'12 IL PF T.J. Bell (8/16/2011)

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SycamoreStateofMind said:
Ahhh yes the good ole red shirt. I feel like that has worked in the past - against my vote, that has worked in the past. I like your thinking, this time only. Back to reality! lol
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What? You're cornfuzing me.... Are you saying our man Odum would have been better off, not to have been redshirted?

Are you saying it wuz bad, I mean real bad that Larry Bird didn't play his Freshman year, and then didn't play his Sophomore year.... was bad too, and by the time he was technically a Junior.....playing his first year of college ball was bad, real bad? What am eye missing, Pleeze xplain?

Name all the times, okay...just name the 3X's, a redshirt was bad business for ISU? If not ISU, name the 3x's a redshirt didn't work out for anyone, at any college USA.
 

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I had mentioned in an earlier post that several websites loved his game and thought he had great potential, but that he had to show a little more fire in the belly. This is a quote from MidStateHoops.com that talks about TJ. Again, it is a little old but still could be apt.

"Prospects don’t get much better than T.J. Bell. Bell, who just turned 14, is a 6’6” 190 lbs wing that has yet to hit the weight room. He has a very solid build, is skilled on the perimeter, and can shoot and rebound the ball. He is a shy kid and it does show in his game but once he adopts a “takeover” mentality much like Eric Gordon or Lewis Jackson had in high school, the sky is truly the limit for him. As of right now, he is capable of filling four positions (point guard, shooting guard, small forward, and power forward). Against conference teams, he will also be able to play some center. "
 
Gotta Hav said:
What? You're cornfuzing me.... Are you saying our man Odum would have been better off, not to have been redshirted?
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In the spirit of not trying to totally high jack this thread I will keep this short and sweet. I didn't/don't think Jake Odum should have red shirted because I think he could have had a great impact on this team when he was to be a true freshman - he is/was that good. Am I glad after the fact that he was redshirted? Heck yeah! It was brilliant and I am glad they did it (wasn't in favor of the decision at the time). Jake Odum was a better true PG as a 5'11 SR in HS than any player we had on the floor at the time, it's really that simple - many folks failed to realize it.

Back to the topic at hand - I haven't seen this kid play in person and I fully intend on doing so this high school hoops season. From what I have seen in the videos he will not have an immediate impact for us inside, he's not big enough to play outside of the PF position and it would seem with Justin Gant, RJ, Kitchell and Rhett Smith (coming in the same class) that redshirting Bell would make a ton of sense to me... Totally different situation than with Odum.
 
With the absence of Myles Walker, I fully expect to see T.J. play as a true freshman. When Myles leaves we will not have a true center. Therefore, I think we will see a rotation of Kitch, RJ, Gant, Koang, and Bell at the four and five positions. T.J.'s athleticism for his size will make him very valuable to our team and I believe that will be as soon as he steps on campus!
 
SycamoreBlue3209 said:
With the absence of Myles Walker, I fully expect to see T.J. play as a true freshman. When Myles leaves we will not have a true center. Therefore, I think we will see a rotation of Kitch, RJ, Gant, Koang, and Bell at the four and five positions. T.J.'s athleticism for his size will make him very valuable to our team and I believe that will be as soon as he steps on campus!
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I don't get it. You mean with Kitchell, Gant, RJ, Kd and Arop, you think we will need another 4-5? How many do you want?

No way he does not redshirt, unless he doesn't want to.
 

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sycamorebacker said:
I don't get it. You mean with Kitchell, Gant, RJ, Kd and Arop, you think we will need another 4-5? How many do you want?

No way he does not redshirt, unless he doesn't want to.
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????? Arop will start at the three. KD and RJ can play the three. Are you catching on yet?? They are all perimeter players. Bell can step inside and play. None of these guys are bangers, so we will need to throw all the big bodies we have in there. That is why I WANT that many. If you feel comfortable with Arop and KD controlling the paint you aren't being realistic.
 
SycamoreBlue3209 said:
????? Arop will start at the three. KD and RJ can play the three. Are you catching on yet?? They are all perimeter players. Bell can step inside and play. None of these guys are bangers, so we will need to throw all the big bodies we have in there. That is why I WANT that many. If you feel comfortable with Arop and KD controlling the paint you aren't being realistic.
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At 6'10" why is Kitchell not considered a true center? Or why could he not develop into one? I know he played at a small school, but he averaged a ton of rebounds his senior season in HS. And from the tiny amount that I saw of him last year (on the bench redshirting), he didn't look like a tall skinny lanky kid, he looked like he had some weight to go with his frame. Is there any validity to that observation?

But as far as TJ Bell goes, awesome that he's verbally committed to us! I believe he's going to turn up his game his senior year and come to ISU next year with a winner's mentality.
 
SycamoreBlue3209 said:
????? Arop will start at the three. KD and RJ can play the three. Are you catching on yet?? They are all perimeter players. Bell can step inside and play. None of these guys are bangers, so we will need to throw all the big bodies we have in there. That is why I WANT that many. If you feel comfortable with Arop and KD controlling the paint you aren't being realistic.
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You sound kind of disrespectful.
So if someone "can" play 3, that means they cannot play 4? Arop, RJ, KD and Gant CAN all play 4. We don't know yet, but I'm betting Kitchell will be a good 5. I'm smart enough to project 2 yrs ahead, and in the season 12-13, Arop, Kitchell, Gant, KD, and RJ will probably be getting all of the 4-5 minutes. Sorry, Charlie, but there are no minutes for the freshman Bell.

