OSU Men's Basketball Recruiting/Projections/General Discussions

[nomatta]

FWIW, UVa insiders think that UVa is getting Woods. I think the coach connection is what's pushing them over the edge (one of their assistants used to coach for Charlotte at the time that Woods was there). Sucks because I think otherwise we would have gotten Woods.

Really hoping we can get Cunningham.

 

[starBUCKS]

FWIW, UVa insiders think that UVa is getting Woods. I think the coach connection is what's pushing them over the edge (one of their assistants used to coach for Charlotte at the time that Woods was there). Sucks because I think otherwise we would have gotten Woods.

Really hoping we can get Cunningham.

Certainly will sound like sour grapes, but I won’t be overly heart broken over a guy that came off the bench for an 11-20 team and 14th in the ACC. Just in the context that I don’t think he’d come in and be any type of game changer. These grad transfers really get too much cred.

 

[DZ83CK]

Certainly will sound like sour grapes, but I won’t be overly heart broken over a guy that came off the bench for an 11-20 team and 14th in the ACC. Just in the context that I don’t think he’d come in and be any type of game changer. These grad transfers really get too much cred.

Well none of the grad transfers are on the level of a KBD or Tate, but Woods is about as good as it gets from grad transfers. Unfortunately it does look like UVA has the upper hand. The bright side is it's still April and CH has another grad transfer guard slated to visit this month who provides more of a PG skillset.

 

[nomatta]

A lot of grad transfers are transferring up a level of play. Woods would have been, if anything, transferring down since ACC has been stronger than the B1G the past couple years. Also, Woods started a lot of games for Wake Forest in 2016-2017 and that was his best season, putting up 12.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, and 3.5 apg with really good percentages, on a Wake Forest team that made the Dance. I don't think he was utilized properly last season and was also battling some injury issues, and yet still averaged double figures off the bench. If anything, what he was able to do off the bench (Wake's second-leading scorer that season) is a continuing endorsement for his game and what he'd bring to the table as a scorer.

Listen, I don't think he'd be a "game-changer" in the way that a versatile star like KBD was for us. Keyshawn would have been basically a slightly taller, slightly more consistent, slightly more well-rounded Kam Williams. But scoring is really gonna be at a premium for next season's team. We return two double digit scorers. None of our other returning guys averaged over 5 ppg. The closest thing is Micah Potter at 4.1 ppg. None of our incoming freshmen project to be instant impact offense. I think we will see some offensive contributions here and there from the frosh and I hope for offensive improvement from our returning guys, but it would have been nice to have added an experienced wing option who has already proven that they can efficiently average digits in one of the best conferences in college basketball.

Cunningham is the type of grad transfer where I think you'd see a sharp dip in his numbers, such is the disparity between Samford and the SoCon and Ohio St and the B1G. That said, he does seem a very able ballhandler and distributor--set some records at Samford for assists--so I think he could definitely help our team next season, and his value as a facilitating PG compounds if another scorer emerges for us from the returning or incoming guys. And such is the deficit of apparent scoring on our team next season, I could see Cunningham being the third-leading scorer after CJ and Kaleb.

 

[OSU_Buckguy]

Just in the context that I don’t think he’d come in and be any type of game changer. These grad transfers really get too much cred.

of all the grad transfers we've been at least remotely tied to, only three would i consider the kind of player who would/could move us up a whole letter grade, if you will. they are cremo, taylor, and mooney.

my main concern about cunningham when looking at all of his career games against decent teams:

arky - 1 assist, 4 turnovers
lsu - 4, 4
loy-c - 5, 1
cincy - 5, 4
fsu - 3, 3
lville - 2, 4
texas - 3, 6
purdue - 2, 2

total - 25 assists to 28 turnovers


this is why i look at cunningham's junior season 6.3-to-2.2 and career 4.7-to-2.4 assist-to-turnover ratios with a bit of a side-eye. while many of his assists in the highlight video are impressive, my guess is his lowlight video would also be impressive. there just isn't much playing time available to a transfer guard who doesn't value the ball while also being no better than an average shooter from outside.

