Tuesday, October 11, 2011

No. 6 — Hawaii junior center Vander Joaquim

Joaquim at No. 6 is probably the biggest stretch so far. I don't know how I feel about two Hawaii players in the Top 6, but as far as big men in the WAC, Joaquim is only a junior so he should improve after an impressive and productive sophomore year. Does anyone think he's comparable to JaVale Mcgee??? Just wondering.

Joaquim was third in the league last year with 8.2 rpg. He was seventh in field goal percentage (52) and second in blocks with 1.3 per game. He increased his production in WAC play to  55 percent, 11.9 ppg and 9.1 rpg. Not bad for a sophomore playing under a first  year head coach and he wasn't even the main option in the post.

No. 7 — Nevada senior forward Olek Czyz
No. 8 — New Mexico State senior point guard Hernst Laroche
No. 9 — Idaho junior center Kyle Barone
No. 10 — Utah State senior point guard Brockeith Pane

2 comments:

justin said...

Joaquim is like McGee in that he's athletic for his size for this conference, but McGee is a once every 10 years athletic freak. Probably the quickest, best jumping 5 in the association right now. I would also hesitate to saddle VJ with McGee's other notable trait, boneheadedness, until he VJ demonstrates that he deserves it. As for Hawaii having two top 6 players, I think they probably do, but their main issue will be spots 4-9. I also don't think that Joaquim is a better center than Barone.

Enjoying the recent glut of posts Jason. Keep it up.

Jason Groves said...

Offensively Barone may be better, but VJ is a dominant defender in the post. Didn't see enough of Barone to say that, but it may prove out with more minutes for Barone. Thanks for the input on McGee. I only saw him for one year