mojo13 wrote:Hair Canada wrote:Kabengele with a career-high 24 points game yesterday. Despite playing only 18.5 minutes a game, he leads Florida State in points and they might be one of the best teams in college. I still think he needs another year in college to really assert himself. Koumadje, their 7'4 starting center, and Phil Cofer, who should be their leading scorer when he's back from injury, are both seniors and get big minutes in the frontcourt. Which means that next year Kabengele should have a chance to start and log big minutes. If it comes with big numbers (he needs to learn how to stay out of foul trouble better), he might be a first rounder. Hopefully, he can also improve his blocking, because that might be crucial for him to get minutes in the next level.
In any case, for those worried about our big situation when Olynyk-Thompson-Powell-Birch-Boucher grow older (all may still be in good shape for the 2023-24 cycle), let me put this out there:
Lyles (maybe), Clarke (maybe), Simi, Kabengele, Brissett (Iggy and Jackson can also play small-ball 4)
Love it...as mentioned earlier I think Kabengele is a little under the radar among us as a draft prospect. He is a late bloomer and improving very quickly. Check out his per 36 or 40 and advanced stats if you really want to be impressed. He is putting up great stats and very good efficiency on very limited minutes.
However the Yin to that Yang is Oshae Brissett - or Oshae "Miss-it" and Syracuse fans are starting to call him. He really has been awful this year and he is dropping like a rock on the draft boards. Yes...he still has ideal physical tools to go with a great motor and a promising handle, but he's just horribly inefficient as a scorer. He has at least improved from being the worst finisher in the NCAA last season to now shooting 50% at the rim, which is progress. The problem is that his 3-point percentage and free throw shooting have tanked. It seems like he just doesn't have good natural touch.
Yes, I think that's exactly it with Brissett, and it's not new. You could see that in high school already, when he played at AI. This is something that's very hard to improve on and always had me worried. And, as you say, it's really too bad because he has all the other qualities of a good NBA energy bench player. I watched the Syracuse game on Tuesday and it was the same thing. He started well, 4/4 from the field, but then just got to the rim time after time and missed point-blank shots. At one point, he missed a dunk, an easy layup, and another layup in a raw, and those were the minutes when Buffalo made its run. Gotta say though, it really don't help that the Orange play one of the ugliest offensive games in college basketball. They are really painful to watch as a team. To illustrate, in this game Brissett had more assists (4) than the rest of the team, put together! And he's their PF. I really dislike Battle and Hughes' selfish game. Howard is the only one there who would make a pass, but in general, just a selfish team that plays non-intelligent basketball. Perhaps they can turn things around, like they did last year (in the Big Dance sometimes simple basketball and zone defense like theirs works). But watching them play right now is quite an unpleasant experience.
By the way, Quincy Guerrier, perhaps the best Canadian prospect in the 2019 class, is going to join Syracuse as well next year. I have to say that unless Battle and maybe Hughes as well go to the draft (unlikely the way they are playing), then it doesn't look like the best decision. Passing and decision making is not his strongest suit as well.
