A solid enough player, the kind of depth piece on the wing you love to see added to support your primary scorer, who is almost a lock to move to Champaign, IL for a year. Bell is basically a JOJ replacement that shoots a little better overall, especially from 3, but plays equally disappointing defense despite having the length and frame to be so much better on that side of the ball.
Unfortunately, we no longer have a ball-dominant primary scorer, and one is almost assuredly not joining the program this season after this. Which makes this roster on paper incredibly light on difference-makers at the ACC level and the weakest one in Madsen’s tenure, which in year 3 is simply not good. The lunacy of the transfer portal/NIL era is certainly not his fault, but absent a complete turnaround by the coaching staff from a teaching perspective, this roster is gonna continue to be more competitive against mid-majors and decidedly less so against Power 5 competition. Just an incredibly difficult position to be in.
Your statement stating that we no longer have a ball dominant primary scorer, is a bit ironic since so much of the criticism of our offense this past year is that so few of our baskets came off of assists. I am trying to be positive and hope that the guards we are getting, i.e. Ames, Carr, Pippen will be a bit better than the guys leaving in respect to driving and looking more to dish. Get a little more of that and and hopefully you get some catch and shoot from Bell and Camden, something that we saw very little of this year.
Madsen has shown in 2 years that the extent of his offense is a pro-style, ISO heavy attack. That’s the extent of it. Hopefully something changes, because it’s gonna have to…otherwise this club probably doesn’t win 10 games.
Carr is a FR and by all accounts figures to be a project…his handle, shot, and D are all average at this point in his development. More likely it’s Campbell, who based on multiple metrics last year simply did not belong in the ACC. Pippen also did not look like he belonged at this level last year. Realistically a lot of things need to break right next year just to even sniff contention. Hopefully they do, but….
100% agree that our assist numbers suffered because no one could hit a shot. This year, Bell, Ilic, Ruff, Camden, Ames and maybe Dorsey can all do that, and hopefully that will open up the O. On paper they’re certainly better shooters this year!
I disagree with you. Going into last year this guy was billed to be their leading scorer. He was one of the most highly touted guys after his Sophomore year and a top 100 player in the country coming out of HS. He's got all the tools to be our leading scorer if Madsen can coach him up well. I also think Pippen at the PG is gonna be another one of those ball dominant primary scorers that we need. At Sierra Canyon where he averaged 18 a game, he was the PG. He struggled at Michigan playing as a spot up shooter off ball, but I'm sure hes gonna take a Stojakavic esque leap this year with us.
Cool. That would be great, and if we had this discussion this time last year I’d be pumped. I’m hoping I’m 100% wrong - if he can re-discover his form and builds on the ‘23-‘24 season, then maybe Bell can be that type of player. But he doesn’t have the handle of Tyson or Andrej, which is a concern, and his ability to create his own shot, a necessity in Madsen’s Cal offenses, is nowhere close to those 2 guys, who are NBA talents.
And last year happened…we can’t just gloss over Bell’s clear regression and Pippen’s disastrous FR year. An Andrej type leap by either would be awesome, but AS’ jump makes sense given what he showed as a FR at Stanford coupled with the uptick in minutes and usage at Cal. Would be great if Pippen could make a similar leap, but the data and eye test don’t support it. Again, hope you’re right and I’m totally wrong, but it’s gonna take a lot of big IFs and leaps. Maybe JP is a late bloomer like his brother…that would be a huge help.
I'm in the minority on this forum, I guess, but why do so many commentors say Stoyakovic had such a great leap forward last yr.
I see him driving into a group of defenders and losing the ball or getting off and missing a wild shot, failing on big time shots and generally rarely taking a game over.
Good luck to him in the future but he's IMO right there with a lot of these incoming players who didn't quite make the transition from highly touted high school player to high level college players in good conferences. Aiden Maheney is another.
I hear ya…I would argue the skills you describe remind me more of Jeremiah Wilkinson, especially late in games v. GA Tech, ND and Va Tech. But Andrej has the NBA pedigree, coupled with legit Power Conference talent, and he improved in basically every statistical category across the board while shouldering the load for an ACC team. He had a solid season - 18 ppg in the ACC is nothing to shake a stick at.
Now, for AS to take the next step and be successful at the next level, he needs to become a better playmaker. The Cal team last year could not shoot, so even in the few chances he did give the ball up rather than putting it up, no one could hit a shot. I think the move to Illinois (as rumored) gives him the chance to play in the Tournament, but he will not have the same role he had at Cal and it will very likely backfire on him because the Illini are a deeper team. But he’s making like $3M so that’s worth it I suppose.
Is Andrej irreplaceable? Absolutely not. However, with Tyson in ‘23 and Andrej in ‘24, plus Trey Woodbury at Utah Valley St. in ‘22, Madsen has shown a propensity for building an entire offense around a ball dominant wing. We absolutely do not have that, and one is not walking through the door because of a lack of donor support. So the hope is Camden or Bell can be that guy…but we’ll see. Maybe Chris Bell can be another Tyson, though he has not shown the shot-making and shot-creating ability that Jaylon or Andrej have. When given a chance to break out last year and continue to develop, he regressed badly which is a concern.
