Originally Posted by OSU Flyer
Look we don't have to have a big in the mold of Sean Finn. We need people with some size and versatility that can rebound, defend and play within the arc.
Saying Villanova, Rockets or Warriors play positionless basketball doesn't mean Cohill can defend St. Louis's incoming 6'8 4 star power forward who had an offer from Kansas.
Open question whether Obi or Frankie can do that or whether they want to as players spend their time in the paint most of the game.
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Just in case this needs to be said...
Would I love to have a mobile big who can defend? Absolutely! But I prefer guards that can play vs. another Jordan Pierce.
Chances are decent we don't have anybody who can guard a 6'8" power forward good enough to go to Kansas and won't when the season starts either.
But, CAG has shown he's not against going to a zone. So maybe no one man has that responsibility in the first place.
But let's say the worst case scenario happens and a guy like Cohill is asked to guard him and the PF is just too big and strong for Cohill. Then it's on Cohill to make sure his quickness and ball handling are a mismatch at the other end.
I see teams taking out decent bigs to match up better with smaller, quicker teams all the time. The key is that we need to be good enough offensively to dictate that other teams have to match up to us and our strengths.
As it stands now, I think we have a lot riding on Obi's defense so that we don't have to go to zone all the time. But even playing man, without the 3-second defense rule, you can sag and help quite a bit. And if you have quickness, recovery out to shooters is that much easier.
I watched a really good LSU team with both Shaq and Stanley Roberts lose to a team that played a 6'6" center. Yes, Chris Jackson went for 41 because of all the collapsing down low, but LSU still lost. (Negative 5 points for the first poster that says it's because Dale Brown was their coach.)