This. Gatens dropped a ton of weight his last couple of years and we was a much better player. His movement & shot release were significantly better.
Remember Melsahn Basabe his sophmore year? He gained a bunch of weight/muscle and lost a lot of movement & quickness... His confidence was shot. He never really returned to form. But did have a decent career.
I am all for the players gaining some strength, but prefer it to not be a significant amount of muscle bulk. You can become more lean, less body fat, and still get stronger.
If players do gain a lot of weight, the timing of that gain should be stopped by the middle of summer. That way they are more comfortable, and used to playing with that size...
There are only a few players I would like to see gain some serious muscle increase. They are -- Maishe Dailey(would love to see him with some muscle!), Isaiah Moss, Connor Mac, CJ Fredrick & Kriener.
Baer, Nunge, Garza & Pemsl can put on some more muscle. But I think too much there and they lose out on quickness, which they definitely need to keep. I may add Kriener to this list, as it already sounds like he is getting big!!
Remember Melsahn Basabe his sophmore year? He gained a bunch of weight/muscle and lost a lot of movement & quickness... His confidence was shot. He never really returned to form. But did have a decent career.
I am all for the players gaining some strength, but prefer it to not be a significant amount of muscle bulk. You can become more lean, less body fat, and still get stronger.
If players do gain a lot of weight, the timing of that gain should be stopped by the middle of summer. That way they are more comfortable, and used to playing with that size...
There are only a few players I would like to see gain some serious muscle increase. They are -- Maishe Dailey(would love to see him with some muscle!), Isaiah Moss, Connor Mac, CJ Fredrick & Kriener.
Baer, Nunge, Garza & Pemsl can put on some more muscle. But I think too much there and they lose out on quickness, which they definitely need to keep. I may add Kriener to this list, as it already sounds like he is getting big!!
True, but there is a fine line to hit there. They need to bulk up , but they sure can't afford to lose any quickness either. I remember after Lickleiter's first year he decided that our players needed to bulk up. Matt Gatens put on 20 lbs. of muscle for the next season but wasn;t as effective at driving it to the hoop. He decided that he was more effective at the lighter weight. Certainly some frames are more suited to bulking up than others.