SimpleDawg
Dan Mullen, Dak Prescott, and Vic Schaefer fan
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2018
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I understand having an optimistic outlook for your future PG but she doesnt have to be an upgrade from Holmes for Mississippi State to be excellent. Holmes wasnt spectacular but you dont want a spectacular player at PG, you want someone who will make good decisions, control pace of play, run the offense and put your team in a good position to score. Holmes did that perfectly for Vic.
I agree. That's what I'm arguing. Taylor doesn't need to be spectacular next year. If "spectacular" is measured by points, we certainly don't need points from her. Bibby, Dra, and Scott is certainly gonna put up most of the points next year - Taylor doesn't need to score all that much. Just when she has the leeway - but otherwise she shouldn't be scoring like her life depended on it. Also at the wings is Rickea Jackson and Xaria Wiggins (more of 2-guard though imo). Based on that line of reasoning, do you see us dropping much just because we lost Holmes? I think we'll have the points. Bulldog fans certainly think Taylor's ball handling is pretty great, if not better. Her crossover moves and an array of other moves is more evident if just raw. I don't hear anyone criticize her point guard skills, and they don't fault her defense at all. So based on all that, I think the main thing she'll lack is the points that Holmes had the ability to put up - but mainly those midrange jumpers which Taylor just doesn't have yet. I guess she also lacks Holmes' ability to go cross-court finding the best spot/shot.
She was basically Morgan William 2.0 in that regard, hence why there was no drop off in PG play last year.
I don't agree with that. I don't think they're equal. Morgan showed up in the big games. Even though her stamina seemed a bit weak - because she was held down in the championship game vs South Carolina after her legendary efforts against Baylor and UConn. I wouldn't ever think the two are equal though, but moreso I think their playing styles are different. If equal in terms of... did they both run our offense very well?..... then yeah I agree.
Do you really think Taylor would've led MSU to 84 points that game? Or put up 15 points, 13 assists and no turnovers?
No, certainly not. For that year, at least. That's why Vic had Holmes in the game... she was our best option on a depth-thin team. Just making a hypothetical guess for next year if we play Oregon again. And they don't give our point guard so much space to shoot. And we finally have some defense at the 4. And some depth at Center. I'm just imagining things obviously. Not spitting confidence out there that we'll have a strong enough squad to take on Oregon next year.
And I'm not sure how you figure a slew of wings are going to handle a lot of PG duties. What duties are you referring to?
I covered most of that already. Once the ball is out of the point guard's hands... she's a player on the perimeter like all of the wings. Because we're loaded at the wings I don't think we'll lose much having Taylor out there on the court with 3 deadly wings. If you're thinking Taylor has high turnover tendencies, that's proven false based on games near the end of the year. Not sure which games you're thinking of when applying your perspective on Taylor. But I'm thinking Texas A&M and South Carolina. She had only 8 turnovers starting from the first South Carolina game (Jan 17) on to the end of the year. And 28 turnovers before that. So I'd say that's quite a drastic change.
The defense wasnt as good last year as a whole but they didnt routinely give up 80 points. It happened 3 times in 36 games. Mississippi State will still have a strong roster next year, but on paper the PG spot is the biggest weakness I see since Taylor hasnt resembled the low error/highly efficient PG prototype that Vic has relied upon with William and Holmes the last 4 years, and I dont see anyone on the roster prepped to step into that role. I'd love to see Taylor prove me wrong but right now I just dont see it.
The other way to look at it is that Center is the more important position than PG. And the dropoff could be bigger because you're replacing a spectacular generational Center even if the replacement (Promise Taylor) is more ready to play than the replacement PG. I just don't think we'll lose much replacing Holmes as long as Taylor has the same low turnovers as she had near the end of the year, be as smart as Blair was on switch and screen concepts (she's the smartest player on our team with a GPA of 4.0 so I have confidence), but every other aspect I think Taylor is easily gonna surpass Holmes on eventually. She's a more natural point guard, and I think she has better body agility as well as her ball-handling and her low-dribble maneuvering.
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