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PG Aaron Craft (B1G 6th MOY '11, Def POY '12, Acad AA, Dolomiti En. TR - Italy)

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ImFrigginFly;2073366; said:
Man, I can't wait to see this kid in the NBA. Well...I guess I can wait a couple years/NCs
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Craft is an excellent college player but you will not see him at the next level. A PG in the NBA has to be able to shoot the ball and that's one thing Craft is not very good at.
 
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Yup. Also add in the flux of good point guards in the league. The only unathletic point guards in the league are old guys who can shoot the lights out (Andre Miller, Steve Nash, etc.)

EDIT: Not saying Craft is necessarily unathletic, but that he doesn't have NBA athleticism (like those guys).
 
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He's got a lot of room to develop his offense. I don't think he's ever going to be a leading 3-point shooter, so all he can really do there is be more proficient with the occasional 3 he takes. It's when he gets in the lane that he has a lot of room for development. JJ Barea is not all that different from Craft, other than his offensive repertoire. Craft could get to that level, but it will take a lot of work & an adjustment to his pass first mentality where he looks to score as much as he does to pass. Right now he's a pass first guy who isn't looking to score much - I don't think he can be an NBA guy without being a lot more of a scoring threat.
 
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I disagree. He is PLENTY athletic. Sure he doesn't dunk like John Wall or D. Rose, but the kid plays POINT GUARD. Right now, he is a liability on the scoring end. He also has Buford and Sully to pass to, and 2 years of eligibility after this year. At the VERY least, he is a serviceable role player for years.
 
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ImFrigginFly;2074046; said:
I disagree. He is PLENTY athletic. Sure he doesn't dunk like John Wall or D. Rose, but the kid plays POINT GUARD. Right now, he is a liability on the scoring end. He also has Buford and Sully to pass to, and 2 years of eligibility after this year. At the VERY least, he is a serviceable role player for years.
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just because a basketball player is very athletic does not mean that you can turn him into a good shooter. I guess we shall see in 2 1/2 years. No need to argue about it now. Let's just enjoy the ride:osu:
 
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Postgame comments

Taking Hulls off of Craft turned the game. Smart move by Crean but Craft is certainly better than what he showed last night. Very disappointing.

By Bob Baptist
Indiana rotated defenders on Aaron Craft in the first half of tonight's game, possibly in an effort to wear him down, and the Hoosiers found their answer just before halftime when Victor Oladipo stripped Craft of the ball twice in the final minute, leading to layups that gave the Hoosiers a 33-32 halftime lead.

"Craft was hurting us all over," Indiana coach Tom Crean said. "He is so powerful. His lower body is so strong that he can just go around you. We needed to do a better job of harassing Craft and making it more difficult for him to get into the lane. Victor helped us do that.

"No question there were a lot of momentum swings in the game, but slowing Craft down was a huge change for us."

Craft had four assists and six turnovers, his first negative ratio of the season. He came into the game with a 75-27 differential, fourth-best in the Big Ten.

"Oladipo?s a really good athlete, and especially after the first half, I knew that he was going to try to get back into me," Craft said.
He said he wasn't fatigued despite being hounded for 38 minutes by three or four different defenders. He sat for two minutes in the first half while Shannon Scott ran the point.

"I wasn?t tired. I just wasn?t making good decisions," Craft said. "They came out and pressured and usually I can handle it. Today, for whatever reason, I made some bad decisions and turned it over.

"That?s on me. I wasn?t tired. I?ve just got to make better decisions."
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http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/blogs/hoops-and-scoops/2011/12/12-31-postgame-indiana.html
 
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I think he tries to do too much sometime, he'll learn...

I wish he would take drives to the bucket sometimes rather than trying to dish it, I feel like he could draw a lot of fouls if he just goes for the shot rather than forcing a pass
 
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Post game content

By Bob Baptist
- Craft said the difference in the game came down to the fact that Indiana "could get a stop and we couldn?t.

"I turned the ball over in pressure situations at the end of both halves and they got out and converted them. They scored 17 points off our turnovers, which is huge in a big game like this.

"We just couldn?t get a stop. Every time we got a lead or we tied it up, they went down and scored. We couldn?t get a stop. You?ve got to give them credit."
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http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/blogs/hoops-and-scoops/2011/12/12-31-postgame-indiana.html
 
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Michael Arace commentary: Craft sharpens skills through hard work
By Michael Arace
The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday January 4, 2012

Ohio State point guard Aaron Craft?s cheeks turned rotisserie red after he turned the ball over six times at Assembly Hall the afternoon of Dec. 31. The Buckeyes, then the No. 2 team in the land, lost by four points to No. 13 Indiana. Craft twice gave the ball away on crucial possessions in the final minute, and he roasted over it.

Upon returning to Columbus, Craft spent his evening hours in the basketball office at Value City Arena. He sat, with video coordinator Greg Paulus and student manager Tim Daniels, and watched the tape of the game he had just played in Bloomington, Ind. He was watching his turnovers when the ball dropped in Times Square.

Happy New Year.

?I took it pretty hard,? he said. ?It was my fault. I made some mental errors that I just can?t do ? especially against a team like Indiana, which is so good in transition, and especially in a big game like that. ?

Craft, a former high-school quarterback, liked that he did not have to wait a week to get the ball back in his hands. He looked forward to last night?s game against Nebraska as a bit of a January balm.

Now, Nebraska is no Indiana. The Cornhuskers are missing a couple of key players and they have had a Big Ten baptism by fire. Last night?s game against Ohio State, presently ranked No. 6, followed form.

The Buckeyes (14-2, 2-1) rolled to a 71-40 victory before a crowd of 16,158. Coach Thad Matta wanted to see a higher level of defensive intensity, and he did. Nebraska fell to 8-6, 0-3 in the conference. Welcome.

As for Craft ? he threw the ball away on the Buckeyes? first possession of the game. The Cornhuskers went the other way for an easy layup. What went through his mind?

?I laughed a little bit, to be honest,? he said. ?It was my fault. Jared (Sullinger) was open in the post and I didn?t get the ball high enough. I just kind of smiled a little inside.?

cont...
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http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/stories/2012/01/04/craft-sharpens-skills-through-hard-work.html
 
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Outside the lines

All but one of his teammates has a Twitter account. One might assume Aaron Craft does, too, considering that @4crafty has more than 2,800 followers.

So why has he never tweeted?

?That?s actually not me,? Craft said. ?I don?t even know the password.?

Eddie Days, a member of the team last season, set up the account when he, Craft and some teammates visited a local Japanese steakhouse last year, Craft said.

?We were waiting to get a table because there was like eight or nine of us,? Craft said, ?and Eddie said, ?Hey, I?m going to make a Twitter and see how many followers you can get by the end of dinner.? Turned out by the end of dinner, I had more followers than he did.

?So it just kind of sits there.?

Why not use it?

?I don?t need any more distractions,? Craft said.

?I allow myself to get on (Facebook), and I give myself one game on my phone if I need a break from studying. But most of the time I try to cut out all the distractions that I can so I can focus on what I need to do.?

If you?re wondering, the only other player on the team who doesn?t tweet is Scott.
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http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/stories/2012/01/09/osu-mbk-insider-1-9-art-gqafj7h5-1.html
 
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