Posted by Don Solo on 6/29/2012, 12:54 pm, in reply to "Re: Doolin #10 player in the WCC, from Zack Farmer"
Basketball is a team game, and I think college basketball especially depends a LOT on the way coaches use particular player's skills/talents. This is one of MANY reasons why I love college basketball and am at best indifferent about the NBA. In college basketball, you could have 5 guys that individually couldn't beat the other teams' 5 guys one-on-one, but definitely can be better than them as a team.
Kevin Foster in one program is an entirely different beast than Kevin Foster in another program. He would be surrounded by entirely different personnel, the dynamics would be completely different, and the coach would use him (by and large) in a very different way. I think when you are ranking players, you have to rank the player as they exist in their current environment. Drafting guys based on pure individual talent level would be a fun exercise, but in the real world, you have to build a TEAM. This actually goes back to the point that Rex was trying to make last year about Sam Dower. He felt that Dower's game would not fit well into the Dons' style (or at least not better than the guys the Dons already had at the time). And guess what? He was right! It doesn't denigrate Dower in any way (unless you are a sensitive Zaggie). It was a simple fact.
Would Foster do well in a big one-on-one tournament between all the players in the league? Absolutely! Is he capable of putting his team on his back and doing some amazing things on the basketball court? Absolutely! Does the risk of his approach to the game (along with the freedom allowed him by the beloved Kerry Keating) outweigh the reward? Heck no. Could he be a Top 10 guy in another program or in another system or a with a different coach? Possibly.
If I were Mark Few and had Mark Few's team and had a choice between Pangos and Foster, I would take Pangos. If were drafting guys for a one-on-one tournament, I would take Foster over Pangos.
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