People are quick to call out lack of shooting and playmaking on the perimeter as this programs key downfalls over the last decade, but boy has the frontcourt been mismanaged...
The best true frontcourt pairings we've had recently were probably Maten/Ogbeide in '16 and Ogbeide/Claxton in '18. Crean then proceeded to recruit under his "positionless" philosophy and start pairings of Hammonds/Camara, Horne/Camara, and Bridges/Bauman; And people wonder why our defense and rebounding went to complete crap under Crean!?!
The group of James/Newell/Abson/Cyril/Anselem blows away any prior group under the last 2 regimes we've had in terms of collective length and shot altering ability.
In the college game my belief has always been that strong frontcourt play elevates a teams floor and guard play raises its ceiling. Consider the floor officially raised this offseason! Now to see how much further its ceiling can be raised...
The best true frontcourt pairings we've had recently were probably Maten/Ogbeide in '16 and Ogbeide/Claxton in '18. Crean then proceeded to recruit under his "positionless" philosophy and start pairings of Hammonds/Camara, Horne/Camara, and Bridges/Bauman; And people wonder why our defense and rebounding went to complete crap under Crean!?!
The group of James/Newell/Abson/Cyril/Anselem blows away any prior group under the last 2 regimes we've had in terms of collective length and shot altering ability.
In the college game my belief has always been that strong frontcourt play elevates a teams floor and guard play raises its ceiling. Consider the floor officially raised this offseason! Now to see how much further its ceiling can be raised...
