WEB wrote:

No doubt, credit must be given to EJ for seizing the opportunity when JJ went down. But his development from year 1 to 2 has been a very welcome surprise. The coaching staff has done an outstanding job with him as well as Lewis.

Given how EJ is already outperforming JJ, what is the ceiling for him for the next 2 years?  Do we have a potential all league player on our hands?

I would still like to see EJ improve his jump shot a little. If he does that, he will be an all league player. Then again, if he had a better jump shot in high school, he probably wouldn't be at Duquesne right now given his athletic ability and length

The Dome wrote:

Seriously WEB, if Jones doesn't get hurt James is still sitting on the bench waiting. His play is instinctive and basically counter what the Dukes offense is all about chucking 3's. Many of us on this board have been critical of the 3 point offense and doing more to work inside out. I believe James has been instrumental in doing that. Last night remove the 7/22 performance from the arc and the Dukes are 25/39 from the field for 64%!!!!!

Every time I watch a game from the other teams feed in, their announcers are most impressed wih Eric James first, and Lewis second.  This last game wasn't any different. Both Lewis and James were instrumental in this win. Bonnies tried to shut down the 3 ball, but we really won this game in the paint, both offensive and defensive.  The Dukes are not landing enough 3's to be a 3 ball threat anymore without  a inside game.    

While it hurts us now, long term, the injury to JJ is going to help us because EJ will be established going into next year. He may be the go to guy offensively, going into next season.

From the high school game I watched last fall Mike Lewis did not look in any way big enough to play the #3

WEB wrote:

Tejas_Duke wrote:

From the high school game I watched last fall Mike Lewis did not look in any way big enough to play the #3

Not Mike Lewis, but I.Mike from Canada who is a 6-7 SF and apparently our top recruit.  Though, I guess Littleson is giving him a run for that title.

Sorry    BTW, I went over to a recruiting site and I only saw Mike Lewis listed. No mention of the other guys.  Is Lewis our only letter or intent recruit at this point?  As I have said before, I don't follow the recruiting thing very hard. What is the best site?

Thanks, I also saw ESPN has a pretty thorough database that includes Mike and Littleson.

So are Mike and Littleson actually on board, or could they change their mind?

Tejas_Duke wrote:

Thanks, I also saw ESPN has a pretty thorough database that includes Mike and Littleson.

So are Mike and Littleson actually on board, or could they change their mind?

All of the recruits signed in November.
 

duq81 wrote:

WEB wrote:

duq81 wrote:

While it hurts us now, long term, the injury to JJ is going to help us because EJ will be established going into next year. He may be the go to guy offensively, going into next season.

I think it could be Smith or James.  In reading the write-up from Meyer on the PG today, he suggests(and confirms what I have heard) that Smith is better than anybody we currently have right now.  I think we could see a massive upgrade from Colter to Smith.  EJ presumably will be better than he is right now.  Our inside guys have another year to develop.  The ?-mark obviously is SG.  This is why I'd have been bending over backwards to take a transfer to sit out with Smith.  Right now, what are the options?

1 - Smith at the 1, Steel at the 2
2 - Smith at the 1, James at the 2, Mike at the 3
3 - Lewis at the 1, Smith at the 2
4 - Smith at the 1, Jackson at the 2

Between Lewis, Littleson, Jackson, Steel and Castro, you need to somehow morph this into 40 minutes at the SG spot.  Right now, I'd lean towards:

Smith
Jackson
James
Gill
Lewis
 

I would hope we're not looking for Smith to be a top scoring option. We need a pg that runs the team, and looks to set up his teammates, not another high scoring pg. 8-10ppg, not 15-16ppg.
 

We are losing something like 37ppg between mason and DC.  He will have to score more than 8 imho.

Dukes2012 wrote:

WEB wrote:

No doubt, credit must be given to EJ for seizing the opportunity when JJ went down. But his development from year 1 to 2 has been a very welcome surprise. The coaching staff has done an outstanding job with him as well as Lewis.

Given how EJ is already outperforming JJ, what is the ceiling for him for the next 2 years? Do we have a potential all league player on our hands?

I would still like to see EJ improve his jump shot a little. If he does that, he will be an all league player. Then again, if he had a better jump shot in high school, he probably wouldn't be at Duquesne right now given his athletic ability and length

The jump shot is probably a bit of a work in progress.  You might have noticed that when Eric arrived at Duquesne the form on his jump shot was rather unorthodox.  I've noticed that he has made progress in locking in better form.  It is a tough thing to change something that you've been doing most of your basketball life, but I noticed on  Saturday that his form is definitely coming along.
 

Last edited by levon1975 (1/18/2016 8:34 pm)

grammudder wrote:

Just a suggestion WEB!  Instead of thinking about the points you lose with DC and Micah gone, isn't is a little wiser to think in terms of what the team scores now when it is successful and what it must do next year, when that time comes, to score enough points to be successful again? Maybe the coaches believe it is better for the team's success to become inside oriented as opposed to guard oriented; maybe the coaches emphasize what comes from the three position.  I'll worry about those types of problems next year.  I am having much too much enjoyment this year to be distracted from what may be next year.  What's the expression coaches use?  The whole is never greater than the sum of the parts!  That would be my focus.  I got a dollar to a doughnut these coaches think the same way. I'm gonna let the coaches coach and I'll be a fan.  The coaches seem to be doing a pretty good job of adapting to what they got and seem to be using the parts pretty wisely.   

 
I agree sir, as Rick Patino once said about things going good, " Don't mess with happiness"

As far as James, he is putting up numbers that surpass the other James ( Mike of NBA fame ) as a Sophomore , what a pleasant surprise and  welcome one at that.

What the new guys will lack is EXPERIENCE at the D-1 level.  Even the most talented players struggle to adapt to the college game.  Defense alone is a major shock to new players.  Defenses are generally much more difficult to grasp. Opposing coaches will pick your game apart as well and may require the player to make changes.  Players are bigger faster stronger.

duq81 wrote:

levon1975 wrote:

What the new guys will lack is EXPERIENCE at the D-1 level. Even the most talented players struggle to adapt to the college game. Defense alone is a major shock to new players. Defenses are generally much more difficult to grasp. Opposing coaches will pick your game apart as well and may require the player to make changes. Players are bigger faster stronger.

Smith may be rusty, but he has a year at the Big10 level, which is higher than what we play at, so he ought to be ok.
 

 RIght, but don't count on Isaiah Mike, Littleson and Lewis coming in and playing like Micah Mason.  Perhaps I. Mike even gets a redshirt with our frontcourt returning everyone.  .