The Bobcat Nation

Here is how I rank the Bobcats top to bottom as far as getting off the bench:

STARTERS

Beye
Moss
Jefferson
Dissly
Miller

Off bench:

1) Holmes
2) Morris
3) Pratt
4) Durham
5) Durr
6) Edmonds (should be before Durham)
7) #5 - dont know his name (should be before Durham)

The guards are all going to be killing for time. Can they all be rotated as the season progresses? Who will be out in the cold and see less and less time during the year?

I'll agree with that prediction. But I will help you-Derrick Edmonds is #5! I think the bench players should really be ranked by position; it won't really matter in what order they come off of the bench. But I will agree again with Holmes and Morris being the first two into the game. Holmes and Miller may switch off starting roles this year, depending on consistency.

MSU88 wrote:Here is how I rank the Bobcats top to bottom as far as getting off the bench:

STARTERS

Beye
Moss
Jefferson
Dissly
Miller

Off bench:

1) Holmes
2) Morris
3) Pratt
4) Durham
5) Durr
6) Edmonds (should be before Durham)
7) #5 - dont know his name (should be before Durham)

The guards are all going to be killing for time. Can they all be rotated as the season progresses? Who will be out in the cold and see less and less time during the year?

cats will have an 11 man rotation this year which will probably be narrowed to 9. from my view, edmonds should not be ahead of durham. he is very inconsistent and not nearly the shooter casey is. also, he tends to take some plays off, mainly on the defensive end. durr often times has no business being on the floor. sorry, he just makes me nervous. as far as holmes goes, im 50-50. if he playes like he did last year, he is awful. there is a reason why casey was getting minutes. if he plays like he has been beginning this summer, he deserves to play. just depends what ryan you get. but i dont want to take anything away from casey. seems to me he has worked very hard, and he doesn't back down from anyone.

whitetrashgriz wrote:

MSU88 wrote: durr often times has no business being on the floor. sorry, he just makes me nervous.

Why? What does he do to make you nervous?

Durr also makes me nervous when he's on the court. Not a great defender. Not great quickness or speed. And evidently, not a great shooter....Hmmmmm....

The jury is still out on Morris. With his size and an obvious lack of foot speed, he'd best be posting up a lot harder for position and not pass it outside so much. On defense he stay too far away from his defenders (since he can't jump) to defend the shot.

I was surprised to note that Edmonds was a Jr. He plays much younger. I also agree with the lack of defensive intensity.

We know what Durham is capable of. Great defense and a streaky shooter. But, when he's on!!!!!

Pratt seems the most improved followed closely by Holmes.

Off the bench:
Pratt over Morris no matter which position.
Holmes if we need a steady head or Durham if we need the extra intensity.


My $.02

MSU88 wrote:Here is how I rank the Bobcats top to bottom as far as getting off the bench:

STARTERS

Beye
Moss
Jefferson
Dissly
Miller

Off bench:

1) Holmes
2) Morris
3) Pratt
4) Durham
5) Durr
6) Edmonds (should be before Durham)
7) #5 - dont know his name (should be before Durham)

The guards are all going to be killing for time. Can they all be rotated as the season progresses? Who will be out in the cold and see less and less time during the year?

My Ranking by the time Conference comes around:
Starters:
Moss (I think night in night out will be the best player)
Jefferson (He gets number two for consitancy)
Beye ( Will have some big games, but may also dissapear and or get banged up. He drops for consitancy)
Miller (I would not argue if someone wanted to switch Miller and Dissly)
Dissly (Has all the talent, but not the killer instint to be our best player)

Bench
1. Holmes (I list him as first only becuase he is our purest point guard and that alone could get him into the starting line-up.)
2. Edmonds ( By conference I could see him being instant offence off the bench, plus the coaches love his work ethic)
3. Morris (first big guy off the bench)
4. Pratt (does not have the talent of some of the guys below him, but Morris and Beye are going to pick up lots of fouls and is Mosses primary back-up)
5 Durham (really can hurt some teams, if Edmonds does not take the role of Instant offence then Durham could move all the way up to 1 off the bench)
6 Durr (a role player. If his offence comes along could back up Dissley some, if not will become our back-up back-up big guy.

I have heard Durham say he is having trouble with a 11 man rotation. He feels real comfortable with all 11 players and there role, but trying to rotate in 11 players he feels hurts the team and the starters. He expects to have a 9-10 man rotation when the games start to count, (this Thursday) but was not sure who or what it would look like (as of early last week).

BTW #5 is Edmonds He did not have an over whelming first two exhibition games but the coaches are real high on his potential for conference. He is a little behind the learning curve with the other players.

alasax wrote:Durr also makes me nervous when he's on the court. Not a great defender. Not great quickness or speed. And evidently, not a great shooter....Hmmmmm....My $.02

Not a great defender? How many times did he play the #4 position last year against much bigger and taller opponents? He never turns the ball over, rebounds, and does play very good defense. I would agree his shot is not great, but on this team you need more than shooters....there are plenty of them to go around! Too many!

MSU88 wrote:

whitetrashgriz wrote:

MSU88 wrote: durr often times has no business being on the floor. sorry, he just makes me nervous.

