Under these scenarios...

[mudderfudder77]

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20/6/3 is a big deal if you didn't watch the game!!

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You must have missed where he said he watched the game.

Anyways - a review of Conleys play from people who do that kind of stuff for a living:

Review is very even handed, stressing the positives and negatives of Conleys play.

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NCAA Tournament: NBA Draft Stock Watch (Nat'l Championship Game)

April 3, 2007

Mike Conley Jr closed out his freshman season with another excellent all-around performance

, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to prevent the Florida Gators from repeating as National Champions. The talented point guard played well beyond his years, as he has been doing all season long, and put together yet another stellar stat-line for the Buckeyes.

Less than a minute into the first half, Conley made his presence felt by stripping Taurean Green of the basketball and sprinting the other way for a breakaway layup. Just a couple of minutes later he took the ball coast-to-coast for another layup, weaving his way through Gator defenders. That would be it for a while for Conley who didn’t score very much in the first half, as he was hampered for the most part by foul trouble. Despite this, he still kept Ohio State in the game thanks to his stellar point guard play. Relying on his unbelievable control with the ball, quickness, and craftiness, Conley was able to drive and kick several times in that first half, including one particularly impressive drive and dish along the baseline that set up teammate Ivan Harris for an open three.

In the second half, Conley would step up his scoring efforts, finishing with 20 points in the game. A mediocre shooter from the outside during the year, he couldn’t manage to get his jumper going, hitting just a floater in the lane and a meaningless three in the game’s waning seconds. What he lacked from the outside though, he more than made up for going to the basket. Twice, Conley fooled defenders along the baseline with a crossover move, and twice he went strong to the basket taking a reverse layup. He converted on the first attempt in spectacular fashion, and missed the second amidst heavy pressure from the Florida interior. Later in the game he showed his elusiveness again, this time fooling Joakim Noah with a quick spin move in the lane that ended in another easy layup.

On defense, Conley had another solid game, playing pesky on the ball. He got caught napping a couple times and was burned off the dribble by Taurean Green, but in general Conley looked very sharp. He has great hands, and it showed in this game as he deflected several passes, and a couple of them wound up as steals, either for him or a teammate. More so than his hands though, it’s his instincts and knowledge of where to position himself when his man doesn’t have the ball that makes him dangerous. A couple of Conley’s steals came from his anticipation and playing the angles correctly on defense, cutting off passing lanes. These are little nuances that most freshmen haven’t added to their game yet defensively.

Despite disappearing for a stretch in the first half due to foul trouble, this was still a great performance from Conley. When he wasn’t hitting shots, he was setting up teammates or drawing fouls by being persistent. When he wasn’t on the ball defensively, he was forcing his man to work anyway.

This was one of the most impressive seasons by any freshman in the country, and the future is clearly very bright for Conley.

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[thesheedera]

Diesel's not interested in having a conversation. He's interested in setting up winnable arguments. When they don't look winnable, he takes another tangent and ignores the rest of what you're posting so he can find an advantage elsewhere.

[bfwolf]

True dat. Conley looked very good in the championship game, has played GREAT defense all season (anybody who has seen a handful of his games could attest to this), and appears pretty clutch to me. He's only got one weakness, and that's his jumpshot. Admittedly, that's a pretty big weakness for an NBA guard and is not to be taken lightly. But the rest of Diesel's argument? Pure nonsense.

[Guest Walter]

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Walter, I agree, this team is missing pieces to ever be good. But it's not like anyone else in the East is very good either. 40 wins is very reasonable.

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It may be possible if 2-3 teams fall apart with injuries, etc. but it's not reasonable. There is NO LIKELIHOOD that we improve 13, 4, and then 10 games (particularly after this offseason when our capitol is MUCH less than the last two offseasons)! It simply doesn't work that way. Rebuilds cannot be expected to skip and jerk without a MAJOR player change which we cannot expect given our lack of capitol.

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Going into this last year, I was worried about losing all of Harrington's offense and figured we'd win around 32 games. If not for all the injuries we would have easily topped that. Many of our players improved significantly this year and we were almost able to win without Joe.

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If you serious had us winning 32 games and going from a 13 to 6 game improvement, you fall into the above category. Not fits and spurts, jerks and start-ups without SERIOUS changes in capitol. Improvement is supposed to occur on a increasingly decreasing increase 13 wins, 26 wins, 36 wins, 43 wins, 48 wins, 51 wins...

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I dont think this team will be able to ever get a home court playoff game as constructed

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I'm with you there.

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Oden and Conley, 40 wins. Conley or Law only, 40 wins.

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I don't understand the difference. If we get Oden I definately see us with 40 wins. Without him and Conley? 36, maybe 37 wins...still no playoffs. With BK drafting? Who the hell knows?

W