In Defense of Wooden

[Buford_Julep]

Our fans may be unimpressed with his play, but the Tulsa defense sure seemed worried about where he was at all times. Every time he had the ball there were at least two and sometimes three defenders all over him.

Sure he had some ball-handling troubles Tuesday, but my bet is he will get much better. Remember, this guy sat out all last year and was on the stationary bike during most of the pre-season practices. He needs more playing time to get the rust off.

Edited November 23, 2006 by Buford_Julep

[e-bone ver2.awesome]

The only thing I'm worried about is his lack of explosiveness, which is hopefully something that will come back over the course of the season. But I'm very impressed with his touch around the rim. However, I was kind of expecting a dominant inside player along the lines of a Shawnson Johnson.

[IslandEagle]

The only thing I'm worried about is his lack of explosiveness, which is hopefully something that will come back over the course of the season. But I'm very impressed with his touch around the rim. However, I was kind of expecting a dominant inside player along the lines of a Shawnson Johnson.

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His leg is bad. He gotten beaten a couple of times early at Rice, but when he settled in he shut down Rice's inside game in his vicinity. I see him as a good steady inside player. My biggest disappointment in him is the relatively low rebound rate, though he did pull in 2 of the biggest rebounds of the night in the Rice game.

[Buford_Julep]

I was kind of expecting a dominant inside player along the lines of a Shawnson Johnson.

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So was I based upon what I saw last year.

[chrisfisher]

Does anyone know what is specifically wrong with his knee(s) or how he injured his knee? How about his prognosis for recovery this season? I think their is a ton of potential in Wooden.

[untwillrise]

I still have yet to see anything out of Wooden to excite me. Even vs. Cameron and Texas College he was not even close to being a good player, and that was vs. bad post teams. He continuly turns the ball over and turns right into the double team. He has no abilitiy to pass it out to the perimeter, which needs to be down. He can't jump to shoot over people or block shots. He was abused by the postman from UTA and by some Post vs. Rice and was killed by the same move vs. Tulsa. I don't think he should start or even play after the production that he has given. Quincy is playing much better and I want to see Jackson play a little more. The only time he should play is when JJ is thinking about putting in Howerton.

[e-bone ver2.awesome]

I still have yet to see anything out of Wooden to excite me. Even vs. Cameron and Texas College he was not even close to being a good player, and that was vs. bad post teams. He continuly turns the ball over and turns right into the double team. He has no abilitiy to pass it out to the perimeter, which needs to be down. He can't jump to shoot over people or block shots. He was abused by the postman from UTA and by some Post  vs. Rice and was killed by the same move vs. Tulsa. I don't think he should start or even play after the production that he has given. Quincy is playing much better and I want to see Jackson play a little more. The only time he should play is when JJ is thinking about putting in Howerton.

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No PT after sitting out for a season... sounds like a great way for him to shake off the rust. This is OOC, against teams that aren't that great. Let him play and get back into the flow and get his legs back under him. I like his touch around the rim and other teams key on him, which opens up the offense for others.

[untwillrise]

No PT after sitting out for a season... sounds like a great way for him to shake off the rust. This is OOC, against teams that aren't that great. Let him play and get back into the flow and get his legs back under him. I like his touch around the rim and other teams key on him, which opens up the offense for others.

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I might have went overboard on that.

But in actuallity people do not key on him. They press our gaurds hard. He just takes to long to make his move and he does not reset the post.

When he catches the ball in the post he needs to make a move quick. I he gets doubled he needs to kick it out for a three or reset his post. Two things our gaurds need to work on is post entry, Bell is the worst passer into the post I have ever seen and he always blames it on Wooden or Quincy if it rolls out of bounce, THEY ARE 6-9 THEY CAN NOT FEND OF THE DEFENDER AND BEND OVE TO PICK UP A BAD PASS. Please can someone cut when they pass it into the post?

