rkt88edmo said:
SFCityBear said:
blungld said:
I thought the exact same thing. I was impressed with the talent of the freshman (but not the team play) and sort of tried to compare each to a past player.
Jacobi = Lamond
Bradley = Boyd?
Connor = Eric M or Kravish?
Andre = David Paris or Kenyon Jones or Frison?
If Andre is one of those three, it better be Frison. The other two wouldn't likely help us go dancing. And I'd hope he would be better than Frison.
How about if he is the USF version of Kenyon with the improved physique?
Physique does not win ball games. Good playing does. And you can judge how good a player is by how well he performs against good competition.
At USF in 1999-2000, Jones averaged 58.3%, 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks.
His USF team was 19-9, played only 3 games against ranked teams (#24 Maryland and #25 Gonzaga), played no Top 10 ranked teams, and played only 8 games against teams who ended the season with winning records.
At Cal in 1997-98, Jones averaged 47.7%, 6.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks.
His Cal team was 12-15, played 8 games against ranked teams, played 7 games against Top 10 ranked teams (#1 North Carolina, #4 Arizona, #7 Stanford, #8 UCLA), and played 14 games against teams who ended the season with winning records.
I would expect that a player like Jones could, with sitting out a season plus two summers, be able to improve his physique and strength and playing skills somewhat, maybe more. That would be normal, but to show such a huge improvement in his statistics, well, there has to be more to it. I'd say it was because Jones had just dropped down at least one level in competition below the terrific competition Cal had to face in 1997-98. At Cal he was facing the thoroughbreds of the PAC10, and at USF, except for Gonzaga, he was likely facing the usual chopped liver of the WCC.