To say we will need him makes NO sense. Of course, if he is good enough to contribute, that's something else. If we do not have injuries, etc, we are well stocked at the 3-4-5 positions WITHOUT Bell.
And yes, I feel fine with Arop or KD playing the 4. You are the one that can't see the picture.
 
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Read what I said... Never said Kitchell is not a true center.. I said none are bangers.. Can you disagree with that?? You said I'm direspectful when my opinion results in you saying. "How many do you want?" Therefore I told you how many I want. I don't believe Arop, KD, or RJ's game is made for the paint. Cant they play the four??? Obviously, Todd McCoy and Carl do. My opinion is that if we have the size, why not utilize guys like Arop and KD as mismatches for many Valley threes. If we have those guys on the wings, there is room for T.J. down low.
 

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I gotta think Kitch is more of a banger now, after a year of playing against Myles Walker in practice, than he was after high school. Myles can lay a guy out!!!

Why all this arguing? Can't we all just get along? How about a verse of "Kumbaya???":imslow:

After all, we do have what seems like an immense amount of talent coming our way.

TJ Bell really seems like someone who might be an impact player for us. Tons of talent, athleticism, and he's really, really young for his class. He might be our anchor at PF for the forseeable future...
 
IndyTreeFan said:
I gotta think Kitch is more of a banger now, after a year of playing against Myles Walker in practice, than he was after high school. Myles can lay a guy out!!!

Why all this arguing? Can't we all just get along? How about a verse of "Kumbaya???":imslow:
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When I said we don't have bangers, I was talking about a guy like Myles Walker.

I don't like the argument either. I simply stated my opinion and it seems 'backer always attacks...
 
SycamoreBlue3209 said:
With the absence of Myles Walker, I fully expect to see T.J. play as a true freshman. When Myles leaves we will not have a true center. Therefore, I think we will see a rotation of Kitch, RJ, Gant, Koang, and Bell at the four and five positions. T.J.'s athleticism for his size will make him very valuable to our team and I believe that will be as soon as he steps on campus!
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Sorry if I attacked.
To start with, I'm a fan of redshirting. I hate to see freshmen sitting on the bench. I just couldn't understand why you want 5 players for the 4-5 positions. I expect Gant to play most of the time, so you don't need 3 backups for 4-5. I also understood that Arop is a tweener and not so good of a ball handler but a great rebounder. If we have a good shooter at the 3, Arop could play some or a lot of 4, depending on how we get the best lineup on the floor.

Maybe you have higher expectations for Bell, and that is good. He might be ready as a freshman. I understand that to be a possibility.
 
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sycamorebacker said:
To start with, I'm a fan of redshirting. I hate to see freshmen sitting on the bench. I just couldn't understand why you want 5 players for the 4-5 positions. I expect Gant to play most of the time, so you don't need 3 backups for 4-5. I also understood that Arop is a tweener and not so good of a ball handler but a great rebounder. If we have a good shooter at the 3, Arop could play some or a lot of 4, depending on how we get the best lineup on the floor.

Maybe you have higher expectations for Bell, and that is good. He might be ready as a freshman. I understand that to be a possibility.
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Yes, I do have high expectations for Bell. I am also a fan of redshirting, but in the 2012 class, I would rather see Rhett redshirt. I just think about two years ago when Harry and Rashad went down with injuries and we were trying to have JP lead us as our point guard. Good thing it's coaches decision and not ours! Lol.
 

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SycamoreBlue3209 said:
Yes, I do have high expectations for Bell. I am also a fan of redshirting, but in the 2012 class, I would rather see Rhett redshirt. I just think about two years ago when Harry and Rashad went down with injuries and we were trying to have JP lead us as our point guard. Good thing it's coaches decision and not ours! Lol.
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Yes. I've seen Rhett twice and I'm still not certain what his position is. We seem to be stockpiling players his size with K Smith, Burnett, Arop. That would seemingly give us 4 wing forwards about the same age. Not saying we can't use them, but redshirting is a way of spreading them a bit. It's not quite so bad, though, since Arop is older and K Smith will be behind as far as practice. I don't even know if K Smith can redshirt.

As far as Bell, considering he was #1 in ILL when younger leads one to believe that he has a lot of talent. One of the writeups linked on here made him sound REAL good.
 
Quabachi said:
At 6'10" why is Kitchell not considered a true center? Or why could he not develop into one? I know he played at a small school, but he averaged a ton of rebounds his senior season in HS. And from the tiny amount that I saw of him last year (on the bench redshirting), he didn't look like a tall skinny lanky kid, he looked like he had some weight to go with his frame. Is there any validity to that observation?

But as far as TJ Bell goes, awesome that he's verbally committed to us! I believe he's going to turn up his game his senior year and come to ISU next year with a winner's mentality.
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sycamorebacker said:
Yes. I've seen Rhett twice and I'm still not certain what his position is. We seem to be stockpiling players his size with K Smith, Burnett, Arop. That would seemingly give us 4 wing forwards about the same age. Not saying we can't use them, but redshirting is a way of spreading them a bit. It's not quite so bad, though, since Arop is older and K Smith will be behind as far as practice. I don't even know if K Smith can redshirt.

As far as Bell, considering he was #1 in ILL when younger leads one to believe that he has a lot of talent. One of the writeups linked on here made him sound REAL good.
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ever seen him play
 
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