I'll admit I'm probably a little overly pessimistic with regard to Holland and I'm high on Croaker more because of his potential than consistent production. I've got no way of knowing which guy will continue to develop, what rate they'll develop, etc. However, I see a lesser Justin Mason(right now) when I watch Holland. The big difference is Mason had some ability to create and even played PG for stretches. I get that Barnes saw a Mason/Royal type glue guy in Holland and that was a big reason he likes him. He's a classic Barnes-type guy.
My main reasoning in assuming Croaker is gone is due to him having a kid. I hadn't seen anything about him not being happy or being mad about playing time(although I would think he's frustrated) until last night. Someone, claiming to be close with Croaker, said after the WVU game(assuming Big 12 tourney) he wasn't happy about playing time and wasn't happy with Barnes. Don't know how accurate it is but I wouldn't be surprised if he is frustrated with his playing time. I'd hope he is, if he wasn't I don't think we'd want him on the team. Then there was the tweet after the game that seemed like he intends to stay. Will be something to watch for sure.
That said, I get why Croaker didn't play much this year. His shot selection wasn't great. He was 39-109 from the field, 22-74 from 3, 17-35 inside the arc. If I'm Barnes/whoever I'm pointing that to him and saying ATTACK THE BASKET. His defense and effort on the glass were also horrible to average at best. Defensively his positioning wasn't great and he would get very jumpy at times, often jumping out of position. And his effort rebounding was just inconsistent. If he puts it together though he will be fun to watch.
The decision of Turner looms but either way this will be a big off-season with most of the focus being on the guards. Improved shooting and ball handling could lead to having a special guard rotation. Texas will have a great PG again, and guards with size, length and athleticism(Holland: 6-2, Yancy: 6-3, Walker: 6-5, Croaker: 6-3).
Yep, what you are saying makes a lot of sense. I guess when I am thinking of Holland I am thinking about the so fay unrealized possibilities for him. I was thinking about Mason in my previous post, but did not mention him because when I think of him, I reflexively think of how his time at Texas ended rather than earlier in his time here when he was just nails Funny how one's perspective can make you for get part of what was and rather focus on what has not yet come to be. Whatever happens with Holland and Croaker, it does make for interesting discussion. Sometimes, when people are critical of players like Holland and Felix, I think that they forget that were both pressed into playing early because they had to play. When I think of that, I think of how that early playing time can help make them into invaluable role players in the future.
Croaker reminds me a bit of Kris Clack. Granted, Clack is taller and may well have had a better vertical leap than Croaker, but Clack was very raw when he first came to Texas. Clack, like Travis Mayes, was an undersized post player in high school. Both had to learn to play the perimeter at Texas. Of course Clack was a reasonably sized skywalker at small forward for Texas, and Mayes was an undersized shooting guard who could also put in spot duty at the point if need be. Probably neither benefited from playing AAU ball like today's players do. I picture ion my mind's eye, that Croaker has the potential to be a hybrid - somewhere in between Clack and Mayes in size and physical ability, but having come to Texas already with a better skill set out of high school for where he could eventually be for Texas. Only time will tell the true tale, but that is why I really do not want to lose him.
An interesting aside on Clack. I have always had season tickets on a diagonal of of the end line upstairs behind the visitors bench - for the past few years on the first row upstairs. It is a great vantage point for watching games and one reason why I am in no hurry to see the Special Events Center torn down.
In Clack's last year here, Clack went up high for a lob pass, turned away from the back board. As he gathered in the ball and turned to stuff the ball in the basket, he smacked the side of his punkin haid upside the backboard with the point of contact at least a foot above the bottom of the back board - AND, he had come down considerably from the peak of the arc of the trajectory of his leap. I do not think I have seen anybody at Texas with that kind of athleticism, except for maybe Maurice Evans. I looked at quite a bit of video on Croaker when he was recruited last year, and while the jury is still out on whether he has that kind of skywalker athleticism, he never the less, to me at least, appears to possess athleticism that is in the upper echelon. So, I would like to see him stay here and be successful.
This discussion does not even touch on the possibilities My optimistic mind's eye sees in potential of players like Kendall Yancy and Martez Walker - not to mention, Isaiah Taylor. I do not pretend to know much about basketball. I just like it and get excited thinking about it - at least the Longhorn variety of it. So with that caveat, I just see that, with the possibility of the coming of Myles Turner, next year we have the possibility of perhaps the deepest and best basketball team in the history of Texas basketball. And, dadgummit! I do not want anything interfering with that possibility! So, everybody! Git in line, and do your part! "Respect my authoritah!"
