Was an all-star game held yesterday for the best players in the Houston area. Jay Jay Chandler was the MVP and Savion Flagg won the dunk contest.

Flagg:

Chandler:

I really think people are overlooking how good Chandler is. Don't be surprised if he ends up being very good and beating out starks and Wilson for playing time.

Once I saw him dunk from a step inside the free throw line while guarded in a game I thought the same thing.

He was a top 25 player nationally his freshman year and I think had a couple "down years" in between and then exploded this year. Shall be interesting.

GE said:

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I really think people are overlooking how good Chandler is. Don't be surprised if he ends up being very good and beating out starks and Wilson for playing time.

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I would be surprised.

Hop loves these type of All Star Games where no one plays defense.

it did make me though tap the brakes on the arob hype around here, when he couldn't score in a game nobody was playing defense.

Method Man said:

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Hop loves these type of All Star Games where no one plays defense.

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Combined score was something like 330

Method Man said:

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GE said:

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I really think people are overlooking how good Chandler is. Don't be surprised if he ends up being very good and beating out starks and Wilson for playing time.

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I would be surprised.

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Even after I just told you not to be. Sad (or sick).

I'm gunna gosh darn well be surprised no matter what you say GE.

Aston04 said:

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it did make me though tap the brakes on the arob hype around here, when he couldn't score in a game nobody was playing defense.

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The issues that Alex Robinson had his freshman year were more between the ears than basketball talent. You can see now by his play at TCU, with the change of scenery and probably just more maturity as a junior in college, that Robinson is a good college player.

Disagree- after the game I raised concerns about his shooting ability and finishing around the basket. Maybe after 3 years he has improved those, but those were big reasons he didn't play as much his freshman year as he wanted (leading to pouting).

Flagg jumps like he's wearing moon shoes. His ability to dunk from the FT line makes him an athletic freak among athletic freaks.

Haven't watched Chandler play at all, but his 247 composite ranking is 126. There are obviously exceptions, but players outside the top 100 don't generally contribute a lot during their fish years (at least in high level conferences). Same with Starks and his 113 ranking.

Won't be a popular opinion on here, but I don't expect more than 2-3ppg from either of them. Our improvement in the back court will hinge on Caldwell, Flagg, and our transfers IMO.

Agree 100 pct

Pumpkinhead said:

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Aston04 said:

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it did make me though tap the brakes on the arob hype around here, when he couldn't score in a game nobody was playing defense.

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The issues that Alex Robinson had his freshman year were more between the ears than basketball talent. You can see now by his play at TCU, with the change of scenery and probably just more maturity as a junior in college, that Robinson is a good college player.

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I am not sure I see the case for declaring Robinson to be a much improved or a "good" player.

Still a poor shooter who shoots too much (42% from the field and 62% from the line). Assists are way up but turnovers are still high. Still undersized and an inefficient rebounder (only 3 per game in 30 minutes). I am not sure but I would guess he still isn't a good defensive player.

His minutes are way up at TCU, but other than that, he looks to me like essentially the same guy.

He's not bad and he definitely brings some things to the table. But he is still limited.

mdanyc03 said:

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Pumpkinhead said:

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Aston04 said:

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it did make me though tap the brakes on the arob hype around here, when he couldn't score in a game nobody was playing defense.

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The issues that Alex Robinson had his freshman year were more between the ears than basketball talent. You can see now by his play at TCU, with the change of scenery and probably just more maturity as a junior in college, that Robinson is a good college player.

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I am not sure I see the case for declaring Robinson to be a much improved or a "good" player.

Still a poor shooter who shoots too much (42% from the field and 62% from the line). Assists are way up but turnovers are still high. Still undersized and an inefficient rebounder (only 3 per game in 30 minutes). I am not sure but I would guess he still isn't a good defensive player.

His minutes are way up at TCU, but other than that, he looks to me like essentially the same guy.

