Last night's Player of the Game - Freshman Callum Barker

[tornado]

I thought our guy Callum Barker deserved a separate thread for his performance...

He was player of the Game with 15 pts, 10 rebs, 2 BLOCKS, and ZERO TURNOVERS in 24 minutes -
we haven't had this good of a performance from a BIG MAN in any game or exhibition in a long, long while.

Congrats to our big man from down under!!

I had previously seen & heard a lot of comments from people saying they didn't think he'd be any good or would be a redshirt candidate.
Glad you proved them wrong Callum!!!

[pfcmsh]

I thought our guy Callum Barker deserved a separate thread for his performance...

He was player of the Game with 15 pts, 10 rebs, 2 BLOCKS, and ZERO TURNOVERS in 24 minutes -
we haven't had this good of a performance from a BIG MAN in any game or exhibition in a long, long while.

Congrats to our big man from down under!!

I had previously seen & heard a lot of comments from people saying they didn't think he'd be any good or would be a redshirt candidate.
Glad you proved them wrong Callum!!!

Callum seems like a quiet, no nonsense, player. He was really good last night. Coming so far, being so young, seemly quiet. All he did was be the best player on the team last night. He's going to be force in the MVC!!!

[ihatetea]

Callum seems like a quiet, no nonsense, player. He was really good last night. Coming so far, being so young, seemly quiet. All he did was be the best player on the team last night. He's going to be force in the MVC!!!

I would love for this to be true. I hate to be that guy, but maybe we should pump the brakes on the hype train. Edgewood was so tiny Barker couldn't help but dominate inside. In fact, I suspect Coach Wardle knew that and told him to play his usual outside-in game, hence the multiple threes he shot. He will have his growing pains this year. No team in the Valley is as small or weak as Edgewood. Barker could be a really good Valley player, in a couple years.

If I am wrong and he dominates Wichita the way he dominated Edgewood, then I will be immensely happy. I just don't want people to start to expect too much this year and lose focus on what this year actually is, the baby steps that will let us run in the future.

[clnyule26]

clnyule26

Well said...I agree completely. He looked real good...but against an inferior team.
But I really do believe he can develop into a good post player.

[Da Coach]

Everyone realizes Edgewood was a bad team, and lacked interior size. But if you watched what Barker did, he was more effective in his first game as a freshman than many of our recent "big men" have been even after years of experience.
>>He made his shots- he was 5-7, but one of his misses was a 3-pointer. For the last several years we have had a multitude of big men who could not make unguarded layups. So the fact he finished consistently inside is something to be encouraged by.
>>He set extremely effective, solid picks for the guards- again, setting picks has been a weak point for Bradley basketball for years, and often draw "moving pick" fouls.
>>He played good positional defense and did not try to defend by slapping or reaching with his arms like our big men have done for the past few years.
>>He had 2 blocks, despite not being a great leaper. Yes, that probably had to do with the undersized inside players on Edgewood, but from what I saw, he was good at not going for shot-fakes, and timing his jumps well.
>>And he made his free throws (4-5)- who was the last big man Bradley had who was a good free thrower? (maybe Will Egolf- he was 75% and 71% his last 2 seasons)
>>Rebounding- 10 rebounds in 24 minutes. He would have had more, but several rebounds were taken away from him by our guards, who dropped back and did a great job rebounding.
>>And maybe the most impressive stat- ZERO turnovers. Without checking, I'd be wiling to bet Bradley has not had a 4 or 5 player in many years play 24 minutes, handle the ball as much as Callum did last night, and not have any turnovers. I'm sure he'll have some when he plays against better teams, but all these things were encouraging.

Some of you got a PM from me a week or so ago summarizing a lot of things I learned from people who watched practices, and from private conversations people have had with coaches. The #1 item, which surprised most fans was that Callum Barker was named by coaches as the most surprising player in practices, and the top "favorite" of Coach Wardle. He sees Callum every day in practices, so I'd prefer to go with his impression that we have a special player in Callum Barker.

[ihatetea]

I can't argue with any of that. I think he looked like a solid player, I just don't feel anyone should expect him to be an All-Valley player this year. He is the kind of big that you can grow a program with. The kind of player that won't hurt you in any almost any scheme.

I'll repeat it: the best thing in the world would be if I was wrong and he develops ahead of my expectations and lands on the All-Valley 2nd team. But every player has to get acclimated to D1 speed and physicality. And IMO he looks like he needs to add muscle and make sure he maintains his cardio so he doesn't get worn down too bad when he gets to the very physical play that the Valley has every year.

[Da Coach]

Nicely said. I don't see any way Bradley gets anyone on any of the All-MVC teams this year. It's rare that a freshman makes even Honorable Mention, when voters have the option of putting them on the All-Freshman team. And even more rare for a freshman from a team projected to finish dead last.
But I liked that Callum was not afraid of physical contact, and has most of the basic skills down pretty well, and he passes and protects the ball extremely well for a big man. Getting a lot of experience this season is the best thing for him. IMO, he'll be on one of those All MVC teams by his junior or senior season.

[tornado]

One other observation about Callum Barker...

I watched him carefully on offense and defense even away from the ball and there's always a bunch of contact, banging, and the opponent trying to lower his shoulder and collide hard - especially knowing Callum is a freshman and never played college ball...
I had previously seen guys like Jermaine Morgan, Xzavier Taylor, etc...in the same setting and it was obvious they hated being hit, backed off and didn't like the contact...

BUT - as I watched Callum, he actually seemed to like the contact and hard play and he dished it out pretty hard as well. Good job, mate - keep banging and throw some of those shoulders around next week - learn what you can get away with and keep it up!