Egolf was first tried as a real 4 and should be. That year when that happened we perfomed well and it was part of rotation for not even a handful of games--then Jim stopped it in favor of going small due to his perceptions that are strength lies in guard play, especially during the conference season. As oopsed to what we give up in terms of interior defensive weakness and poor rebounding when we go small. If we had solid 3 pt. shooting like the first 2 years we went guard happy, then you may be able to make the difference up, but last year reality set in. NIU and Creighton were tough inside and we could not shoot from the perimiter, and to top it off those 2 teams and ISU had a balanced floor game, too. We did not.
Some folks are talking as though rotating three guys at the 5 spot (one of whom is a 4) is acceptable and we done that the last threee seasons--it did not work. We have not had a true 4 play significant minutes since Marcellus. And, even then, not until did he starting playing touger and establish and inside offennsive presence down the stretch (especially in the NCAA) did we make a run. That is what success will take--strength at the 4 on both sides of the court and a balanced offense. That will be acomplsihed by using the proper personnel and running different offensive sets. Maybe Taylor Brown can emerge as a decent 4, but he is more a Lawrence Wright and not a Marcellus Sommerville. Bottom-line, until we solve those isues we will not get over the hump.
With all that out of the way, this will be one heck of an interesting season with all the unkowns--guys cominng back from injuries (Warren & Egolf), new personnel, seeing if Jim adjusts to what he has, the possible emergence of Brown, Roberts maybe taking it to another level, Sam M trying to bounce back from something of a sophomore slump, opportunities for some RPI building if not marquee wins, and some games that could could turn into RPI killing losses. You've got to love it--I can't wait...Go Braves!
. I wouldn't say he 'by far' looked the best though. He made a shot and a couple of FT's. He also got burnt plenty on defense. Like I said on Sunday, the freshmen looked like they belonged, but all looked a little green to me. DSE was no different. Physically he is definitely more ready to play than Eastman, so this move doesn't surprise me. From all reports it sounds like Milos has been the best of the bunch thus far, and the substitution order Sunday seemed to support that. We'll see if this bears out during the season.
