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Dave Reynolds' article about Nate Wells 10/21

Da Coach

Da Coach

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Big changes for Bradley's freshman big man
http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x319040855/Reynolds-Big-changes-for-Bradley-s-freshman-big-man


Just one thought- Dave mentions "The bottom line is Wells will certainly be more valuable to this team as a fifth-year senior than as a first-year freshman."


And I agree that this is true. But isn't it true for 100% of all D1 players? Has there ever been a player who wasn't better and more valuable as a senior than as a first-year freshman? If that is the logic we go by, then shouldn't we resdshirt every player his freshman year?
 
Da Coach said:
Big changes for Bradley's freshman big man
http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x319040855/Reynolds-Big-changes-for-Bradley-s-freshman-big-man


Just one thought- Dave mentions "The bottom line is Wells will certainly be more valuable to this team as a fifth-year senior than as a first-year freshman."


And I agree that this is true. But isn't it true for 100% of all D1 players? Has there ever been a player who wasn't better and more valuable as a senior than as a first-year freshman? If that is the logic we go by, then shouldn't we resdshirt every player his freshman year?
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That's EXACTLY what I pointed out in another thread.....

shaunguth said:
Couldn't this be said for all freshmen? I'd say there's something seriously wrong with a kid that isn't better in his 5th year than his first.
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By the way, nice article on NW. It would be nice to have something like this for every player on the roster leading up to the season.
 
I say play the kid now. Why are we worried about 5 years from now? The world will be a different place then, we might have gone through three more coaches by then and he may want to transfer for some reason during that time. A bird in the hand.....
 
Buesch N Chips said:
I say play the kid now. Why are we worried about 5 years from now? The world will be a different place then, we might have gone through three more coaches by then and he may want to transfer for some reason during that time. A bird in the hand.....
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Agreed. Besides, I think he looked ready to play. There was only one player that didn't look ready to me and it wasn't NW. Throw him into the fire and I think he'll learn even faster.
 
Braves4Life said:
Mark Macon......

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1069398/index.htm
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I have no idea how this fits anywhere - but I think the statement that Macon would have been better as a 5th year senior than as a freshman is certainly true here...

Mark Macon was good enough as a freshman to be the best freshman in their conference...
BUT he matured and developed and by the time he was a senior he had made All-Conference four years and as a senior he was the ATLANTIC-10 Player of the Year, got drafted and had a career in the NBA and beyond.

This is about as far from relevant to Nate Wells as I can imagine..

-first he was highly touted as a high schooler coming into Temple that there wasn't a remote thought of redshirting him - he was clearly good enough to start as a freshman - while Nate would be third or 4th in line to play the post and wouldn't get a lot of playing time

-he didn't stay 5 years so drawing any conclusions about how he'd have done as a 5th year senior is quite difficult

-likely had he been able to stay at Temple for a 5th year he'd have been outstanding - since that year he was an NBA #8 pick, averaged 11 ppg in the NBA and since he was a 3-time All American at Temple - his 5th year likely would have been pretty special..
 
I haven't seen any of the new players.. but let's be honest. This team is not going to compete for the Valley Title this year. So what do you get by playing wells this year? 2 or 3 minutes of spot duty?

I'd love to red shirt all freshmen. Of course that's not realistic. But with skinny big men it's almost essential. Let Wells beef up.. let him learn a little more bball and polish his skills more(remember he has not played that long).

The benefits to the team will be better served.
 
Keep in mind that kids also fear what happened to Andrew Davis -- redshirting - then something happens and you never do get to play...or what happened to TB and MSU's Will Creekmore.....using one redshirt year voluntarily, then needing another one unexpectedly down the road...
so most want to play and play now.....
 
KillerB said:
I haven't seen any of the new players.. but let's be honest. This team is not going to compete for the Valley Title this year. So what do you get by playing wells this year? 2 or 3 minutes of spot duty?

I'd love to red shirt all freshmen. Of course that's not realistic. But with skinny big men it's almost essential. Let Wells beef up.. let him learn a little more bball and polish his skills more(remember he has not played that long).

The benefits to the team will be better served.
Click to expand...

I can understand the thinking here, but couldn't the same be said of DH and I haven't seen nearly the same amount of talk about him redshirting. I'd even be inclined to throw MK into that mix as well, let him learn the new system and work on defense with his new coaches. It seems to me that NW is just as ready to play as those two.
There's no guarantee any of these kids will be around five years from now.
Also, he didn't look too skinny to me, especially for a 7'1" player.
 
tornado said:
Keep in mind that kids also fear what happened to Andrew Davis -- redshirting - then something happens and you never do get to play...or what happened to TB and MSU's Will Creekmore.....using one redshirt year voluntarily, then needing another one unexpectedly down the road...
so most want to play and play now.....
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Kind of what I have been thinking in that Nate could have an injury down the road that would call for a medical redshirt, I also don"t think it is fair to the team to say this year is not important so we are going to hold someone out that could contribute , from everything that I have heard and the small amout that I have seen of Nate he could give us some good minutes now and I say let him help this season.
 
