BASKETBALL Phillips leaving to pursue football elsewhere...
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
Phillips has been a huge disappointment on the floor - I realize there have been injuries but still, wonder how this would have worked out had not his parents demanded he not be redshirted his freshman year. It would have been big for MT for the Nashville native, from a private high school no less, to have been successful at MT. Mid-state (Nashville) media would have no doubt taken some notice. In addition, Phillips leaving lessens the already infinitesimally small chance MT could sign his FB playing brother.
Obviously star ratings can be misleading, but Phillips was the highest rated high-schooler on MT's squad (at 2.5) since JaQuel Richmond (3.0) left. Hope the next 2.5 star player, incoming freshman Davion Thomas, will have a better career than Phillips has had.
Wish Phillips well in his FB pursuit. If successful he should thank the MT weight program. He has become much more defined, and obviously stronger, in his time at MT.
No oversigning problem with this announcement along with Ivory having to give up the sport, that is until another player is brought in (which won't surprise me).
Obviously star ratings can be misleading, but Phillips was the highest rated high-schooler on MT's squad (at 2.5) since JaQuel Richmond (3.0) left. Hope the next 2.5 star player, incoming freshman Davion Thomas, will have a better career than Phillips has had.
Wish Phillips well in his FB pursuit. If successful he should thank the MT weight program. He has become much more defined, and obviously stronger, in his time at MT.
No oversigning problem with this announcement along with Ivory having to give up the sport, that is until another player is brought in (which won't surprise me).
I didn't see anything to make me think he is p5...
Edit- but could see him going with his brother as 2 for 1.
I think your right....
Concerning his BB career. We just haven't been able to develop big men, aside from a few guys.
Thats a poor observation in my opinion. Kyle Young, JT Sulton, SHAWN JONES, Reggie Upshaw, BOOGIE YATES, and Trevor Ottley all come to mind as players who "developed".
Those who didn't include Phillips and Hudson.
Well there are a few more(Torrin Walker comes to mind) but I am not sure it has as much to do with our inability to develop as it does our recruiting. The bigs that fall to us tend to have a lot farther to go so of course we are going to have some that don't pan out.
Upshaw, Yates are guys that are playing in the post but are not true post players - they are playing out of position because we need them too. Jones gave us one special year, so he counts. Young was a nice player. Sulton regressed after a decent JR year, he may have been hurt. I don't remember Ottley. This is it in the last 20 years. I am sure its a recruiting challenge as mentioned above. So, these guys are hard to come by for us, but I stand by my opinion.
Recruiting "bigs" to a mid-major program is similar to getting defensive linemen for FB. There just aren't enough of them to go around. We have to sign projects and players who are usually somewhat undersized when we go the high school route.
Prior to Phillips it appeared that Davis and staff had become proficient in identifying, signing, and developing projects. From Yates through Sulton through Jones all made contributions. We appeared to be on a roll until Phillips flamed out. While clear he did his work in the weight room there was never progress on the floor.
The jury is still out on Gamble who Davis has described often as one of our best recruits. He needs huge improvement over the summer to have a substantial role next year. Perhaps signee Davion Thomas will come in with his 2.5 star rating and demand PT next year. (gotta remember Phillips was a 2.5 also)
Success next year will, in large measure, depend upon Gamble, Thomas, transfer Williams, and JUCO Walters (sp?) if he becomes eligible. We need at least two of these to help (along with the clearly undersized Foote) Upshaw man the 4 and 5 positions.
Prior to Phillips it appeared that Davis and staff had become proficient in identifying, signing, and developing projects. From Yates through Sulton through Jones all made contributions. We appeared to be on a roll until Phillips flamed out. While clear he did his work in the weight room there was never progress on the floor.
The jury is still out on Gamble who Davis has described often as one of our best recruits. He needs huge improvement over the summer to have a substantial role next year. Perhaps signee Davion Thomas will come in with his 2.5 star rating and demand PT next year. (gotta remember Phillips was a 2.5 also)
Success next year will, in large measure, depend upon Gamble, Thomas, transfer Williams, and JUCO Walters (sp?) if he becomes eligible. We need at least two of these to help (along with the clearly undersized Foote) Upshaw man the 4 and 5 positions.
"True" big men are a rarity in C-USA and the Sun Belt in prior years. I can only think of a few off the top of my head that we have played against in conference. Nicholson at Denver, Odufuwa at North Texas, Chris Marcus at WKU, Diaz at FIU.
It's VERY hard to find and develop traditional big men. I love our approach of looking for long and athletic guys that are versatile in where they play on the floor.
And I have learned to not care if our recruits come from high school, junior college, or transfers. I want the best players we can find. If the Marcos Knights, Bruce Masseys, Darnell Harrises, and Perrin Bufords of the world aren't playing for us they will be playing against us. In Buford's case specifically it came down to us and WKU if memory serves. I'm sure glad he wore blue and not red.
It's VERY hard to find and develop traditional big men. I love our approach of looking for long and athletic guys that are versatile in where they play on the floor.
And I have learned to not care if our recruits come from high school, junior college, or transfers. I want the best players we can find. If the Marcos Knights, Bruce Masseys, Darnell Harrises, and Perrin Bufords of the world aren't playing for us they will be playing against us. In Buford's case specifically it came down to us and WKU if memory serves. I'm sure glad he wore blue and not red.
