Very, very early state D1 player predictions

[BBFran]

I was thinking ahead to the players on the four in-state D1 teams this coming season. Subject to some inevitable changes as we get closer to the season and start hearing reports from practice (the beer league stuff going on now is a good way for guys to stay in shape but it's meaningless otherwise), here's what I'm thinking:

All Wisconsin D1 team:

Jordan Taylor
- Almost certainly the best college player in the state since Devin Harris, if not Dwayne Wade.

Darius Johnson-Odom
- Kid has all the talent in the world, the only issue is that he's streaky and occasionally gets in funks. But boy, when he's hot... Without his incredible shooting at the Cell last year MU goes down hard to the Panthers.

Jae Crowder
- Very efficient player who is solid in all areas. If I was a Marquette fan he's the guy I want taking the clutch shot.

Tony Meier
- Solid all year, spectacular at times as Milwaukee made its run to the title. His performance against Cleveland State on the road was probably one of the top five individual performances in the league last year. Poised for a great senior season. As a Milwaukee fan, he's the guy I want taking the clutch shot.

Josh Gasser
- Tough guy who plays extremely efficient, extremely smart basketball on both ends, and takes and makes clutch shots. In three years fans from other teams will be convinced he's been beating them for ten years.

Close but not quite:

Kaylon Williams
- A very tough call for me between Gasser and Williams. First the good: once Kaylon settled into his lead guard role good things started happening for the Panthers. Another tough guy who doesn't back down, and he too made some critical shots. But there were times when Kaylon wasn't just bad - he was so bad the whole team had no chance. If he can eliminate games like that he could easily leapfrog several of the guys already named.

Alec Brown
- Okay, I admit it. I had zero concern about this kid when he signed with GB. Call me convinced. Far, far more productive than I ever expected. A legit 7 footer with skills. We don't see many like that in the H League. He has a great future ahead of him.

Mike Breusewitz
- What seemed like a novelty clown act early in the season turned out to be a headliner down the stretch. Does any other player in the state have his sheer desire?

Junior Cadougan
- Probably controversial. Didn't do much last year and looked awful at times. But I like the way he carries himself at the point and he'll be in a key position with a lot of good athletes around him. I like his chances to have a really good year.

Newcomer of the year:

There are some excellent choices here since once again every team recruited well. Terry Johnson may be the starting point at Green Bay. Juan Anderson of Marquette is reputed to be a Jimmy Butler clone. Jarrod Uthoff looks like a typical Bo Ryan top 100 recruit who will turn out to be underrated even at that ranking. Paris Gulley promises to solidify the Milwaukee back court.

But in the end, the top newcomer will almost certainly be one of two Racine guys who have come back home. Jamil Wilson was a hyper-talent who got romanced by Oregon and then as quickly jumped off that sinking ship and came home to Marquette. If he plays smart, he'll be a star some day. James Haarsma was extremely productive in a great league at Evansville but set his championship sights a little higher and promises to be the chairman of the boards at Milwaukee. Call it a tie for now.

Emerging/most improved

Some of the guys who played last year and had smaller roles will be called on to do much more this year. I like Jared Berggren, Davante Gardner and Ryan Allen the best of this group.

As always, I reserve the right to be horribly mistaken.

[uwmplanner]

Personally I would put Breusewitz or maybe Brown instead of Gasser, but as this points out there are alot of good college players in the state this year and you couldn't go wrong with any of the top players in the state.

I agree with your assessment of Kaylon. His propensity to turn the ball over drives me nuts, he got better as the year went on. I think his assist to turnover ratio was around 1.5:1. I think he would have a special year if he could get it to 2:1 or better. With that said he did have one of the best single seasons in Panther history in terms of assists.

[Deleted]

I watched most of the team practice last month and I really think Kaylon is primed to have a huge season. He looked focused and determined out there. He was much more vocal too. I don't think there will be any doubt who the vocal leader on and off the court will be.

[BBFran]

Kaylon was vocal last year too. I like that he's vocal. But valuing the ball is about 50 times more important than being vocal -- especially for a point guard. Your teammates eventually won't hear you if your passes keep going out of bounds or the defense is picking your pocket.

There's no doubting Kaylon's talent. He has now led two very tough leagues in APG. But for him and the team to succeed, he has to improve that A/TO ratio significantly.

At least this year we should have two much better ballhandling options in Paris Gulley and Shaq Boga than we had at any point last year. When Kaylon wasn't playing well last year or whenever he had to come out of the game we were holding it together with paperclips and duct tape.

[uwmbacker24]

The depth we will have at PG this year will make the difference, last year our back up PG was Ajami. I love the kid he worked hard but he didnt have the ability to slash which didnt allow to drive and dish which is a huge part of our offense and why we shoot so many 3's.

[ghostofdylan]

Fran, I was thinking about this same topic yesterday.

If you're ordering these selections 1-9, I'm perfectly on board with the list.

In fact, the only two I could imagine flip-flopping would be Kaylon and Josh.

At this stage, as you know, it's impossible to select an all-newcomer team, but I would think that Wilson, Haarsma, Anderson, Johnson and Gulley would be the leaders in the clubhouse.

[Super King]

Watching Jamil Wilson half-ass it in the pro-am makes me doubt him.

Juan Anderson, on the other hand, is poised for a huge year if he gets the opportunity.