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Which Wildcat will have the biggest freshman to sophomore jump next season?

As Lute would say, the biggest jump is from fresh to soph year. Let's find out who everyone thinks will have the biggest improvement of the 4 sophomores & then we can look back at this poll at season's end. 

I say Brandon Randolph and I don't think it will be close.

I took Randolph as well. He has elite athleticism (that you can't learn) but seemed to struggle dealing with the speed of the game and was stuck behind AT and Rawle. His jumper wasn't bad either so if he hits the weights and works on his ball-handling it isn't impossible to imagine him being an all-conference type player at some point.

It NEEDS to be Barcello!

This may boil down to defense and playing time and Akot should have the edge in both as Miller is still recruiting point guards and shooting guards heavily. Smith got more of a nod than Randolph last season so that position is a tougher battle. If Williams recommits, then Barcello, whom I would have chosen, may be back up again. SF is wide open right now and Akot has the size for it and would be tough for any other commit, unless unknown grad transfer maybe, to beat out Akot there. Lee does have some potential to gain a a lot. Kid has fire and energy. But he would also have to really curb his tendency to pick up fouls in the whistle happy PAC.

Quote from: cnfi12 on March 22, 2018, 12:56:59 PM
It NEEDS to be Barcello!

^this, hopefully he can handle the pressure that he'll be feeling

Quote from: Bear on March 22, 2018, 12:57:46 PM
This may boil down to defense and playing time and Akot should have the edge in both as Miller is still recruiting point guards and shooting guards heavily. Smith got more of a nod than Randolph last season so that position is a tougher battle. If Williams recommits, then Barcello, whom I would have chosen, may be back up again. SF is wide open right now and Akot has the size for it and would be tough for any other commit, unless unknown grad transfer maybe, to beat out Akot there. Lee does have some potential to gain a a lot. Kid has fire and energy. But he would also have to really curb his tendency to pick up fouls in the whistle happy PAC.

Smith's shooting was a disappointment.

Ira Lee, wish he could have got more minutes this year, very Pinderesque.  :D

Quote from: cnfi12 on March 22, 2018, 04:04:36 PM
Smith's shooting was a disappointment.

Agreed. And he had a tendency to get stripped in the lane.

Ira Lee getting minutes early in important games as a Freshman is going to pay big dividends in his improvement next year.  I believe there's a big upside not yet tapped in him.

I'd put my money on Akot if I had to choose right now.
The one I HOPE it turns out to be is Barcello.
We need him to take a bigger leap next season or he is going to get buried on the bench with Miller going after so many G options for next season.
We may see Akot at PG if Barcello can't get it together and our other options aren't good enough yet.

I'd love to see Akot's D come in w/ODrive and his shooting opened up.  Ira can be a scoring machine when he stops with the fouls.  He's got some talent.   The one that isn't thought about much...discussed much...Chase.  He looked real good at the beginning of this last season.  And he's got a year of the system in him already.  I'd really put a bet on him amazing a few people.  Eman can shoot those 3's...he's got a nice stroke.  Ira's got a nice jumper and can get to the rim.  A few missing positions/players.  The Wildcats will be talented again.  And again, we'll see. 

Bear Down!

I just want to see some defense.  Who every can stay in front of his man, for a change will get my vote and the only guy that made noticeable improvement in that area was eman.  If Williams comes he will almost certainly be the starting point next year.  Barcelo had coaches trust this year and he didn't do much of anything.  Not sure he will ever get there but you never know and I hope like crazy he can make that jump cause he would be really fun to cheer for.  He seems to have a lot of heart but really struggled with confidence seemingly.  That is a concern going forward.

These guys all have the upside to be very good players.  I expected ALOT more from Randolph based on what I saw him do in high school.  Akot probably showed the most in game flashes of upside and how good he can be.  I hope they all make a significant jump, but probably Akot or Randolph in my opinion.

Voted for Emmanuel. As long as Akot stays healthy, i.e. no knee problems, I think he'll have the biggest improvement this year. EA can play multiple positions and has the best chance at playing time since he likes to defend. I like Randolph's game, too. Either player could really bust out.

I really like Ira...BUT, having said that I'm going to have to say I think Randolph will be set to explode this season.  He's already experienced College ball, got playing time, and played with some great players.  His game is DUE!

I went with Akot and as it seems many others are.

Akot if his knee issues are behind him
Barcello with experiencd
Lee with maturity
Randolph because his confidence will return and he will begin to dominate as he did in HS.

Let me add

Jeter because he has improved and we will get to see it on the floor.
Smith because he will settle into his role.

I thought this may be worthy to  bring up again.

Well my pick from 2017 isn't even with the program anymore (EA).
For 2018, the obvious pick would be BW, but I want to see how DD comes back.
High-energy guy, always around the ball, making the right play/pass, but he needs to slow down a bit.
We know what we have in BW and OT transferred out as well and he would have been my pick.
So it's DD by default for me..

Thielemans was so quickly gone from the program and mind that it took me a good bit to figure out OT. Unfortunate miss there. More unfortunate with Akot. Hope he finds what he is looking for.

Agree that DD will have the biggest growth no matter which level. The rest of this season could be big for Doutrive to establish himself in Millers esteem which, to me, is the only way he will get enough looks next year to showcase his growth. I think his biggest improvement can and should be taking and making threes. Williams, being the better talent, is naturally going to have floor time and is still the better player whether he grows more year over year or not.

It doesn't appear we have any draft talent this year so there could/should be some great competition for floor time.

DD is the only answer at this point. BWill probably will have the bigger soph season but Doutrive has the most room for growth.    Actually excited to see him blossom. He is the best thing to come out of this fbi thing and the lost '18 class, without it we never get this guy.