he was more of a sixth man, and I really thought Hick was better off the ball. He struggled at times to bring the ball up against quicker guys too. Not a position I love having no firm depth at, especially when Hick and Ellis have serious injury history and Duke is 5’8”.

3. Athleticism should be better. The go to guys on offense that were discussed last year seem to be in place more in terms of guys that can create their own shot.

4. Defensively Hick, Ellis, Leons are a good core. What we get from the other two spots will be interesting as Pettigrew supposedly wasn’t great on defense last year and Deen struggles at time due to height.

5. Shooting is my biggest area of concern. We didn’t have go to shooters last year and we lost Mast, Ville, and Zek. We shots pretty solidly numbers wise last year, but still didn’t have that sharp shooter. At this point it’s by design Brian doesn’t really go after shooters very often. Other than Ville, Kennell, and maybe Davis no one I can think of we’ve had in his tenure is really known as a shooter first. Of Ellis, Burch, and Pettigrew, the new perimeter guys, none seems to be a shooter really. Ellis’s shot looks ok but low in the video. Maybe they develop their shot like Zek did? But this could be our biggest weakness. Hopefully Hick, Leons, Deen, and Davis work on consistency from three, as I think we’ll need it from those four.

6. I think this team should be solid in the Valley, especially given other teams’ transfers. I think we have more questions and uncertainties this year than last. I would say we have a higher ceiling than last year if everything goes right, but we may also have a lower floor than last year did.

Should be fun to watch unfold at least!
 
Like coach said this looks like his best recruiting class since he has been at BU. We have plenty of good sized athletic guards to go along with tall athletic bigs. These players need to come in early and get use to playing together this summer. Future looks great.
 
ManMythLegend said:
Love this signing and was hoping that's who the last piece would be. That's a big get for the program. Hickman/Pettigrew/Ellis/Leons/Hannah in stretches could be the longest, quickest and most athletic group we have had on the court in a long time. Who's excited for the season?
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Oh yeah baby! I think all of Braves nation is getting super-psyched!

No mention of Duke - wonder if his minutes will go down to 25-30 now with all of this talent, and Pettigrew and Ellis with more size and good ball-handling.
 
You have to give this staff credit for finding a sweet spot in all the chaos with Sophomore, immediately eligible transfers. The new rule will force them to sit out a year now if they want to move again which should help stabilize the roster. The top portal guys are getting too much NIL money for BU to even be in the ballpark. Having recruited most of these guys in HS has certainly helped our cause. Still concerned that the only bigs on the roster for next year are Meta, Thomas and Atlason, who is more of a stretch 4. They need to replace Linke and Bilew with bigs who can help us next year. Still confused why they are still around not having signed NIL deals. It sure sounds like Brian is done recruiting for this year in the PJS article though. Really excited for next year!
 
LittleBrave said:
Oh yeah baby! I think all of Braves nation is getting super-psyched!

No mention of Duke - wonder if his minutes will go down to 25-30 now with all of this talent, and Pettigrew and Ellis with more size and good ball-handling.
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Didn't mean to discredit any of the other guys on the team. I just specifically mentioned guys I can see on the court being a nightmare match up for a lot of teams if we wanted to play fast and long. I still think Deen has a large role. What he lacks in height I feel he makes up for in leadership. He's a general when he's on the court.
 
BU freak said:
You have to give this staff credit for finding a sweet spot in all the chaos with Sophomore, immediately eligible transfers. The new rule will force them to sit out a year now if they want to move again which should help stabilize the roster. The top portal guys are getting too much NIL money for BU to even be in the ballpark. Having recruited most of these guys in HS has certainly helped our cause. Still concerned that the only bigs on the roster for next year are Meta, Thomas and Atlason, who is more of a stretch 4. They need to replace Linke and Bilew with bigs who can help us next year. Still confused why they are still around not having signed NIL deals. It sure sounds like Brian is done recruiting for this year in the PJS article though. Really excited for next year!
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I don't know where Linke and Biliew stand but at one point heard rumors of early graduation for them. It would be in poor taste for BW to openly comment he's still recruiting without there being any official announcement on these two. So yeah don't really know what's going on but me thinks it's not off the table that another scholarship or two become available.
 
