Predictions

[hammb]

Why doesn't Clarke play more of the two.

THIS, my friend, is the ultimate question. Why a kid with his talent is not on the floor at least 30 minutes per game, especially in the early season, is a pure mystery. Clarke's ass should flat-out be. on. the. god-damned. floor. I don't care if he plays power forward. Same for Craig Sealey.

Maybe Orr hates himself. Maybe Orr's so delusional that he's capable of believing that a Senior with rec-level talent actually has the advantage because he has been in the program longer. Who the hell knows. One thing I do know: I am NOT taking the time and money to drive across the state and see this self-destructive farce of a basketball product that Orr puts on the floor.

Prediction: 10-12 wins.

You guys are aware that Clarke has NOOOOOOO LEFT HAND and every opponent on our schedule knows this, correct? I like Clarke's athleticism as much as the next guy and think he has the potential to be an exciting player, but anytime you have a flaw that noticeable and scoutable it makes you somewhat of a liability on the floor. Remember his 2 late turnovers vs Akron at home last year that both resulted in easy dunks and let them back in the game? Both were results of him going left and Akron defenders sitting on his right hand because they knew he was immediately going back to his right. The exact same play happened against LEC on Friday. It's a flaw that I am very disappointed was not corrected this offseason.

Now, you could make the argument that he's still better than Kraus/Orr and should play the 2. However, Kraus and Orr generally play boring but turnover-free basketball (combined 1 TO in 59 minutes, Clarke had 3 in 8 minutes) and I can see why Orr might feel more comfortable with them on the floor. This is going to be a team with little room for error and we are going to have to win by holding our opponents under 65. Turnovers will absolutely kill us. Maybe if Clarke plays the 2 he dribbles less, has fewer turnovers, slashes a bit, tosses in a few shots, and is a more effective player. However, he HAS to be on the floor if Crawford is not, so his minutes must be handled accordingly and we CAN'T keep having his bad turnovers.

But our starting PG is a walking turnover, if turnover free basketball is our requisite to win then we're hosed.

Let's also not forget that in those 59 minutes Orr/Kraus combined to go 3-14 from the field for a whopping 12 points. Neither player has shown the ability to create their own shots, nor have they shown the ability to actually make the shots that are presented to them. Sure, they may not turn it over, but they don't produce anything either.

I don't inherently believe that wasted possessions that have no shot of scoring are really any worse than turnovers in the grand scheme of things.

The bottom line is this team is going to need some serious surprises to hit double digit wins. Clarke developing into a contributor would be one of the surprises that could actually get us some wins. Trotting Kraus & Orr out there for 60 minutes a game pretty much guarantees we're lousy, and at the end of the year Clarke still doesn't have enough time to actually develop as a player.

I agree that Kraus should not be on the floor. Ever. I've actually said that since before he even stepped foot on BG's campus because of things I heard while he was at Findlay. But I'm not really sure about the constant complaints against Orr this early. I don't think he's the best athlete but he did have 7 offensive rebounds and he shot the same percentage as Calhoun in the opening game. Granted I didn't actually watch so I have no idea how terrible he may have looked, but just looking at the stats the complaints this early seem unjustified.

I didn't get a chance to see the scrimmage or the Lake Erie game either, so maybe Orr has improved greatly this offseason. My comments are based purely on what I observed from him last year. To me he looked like a kid that had no business playing in the MAC but is because his daddy is the HC.

I hope I'm wrong, but I didn't see anything about him to make me think he was a future player. Looked like another waste of a scholarship. I remember when he was a senior we all wondered how a 1st team All Ohio guy could possibly not really be mentioned at all on the major recruiting sites. After watching last season I think I see why...he's 6'4 and he's the son of an NBA player who currently coaches at a D1 college. Those looked like the only things that would sell him as a D1 player to me.

Hopefully he develops and proves me to be terribly wrong, but I didn't see much to get excited about in his game. Blah handles, blah shooting, blah defense, and blah athleticism.

