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Sandfort 2d Best Player In the B1G

AmericaNeedsMe said:
I would bet Dix is marginally better than 38th, Freeman is worse than 16th (lots of great bigs this season), and Payton is 1st Team All B1G.
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Pretty much agree, although I see Dix being a top 15-25 player. Payton probably isn’t a top 5 player in reality, but his scoring will make him 1st team. Freeman is a wildcard to me. I love his game, he just needs to cut out the fouling. I could see him being a second or third team player.

3 guys in the top 40 tells me that this team will be sneaky good. We need mediocre defense and some solid point guard play. I think we get both.

Braden Smith as the top player? Shows you how the talent level in the Big has sunk.
 
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There is a lot of talent in the league. It’s just young. Illinois has two freshmen projected as first round picks in the 2025 draft. They are both projected as possible lottery picks by different sources. Rutgers has two freshmen who are projected lottery picks, likely top 5. There are others.

If I’m picking a player for my team, I’m going with Dix. Sandfort can get on heaters, but he’s not a top ten player in the league. Sandfort was easier to guard for Illinois than Dix was. I think some just look at last year’s stats and project too high not considering that some great players will emerge.

Now that there are 18 teams in the league, first team is really hard to project.

As for Freeman, he’s good, but there are a lot of good big men in the league. I’d take him on my team, though.

If Iowa truly has a first teamer and two other guys who could be on the third team, then there is no excuse not to be really good.
 
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Mohawkeye said:
Pretty much agree, although I see Dix being a top 15-25 player. Payton probably isn’t a top 5 player in reality, but his scoring will make him 1st team. Freeman is a wildcard to me. I love his game, he just needs to cut out the fouling. I could see him being a second or third team player.

3 guys in the top 40 tells me that this team will be sneaky good. We need mediocre defense and some solid point guard play. I think we get both.

Braden Smith as the top player? Shows you how the talent level in the Big has sunk.
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And that's with adding 4 programs to the mix.
 
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Very subjective rankings. Suggesting that freshmen will be top 10 players is probably more a measure of long-term potential than how they will consistently play this coming year. I had suggested that Iowa had 3 of top players months ago. All 3 could be considered as a top 20 player by the end of the year, although they won't all be all-B1G. There might be 50 players in the league, who could be considered top 20 by the end of the year, depending how they play and their team performs. I don't know other team's new players, but I doubt that Payton is close to the second best player, if you consider both ends of the floor. Dix is more of a complete player IMO, but Payton can change a game when he gets hot. If Freeman plays with more strength and smarts on the defensive end, I think he can be top 20. Iowa has the potential to be a lot better than many predictions. It will require that the big 3 and the guards all stay healthy,
 
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ChiPackHawk said:
Sandfort, Freeman and Dix in the top 40 of the Big. How is that possible? I mean they're ......
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thats-pretty-white-nerd.gif
 
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combes said:
There is a lot of talent in the league. It’s just young. Illinois has two freshmen projected as first round picks in the 2025 draft. They are both projected as possible lottery picks by different sources. Rutgers has two freshmen who are projected lottery picks, likely top 5. There are others.

If I’m picking a player for my team, I’m going with Dix. Sandfort can get on heaters, but he’s not a top ten player in the league. Sandfort was easier to guard for Illinois than Dix was. I think some just look at last year’s stats and project too high not considering that some great players will emerge.

Now that there are 18 teams in the league, first team is really hard to project.

As for Freeman, he’s good, but there are a lot of good big men in the league. I’d take him on my team, though.

If Iowa truly has a first teamer and two other guys who could be on the third team, then there is no excuse not to be really good.
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Agreed, Dix is probably a better player on both ends than Sandfort. He doesn't have the same eagerness to get shots up as Sandfort but he has more ability to create his own shot when he needs to and in terms of defense it's night and day difference.

Honestly if I'm ranking in order of importance for this team Sandfort comes in 3rd.
 
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ChiPackHawk said:
Sandfort, Freeman and Dix in the top 40 of the Big. How is that possible? I mean they're ......
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outside of Purdue with their Giant Edey, the B1G conference hasn't been particularly stellar in NCAA play over last 10 years so being good
in B1G doesn't mean you are NBA material. I will say that Dix and Freeman are both pretty good defensive players, which is unusual
for Fran guys. Payton is more of a Fran guy, and he's not very good a defense and that is the major knock on him as far as NBA potential.
 
RocknRollface said:
Agreed, Dix is probably a better player on both ends than Sandfort. He doesn't have the same eagerness to get shots up as Sandfort but he has more ability to create his own shot when he needs to and in terms of defense it's night and day difference.

Honestly if I'm ranking in order of importance for this team Sandfort comes in 3rd.
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Combs posted a really positive, accurate post, especially for an Illannoy fan. If Dix builds on what he showed the last third of the season, when he finally had a green light, he will be one of the better all-round guards in the league. I agree with your assessment, but I want Payton on the floor much of the game too. I haven't seen Traore play, but he can sub for Payton at 3 and I'm not sure our play goes down overall. We have no good sub for Dix (or Freeman).
 
HoustonREDHawk said:
Combs posted a really positive, accurate post, especially for an Illannoy fan. If Dix builds on what he showed the last third of the season, when he finally had a green light, he will be one of the better all-round guards in the league. I agree with your assessment, but I want Payton on the floor much of the game too. I haven't seen Traore play, but he can sub for Payton at 3 and I'm not sure our play goes down overall. We have no good sub for Dix (or Freeman).
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For sure. I'm assuming he'll lead the team in minutes played.
 
HawkLogic said:
outside of Purdue with their Giant Edey, the B1G conference hasn't been particularly stellar in NCAA play over last 10 years so being good
in B1G doesn't mean you are NBA material. I will say that Dix and Freeman are both pretty good defensive players, which is unusual
for Fran guys. Payton is more of a Fran guy, and he's not very good a defense and that is the major knock on him as far as NBA potential.
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Sandfort's major NBA knock is not defense it's general athleticism. His testing was abysmal. So yeah...he's never going to be a lock down defender in the B1G.

Still, he's very skilled, and experience is invaluable in CBB. He'll be a leading scorer in the league.
 
AmericaNeedsMe said:
Sandfort's major NBA knock is not defense it's general athleticism. His testing was abysmal. So yeah...he's never going to be a lock down defender in the B1G.

Still, he's very skilled, and experience is invaluable in CBB. He'll be a leading scorer in the league.
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I expect Payton to be in the top 10 scorers in the B1G, but I hope Iowa has pretty balanced scoring, with Freeman and Dix averaging in the mid teens, and several other players often scoring nearly double figures. I am more interested in Payton's shooting percentage than the number of shots he takes.
 
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I'm interested in if our pg's can A) get into the lane B) score from anywhere. I also wonder if and how Trajore will score. Sandfort is going to score, Freeman is going to score, Dix is going to score. Lots of fastbreaks is what I'm looking for and the rebounding that starts it all. Back on topic, no Sandfort is not 2nd best player in the BIG.
 
No.
Top ten solely because of his shooting ability I'll buy.
Dix is a more complete player and I would choose him as the best overall player on the Iowa roster.
 
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