Barstool Basketball Mailbag: Zion's Eligibility, A Whole Lot Of Duke, Kristaps & More
Basketball is a year round sport, so due to that we’re going to do a year round mailbag. We’re still going to run this every Friday like we do during the season, but we’ll be talking about college hoops, transfers, NBA Draft, NBA and recruiting questions. That’s right you get an NBA and college hoops mailbag all rolled into one every Friday. Reminder you can always submit questions on Twitter @barstoolreags
No, I think the focus shifts more to Kansas than Duke. There’s more damning allegations against Kansas than there is Duke. We still need more context about what happened with Zion and Duke, but at Kansas we have testimony saying Self knew about the paying. We have an active player in Silvio De Sousa that received payment. That’s where the focus shifts too if I had to guess.
It has to be St. John’s as of right now. You have an All-American and popular Big East POY pick in Shamorie Ponds. You now have Mustapha Heron. Heron is a former 5-star guy that played extremely well for a top-20 team at Auburn last year. Those two combine for about 40 points per game. They are the most talented backcourt heading into the season. I have them just beating out Villanova and Creighton for the top spot.
No, I don’t think saying he’d be similar to Brunson’s first year is fair. They’re going to have different roles. Remember Brunson was a secondary ball handler and played alongside Ryan Arcidiacono, who was a lead guard as well. There were more established guys on Brunson’s team. Quinerly is going to have to be more of a scorer and a guy who will have the ball in his hands more than Brunson did as a freshman.
If I was Ed Cooley, which would be awesome because Cooley is the man, I’d go with the following assuming everyone is at full strength: Ashton-Langford, Jackson, Diallo, Holt, Watson. If Holt isn’t healthy then I’d likely go with Young in for him. If Providence wants to go small then you put in White over Young. But, that’s my guess of what the first seven would be and what the starters look like assuming everyone is 100%.
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It looks that way on paper. The one weird player would be Dylan Osetwkoski, but with him at the 4 and Sims at the 5, you can still run Havoc. You have good length out there and a guy to protect the rim in Sims. That’s where Havoc really thrives. You have the athletic guards/wings, Osetkowski can hang back around halfcourt and be part of the 3v2 if a team breaks the press. But, with guys like Coleman and Roach in the backcourt you can really put pressure on teams. I’d like to see Texas go more Havoc this year.
A weird question but we like to get weird here. If we’re talking about 31 year old me? Not sure exactly when. But, if we’re talking about me in my peak, which is a real weird thing to type, I’d guess the 60s? The key would be adapting to the game though. Like if we just go in a time machine, the game is called differently than how we played. But, if I had to answer this without getting into too much of who I was as a player, I’d guess early 60s.
I’m going to guess no. At least not during the season. I saw Dan Wetzel compare this to the Cam Newton saga and it’s a pretty good comparison. There’s a chance we could see something down the road, but with the season starting in less than 3 weeks I don’t think we see Zion miss time. Remember, the NCAA still has to make a ruling and I don’t think there’s enough proof as of Oct. 19 to cost him time.
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He’s going to be damn good. Girard was a huge get for Syracuse because of his ability to score and more importantly his ability to shoot the ball. That’s been the biggest downfall for Syracuse lately. Girard adds that and granted we need to see what Syracuse’s roster looks like next year, but he’s someone who can slide in and provide scoring from day 1.
Yeah, I do actually. I think he’s in great spot in Utah where he can come off the bench and not be asked to do too much. He’ll have a bit of a look as he did his freshman year in the title game where he can come in and just attack. He’ll always have a guy next to him that can help set him up whether it’s someone like Exum, Mitchell or Rubio. He can handle the ball and he’s athletic enough to play in the NBA. I think he’ll have a long career in the league.
No, they aren’t the same at all. With that first group you had three different positions. You had the point guard in Jones, the versatile wing in Winslow and the traditional post guy in Okafor. The roster fit a bit better. This year you have the point guard in Tre Jones. But, then you have three wings in Reddish, Barrett and Zion. I think you see more struggles with this group trying to figure out roles than what we saw with that first group. That first group was pretty damn special so it’s a bit unfair to compare these guys to them. Obviously the talent is there but in terms of similarity I don’t see it.
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Yes, he should play limited minutes unless the Knicks are competing for the East or he’s all the way 100% healthy. The last thing the Knicks need to do is rush him back and worry about another injury. This isn’t the year to compete. You need to make a signing in free agency. Ideally you get one more top pick to go with Frankie, Knox, Trier, Robinson and Kristaps. This is a young team. Don’t rush it. Believe in the rebuild. But, also go win the East because at 1-0 I’m drinking the Kool Aid like every year.