A solid enough player, the kind of depth piece on the wing you love to see added to support your primary scorer, who is almost a lock to move to Champaign, IL for a year. Bell is basically a JOJ replacement that shoots a little better overall, especially from 3, but plays equally disappointing defense despite having the length and frame to be so much better on that side of the ball.
Unfortunately, we no longer have a ball-dominant primary scorer, and one is almost assuredly not joining the program this season after this. Which makes this roster on paper incredibly light on difference-makers at the ACC level and the weakest one in Madsen’s tenure, which in year 3 is simply not good. The lunacy of the transfer portal/NIL era is certainly not his fault, but absent a complete turnaround by the coaching staff from a teaching perspective, this roster is gonna continue to be more competitive against mid-majors and decidedly less so against Power 5 competition. Just an incredibly difficult position to be in.
Your statement stating that we no longer have a ball dominant primary scorer, is a bit ironic since so much of the criticism of our offense this past year is that so few of our baskets came off of assists. I am trying to be positive and hope that the guards we are getting, i.e. Ames, Carr, Pippen will be a bit better than the guys leaving in respect to driving and looking more to dish. Get a little more of that and and hopefully you get some catch and shoot from Bell and Camden, something that we saw very little of this year.
Madsen has shown in 2 years that the extent of his offense is a pro-style, ISO heavy attack. That’s the extent of it. Hopefully something changes, because it’s gonna have to…otherwise this club probably doesn’t win 10 games.
Carr is a FR and by all accounts figures to be a project…his handle, shot, and D are all average at this point in his development. More likely it’s Campbell, who based on multiple metrics last year simply did not belong in the ACC. Pippen also did not look like he belonged at this level last year. Realistically a lot of things need to break right next year just to even sniff contention. Hopefully they do, but….
100% agree that our assist numbers suffered because no one could hit a shot. This year, Bell, Ilic, Ruff, Camden, Ames and maybe Dorsey can all do that, and hopefully that will open up the O. On paper they’re certainly better shooters this year!
Go Bears!
I am with you regarding his defense. He seems like a streaky shooter. I hope we get better additions.
I disagree with you. Going into last year this guy was billed to be their leading scorer. He was one of the most highly touted guys after his Sophomore year and a top 100 player in the country coming out of HS. He's got all the tools to be our leading scorer if Madsen can coach him up well. I also think Pippen at the PG is gonna be another one of those ball dominant primary scorers that we need. At Sierra Canyon where he averaged 18 a game, he was the PG. He struggled at Michigan playing as a spot up shooter off ball, but I'm sure hes gonna take a Stojakavic esque leap this year with us.
Cool. That would be great, and if we had this discussion this time last year I’d be pumped. I’m hoping I’m 100% wrong - if he can re-discover his form and builds on the ‘23-‘24 season, then maybe Bell can be that type of player. But he doesn’t have the handle of Tyson or Andrej, which is a concern, and his ability to create his own shot, a necessity in Madsen’s Cal offenses, is nowhere close to those 2 guys, who are NBA talents.
And last year happened…we can’t just gloss over Bell’s clear regression and Pippen’s disastrous FR year. An Andrej type leap by either would be awesome, but AS’ jump makes sense given what he showed as a FR at Stanford coupled with the uptick in minutes and usage at Cal. Would be great if Pippen could make a similar leap, but the data and eye test don’t support it. Again, hope you’re right and I’m totally wrong, but it’s gonna take a lot of big IFs and leaps. Maybe JP is a late bloomer like his brother…that would be a huge help.
I'm in the minority on this forum, I guess, but why do so many commentors say Stoyakovic had such a great leap forward last yr.
I see him driving into a group of defenders and losing the ball or getting off and missing a wild shot, failing on big time shots and generally rarely taking a game over.
Good luck to him in the future but he's IMO right there with a lot of these incoming players who didn't quite make the transition from highly touted high school player to high level college players in good conferences. Aiden Maheney is another.
I hear ya…I would argue the skills you describe remind me more of Jeremiah Wilkinson, especially late in games v. GA Tech, ND and Va Tech. But Andrej has the NBA pedigree, coupled with legit Power Conference talent, and he improved in basically every statistical category across the board while shouldering the load for an ACC team. He had a solid season - 18 ppg in the ACC is nothing to shake a stick at.
Now, for AS to take the next step and be successful at the next level, he needs to become a better playmaker. The Cal team last year could not shoot, so even in the few chances he did give the ball up rather than putting it up, no one could hit a shot. I think the move to Illinois (as rumored) gives him the chance to play in the Tournament, but he will not have the same role he had at Cal and it will very likely backfire on him because the Illini are a deeper team. But he’s making like $3M so that’s worth it I suppose.
Is Andrej irreplaceable? Absolutely not. However, with Tyson in ‘23 and Andrej in ‘24, plus Trey Woodbury at Utah Valley St. in ‘22, Madsen has shown a propensity for building an entire offense around a ball dominant wing. We absolutely do not have that, and one is not walking through the door because of a lack of donor support. So the hope is Camden or Bell can be that guy…but we’ll see. Maybe Chris Bell can be another Tyson, though he has not shown the shot-making and shot-creating ability that Jaylon or Andrej have. When given a chance to break out last year and continue to develop, he regressed badly which is a concern.
De La Salle
Wasatch
Syracuse
Cal!
You’ve got
One year
To be
Our pal!
A very decent pickup to address an area that we needed help in. Now MM should look for the best big man he can land.