Bradleyfans Offseason thoughts: JJ TAUAI

[Da Coach]

I like the picture of Marcus! He would look really good in a Bradley uniform!

http://www.msjc.edu/athletics/mbasketball/players05/no44msikes.htm

[flipper]

jj might be the most underrated bu player ever. he is the captain.

[braves12]

Da Coach,

I agree that he would look good in a uniform that would say Bradley on the front of it. Plus it is the only picture I could find that I could fit into the avatar requirements (I am computer challanged to say the least). Also, the Valley board is reporting that the guard (Isacc Miles from Mission Kansas) gave his verbal to Creighton. There is a topic on the Valley board that lists some players BU is recruiting according to 1 Wichita fan.

[Da Coach]

I saw those. Most are old news, and are not being recruited by Bradley any longer. Sikes may be the only 1 still in the picture. Visman could still end up at Bradley, and Moses is being recruited hard by DePaul, but may not be eligible.

[BUBraves2006]

I don't personally think JJ's scoring is as important as people are making it out to be. Will Franklin will settle right into TB's role and Ray Brown can back that up. The more important part will be finding scoring to replace Sommerville's contribution.

If JJ can average 5 points per game or so, Bradley will be fine. Anything else is just a bonus.

[thefish7]

I don't personally think JJ's scoring is as important as people are making it out to be. Will Franklin will settle right into TB's role and Ray Brown can back that up. The more important part will be finding scoring to replace Sommerville's contribution.

If JJ can average 5 points per game or so, Bradley will be fine. Anything else is just a bonus.

I don't think that WF will be quite the shooter TB was...

If everything happened the way I'd like it to in my dreams we'd have:
C - O'Bryant (Monster)
PF - Andrews (Monster Lite... if we get the kind of progression Boogie had in his senior year)
SF - Jassey (Boogie pt 2)
SG - Tauai (Finds his shot)
PG - Ruffin (Valley's best PG)

Significant bench minutes for Franklin, Brown, Crouch, and Crawford.

[yourbradleybraves!]

I disagree. I think that Franklin will be a better shooter than TB. He already had better percentages in field goals and 3 points this year. There FTs % was almost exactly the same. But I do think that TB had a fire in his gut that is hard to duplicate.

[Da Coach]

Will also proved himself to be an extremely good defensive guard, something he was not known for in JuCo (few JuCos play much defense). I expect him be a starter and to get 25+ minutes a game next year.

[SFP]

JJ will be playing more minutes and we will need him to look for his shot period. The other thing he will need to do with the rest of the team is pick up a few more rebounds. Cellus played a lot of minutes and when not scoring he played great D and rebounded. We will need a combined team effort to make up for Cellus graduating but being JJ's senior year and great leadership ability I expect him to step up in all facets of his game. Would it suprise anyone if JJ averaged 20 minutes, 8 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds a game next year?

[thefish7]

Will also proved himself to be an extremely good defensive guard, something he was not known for in JuCo (few JuCos play much defense). I expect him be a starter and to get 25+ minutes a game next year.

I agree totally on his defense. I guess I feel like the jury is still out on Franklin's shooting as I perceive a lot of his shots to have been taken when the three guard set was out there (so other teams top defenders may have been keying on TB and Ruffin)... I don't remember a lot of jumpers that were not open shots... but that's only how I remember it and it may be totally a figment of my imagination.

[bu fan 9]

Most of Crouch's shots were open ones to he just didn't make many.