Me too. I bet Buford is too. WKU has been a miserable little program the last five or six years. Buford chose wisely.
My take is this. Too much talent on bball team for him to start. MT is going back to rarely utilzing the TE position again. It really is the smart move for him.
Randall, it seems you are recalling the true big men as the players who were serious candidates for making an NBA team. If your operational definition of a true big man is NBA caliber Centers, then that is one argument to make. When I think of a "true" or "legit" Center of big man, he doesn't necessarily have to be of NBA caliber.
I think this past season for MT demonstrated the obtainable successes and limitations of lacking a true center. Being that most of MT's games are vs mid & low major programs in addition to C-USA, MT can generally get away without having a true center. Most mid to low major programs do not have a true center it seems. In my opinion, C-USA is somewhere between mid and high major, generally speaking. I do think that C-USA does have a reasonable percentage of teams with true centers. My operational definition of a true or legit Center is a 6-10 or taller player who has reasonably good overall size and mass to eat up space in he paint and/or make opposing teams alter their shots in trying to score over the legit center. I think it could be argued that a legit center can reasonably score in the low post and from the paint in general. Typically, legit Centers are good rebounders. In my view, a true or legit center does not need to be a player who necessarily dominates the game. I think a legit center is that big man who can reasonably score from inside to help provide overall balance to the offense's scoring. Just like any other position, a dominating player capable of playing in the NBA is a big bonus.
Some examples of what I consider to be ample evidence that there are plenty of reasonably talented decent players that fit the bill of being a legit Center right here in C-USA.
Diaz of FIU as was already mentioned. An obvious example with NBA potential IIRC.
FAU has a 7-0 Center in Delph who is a Soph I think. I believe Kermit might have mentioned that with another year or two of experience Delph will be every bit as good as Diaz. These first two examples of FIU & FAU are not exactly C-USA powers, yet both had legit centers this past season.
UAB has a 7 foot Center, but their pair of super athletic, talented, and lengthy 6-9 frontcourt players are dominant. Whatever the case, UAB has had tremendous size, talent, and depth in their frontcourt.
UTEP seems to keep a capable Center each season in addition to good size at both Forward slots. UTEP had a solid 6-11 Center and a 7-1 Center Freshman who played sparingly due to an injury early in season. UTEP also has a 6-10 Forward Freshman 4-star recruit. I think he had some significant injuries early in the season that limited his contribution this past year. Injuries may have slowed down their bigs' progress, but they are young. UTEP will return size and depth at Center and in the frontcourt in general.
WKU this past season had a 7-2 and 7-1 Center. One of which was injured early in the season, but still the 7-1 Center played all season. Additionally, WKU had a 6-10 frontcourt player to go along w/ the standard assortment of 6-8 and 6-7 Forwards.
Charlotte had a 6-10 Center, Uchebo, who was an all-conference performer.
UTSA had a couple of 6-10 Centers that were contributors.
Rice had a 6-10 Center who was a solid contributor his past season.
This is a pretty good sampling of our conference mates who are able to find true Centers. Again, defining true Centers as being along the lines of 6-10 are taller with decent size or mass to eat up space in the paint in contrast to the more rare 6-10 215 lbs player who is better suited and a better player at SF for example. Most all teams in our conference and similar G5 programs have a reasonable share of PF types at 6-8, 6-9, and 6-7. Pretty much all of the aforementioned C-USA teams had reasonable size and depth at both Forward positions in addition to their legit Centers.
My point in all of this is that it is pretty clear that programs at our level here in C-USA are plenty capable of landing legit centers if not two or three to provide good quality and depth. Recently, there are a few teams in C-USA who seemed to top out in size in the typical PF range of size on their roster. ODU and LaTech come to mind as examples in addition to MT. All three of which have had tremendous success in conference in recent years.
Even though MT did not have that true Center the last season or two, it's pretty hard to complain too much considering this year's success. My point though is this: I think MT has gotten to the point that the difference between the really good MT team of the last 4 or 5 years and a MT team capable of the Sweet 16 and cracking the Top 25 is a legit Center. A legit Center that could fill out the roster to provide that full range and versatility vs top programs. Kermit has done really well with playing 3 Forwards (and 2 Guards) with one or two undersized Stretch-4s causing matchup problems for opponents. With good matchups and opposing defenses in man to man that MT seems more comfortable with, MT can have pretty good success. That success has been there in conference and vs ooc mid-major teams.
In my opinion that lack of a legit Center is what really hurt MT vs Syracuse and their tall, rangy, and stubborn zone defense. They forced our undersized Forwards to score over the top of their defense. MT struggled too much with their length to be able to effectively score over the top of the Cuse particularly in the inside game. When a good sized and athletic PG Raymond went out with foul trouble, there just wasn't much of any other firepower to score in that situation. The upside, it was a Final 4 team that eliminated MT. To me, MT was a legit Center away from being scary good to give a final four team a run for their money. The thought of that has me cautiously optimistic that MT could be a legit Center away from being scary good in the coming seasons.
It's hard to critique Kermit on this with the recent good success. Without that legit Center, Kermit will still likely put a highly competitive team on the court. I think that adding a legit Center to that competitive team might just get MT to that next level of vying for the Top 25. I'm also trying to point out that a team like ours in C-USA has plenty of ability to land legit Centers as it seems the majority of our fellow conference mates are able to land legit Centers.
Similar threads