[MeanGreenBuzz]

I have been less than impressed with Wooden most of the time, but when he actually brings it strong to the rim he can be very explosive. Based on what I say last year when he first arrived this guy is not 100%. He may be 60-65% right now. On Williams, I would love to see him start and Wooden be the backup because Quincy has been dominant in his minutes in there. With Howerton I see alot of potential. He plays with TONS of energy but he still makes freshman mistakes as a sophmore. One thing he definately improved on was his build. Last year he just looked like Shaun Bradley, this year he looks like Shaun Bradley on steroids. He is alot stronger and if he can improve his passing down low he will develop into a very good center. Jackson I havn't seen much of but when he is in I don't see play pick up or him really make a positive impact. I hope that changes. Ben Bell had a rough game vs. Tulsa but before that he has been an extremely efficient passer. His Assists/TO rate is well over 2 and more than double the next closest person on the team. Heck he is the only person on the team with an A/TO ratio over 1. When he is in the ball gets moved around alot better. Yes Sturns can create things on the drive better but Bell orchestrates the offense better.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Buford, I know what you're saying about Wooden is true but I'm still disappointed in his performance. Maybe he's overhyped and we expect too much from him. He wasn't a great scorer at ASU so I really didn't expect that too much but I did expect him to be a dominant rebounder. So far, it looks like Jackson has more potential as a rebounder and he has as much or more rust than Wooden.

[chrisfisher]

Buford, check Wooden's stats tonight. You'll like what you see.

[Texas Stranger]

It looked like the game plan tonight was to get the ball as close to the basket as possible. Lots of driving and passing down low. TSUSM is simply a perimeter team. They got hot for awhile from the outside in the first half, which kept them close and gave them a lead for a few minutes. They cooled off in the second half, and pounding the ball inside set the rout in motion.

[chrisfisher]

I decided to revive this older thread as it seems very relevant right now. We all noticed that Wooden started off a little shaky. However, he seems to be getting better and better with each game. He was true force to be reckoned with at WKU, and even shot the winning basket. Not surprisingly, his play seems to have gotten better as his leg has gotten better. I can't help but wonder how much that leg thing played into his scenario, though I know he needed to shake off some rust after the 1 year sit out. I predict now that Wooden is going to turn out to be a brilliant JJ transfer signing. His game has improved in all areas, though he seems prone to committing ticky-tack fouls early in the game.

I think Wooden is going to go to town on Jarvis Christian and Behaven (if JJ plays him much).

[GreenEggs&Ham™]

WKU had no answer for Wooden and Darrin Horn even admited after the game Tuesday that Wooden killed WKU inside.

I saw a big strong inside player with a decent touch. Keep in mind UNT just defeated WKU for the first time ever (1-7 against WKU) this week and that was mostly because of Wooden. Watson and Sturns were left open because of WKU's attempts to keep the ball away from Wooden.

Just my take and I was there Tuesday night.

[untwillrise]

I don't care why he was playing bad earlier in the year. I just want him to keep getting better. If Wooden and Williams keep getting better in the post, Sturns, Watts, and KD will have open threes all night.

But against WKU Wooden didn't have anyone even close to stopping him. Everytime Wooden plays against a descent postman he struggles. So Have to wait and see before i declare him better then Q.

[UNTLifer]

I only saw Wooden play at Rice, and I too thought he looked like he was injured. Nothing has been reported officially, so this is only speculation. His improved play of late could be attributed to a combination of recovering from this injury and shaking off the rust. I hope so, because he has the physical build to be dominating in the SBC, and our team needs an inside presence to free up Davis, Watson and Sturns.

[untwillrise]

I only saw Wooden play at Rice, and I too thought he looked like he was injured. Nothing has been reported officially, so this is only speculation. His improved play of late could be attributed to a combination of recovering from this injury and shaking off the rust. I hope so, because he has the physical build to be dominating in the SBC, and our team needs an inside presence to free up Davis, Watson and Sturns.

You were at the Rice game? Were did you sit? I was that loud kid that was making them Proods mad!

[chrisfisher]

I only saw Wooden play at Rice, and I too thought he looked like he was injured. Nothing has been reported officially, so this is only speculation. His improved play of late could be attributed to a combination of recovering from this injury and shaking off the rust. I hope so, because he has the physical build to be dominating in the SBC, and our team needs an inside presence to free up Davis, Watson and Sturns.

I noticed at the WKU game Wooden was wearing a much smaller black knee brace, instead of the whole leg brace. I think that is an obvious sign that whatever his leg problem is, it is getting better.

[MeanGreenBuzz]

From watching him practice with the team last year to how he started the season this year it was obvious he was playing injured. What we saw out of him early in the season was him at about 60%. I still don't think he is completely healthy but we will see how he looks at our next SBC home game.

[UNTLifer]

You were at the Rice game? Were did you sit? I was that loud kid that was making them Proods mad!

I was sitting in the upper section behind the Rice bench with my 4 year old running around the bleachers.