Why? What does he do to make you nervous?

do you remember faaborg? durr is similar except not as good! he cant put the ball on the floor. he doesn't make any ball fakes when passing so steals are easy. he is too hesitant out there. he is a good shooter, and i have seen him light it up, but in games, he acts scared and doesn't take the shots he should. so i get nervous because i like players who can dribble, pass, and shoot.

MSU88 wrote:

alasax wrote:Durr also makes me nervous when he's on the court. Not a great defender. Not great quickness or speed. And evidently, not a great shooter....Hmmmmm....My $.02

Not a great defender? How many times did he play the #4 position last year against much bigger and taller opponents? He never turns the ball over, rebounds, and does play very good defense. I would agree his shot is not great, but on this team you need more than shooters....there are plenty of them to go around! Too many!

and i'd agree that he held his own "toughness" wise. but those same 4's that he was guearding were way quicker than him and would take him to the basket consistently. it's obvious you are a big durr fan which is great. dont get me wrong, i like the kid. just as i loved faaborg. but to me they are very similar except that faaborg could shoot! and one would make the same argument for faaborg in that he had to play big men. well that's great unless those big men are talking you to the hole! and just as it happened to danny, and immidiately mick would sit him, the same automatic benching happened to durr last year and i expect this year too. just too much of a liability. if after the season rolls around, and i was wrong about him, and he is getting some minutes and playing well, i'll be the first to eat my words and admit that i was wrong. i promise!

My Ranking by the time Conference comes around:
Starters:
Moss (I think night in night out will be the best player)
Jefferson (He gets number two for consitancy)
Beye ( Will have some big games, but may also dissapear and or get banged up. He drops for consitancy)
Miller (I would not argue if someone wanted to switch Miller and Dissly)
Dissly (Has all the talent, but not the killer instint to be our best player)

I would move Dissly up to 1 or 2. There is a reason why he never comes out of the game. Even Mick sais that we are a completely different team when he's not in the game. He doesn't put up huge numbers in terms of pts, but he does everything. He's our best passer, good shooter, good defender, he does it all.

whitetrashgriz wrote:

MSU88 wrote:

alasax wrote:it's obvious you are a big durr fan which is great. dont get me wrong, i like the kid. just as i loved faaborg. but to me they are very similar except that faaborg could shoot! and one would make the same argument for faaborg in that he had to play big men. well that's great unless those big men are talking you to the hole! and just as it happened to danny, and immidiately mick would sit him, the same automatic benching happened to durr last year and i expect this year too. just too much of a liability. if after the season rolls around, and i was wrong about him, and he is getting some minutes and playing well, i'll be the first to eat my words and admit that i was wrong. i promise!

I do like him because he does what is right in college sports....he works hard, probably is on line to graduate in four years, is the ultimate team player (maybe too much as you have all stated). I watched him alot during high school - was incredibily unselfish there as well. I just do not thnk he has gotten a big enough chance and had he had the minutes others he would gain confidence and be a good player. I am sure he will back up Dissly this season and wil see limited time - but he keeps things in control and provides balance when he is in there.

Durham was playing over Holmes last year, what makes everyone think that that will switch this year? Has Holmes gotten considerably better during the offseason?

kooper wrote:Durham was playing over Holmes last year, what makes everyone think that that will switch this year? Has Holmes gotten considerably better during the offseason?

Holmes is scheduled to Start tonight for one.

kooper wrote:Durham was playing over Holmes last year, what makes everyone think that that will switch this year? Has Holmes gotten considerably better during the offseason?

yes. he's improved more than anyone on the team, and all the players on the team agree.

MSU88 wrote:

whitetrashgriz wrote:

MSU88 wrote:

alasax wrote:it's obvious you are a big durr fan which is great. dont get me wrong, i like the kid. just as i loved faaborg. but to me they are very similar except that faaborg could shoot! and one would make the same argument for faaborg in that he had to play big men. well that's great unless those big men are talking you to the hole! and just as it happened to danny, and immidiately mick would sit him, the same automatic benching happened to durr last year and i expect this year too. just too much of a liability. if after the season rolls around, and i was wrong about him, and he is getting some minutes and playing well, i'll be the first to eat my words and admit that i was wrong. i promise!

I do like him because he does what is right in college sports....he works hard, probably is on line to graduate in four years, is the ultimate team player (maybe too much as you have all stated). I watched him alot during high school - was incredibily unselfish there as well. I just do not thnk he has gotten a big enough chance and had he had the minutes others he would gain confidence and be a good player. I am sure he will back up Dissly this season and wil see limited time - but he keeps things in control and provides balance when he is in there.

i agree about all those things about the personal durr. he's a great guys and i have watched him play since highschool. but i'm talking strictly basketball here. that's why i compared him to faaborg. he may be the all-time greatest/nicest/class-act/head-on-his-shoulders player the cats have ever seen. he will be a doctor in the next couple years. and he dominated in highschool. btu none of that matters when you are scared on the court, and never have the confidence that you need to play at this level. but i do like durr and i hope he plays well this year. if nothing else i'll say that he probably wont make TOO many mistakes.

whitetrashgriz wrote:

kooper wrote:Durham was playing over Holmes last year, what makes everyone think that that will switch this year? Has Holmes gotten considerably better during the offseason?

yes. he's improved more than anyone on the team, and all the players on the team agree.

We should have reshirted Holmes last year-same with Durr the year before. It's great that we can redshirt all our freshmen this year.