UMassHoops.com

Welp, I wasn't expecting something like this...
"Robert Morris transfer Marcquise Reed has trimmed his list to (no order) Creighton, George Washington, Southern Cal, Tulsa, UMass"
https://twitter.com/MarcusHelton/status ... 5256389633

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... quise-reed
http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports. ... holarship/

He'd be a nice pickup for 2016-17, but obviously no help for next year.

Kid averaged 16 as a freshman. He scored 22 against Duke in the tourney. He shot 41 percent from three on the year.

SIGN. HIM. UP.

He averaged 31 points a game his senior year in high school, but was very lightly recruited. I was able to find some video from his high school days, his 3pt shot is just a set shot and it looks really ugly. Maybe it's improved since then? He scored the vast majority of his points at Robert Morris inside the 3pt line, he averaged less than 1 3pt FG a game.

@MarcusHelton: Robert Morris transfer Marcquise Reed has trimmed his list to (no order) Creighton, George Washington, Southern Cal, Tulsa, UMass. #DMVhoops

saw him play in high school. good guard

Reed was 33/80 from 3 this year. It's not a huge number, but it's enough to hope his stroke might have improved. Clark took 88 and Jabarie took 89 this year so it's a reasonable sample size.

iwearglovesndhat wrote:saw him play in high school. good guard

I'm interested in your thoughts on him and how he would be at UMass, seriously.

My biggest concern is how well can he get his 3pt shot off? Maybe it doesn't matter, maybe he's a drive first guard and only really uses his 3pt shot if he's wide open. Even though Robert Morris plays in the NEC he had some really good games against good teams. Kid scored 22 points against Duke in the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney and 19 against N. Florida in the play-in game. In the OOC he scored 21 against Clemson, 18 against Toledo, 10 against Duquesne, 18 against Buffalo and 24 against North Carolina. In all of those games combined he shot 56% from the field, with not a single game below 40% and only 2 below 50%.

Nice. But am more curious for the big men that we really need NEXT YEAR. We seem to be pretty well stocked for the guards for the next 1-2 years with Davis, Hinds, Pipkins plus Dyson who should get more minutes. If this guy was such a big deal in HS, how come he only got picked up at Robert Morris?

NilesGold wrote:He averaged 31 points a game his senior year in high school, but was very lightly recruited. I was able to find some video from his high school days, his 3pt shot is just a set shot and it looks really ugly. Maybe it's improved since then? He scored the vast majority of his points at Robert Morris inside the 3pt line, he averaged less than 1 3pt FG a game.

Well then Umass is the home for this kid - We specialize in ugly looking 3 point shots .

EBox wrote:Nice. But am more curious for the big men that we really need NEXT YEAR. We seem to be pretty well stocked for the guards for the next 1-2 years with Davis, Hinds, Pipkins plus Dyson who should get more minutes. If this guy was such a big deal in HS, how come he only got picked up at Robert Morris?

I agree but we could use him in two years.... lock him up.

Use the other scholy on a big.

NilesGold wrote:

iwearglovesndhat wrote:saw him play in high school. good guard

I'm interested in your thoughts on him and how he would be at UMass, seriously.

My biggest concern is how well can he get his 3pt shot off? Maybe it doesn't matter, maybe he's a drive first guard and only really uses his 3pt shot if he's wide open. Even though Robert Morris plays in the NEC he had some really good games against good teams. Kid scored 22 points against Duke in the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney and 19 against N. Florida in the play-in game. In the OOC he scored 21 against Clemson, 18 against Toledo, 10 against Duquesne, 18 against Buffalo and 24 against North Carolina. In all of those games combined he shot 56% from the field, with not a single game below 40% and only 2 below 50%.

I think a 3 guard line up of pipkins (if as good as advertised) him self and clark is a top 2-3 backcourt in the A10. reed can play. he is not as much of a shooter as he is a scoring (combo) guard. think a bit taller but smarter guard than trey Davis from last year. he is a guard that similar to donte, can create his own shot...something Davis, Anderson, DySon can't really do. I think assuming he is not completely out of shape and practices hard in his redshirt year, he will be a double digit scorer for us the next year (assuming he chooses to come here)

^ That fits with what I saw of him. Similar to Davis, but bigger, quicker and maybe more creative. I'm kind of torn on wanting him at UMass or not. He obviously can't help in 2015-16 and that's probably the biggest drawback. I'd maybe prefer a grad transfer this year and someone like Malik Crowfield in 2016. Of course it's hard to pass up someone who's already proven they can excel in D1 and really score the ball efficiently.

EBox wrote:am more curious for the big men that we really need NEXT YEAR. We seem to be pretty well stocked for the guards

+1 to that

We may be stocked with guards but they haven't proven they can shoot. As we saw last season, having a good big man doesn't do enough if there are not outside threats. Cady Lalanne was a very good big man but he was stifled by the lack of outside threat (and his inability to pass effectively out of the double team).

^
FACT not OPINION!

UMass87 wrote:We may be stocked with guards but they haven't proven they can shoot. As we saw last season, having a good big man doesn't do enough if there are not outside threats. Cady Lalanne was a very good big man but he was stifled by the lack of outside threat (and his inability to pass effectively out of the double team).

I agree with you on the guards ability but calling Cady a "very good big man", in my opinion, may be slightly overstating reality. Of course he averaged nearly a double double this past year, but I would consider a "very good big man" to hit at least 15 pts per game. He also increasingly turned over the ball in his career, even while his minutes and shots were similar in junior and senior years (recalling numerous traveling calls, inability to hang onto the ball, etc.). Agreed that the increase in double teaming contributed to this, but still feeling that "very good" big men find a way to muscle up, hang onto the ball and effectively pass out of the double team. In my mind, he never achieved at UMass what his potential could have been for someone of his size. We've had smaller guys proven they can perform well in the paint (Lou Roe, Dana Dingle, Donta Bright, Tony Gaffney). His senior year, Gaffney averaged 11.5 and 10.2 boards per game, and Chris Lowe wasn't a great 3 point shooter that year - Ricky Harris had good 3 point capability and he was only in the mid 30%s - not much from Correa, Matt Glass or Gurley that year.

Even as we may have guards who are unproven shooters, I think having a good big man down low is key, not just for scoring but for rebounding those missed 3 pointers by the guards.