I agree on DH.. like I said I would like to see all freshman RS, but I know that's not realistic. The bottom line is Nate will be a boy playing against men. And what is the gain this year? I just don't forsee a title run in our future this year (hope I'm dead wrong).

I know this is not a guarantee, but overall for Nate and the program will probably be better served by a red shirt year. Patience is a virtue and I believe that to be particularly true in this case.
 
Redshirt

Redshirt

Let's wait and see how he looks in the exhibiton games and then make a decision...Look at what the Athony Thompson red-shirt decision did for us!! Did he make bigger strides his first summer than AT? Is his work ethic and mental capacity at a higher level? Maybe if he plays day in day out in practice and gets some game minutes he surpasses AT on the depth chart by seasons end, and that could be more valueable than a red-shirt...
 
Can someone explain this statement...

"In fact, as long as Wells doesn??™t play in any regular-season games, the unredshirt call can wait until January."

What does January have to do with it?
Technically the decision to play Nate could wait 'til January, February, or even March...
but even one minute in any game means his chance of a redshirt are nil..

If you seek a "medical redshirt", then one of the strict criteria is that you cannot play in any game after the midway point of the season - generally that would be in January...but that applies ONLY to an injury waiver - commonly called a medical redshirt.
 
They did not decide to "redshirt" Saihou Jassey until the season was nearly over. And the same thing happened last year with Andrew Davis, only I do not think they ever did apply for a redshirt for him, since he decided to transfer and not play.
 
I was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday that Wells wasn't a project. I look forward to seeing him in the two exhibitions. Hopefully, Parkside or Wooster has a decent big man.

It's a rebuilding year. He'll get more than mop up duty if they decide to play him.
 
KillerB said:
I haven't seen any of the new players.. but let's be honest. This team is not going to compete for the Valley Title this year. So what do you get by playing wells this year? 2 or 3 minutes of spot duty?

I'd love to red shirt all freshmen. Of course that's not realistic. But with skinny big men it's almost essential. Let Wells beef up.. let him learn a little more bball and polish his skills more(remember he has not played that long).

The benefits to the team will be better served.
Click to expand...

No offense KB but since you haven't seen any of the new players of for that matter this team w/a new coach then how can you make statements like this? Are you going off the board or what some friend has to say? NW isn't a skinny kid anymore. As was pointed out in the paper this morning he has put on 30# which brings him up to approx. 250#. Yes a year of R/S would be good for him but one thing to keep in mind is he is committed to doing what the coaches want him to do and is a quick learner. If they decide to play him this year and he continues to work hard who knows how much he will help by the end of the year.
I would agree we probably won't contend for a title but by the tourn we may very well surprise some teams. (and some fans also)
 
basketball nut said:
No offense KB but since you haven't seen any of the new players of for that matter this team w/a new coach then how can you make statements like this? Are you going off the board or what some friend has to say? NW isn't a skinny kid anymore. As was pointed out in the paper this morning he has put on 30# which brings him up to approx. 250#. Yes a year of R/S would be good for him but one thing to keep in mind is he is committed to doing what the coaches want him to do and is a quick learner. If they decide to play him this year and he continues to work hard who knows how much he will help by the end of the year.
I would agree we probably won't contend for a title but by the tourn we may very well surprise some teams. (and some fans also)
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Hey, if you've seen enough to think this team is going to compete for the Valley title.. great. I look at the roster and don't see it happening. Again, like I said I hope I am proved wrong. Nate didn't start playing bball until a few years ago. Weight or not he is a project. Maybe he'll be fine. But nothing I've seen written anywhere projects him for more than mop up minutes. If that's the case it is my opinion both Nate and the program would be better served sitting a year. But I feel that way about most freshmen, not just Nate.
 
it's boogie time said:
I was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday that Wells wasn't a project. I look forward to seeing him in the two exhibitions. Hopefully, Parkside or Wooster has a decent big man.

It's a rebuilding year. He'll get more than mop up duty if they decide to play him.
Click to expand...

Looking at their respective rosters......

UW-Parkside doesn't have a player listed at C. Their tallest player is a 6'8'/215 freshman. They also have a couple 6'7" juniors at 215 and 220. One of the juniors only played 7 minutes/game and averaged 2.1 points and 2.4 rebounds. The other averaged 3.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 19 minutes/game.

Wooster does not have an updated roster for this season and have just two possible returning players listed at C.....a 6'8"/210 junior averaged 3.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 9 minutes/game and a 6'8"/175 sophomore with very limited time last season.
 
basketball nut said:
I would agree we probably won't contend for a title but by the tourn we may very well surprise some teams. (and some fans also)
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I agree.....and I'm not sure we contend for a title next season either. It's rather hard to look ahead in that regard as we don't know who will/won't be here and if/when someone gets injured.
 
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