That’s a very Omar Payne stat line. If he brought the energy and focus he is capable of bringing he’d be a 12 and 8 guy.
Consistent energy/focus was Payne’s challenge. Turnovers, missed defensive assignments, and disappeared some games in past. Hope he becomes a complete player in the future
My guess is that Payne will be the starting center for Illinois next year. Locke was the leading scorer for Louisville last night. Glover's coach said that he would pay the price of admission to watch Glover on offense, but he needs to work on his defense.
Glover should do really well at this level, and has always been a fun to player to watch. I'd be surprised if Payne ever establishes himself as a reliable starter. Locke is a good college player and excellent shooter. He wanted to play pg. That wasnt going to happen here. I didn't watch the game and cant find any indication . . . did he get some minutes at pg last night for UL?
I don’t buy the really well at this level notion. There is no reason that he can’t be as good or better of a player than Tyree Appleby. The Southern Conference is one of the better conferences outside of the Big 6, so Glover will get to show what he’s made of. Last night’s game was meaningless for all practical purposes, other than for the fact that Glover has established himself as the starting point guard. We will see what happens with Payne. As his coach said, he can be a really good pick and roll big man. Locke started at the 2, but he had the ball at the top of the key out past the 3-point line several times. He looked fine in the minutes that I saw him play out there. I didn’t see any turnovers and he moved the ball. He didn’t shoot particularly well while I was watching, but he must have scored a lot while I wasn’t watching. I saw him score 4 points in the first half. He ended up with 16, I believe.
Thanks for the info on Locke. I will be rooting for him, as he is a good kid who just has some misguided (though well-intentioned) folks in his ear. I’m not really sure how to respond to the portion regarding Glover. Surely there is a difference in caliber of competition at Samford versus Florida... both competition for playing time and quality of opposition. Glover is a good player and may develop into something more. But he was not as good as the guards on the roster and would have been fighting for time. He made a good decision to transfer, and to where he transferred.
Not sure how Payne will mesh with Brad Underwood but we’ll see. Kid has some talent but “want to” has been the issue in the past and while I hope I’m wrong, I wouldn’t be surprised if things don’t work out any better for Payne at Illinois.
Locke went 5-13 from the field, 3-9 from 3, 25 minutes, zero assists, two turnovers. It looks like Louisville started a 3 guard lineup, though minutes distribution dispelled that. I hope Glover and Locke do well. I hope Omar figures out the face in the mirror is the one that determines his future.
Locke had no assists, but he was moving the ball. The other guards were being on the ball hoggish side of things.
Locke is an excellent shooter. Not a PG. Whites offense doesn’t necessarily maximize “spot up shooters” since the ball movement is weak. But we will probably miss his spot up shooting nonetheless. Its hard to know what this years team is yet, but we might be slightly offensively challenged. Locke is probably the biggest “unexpected” loss because of that shooting aspect. Payne is a loss because we don’t have a ton of big bodies, but in most games you can get away with what we have - provided we don’t suffer the injury bug, unlike the loss of Locke it’s really matchup defendant.
My general feeling is that Jones is just as good a shooter as Locke, but Jones can also handle the rock and make some plays off the dribble. I don’t feel like it’s a big drop off for us. Defense is probably a wash as well. Agree Locke isn’t a PG. I really don’t like that he was demanding things from CMW either. When that happens you gotta cut bait imo. Wish him all the best though and I hope he makes it professionally somewhere. For all intents and purposes he seems like a great kid.
The problem is we lost Mann AND Locke. Jones coming from the Big 10 should fill Mann’s shoes, and perhaps be a more solid 2 way player. But still have to identify another shooter. Appleby will have to fill a larger role, maybe he can play more off the ball (he’s a bit loose with the ball as a PG anyway… IMO).
AN played well for Gonzaga tonight. Played 40 minutes and controlled ball, dished assists and did not take too many bad shots.
Payne somehow found a way to foul out in just under seven minutes of court time in Illinois second game Friday night. Some things never change.
Locke was the leading scorer on Friday night with 20 points but Louisville lost to Furman 80-72. Wouldn’t be surprised if Locke was guarding their top scorer who ended up with 30 points. Locke was always a good scorer but a lousy defender. Will be interesting to see how Louisville’s defense does with him as a key contributor.
agree, his problem was never shooting. he was one of the worst perimeter defenders we've had in 20 years.
Good kid and I don't want to disparage him but he was a streaky shooter. If he could not spot up his shooting percentage took a beating.