ManMythLegend said:
I don't know where Linke and Biliew stand but at one point heard rumors of early graduation for them. It would be in poor taste for BW to openly comment he's still recruiting without there being any official announcement on these two. So yeah don't really know what's going on but me thinks it's not off the table that another scholarship or two become available.
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I do not think those two are graduating this year. I do believe we are done recruiting for the coming season. I think we now have all the pieces we need to be successful.
 
Ellis is an upgrade to Montgomery at the 3..lock
Leons is a lock at the 4
Burch and Deen will mix at the 1
Hickman/Finland/Pettigrew (probably 2 will rise to the top) will mix at the 2
Hannah/Thomas/Jonovic (probably 2 will ride to the top) will mix at the 5….this position is my biggest worry but the MVC plays small so I think we should bode well mixing them in with 1 big, 4 guards.
 
NashvilleBU said:
Ellis is an upgrade to Montgomery at the 3..lock
Leons is a lock at the 4
Burch and Deen will mix at the 1
Hickman/Finland/Pettigrew (probably 2 will rise to the top) will mix at the 2
Hannah/Thomas/Jonovic (probably 2 will ride to the top) will mix at the 5….this position is my biggest worry but the MVC plays small so I think we should bode well mixing them in with 1 big, 4 guards.
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I might be wrong but Hickman will run the point just like he did the second half of last season. We have to remember he hadn't played PG since JH. I'm hoping that his shot comes back. If so we should be in good shape.
 
basketball nut said:
I might be wrong but Hickman will run the point just like he did the second half of last season. We have to remember he hadn't played PG since JH. I'm hoping that his shot comes back. If so we should be in good shape.
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I think we will see a lot of Pettigrew running the point as well.
 
PhiAlphaBoy said:
I think we will see a lot of Pettigrew running the point as well.
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Lot of different opinions on the PG position, so I'll add mine. I think we'll see Duke running the point most of the time. He's a proven commodity, lead the team to the MVC title, and did a good job this past season. He does have some shortcomings (no pun intended), mostly on defense, but he is the only true point guard on the roster.
Duke will be the 2nd highest returning scorer behind Leons, and the top returning 3-point percentage shooter on next season's team, and IMO Bradley will be better when he is on the floor. Also, Duke's 1.48 assist/turnover ratio is the best among any returning guard. I don't think Pettigrew is really a point guard (he had only 9 assists in 27 games this past season). Hickman is quite capable of handling PG duties, and maybe Burch will prove capable of filling in at PG in a pinch. But barring an injury to Duke, I don't anyone else as the primary PG.
 
Coach, wouldn't disagree but CH ran the point as much as DD as he worked Dean on the wings trying to free him up for more open shots. I still think those 2 will start together and they are both smart players.
if I was picking an early starting line up I would guess Dean, Hickman, Ellis, Leons and Hannah
 
Da Coach said:
Lot of different opinions on the PG position, so I'll add mine. I think we'll see Duke running the point most of the time. He's a proven commodity, lead the team to the MVC title, and did a good job this past season. He does have some shortcomings (no pun intended), mostly on defense, but he is the only true point guard on the roster.
Duke will be the 2nd highest returning scorer behind Leons, and the top returning 3-point percentage shooter on next season's team, and IMO Bradley will be better when he is on the floor. Also, Duke's 1.48 assist/turnover ratio is the best among any returning guard. I don't think Pettigrew is really a point guard (he had only 9 assists in 27 games this past season). Hickman is quite capable of handling PG duties, and maybe Burch will prove capable of filling in at PG in a pinch. But barring an injury to Duke, I don't anyone else as the primary PG.
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I think Deen is a fine pg too, but Wardle mentioned yesterday on ESPN radio that he sees Pettigrew as a pg with a lot of potential. I think we'll see him try a lot of Pettigrew running the point during the pre-Valley season to see how that works. Deen may take on the role of "Mr. Offense" off the bench.
 
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