HoopDreams said:

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Monty Bowser hasn't been talked about much on this board, as he was injured all last season, and half way through his freshmen year

In his brief time on the court, he showed some explosiveness and defensive length. He looked confident in his 3 pointer, but was 0-5. When you have so few minutes and opportunities, and you're a freshmen role player, I don't think his shooting results are a good indicator of his shooting ability.

If he's been healthy enough to workout, practice his shooting, handle, and gain some strength, he could be a significant player off the bench. Hopefully he can be a shooter and defender, and even a rebounder off the bench

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oskidunker said:

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Very unusual shot. Did not look good

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stu said:

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"Smooth stroke with range to perimeter. "

Which perimeter? Three-point line? Free throw line? Restricted area?

"Projects as high major starter if significant trajectory is any indication."

After how many years?

I like his athleticism but he hasn't played enough for me to get any feel for his skill set. Hope it's improving.

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HoopDreams said:

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Monty Bowser hasn't been talked about much on this board, as he was injured all last season, and half way through his freshmen year

In his brief time on the court, he showed some explosiveness and defensive length. He looked confident in his 3 pointer, but was 0-5. When you have so few minutes and opportunities, and you're a freshmen role player, I don't think his shooting results are a good indicator of his shooting ability.

If he's been healthy enough to workout, practice his shooting, handle, and gain some strength, he could be a significant player off the bench. Hopefully he can be a shooter and defender, and even a rebounder off the bench

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stu said:

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Yep - watching that was a heart-stopper. IMHO anyone committing a foul like that should get a suspension.

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Big C said:

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We've seen so little of this guy who's been in the program for two years: Monty Bowser is a mystery man indeed, for now.

Wow, imagine if he's spent the time really working on his game and turns out to be a pleasant surprise! It would be like putting on an old pair of pants from the bottom of your drawer and finding a wad of cash in one of the pockets! (Full disclosure: That's never happened to me... but I hear about it happening... every now and then.)

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KoreAmBear said:

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Big C said:

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We've seen so little of this guy who's been in the program for two years: Monty Bowser is a mystery man indeed, for now.

Wow, imagine if he's spent the time really working on his game and turns out to be a pleasant surprise! It would be like putting on an old pair of pants from the bottom of your drawer and finding a wad of cash in one of the pockets! (Full disclosure: That's never happened to me... but I hear about it happening... every now and then.)

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I never looked inside my dad's suit coat pockets for some extra change that he forgot about, nah, I never did that.

I believe Monty was Fox' highest rated recruit before Askew. So the potential is there. I just thought he seemed super raw and skinny as a freshman, which is understandable. Hope he's been able to put on some weight.

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SFCityBear said:

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KoreAmBear said:

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Big C said:

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We've seen so little of this guy who's been in the program for two years: Monty Bowser is a mystery man indeed, for now.

Wow, imagine if he's spent the time really working on his game and turns out to be a pleasant surprise! It would be like putting on an old pair of pants from the bottom of your drawer and finding a wad of cash in one of the pockets! (Full disclosure: That's never happened to me... but I hear about it happening... every now and then.)

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I never looked inside my dad's suit coat pockets for some extra change that he forgot about, nah, I never did that.

I believe Monty was Fox' highest rated recruit before Askew. So the potential is there. I just thought he seemed super raw and skinny as a freshman, which is understandable. Hope he's been able to put on some weight.

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You could be right. Bowser and Anyanwu were ranked in that fuzzy area between 4-stars and 3-stars. Anyanwu was ranked a 4-star recruit by ESPN and Rivals, and a 3-star by 247. Bowser was ranked a 4-star by 247, and a 3-star by Rivals, and was unranked by ESPN. I remember reading Bowser was Cal's highest ranked recruit that year, but I also remember reading that Anyanwu was Cal's highest ranked recruit that year. If their skills were combined in one player (Bowser's offense, and Anyanwu's defense and rebounding), that could have been a nice package. From what we have seen so far, the sample size is so small, and either one would have go a ways to deserve a 4-star ranking, IMO. Rankings above the 50th spot begin to lose accuracy, and when you get above 100, it is roll the dice.

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KoreAmBear said:

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SFCityBear said:

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KoreAmBear said:

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Big C said:

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We've seen so little of this guy who's been in the program for two years: Monty Bowser is a mystery man indeed, for now.

Wow, imagine if he's spent the time really working on his game and turns out to be a pleasant surprise! It would be like putting on an old pair of pants from the bottom of your drawer and finding a wad of cash in one of the pockets! (Full disclosure: That's never happened to me... but I hear about it happening... every now and then.)

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I never looked inside my dad's suit coat pockets for some extra change that he forgot about, nah, I never did that.

I believe Monty was Fox' highest rated recruit before Askew. So the potential is there. I just thought he seemed super raw and skinny as a freshman, which is understandable. Hope he's been able to put on some weight.

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You could be right. Bowser and Anyanwu were ranked in that fuzzy area between 4-stars and 3-stars. Anyanwu was ranked a 4-star recruit by ESPN and Rivals, and a 3-star by 247. Bowser was ranked a 4-star by 247, and a 3-star by Rivals, and was unranked by ESPN. I remember reading Bowser was Cal's highest ranked recruit that year, but I also remember reading that Anyanwu was Cal's highest ranked recruit that year. If their skills were combined in one player (Bowser's offense, and Anyanwu's defense and rebounding), that could have been a nice package. From what we have seen so far, the sample size is so small, and either one would have go a ways to deserve a 4-star ranking, IMO. Rankings above the 50th spot begin to lose accuracy, and when you get above 100, it is roll the dice.

