Oh sh!t. Title and Willis just agreed on something. The world is doomed! BTW Willis, that's not a boat I would ever want to be in.
If nothing else he brings experience. Can’t write him off after 10 minutes of exhibition play. I think he will be valuable against the other 6’11” and 7-footers of the league where we will be pushed around. Can’t expect nze and golden play consistent 30-35 minutes a game in big east play down low. And while JMM will be valuable the next few years, I don’t think his strength is there yet. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops
Second highest usage player in the MVC last year and he was reasonably efficient. Solid shot blocker/alter-er, decent rebounder, draws a lot of fouls. It's crazy to think he couldn't give you something when healthy. Patience, everyone.
This is the whole Fowler eye test Vs metrics debate all over... If you watched any reasonable amount of Valpo basketball the past few years you would see he is comfortably 3rd on the 5 depth chart. Yes we will need him in the Big East if nothing less to be a big body Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Butler Hoops mobile app
I don't know how good he'll be, but he was at worst a decent college center last year and he's currently on a team that has three power forwards for a front court. If we can't find a positive use for him, however limited, that's on Butler.
How many people have watched him play for Valpo? If he was at least a decent college center, Valpo fans would not have been head over heels about losing him, and hell, still talk about how glad they are he isn't on their current team. I hope does well for butler, i really do, but there's no stats or use % that anyone can toss out that will make me believe hes better than what we have until i actually see it Sent from my SM-G935P using Butler Hoops mobile app
If nothing else he will be a presents in the lane with his height and 5 fouls. I think LJ wouldn't have brought him in if that's all he could give us, so I'll wait on him to play to see what he give in this system! Everything else is just speculation.
Whenever there is depth at a position but all aren't ready for whatever reason, I think a redshirt makes sense. If Smits can come back and make this team better, then I hope he does. Otherwise, I like the idea of Smits taking a redshirt, paying his own way next year. Then, with Smits, Enze, Golden, and Coles in the mix I think we could afford to give both JMM and MW red shirts next year. The red shirt everybody hoped JMM would have this year to develop is just pushed off a year.
That’d be asking a lot of Smits and for sure if JMM. I’m not them so I can’t speak to their mindsets but if JMM were me that wouldn’t necessarily sit well after having been forced into action. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops mobile app
Yeah, I have no idea how that would sit with either of them. I guess it depends on whether they're swayed by sooner playing time of by (potentially) better/more playing time down the stretch of their careers. Just a thought.
We are all out of scholarships so him being RS is not really likely Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Butler Hoops mobile app
I don't know whether Smits will do much of anything for Butler; but I'm not going to base my decision on what the Valpo board said about him. If that was the case, then IU fans would have been screaming bloody murder about Brunk if they had been reading the Butler board.
At the very least we need another big body off the bench to play spot minutes and if Smits is able to give Golden and/or Nze some breaks without completely blowing it, that's good enough for me. No expectations and with how capable we've looked so far this year I'm not praying for a savior. Just someone who can play in the system.