[Globetrotter]

Orr is fine. I don't get it either. He is a fine fourth or fifth starter who does everything ok and nothing great.

[BleedOrange]

Why doesn't Clarke play more of the two.

THIS, my friend, is the ultimate question. Why a kid with his talent is not on the floor at least 30 minutes per game, especially in the early season, is a pure mystery. Clarke's ass should flat-out be. on. the. god-damned. floor. I don't care if he plays power forward. Same for Craig Sealey.

Maybe Orr hates himself. Maybe Orr's so delusional that he's capable of believing that a Senior with rec-level talent actually has the advantage because he has been in the program longer. Who the hell knows. One thing I do know: I am NOT taking the time and money to drive across the state and see this self-destructive farce of a basketball product that Orr puts on the floor.

Prediction: 10-12 wins.

You guys are aware that Clarke has NOOOOOOO LEFT HAND and every opponent on our schedule knows this, correct? I like Clarke's athleticism as much as the next guy and think he has the potential to be an exciting player, but anytime you have a flaw that noticeable and scoutable it makes you somewhat of a liability on the floor. Remember his 2 late turnovers vs Akron at home last year that both resulted in easy dunks and let them back in the game? Both were results of him going left and Akron defenders sitting on his right hand because they knew he was immediately going back to his right. The exact same play happened against LEC on Friday. It's a flaw that I am very disappointed was not corrected this offseason.

Now, you could make the argument that he's still better than Kraus/Orr and should play the 2. However, Kraus and Orr generally play boring but turnover-free basketball (combined 1 TO in 59 minutes, Clarke had 3 in 8 minutes) and I can see why Orr might feel more comfortable with them on the floor. This is going to be a team with little room for error and we are going to have to win by holding our opponents under 65. Turnovers will absolutely kill us. Maybe if Clarke plays the 2 he dribbles less, has fewer turnovers, slashes a bit, tosses in a few shots, and is a more effective player. However, he HAS to be on the floor if Crawford is not, so his minutes must be handled accordingly and we CAN'T keep having his bad turnovers.

I remember those turnovers. One was bad, the other was iffy and maybe more attributable to a lack of help in the front court. He was a freshman.

The question still stands, Matty. Clarke should be at the 2 when Crawford is on the floor.

[hammb]

Orr is fine. I don't get it either. He is a fine fourth or fifth starter who does everything ok and nothing great.

I disagree. Orr might be fine in the sense that if you had 4 other guys on the court you could still win with him out there, but what does he do OK? He's worthless. He doesn't shoot, doesn't pass, doesn't dribble, I suppose he rebounds OK for a 2, but not anything special for a 3.

All I've seen from him is that he's another Kraus/Erger level recruit. He gets minutes like Kraus does because they are apparently solid defenders...which is a freaking joke when you're playing 90+% zone. Orr should be able to teach any 5 kids with D1 size to play the zone...it's just not that difficult of a defense.

Last night's game Orr & Kraus combined for 67 minutes, 4-14 shooting, 16 points, 3 assists, and 6 rebounds. But they only turned it over twice so they will continue to get minutes!

Look, I have no idea if Clarke (0-7 from the field last night, had turnover issues in the past as well), or Sealey (again played only 9 minutes last night and wasn't especially productive in that playing time) are actually going to provide much either. I do know they're vastly more athletic than Orr/Kraus, but that only gets you so much. What I do know is that Orr & Kraus are both probably in the bottom 10% of MAC starters, and if those guys are combining for 60 minutes per game this is another terrible team. We've seen Kraus for 4 years and KNOW he can't play. We've seen Orr for a season plus 2 games and all signs are pointing to the fact that he can't play either.

Orr's idea of a "program" is a joke. Thank god we've got a nice arena and my season tickets are next to some people I enjoy sitting around with. We do a helluva good job laughing about how piss poor this team is built, but just once I'd like to actually have a reason to smile because of what is on the court instead of our comments about what is on the court.