He's not bad and he definitely brings some things to the table. But he is still limited.

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I agree that Robinson was a mixed bag last season. He led the entire Big 12 in assists (excellent!) and finished 5th in the Big 12 in steals (pretty good) but also led the entire Big 12 in turnovers (Yikes!).

He averaged double figure scoring but his shooting percentages are not particularly compelling.

Maybe I should re-phrase my opinion that I see plenty of evidence that Robinson can be a 'good' college player. In TCU's biggest win of the season, beating Kansas in the Big 12 tournament, Robinson stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds, 5 steals, and 4 turnovers. Too many turnovers but that was a very impressive performance and if you look at his game log last year, you'll see him with some other similar impressive games vs quality competition. He clearly has some good talent IMO.

74Ag17 said:

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Flagg has a chance to be one of the top freshmen in the nation. Lots of athletism.

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The more I see Flagg, the more I think this is the case.

Call it the "Robert Williams scenario." Similar national ranking (60th or so) but in both cases, truly exceptional size/ physical ability combination. Flagg is a completely different player than Robert Williams but when you compare them physically they are actually pretty comparable.

You never know with freshmen and Flagg may struggle to adjust and only get limited minutes. On the other hand I wouldn't be shocked if 10 months from now we are all looking at draft forecasts and debating if he will come out after 1 year.

As for Chandler, he is a gifted player and is exceptionally athletic. But he doesn't have exceptional size and he is still very left hand dominant. As a guard, you have to have a lot more polish to be able to hit the ground running which is why even all time Aggie greats like Acie Law and Donald Sloan were far from overwhelming their freshmen years. I don't see him getting too many minutes but, hey, you never know.

mdanyc03 said:

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74Ag17 said:

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Flagg has a chance to be one of the top freshmen in the nation. Lots of athletism.

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The more I see Flagg, the more I think this is the case.

Call it the "Robert Williams scenario." Similar national ranking (60th or so) but in both cases, truly exceptional size/ physical ability combination. Flagg is a completely different player than Robert Williams but when you compare them physically they are actually pretty comparable.

You never know with freshmen and Flagg may struggle to adjust and only get limited minutes. On the other hand I wouldn't be shocked if 10 months from now we are all looking at draft forecasts and debating if he will come out after 1 year.

As for Chandler, he is a gifted player and is exceptionally athletic. But he doesn't have exceptional size and he is still very left hand dominant. As a guard, you have to have a lot more polish to be able to hit the ground running which is why even all time Aggie greats like Acie Law and Donald Sloan were far from overwhelming their freshmen years. I don't see him getting too many minutes but, hey, you never know.

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The way I look at it with respect to Chandler is somebody (or multiple players) will have to backup Gilder at the 2 and Caldwell at the 1. Wilson, Starks, and Chandler are the most likely candidates for this. Based on what I've seen on video Wilson will start out as the most game-ready and dependable player but both Chandler and Starks have a higher ceiling. Between Chandler and Starks, Jay Jay looks to me to have the better athleticism and is a better overall scorer. Would not be surprised to see him get the most minutes out of those three by the end of the season backing up both the point and the 2.

GE said:

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mdanyc03 said:

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74Ag17 said:

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Flagg has a chance to be one of the top freshmen in the nation. Lots of athletism.

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The more I see Flagg, the more I think this is the case.

Call it the "Robert Williams scenario." Similar national ranking (60th or so) but in both cases, truly exceptional size/ physical ability combination. Flagg is a completely different player than Robert Williams but when you compare them physically they are actually pretty comparable.

You never know with freshmen and Flagg may struggle to adjust and only get limited minutes. On the other hand I wouldn't be shocked if 10 months from now we are all looking at draft forecasts and debating if he will come out after 1 year.

As for Chandler, he is a gifted player and is exceptionally athletic. But he doesn't have exceptional size and he is still very left hand dominant. As a guard, you have to have a lot more polish to be able to hit the ground running which is why even all time Aggie greats like Acie Law and Donald Sloan were far from overwhelming their freshmen years. I don't see him getting too many minutes but, hey, you never know.