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Luckily Alajiki was the real deal. Out of all the Fox recruits, he has been the one that has been the most polished (not saying he is close to being polished overall, but he looked like he belonged from the start).

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SFCityBear said:

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KoreAmBear said:

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SFCityBear said:

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KoreAmBear said:

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Big C said:

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We've seen so little of this guy who's been in the program for two years: Monty Bowser is a mystery man indeed, for now.

Wow, imagine if he's spent the time really working on his game and turns out to be a pleasant surprise! It would be like putting on an old pair of pants from the bottom of your drawer and finding a wad of cash in one of the pockets! (Full disclosure: That's never happened to me... but I hear about it happening... every now and then.)

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I never looked inside my dad's suit coat pockets for some extra change that he forgot about, nah, I never did that.

I believe Monty was Fox' highest rated recruit before Askew. So the potential is there. I just thought he seemed super raw and skinny as a freshman, which is understandable. Hope he's been able to put on some weight.

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You could be right. Bowser and Anyanwu were ranked in that fuzzy area between 4-stars and 3-stars. Anyanwu was ranked a 4-star recruit by ESPN and Rivals, and a 3-star by 247. Bowser was ranked a 4-star by 247, and a 3-star by Rivals, and was unranked by ESPN. I remember reading Bowser was Cal's highest ranked recruit that year, but I also remember reading that Anyanwu was Cal's highest ranked recruit that year. If their skills were combined in one player (Bowser's offense, and Anyanwu's defense and rebounding), that could have been a nice package. From what we have seen so far, the sample size is so small, and either one would have go a ways to deserve a 4-star ranking, IMO. Rankings above the 50th spot begin to lose accuracy, and when you get above 100, it is roll the dice.

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Luckily Alajiki was the real deal. Out of all the Fox recruits, he has been the one that has been the most polished (not saying he is close to being polished overall, but he looked like he belonged from the start).

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I'd agree. He makes half of the three point shots he takes, and he gets after it on defense. He needs to learn to rebound and to take and make shots closer to the basket. As for Bowser and Anyanwu, they are still very young and raw, like most players, and like most players, with adequate personal individual coaching and hard work, they will very likely improve. I hope they stick around.

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Big C said:

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Call me the board cynic (first time for everything), but I am concerned about how Alajiki seemed to tail off the last ten games or so. In December, I'd watch him drain a three-pointer and be like, wow. OTOH, I can't seem to recall him providing us much of anything in February. Hopefully, all he needed was a restart, plenty of off-season work and a little back-to-the-drawing-board to get things straightened out.

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stu said:

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Big C said:

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Call me the board cynic (first time for everything), but I am concerned about how Alajiki seemed to tail off the last ten games or so. In December, I'd watch him drain a three-pointer and be like, wow. OTOH, I can't seem to recall him providing us much of anything in February. Hopefully, all he needed was a restart, plenty of off-season work and a little back-to-the-drawing-board to get things straightened out.

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It's possible other teams scouted us and decided they needed to pay more attention to Alajiki.

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KoreAmBear said:

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stu said:

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Big C said:

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Call me the board cynic (first time for everything), but I am concerned about how Alajiki seemed to tail off the last ten games or so. In December, I'd watch him drain a three-pointer and be like, wow. OTOH, I can't seem to recall him providing us much of anything in February. Hopefully, all he needed was a restart, plenty of off-season work and a little back-to-the-drawing-board to get things straightened out.

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It's possible other teams scouted us and decided they needed to pay more attention to Alajiki.

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Also, that's probably the most basketball he played for an extended time. Could have been some fatigue involved too. He played a lot relatively speaking as a freshman. And he is super high energy.

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HoopDreams said:

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there are featured shooters that the defenses key on, and then there complementary players that defenses determine they can sag off of, until that player shoots them out of that

initially teams used this strategy, and then when he proved he could hit an open 3 and a high percent, they changed their strategy and stayed in contact with him

big difference between hitting an open 3 vs a defended 3

but the good news, is he's proven that he can hit an open 3 consistently, so I expect him to be able to adjust to the new defensive strategy... meaning he will adjust to shooting a defended 3, although his overall percentage will drop to a more earthly stratisphere from his mid-season 50% to maybe 36%.

Now if he can add a drive game to keep the defenses honest, he could increase that to 38% by his junior year

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HoopDreams said:

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there are featured shooters that the defenses key on, and then there complementary players that defenses determine they can sag off of, until that player shoots them out of that

initially teams used this strategy, and then when he proved he could hit an open 3 and a high percent, they changed their strategy and stayed in contact with him

big difference between hitting an open 3 vs a defended 3

but the good news, is he's proven that he can hit an open 3 consistently, so I expect him to be able to adjust to the new defensive strategy... meaning he will adjust to shooting a defended 3, although his overall percentage will drop to a more earthly stratisphere from his mid-season 50% to maybe 36%.

Now if he can add a drive game to keep the defenses honest, he could increase that to 38% by his junior year

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