USAFgolferVol
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Pons had great game
- Thread starter OrangeVolMan
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Why does it have to be one extreme or the other around here? No one said he deserved praise preseason. But he was getting a lot of hate. Yes, people begrudgingly backed off some once the season started but they were on him. Because they set expectations that were too high. He was a project player coming in with a lot of raw athleticism (aka Kyle Alexander).
calban
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He did what was asked of him proven by the fact he got minutes. He played the role he was asked and this year when minutes opened up for a new role he stepped up. He was getting minutes when a lot of other guys were not so obviously the coaches were at the very least more comfortable with what he was contributing than the guys behind him.
He was raw and played in Europe and we already had a guy playing the role he was best suited for (Admiral). My thing is, lets let the past be the past, learn from it and not knock these kids because we set unrealistic expectations before they ever hit the court. I see similar rumblings for Plasvic and Vescovi starting. Because they are not setting the world on fire but their situations should have totally been expected. Like Pons they came from European ball but in their cases are less raw. They will probably transition faster but until they get used to the difference in playstyle in actual games their growth won't take root. I guarantee next year both of them will contribute a lot more than they do now. This officially became a full-on rebuilding year the moment Turner retired. It should have pretty much been seen as such from the beginning but the early success made it look like it might be more. Barnes has proven he does develop kids. And now we are moving to the phase where we will have less developmental guys and more ready-made ballers coming in. I think he will always have a mix even JJJ seems to be more of a project than most thought. But I don't see that as him disappointing just he will be enjoyable to watch grow.
You avoided my question completely. Pons was a 4 star, there are more expectations put on higher ranked players. That is what it is. He didn't live up to those expectations his first two years. That's okay because he was such a raw talent, and he's living up to those expectations now. Again, before this year, was it not fair to question his contributions?
Like I clearly said we as fans let ourselves set unrealistic expectations. What is him being a 4 star or 5 star or 3 star have to do with it? It does not change the fact he was obviously raw (this was in all his scouting reports). He didn't even start, or play big minutes, on his team in France. European players don't really play a lot of minutes and each of them normally play very specific roles. Pons was rated a 4 star based on his tools, not his skills. Similar with Vescovi but the opposite he was rated highly because of his skills, not his tools. But for both the transition to the American game was rough like it is for all kids that come over from EU ball. Plasvic however I'm a bit surprised due to the fact even though he hasn't played in 2 years he did play high school ball here and Serbian club ball is fairly high level. It's just them getting used to the athleticism and physicality of American ball (Plasvic and Vescovi). Pons is still freakishly athletic but here the gap is smaller. He had to develop some skills and BBIQ on the offensive end because he was decent defensively from day 1 (also his main role when he played in France)..
I get it, we as fans are frustrated and want our team to win and be the best. We can't let that fervor overrule the fact these are kids, growing and trying their best. My bigger problem is it's the kids trying to do it right keeping their noses clean, being good teammates, not making spectacles of themselves in social media and giving their all. Then we tell them not good enough you suck. This ain't the NBA these kids don't get paid (yet) when that changes then the discussion can and should change to some extent. They are basically overworked interns at this stage. People all look at these kids with jeal9usy thinking they get the world not knowing how much work goes into it how many sacrifices they have to make. I just ask folks to take that into consideration before roasting guys for a bad game. If they go out breaking laws making fools of themselves and the university that's a different story but these are kids being model VFL's.
I found an article explaining how players are ranked, it is specifically talking about football but I think it applies here. It seems that the star rankings are given for how a player will develop over their college career, not the impact they will have their freshman year. So the star rankings of JJJ, Pons and Uros were likely given for their potential, not their ability to dominate from day one. Maybe (just maybe) keep that in mind for these young men and lower your expectations for them the first couple of years.
Recruiting: What do all those 'stars' mean?
Recruiting: What do all those 'stars' mean?
Yeah that would be great if this discussion was about football. Even still, according to that article, mine and most of everyone's position on Pons was way too low.
Four-star prospect. One of the top 300 players in the nation. This prospect will be an impact-player for his college team. He is an All-American candidate who is projected to play professionally.
Replace top 300 with top 100 for basketball and there you go. I didn't expect Pons to come in and dominate. I think I expected him to score more than 1-2 points per game his first two years. I expected Bone or Bowden freshman numbers. 6-8 points find consistent playing time, but he didn't come close to doing that. That's okay, he just needed more time, but anyone questioning his ranking or criticizing his play is not hating, but merely observing where he is relative to where he probably should've been. He's there now which is all that matters.
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