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The way I look at it with respect to Chandler is somebody (or multiple players) will have to backup Gilder at the 2 and Caldwell at the 1. Wilson, Starks, and Chandler are the most likely candidates for this. Based on what I've seen on video Wilson will start out as the most game-ready and dependable player but both Chandler and Starks have a higher ceiling. Between Chandler and Starks, Jay Jay looks to me to have the better athleticism and is a better overall scorer. Would not be surprised to see him get the most minutes out of those three by the end of the season backing up both the point and the 2.

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I am not sure that Chandler has a higher ceiling than Duane Wilson. Duane Wilson was higher rated coming out of high school (for whatever that is worth).

I think Chandler is more athletic but Wilson is more polished. To me it really comes down to whether Chandler can really learn to use his right and finish going to the right. It sounds simple enough but after playing basketball for so many years it is hard to re wire all of that muscle memory. D1 defenders can really exploit that.

Watch even the last clip above. Cool looking 360 lay up but notice how he dribbles with his left hand, jumps primarily off his right foot and scores with his left hand all from the right side.

When I watched him play in the "Hooping for Luv" game, he had a pretty nice left to right crossover but then he couldn't do anything with it. He would either cross back over again or pass it because he really can't finish going to his right; has neither the footwork not the dexterity with the right hand.

You would think that would mainly be a problem in half court but he also botched several 1 v 1 or 2 v 1 fast breaks because he was too one sided they would really play him that way without the risk of a simple step through to finish on the right (something Admon for example does really well in transition).

But I make all of these predictions humbly. Because nobody ever really knows and certainly not me.

I like Starks more as a scorer than Chandler personally.

I think Chandler is uber athletic for sure (as mentioned above). He can also shoot and has bit time range but from what I can see he is far more comfortable shooting off the dribble going to his left.

Starks though reminds a bit of Jimmer Fredette. Not saying he will be that good necessarily, but similar size, build and athleticism. And he is also completely double sided. Can finish either way with either hand. Can absolutely fill it up off the catch and dribble going either way.

People often think of Jimmer as a shooter when in reality he was a scorer who could shoot but also had perfect footwork and could score with both hands from a variety of angles. That is what made him so good and that is what I see when I watch TJ.

mdanyc03 said:

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Starks though reminds a bit of Jimmer Fredette.

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not a bad comparison. i really like starks and think hes the best of the bunch. size is the only issue

The things that I noted about T.J. Starks (from afar via internet).

- As a junior, he was the starting PG for Lancaster, winning the 5A state title. In the state championship game late in the 4th quarter in close game, Starks offensively took over the game for his team to close out the win. See the highlights of a key exchange below, where Starks scores back to back baskets late in that game vs. Elkins.

- Lon Kruger (Oklahoma) wanted him.

- He never really showed up on ESPN recruiting rankings and was NR on ESPN for a long time. It doesn't seem to me like the ESPN guys ever really reviewed him. But he got a top-100 national ranking on 247 and Scout.

- He scored a LOT of points his senior year at Lancaster. He definitely seems to be a score-first mentality guard, different than Caldwell.

- He is 6'2" and seems to already be pretty muscled up. Lots of highlights show him finishing strong vs. contact in the paint.

- Acie Law worked out with him some in Dallas this past Spring and had high praise for him. Said he was 'legit'.

- In terms of a possible comparison, he may end up being a quality get say similar to that freshman Felder kid over at South Carolina as fish. Tough nosed, scoring mentality kind of guy who will fearlessly drive into the paint or take a shot. I will be very interested to see what/if he contributes next season.

Rakym Felder (a low three star true freshman with basically no other legit offers besides South Carolina) completely manhandling Duke in the tournament was probably my favorite thing in the entire tournament.