[WWJFD]

Great story. The positive's keep coming in!! The Furnace is starting to burn now!!!

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

BJ Got here last night... WHOO HOO!!!!

[LU'sbestmanager]

yea i was chillin with him all day today. we were playing at Lahaye, and i was just passing him the ball because he was flat out BEASTING!! picking everyones pockets, and his J is WET!

[TIMSCAR20]

With all the perimeters in the program BJ might be best served to redshirt. That is what I would do if I had a bunch of upper classmen that were as good as these guys are supposed to be. Of course it is up to coach D and not BJ but only time will tell. He could end up coming in and forcing PT for himself. So many unanswered questions. I am gonna have to do some serious homework though with all the new faces.

[Sly Fox]

BJ has plenty of time to show whether or not he is ready to earn minutes before the opening tip. Perhapsd a redshirt is in order. But its way too early to tell. Who knows? He may wind up starting this season.

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

With all the perimeters in the program BJ might be best served to redshirt. That is what I would do if I had a bunch of upper classmen that were as good as these guys are supposed to be. Of course it is up to coach D and not BJ but only time will tell. He could end up coming in and forcing PT for himself. So many unanswered questions. I am gonna have to do some serious homework though with all the new faces.

Scar, thats a great idea, but how would you Play him if hes better than any other point guards we have. I mean Franklin is better than hom because he has experience, thats all... BJ is a great player and is one of the best, and after practice could be THE BEST point guard we have. I'm just asking a question on this one, How can you redshirt a player like that?

[LUconn]

also, I don't think Bball players like being redshirted for anything other than medical reasons. It's not too common outside of football.

[Chris Lang]

Not always true, LUConn. It all depends on the playing time. A lot of athletes take five years to graduate anyhow because of the demanding travel schedule that cuts into serious class time. If a guy knows he's going to be the third option at his position and will only get very limited minutes, he'll agree to a shirt if it means much more playing time the next year. You hate to waste a year of eligibility sitting deep on the bench.

[PAmedic]

its just nice to hear D has these options this year- what a change!

[LUconn]

Well, from what I've noticed at other programs, a freshman normally wouldn't choose a school that he is likely to be log jammed at and an upperclassman may choose to transfer instead of being redshirted. The latter never really made sense to me since you have to sit out a year anyway, but that seems to be the M.O.

[TIMSCAR20]

Its not so much a log jam at a position as minutes available. If you are a 2 guard for example, you know LB is gonna play 35 minutes a game. Why wouldn't you redshirt that year and still have 4 years to play? I think it is not as cut and dry as football but there are definitely reasons other than injury to redshirt in hoops. And TB fan, I would say that if BJ is the best PG in the program he still may not play much due to inexperience. That position requires so much more than just talent or physical skills. It is a drain on your mental capacity because you need to know where everyone should be at all times not just your position. Take it from a guy who played the position at this level. It is tough for a frosh to come in as a PG and run a team. Chris Gaynor at Winthrop did it and of course his cousin at Wake Chris Paul did it but most of the time that is a position that needs to have an experienced player. I saw BJ play when he came down in the spring and I loved his game. I am glad we are gonna have some depth this year for sure whether BJ redshirts or not.

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

I see where you are coming from totally, and i thought i would ask an expert on the position like yourself but there is a big difference in LB and a Larry Franklin, or whoever u think is starting the PG spot. It does take a lot of experience thats true, but his talent and being on a team with a PG like Franklin and great players who have, at some point, played the point such as LB or Brew, I just thought that he would learn a lot from them and in no way be a Mr. Paul his first year or even Big South Freshman of the year, I just think hes too good to red-shirt, but i guess thats just my opinion Thanks for your imput though, thats why i ask, When in the End we will just have to see What THE MAN (Coach D) decides to do with all these players of great talent... GO GET EM COACH!

[jmdickens]

very good players take redshirts for other reasons than medical....Rodney Stuckey from Eastern Washington 24.2 ppg this past year as a redshirt freshman. Andre Miller was a 5th year senior. it would be to BJ's benefit to redshirt

[WWJFD]

Is Franklin a true point guard? I am hearing that Franklin is more of a 2??? If so, I would have to think BJ will see early season minutes at the point.??? Thoughts/.

[TIMSCAR20]

I won't really have an opinion until I see these guys play some (hopefully this weekend if I catch up with coach D). I have heard Franklin is a lot like Blair. I would think Justin Holland would compete for some PT at Point should he recover from that nagging groing injury. I really think he can help them with his quickness and on the ball defense. He needs to learn how to run a team though but that comes with experience. I don't know how much Brew will play the point. So many unanswered questions though at this point (no pun intended).

[LU'sbestmanager]

I won't really have an opinion until I see these guys play some (hopefully this weekend if I catch up with coach D). I have heard Franklin is a lot like Blair. I would think Justin Holland would compete for some PT at Point should he recover from that nagging groing injury. I really think he can help them with his quickness and on the ball defense. He needs to learn how to run a team though but that comes with experience. I don't know how much Brew will play the point. So many unanswered questions though at this point (no pun intended).

justin will be working very hard for that position. he came back today saying that he has all of his confidence back. he wants that spot very bad, and from BJ's visit last spring, the both of them will work each other extremly hard. you are right scar justin might be the quickest and fastest player on the team(blair would make a argument about that). Justin is a great defender also. franklin and blair are totally different. i saw Franklin play today and he was more like a pure shooter than anything. he has a great body, and is really strong. Franklin is more of a 2 but is working on his pg skills. should be an exciting year!

