I was on the road traveling and had to listen to the game. Finally had time last night to sit down and watch it. In my opinion, one thing that has been lost with all the discussion about playing time, Wagner and Edwards poor play, Reeves shooting way too much, substitution patterns, etc, is what I think was a breakout performance from Adou Thiero. Man, this kid is coming on like gangbusters. All he needs is to keep working on his outside shooting and the sky is the limit. I have to admit, I never saw this coming. He reminds me of the way things used to be here, when a guy would come in and work for his playing time, keep improving and be something special by his junior/senior year. A building block of a program. I can see this kid playing in the NBA down the road too, never would've thought that from last year. Also, seems like a great young man,
Lost in the defeat.
- Thread starter tomrain
- Start date
He’s taller, thicker and heavier but appears to be noticeably quicker. I like it.
Motor never stops give me ten of him.
The kid works hard, says nothing and plays team ball. He is a keeper and I’m glad he is a part of the team
Saw flashes of this type of play last season when he was on the floor. I agree with the op. When he get that outside shot falling he is going to be a great player. I think he will be a player that stays for 3-4 years.
Looked like MKG out there.
I thought he and Mitchell did as good a job defending HD as we could hope for. Mitchell's shooting suffered late because of the strain of banging with that monstrous fellow.
His jump shot looks like its stuck in HS.
Teams are just going to pack it in when he has the ball.
We need makers like Shep and Dillingham and Mitchell playing the most.
Teams are just going to pack it in when he has the ball.
We need makers like Shep and Dillingham and Mitchell playing the most.
Thiero is going to be our most reliable player. He needs 30 min a game.
Good point -totally agree with you. He can be a really, really impactful player for the Cats this year.
But I must warn you, if you post anything positive after a loss, be ready for the "moral victory brigade" to come after you!!
He had a hell of an outing. Thanks for emphasizing this. The team itself exceeded expectations and has been flayed and butchered because it made a contest out of the game in spite of injury and hardship. It’s frankly embarrassing to most of the fanbase to be counted with those that defile the program.
Just as an exercise for funsies, I wonder how we would do with 10 Thieros as our top two rotations.
The defense would be awesome. The shooting would not.
There was a thread yesterday that you missed. Everybody’s excited about his play I think.
And a few of us did see this last year. He thoroughly outplayed Livingston in the blue white game just as he thoroughly out played Edwards in the same game this year.
He was being forced to play point guard a lot last year, which is not at all where he should be.
But he absolutely showed last year that he takes the ball to the rack with authority and makes the right pass is, extremely athletic and rebounds well. He just wasn’t given time on the court to showcase what he could do. Hopefully he keeps getting solid minutes this season, but I wouldn’t bank on it just yet.
I was among the first to tout this kid for more playing time last year...he needs to be one of our cornerstones this year.
Will be interesting to see what happens if 1, 2, or even 3 of them come back. Purely speculation on my part, and maybe on the heels of speculation elsewhere as well, but Big Z coming here on the timeline he did, makes me think 1 of Ugonna/Bradshaw isn't playing this year.
Tre a mainstay at the 5? Allows for plenty of Adou at the 4. If Tre moves to the 4, Cal can play Adou at the 3 if the struggles with DJ and Edwards continue, IF he wants to go big
You and me both. I remember. And it seems like every time we did so someone would remind us that he was a “turnover machine.” First, that wasn’t actually true and second, he was being forced to play the wrong position.
Give him Livingstons minutes from the start of last year and we would’ve been a much better team.
I think that’s the assumption that many people are making, but I’m not sure yet if it’s the correct one. Cal does love defense and rebounding. And Thiero is better at both. Cal also loves guys to dribble drive and attack the rim. Again, Thiero is much better than Tre in that department.
I think the only thing Mitchell does better than Thiero is shoot the ball from deep. Hell, Theiro is even a better foul shooter at this point.
Thiero and Sheppard should be on the floor no less than 30 minutes per game.
Because Tre can shoot I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The floor is still going to be spread. As long as he doesn’t try to make Bradshaw a four we’re fine. Just make adou the backup 4
I watched Thiero knock down perimeter shots in warm ups many times last season. His form looks fine to me. I've always thought it's more a confidence thing with his shooting. Regardless, he needs to be putting up a lot of shots on his own cause he's a warrior and this team needs him badly.
I agree, he would be a perfect back up 4, as well as a backup 3 in Edwards relief.
I’ll be interested to see whose minutes get cut when our bigs are back . I hope it’s not his .
If we are going to play fast like we did while we were leading, I would like to see a larger rotation than Cal's usual 7 man. We can continue to push pace by keeping bigs, wings and guards fresh. Not a platoon but a relay of sorts that keeps our team engaged throughout the roster.
Back-up minutes at the 3 depends on what type of night Reeves is having. When he's on, he needs all back-up minutes at the 3 spot to maximize his pt. When he's off (ala Kansas game), Adou needs every back-up minute at the 3 and 4 to maximize his time on the floor.
