With all the talk of our offer for Freddie McSwain and Weber mentioning that we are after a big man for our last (at this moment) scholarship, my question is what we are planning at the SG spot next year. Obviously we will start Barry Brown, but we really don't have another 2 guard on the roster other than Freeman, who may or may not be on the team next year. I guess you can say Diarra can play there too, but he's really more of a PG.
I would love to add someone like McSwain because of his athleticism and ability to finish and rebound. We really don't have a great athlete on our roster next year, so he could bring a dimension that we don't have right now. We certainly don't have a post player with his skill set, so that's good. He's a different player than Justin Edwards, so people saying we don't need another Edwards are off base. He will provide some value around the basket bringing an athletic presence down low that we haven't had in several years.
With all of that said......we DESPERATELY need another SG and someone who can stretch the floor and hit outside shots. We need someone on the perimeter who can be a threat to make a 3 and hit them regularly. One of our huge challenges this year was our outside shooting, and we aren't really adding a major outside threat and are losing Edwards, who quietly became a better 3-point shooter this year. Even with Edwards, we simply weren't nearly good enough shooting from the outside this year and MUST be better at that next year.
Right now Freeman is really our only 2 guard other than Brown. Do we really think he will be good enough to jump from where he's at now to being a reliable Big 12 player off the bench next season? Because to keep his spot in the roster, he needs to be able to play 5-10 minutes per game at SG next year, and I don't think he will be able to do that unless he gets wayyyyyy better or is better now than we know.
So the question becomes:
1. Do we scrap signing McSwain, go after a Shooting Guard, AND keep Freeman on the roster and stay put where we are inside?
2. Do we sign McSwain, cut Freeman loose, and go after a new SG?
3. Do we sign McSwain and just roll with Freeman as our only other SG than Brown next year?
I'm thinking we need to sign McSwain (or another big), let go of Freeman, and sign another SG. I just don't think Freeman will be able to cut it at this level within the next year, if ever. And we need him to be ready as a contributor off the bench NEXT YEAR, not down the road. Plus, I think we can use another big with the questions surrounding Mauirce and Williams playing next year. The added athleticism McSwain would bring inside could be a nice piece to our team that we won't have if we don't sign him.
I would love to add someone like McSwain because of his athleticism and ability to finish and rebound. We really don't have a great athlete on our roster next year, so he could bring a dimension that we don't have right now. We certainly don't have a post player with his skill set, so that's good. He's a different player than Justin Edwards, so people saying we don't need another Edwards are off base. He will provide some value around the basket bringing an athletic presence down low that we haven't had in several years.
With all of that said......we DESPERATELY need another SG and someone who can stretch the floor and hit outside shots. We need someone on the perimeter who can be a threat to make a 3 and hit them regularly. One of our huge challenges this year was our outside shooting, and we aren't really adding a major outside threat and are losing Edwards, who quietly became a better 3-point shooter this year. Even with Edwards, we simply weren't nearly good enough shooting from the outside this year and MUST be better at that next year.
Right now Freeman is really our only 2 guard other than Brown. Do we really think he will be good enough to jump from where he's at now to being a reliable Big 12 player off the bench next season? Because to keep his spot in the roster, he needs to be able to play 5-10 minutes per game at SG next year, and I don't think he will be able to do that unless he gets wayyyyyy better or is better now than we know.
So the question becomes:
1. Do we scrap signing McSwain, go after a Shooting Guard, AND keep Freeman on the roster and stay put where we are inside?
2. Do we sign McSwain, cut Freeman loose, and go after a new SG?
3. Do we sign McSwain and just roll with Freeman as our only other SG than Brown next year?
I'm thinking we need to sign McSwain (or another big), let go of Freeman, and sign another SG. I just don't think Freeman will be able to cut it at this level within the next year, if ever. And we need him to be ready as a contributor off the bench NEXT YEAR, not down the road. Plus, I think we can use another big with the questions surrounding Mauirce and Williams playing next year. The added athleticism McSwain would bring inside could be a nice piece to our team that we won't have if we don't sign him.