BJ is such a good baller. watching him the last couple of days just makes me imagine how good he'll be as a junior and senior. he goes to the basket so strong and is always looking ahead to pass the ball up. he is a really good pg and can score if needed. his range is really deep (alont with franklin). i think this kid is the real deal. he has a great attitude also.

[jmdickens]

LU'sbestmanager said "Justin is a great defender"


That is quite an assumption for someone who played so few minutes on last years 7-23 team. From that record it looked as if no one played defense

[LU'sbestmanager]

LU'sbestmanager said "Justin is a great defender"


That is quite an assumption for someone who played so few minutes on last years 7-23 team. From that record it looked as if no one played defense

justin is a really good defender, i got to see him alot before he got hurt. that was when he was at his best. and we were the secound best defensive team in the conference actually. ask scar, he said it at the winthrop game

[jmdickens]

SCAR, I like to hear the broadcasts and all, but how could we have been second best in team defense?? Great defenders are players like Pepe Sanchez from Temple a few years ago, Jackie Manuel from UNC, and Steve Blake from MD. Those guys were great college defenders.

[LU'sbestmanager]

it is pretty hard to beleive but like scar said on tv, it was putting the ball in the basket that we had problems with.

[TDDance234]

Defense is a team effort. You can't depend on guys to play man to man every play of the game in college ball. You have to be able to rotate -- and watching the games last year, IMO, that is why we failed. Our bigs failed to rotate under the basket to get a body on someone and counted for too many easy baskets. We also had trouble closing out on the wings, which caused opposing players to get free on simple shot fakes and hard drives to the lane.

I think most of it was due to fatigue. We didn't have a deep rotation and these guys were sucking wind by the end of the year. With the depth added to this program, I think we're in great shape to really extend the defense to full-court and hound gaurds in the backcourt.

We HAVE to get more easy buckets this year. I think we spent way too much time in a halfcourt set.

[jmdickens]

I think team defense should be left up to the coach....that explains that problem. The fast break would be better for LU. There were so many times everyone would watch Evan Risher walk the ball up the court.

[Sly Fox]

Here is Chris' story:

Bannister may transfer to LU

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
August 16, 2006

Liberty University might be on the cusp of landing another transfer from a power-conference basketball school.

Tuesday, Virginia announced that backup point guard T.J. Bannister would transfer for his senior year. When reached by phone Tuesday night, T.J.'s father Tony Bannister said he was "90 percent certain" T.J. would transfer to Liberty.

"We really feel like it's the right situation and opportunity," Tony Bannister said.

Nothing is official yet, though, because Bannister is still waiting for his release papers from Virginia to go through.

Liberty coach Randy Dunton cannot comment on a potential transfer until he is enrolled at school.

In January, former Providence College guard Dwight Brewington left the Big East school after clashing with Friars coach Tim Welsh.

Bannister would have to sit out one year due to NCAA transfer rules and would be able to play in the 2007-08 season.

Tony Bannister said T.J. is also considering Charlotte and South Florida and added that T.J. hoped to have the transfer settled by today.

Bannister, a 5-foot-10?, 176-pounder from Jacksonville, Fla., started 21 games in his first two seasons but was limited to 16 games last year after undergoing September surgery for a sports hernia.

He averaged 2.1 points and 2.3 assists per game last year, when he was in and out of the Cavaliers' lineup. In his career, he averaged 3.6 points and 3.1 assists in 18.7 minutes per game.

Bannister told the Charlottesville Daily Progress in February that he was unhappy that he hadn't taken a medical redshirt last year that would have given him another year of eligibility.

Bannister is the fourth player to leave Virginia since Dave Leitao took after Pete Gillen was fired in March 2005. Bannister, Gary Forbes, Donte Miller and Sam Warren were all Gillen recruits.

Alexis Sherard, an LU assistant coach who is the Flames director of recruiting, spent six years on Gillen's staff at Virginia.

Bannister's departure leaves the Cavaliers without a pure point guard, though he was only going to be counted on for spot duty off the bench. His decision to leave this late in the summer means UVa cannot use his scholarship on another player.

All-ACC performer Sean Singletary will log most of the minutes at the point. Starting two guard J.R. Reynolds will see some time at the point as well.

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... th=!sports

[TIMSCAR20]

Sly, you put the TJ article in the BJ thread above:



Not to hijack the thread any further but assessing a team's defense as a commentator is not subjective. It is based on the stats and statisically LU was very good on defense. Defensive fg% and points allowed are 2 stats used to assess the defense of a team. They don't really measure how well one guy guards the dribble. Now I do make value judgements like that myself but I state it as my opinion. I even said on the record to Chris Lang a couple of times that I thought Justin was Liberty's best on the ball defender vs the other teams PG. I saw him do it in High School at a high level in Georgia and I saw him harrass PG's in practice even when he was about 60% healthy.

[LU'sbestmanager]

thanks scar