 

[MaxBuck]

of all the grad transfers we've been at least remotely tied to, only three would i consider the kind of player who would/could move us up a whole letter grade, if you will. they are cremo, taylor, and mooney.

my main concern about cunningham when looking at all of his career games against decent teams:

arky - 1 assist, 4 turnovers
lsu - 4, 4
loy-c - 5, 1
cincy - 5, 4
fsu - 3, 3
lville - 2, 4
texas - 3, 6
purdue - 2, 2

total - 25 assists to 28 turnovers


this is why i look at cunningham's junior season 6.3-to-2.2 and career 4.7-to-2.4 assist-to-turnover ratios with a bit of a side-eye. while many of his assists in the highlight video are impressive, my guess is his lowlight video would also be impressive. there just isn't much playing time available to a transfer guard who doesn't value the ball while also being no better than an average shooter from outside.

I see your point, but when Samford is playing the big boys, it lends a certain desperation to the team in which players think they need to stretch their games in order to compete. Perhaps Cunningham isn't as good as his highlights suggest, but also perhaps playing for a truly competitive team would allow him to play more within himself. I still like what I see there.

 

[nomatta]

While I certainly take your point about competition level, Buckguy, as I made a similar point myself in my previous post, I don't think the sample size for his mediocre games against better comp is big enough versus what he did in his career at Samford to be able to concretely classify him as a guard "who doesn't value the ball." He might be more turnover prone than the ideal PG, sure, but he is Samford's all-time leader in assists and was in the T10 nationally for assists per game and A:TO in 2016-2017. He works hard to facilitate and distribute and, sure, some turnovers come with that sometimes.

That said, you don't have to look further than Jaaron Simmons at Ohio U vs. Jaaron Simmons at scUM to see what a difference level of play can make for a guard like that. I think the difference for OSU and Christen Cunningham, though, is we actually kind of need Christen. We made more than do with a former walk-on in Dakich, I think Holtmann can get more than that out of Cunningham, to the point that I think he'd actually probably start alongside CJ. if nothing else, I am pretty confident that Muhammad and Washington, as true frosh SGs, are not going to be able to run offense and assist the ball anywhere at the same level that an experienced PG like Cunningham would for us, so even if Cunningham ends up just being our back-up PG, that's still a valuable thing for this team. And freshmen guards tend to turn the ball over a fair bit, so I really don't see any edge that the incoming guys would have over Christen as far as PG play is concerned. Though CJ has been playing better competition than Christen the past couple years, I do see more PG to Christen's game. I think it would help CJ, really, to be able to play with a guard like Christen in the backcourt who can shoulder some of the ballhandling responsibilities and would seem to have good court vision and the ability to get the ball to the right spots.

 

[OSU_Buckguy]

i'm not saying we couldn't use cunningham or that we would be better off without him. however, based on his performances against good competition over more than three whole seasons in a poor conference, i'm tempering my expectations of his impact just a little bit. despite his transfer announcement almost a month ago, there is a reason that the programs looking at him are one osu absolutely no one knows exists and another osu that may be down to its last shot at a grad transfer. perhaps i'd be little more optimistic if he were a good shooter. but he's not.

 

[nomatta]

yeah, and I don't fully disagree, I guess I wasn't sure about the intent of your comments since you said "there just isn't much playing time available to a transfer guard who doesn't value the ball while also being no better than an average shooter from outside." given Ohio State's roster situation next season, I think Cunningham would play quite a bit.

 

[LitlBuck]

I think we can all agree that while Cunningham might not be our "first choice" when it comes to a grad transfer, he is a body that could give Jackson a rest or even one of the incoming freshman if they prove that they are capable of playing the PG. We need bodies for next season and Cunningham is a body I will welcome him if he decides to play one year at Ohio State.

 

[Smudger]

 

[OHSportsFan]

BOOM! Wow

Welcome Keyshawn!

 

[MaxBuck]

Boom to the boom power.

Exponential squared.

 

[jwinslow]

Quick, someone send John Dell a photo of Mike Conley.

 

[starBUCKS]

Certainly will sound like sour grapes, but I won’t be overly heart broken over a guy that came off the bench for an 11-20 team and 14th in the ACC. Just in the context that I don’t think he’d come in and be any type of game changer. These grad transfers really get too much cred.

See that, it was reverse psychology that I was using!

Great pick up