Freshman of the Year / Newcomer of the Year Nominees

[shockem]

I like Thurman and think he'll be a very good player at SMS. I was hoping he would come to WSU but we just didn't have the room for him. He'll get good minutes and have a good career at SMS. Hopefully he doesn't turn into the next version of Johhny Murdock and make us pay for the next 4 years.

[BEARZ77]

I like Thurman and think he'll be a very good player at SMS. I was hoping he would come to WSU but we just didn't have the room for him. He'll get good minutes and have a good career at SMS. Hopefully he doesn't turn into the next version of Johhny Murdock and make us pay for the next 4 years.

You had room, he said NO!

[Aargh]

There aren't many WSU posters left here, but...

...Ron Baker hasn't played a single game in the Valley, but in practice videos, he was hitting 3's from where you have your logos on the court close to the half-court line.

Fred VanVleet is higher-rated coming into the league than Dougie McD. No Shox fans expect FVV to do anything close to what Dougie has done. VanVleet probably won't get the minutes for FoY or NoY.

Cleanthony Early was rated the #1 or #2 JuCo player in the nation last year (all classifications). Word is that he's got a lot of "JuCo" to get rid of before he's going to be effective in D1. Videos show that he's got a full-speed cross-over that gets him to the basket in transition and he's "effective" (35% or so) from 3.

Nick Wiggins (6'6") has the quickness and speed to keep up with the 6'4" 3rd guards the Valley tends to put on the floor. So does Early (6'8"). They're both looking at playing SF, so neither is likely to get the minutes for NoY.

Then there's Lufile. 6'9", 250 - and in D1 shape at that weight. Not that great in JuCo. Something like 13 points, 8 boards, and a lot of blocks. Likely to be the backup to EO, so won't have the minutes for NoY.

[Wufan]

Fair and balanced analysis by Aargh, but he left out Armstead.