Austin

[it's boogie time]

I'm glad Austing is on campus (I'm out of the country and behind on all sports info).

Here's last year's mvc rebounding leaders. It takes a special player to come out game in and game out and get rebounds. Austin should have some good games (I hope), but it's tough to assume that he will do it consistantly.

I think the main thing is that BU gets more guys in the top 15 rebounders this season.

REBOUNDING
## Player-Team Cl G OFF DEF TOT Avg/G
-------------------------------------------------------
1.Coleman, Eric-UNI........ JR 31 77 204 281 9.1
2.Stout, Grant-UNI......... SR 31 70 208 278 9.0
3.Falker, Randal-SIU....... JR 36 92 185 277 7.7
4.Andrews, Zach-BU......... SR 35 85 160 245 7.0
5.Tolliver,Anthony-CU...... SR 33 74 146 220 6.7
6.Watts,Dane-CU............ JR 33 62 150 212 6.4
7.Arnold, Adam-INS......... SO 31 54 139 193 6.2
8.Strickland, Bradley-UE... SR 31 64 127 191 6.2
9.Calvin, Ajay-DU.......... SR 32 80 116 196 6.1
10.Dilligard,Greg-ILS....... SR 31 81 99 180 5.8
11.Martin, Ryan-WSU......... SR 31 57 122 179 5.8
12.Couisnard, PJ-WSU........ JR 29 50 117 167 5.8
13.Shaw, Matt-SIU........... JR 35 63 137 200 5.7
14.Slack,Anthony-ILS........ JR 31 67 110 177 5.7
15.Porter,Nick-CU........... SR 33 58 127 185 5.6

[houstontxbrave]

If we can get minimum 10 points and 10 boards out of our center position regardless of the combination of how it happens, then we will have a great advantage in the MVC.

Also, with more bodies, that gives us so much more in options and more room for playing physical and aggressively both defensively and offensively. Not to mention more fouls to give.

[dogsrus]

If we can get minimum 10 points and 10 boards out of our center position regardless of the combination of how it happens, then we will have a great advantage in the MVC.

Also, with more bodies, that gives us so much more in options and more room for playing physical and aggressively both defensively and offensively. Not to mention more fouls to give.

Well said.....

[Dubl R 1]

If we can get minimum 10 points and 10 boards out of our center position regardless of the combination of how it happens, then we will have a great advantage in the MVC.

Also, with more bodies, that gives us so much more in options and more room for playing physical and aggressively both defensively and offensively. Not to mention more fouls to give.

I agree.

[romar]

I guess the point I was trying to make is that we don't want our expectations of production to rest on one player (RA). If BU can get ZA numbers out of RA which gave them 22 wins last year, anything they get from the remaining bigs is gravy and I think they expect good production from guys like SS, DC, TW & WE.

Should be an exciting season to be a BU fan!!

[Beninator]

I think that BU's best option is to have RA and Collins on the floor at the same time. Then we can use a combination of Salley and a healthy Sam Singh from the bench. and then...... if the situation dictates, we can go small and run everyone off the floor.

This should be a fun year for JL!

[ER3]

I really think some of you need to take a big step back and be more conservative/realistic in what you are expecting from these newcomers this year. Rashad Austin and David Collins might very well end up being quality players...but to already start penciling them into the starting lineup and talk about them averaging a double-double in their first year in D-I is quite a bit of a stretch, IMO.
I trust JL and his staff to recognize talent, and I hope for the best from both Collins and Austin in the couple of years they each have at BU....but these guys were not highly recruited out of JUCO, so I have to think there is some developing and adjusting to the D-I game that both of them will need to go through.
I mean...Austin just got into town, what, three days ago? And we're already putting up posts about whether we should expect 20 points/12 rebounds a game or 15 points/10 rebounds a game from him this year? I don't think that is anywhere near realistic or fair to expect from him this year.

[numbr_9]

I really think some of you need to take a big step back and be more conservative/realistic in what you are expecting from these newcomers this year. Rashad Austin and David Collins might very well end up being quality players...but to already start penciling them into the starting lineup and talk about them averaging a double-double in their first year in D-I is quite a bit of a stretch, IMO.
I trust JL and his staff to recognize talent, and I hope for the best from both Collins and Austin in the couple of years they each have at BU....but these guys were not highly recruited out of JUCO, so I have to think there is some developing and adjusting to the D-I game that both of them will need to go through.
I mean...Austin just got into town, what, three days ago? And we're already putting up posts about whether we should expect 20 points/12 rebounds a game or 15 points/10 rebounds a game from him this year? I don't think that is anywhere near realistic or fair to expect from him this year.

I agree that it's not fair to them for us to put undue pressure and heap unrealistic expectations upon them. however, i think we can be somewhat excited, largely because of the depth we have this year as opposed to last. ZA did a great job, but he was limited by his spot up / free throw shooting and size. I know I'm excited because this year we have a few guys, and as great as ZA did last year, i think it's reasonable to expect combined production for his position that will equal or surpass last year's statistics. Hey, if we got 20/10 or even 12/8 i'd be thrilled, but I would personally ratehr see production along the lines of 6/12 or even 5/15 ... what we need is rebounds and lots of them. Swing the rebounds by 5 both ways (5 more for us and 5 less for our opponents) and I suspect we go through last year with only a few loses.