Brayan Au Scheduled for Surgery, Season Over

[Hatch]

I have probably been the one leading the discussion of increasing Thomas’s minutes. Some of the reasons I have been high on him is the video I have seen of him playing in high school as well as some of the numbers he had put up in his limited minutes early in the season. It is true that level of competition at the 1A level would not have been that strong, but Hamilton Christian did play some formidable opponents out of district. There is a video somewhere on YouTube of them playing Scotlandville back when Javonte Smart was a Senior and Thomas was a sophomore where Thomas and his teammates hold their own against a quality opponent. If I remember correctly the game went down to the last possession and Thomas missed a last second shot that would have won. Thomas was also rated the #67 PG in the country by 247, so others thought he had a chance to be a pretty good PG as well. Now that ranking might be somewhat diluted as so many players are now labeled as a combo guards.

Now I haven’t updated my stat sheet since the 2 ULM games but he was at over 8 assists per 40 minutes played (higher than anyone on the team) and was just under Au and ahead of Wilson in assist to turnover ratio. I know this has changed as he played a few minutes in the past 2 games with 0 assists and 1 turnover. The lack of scoring/shooting isn’t a concern to me as a PG, Au was clearly helping the team running the point without really scoring as well. I also really don’t see Garnett getting more minutes as an indicator he has “outplayed” Thomas. Garnett is in the game to basically do one thing, shoot the 3pt shot. He is clearly a better shooter, and I think that is why he has taken most of Butts minutes since his suspension.

Part of my theory of giving Thomas more of Au’s minutes was to let Russell and Wilson continue where they were in the offense when Au was playing. Wilson did settle in and played well at the point Saturday, that also let Harper play off the ball and we saw how successful he can be doing that. If Wilson can continue to handle the ball like that with either Russell or Harper with the hot hand alongside him the team can be successful without a pure point on the floor, but that remains to be seen.

[Cajunsmike]

I have probably been the one leading the discussion of increasing Thomas’s minutes. Some of the reasons I have been high on him is the video I have seen of him playing in high school as well as some of the numbers he had put up in his limited minutes early in the season. It is true that level of competition at the 1A level would not have been that strong, but Hamilton Christian did play some formidable opponents out of district. There is a video somewhere on YouTube of them playing Scotlandville back when Javonte Smart was a Senior and Thomas was a sophomore where Thomas and his teammates hold their own against a quality opponent. If I remember correctly the game went down to the last possession and Thomas missed a last second shot that would have won. Thomas was also rated the #67 PG in the country by 247, so others thought he had a chance to be a pretty good PG as well. Now that ranking might be somewhat diluted as so many players are now labeled as a combo guards.

Now I haven’t updated my stat sheet since the 2 ULM games but he was at over 8 assists per 40 minutes played (higher than anyone on the team) and was just under Au and ahead of Wilson in assist to turnover ratio. I know this has changed as he played a few minutes in the past 2 games with 0 assists and 1 turnover. The lack of scoring/shooting isn’t a concern to me as a PG, Au was clearly helping the team running the point without really scoring as well. I also really don’t see Garnett getting more minutes as an indicator he has “outplayed” Thomas. Garnett is in the game to basically do one thing, shoot the 3pt shot. He is clearly a better shooter, and I think that is why he has taken most of Butts minutes since his suspension.

Part of my theory of giving Thomas more of Au’s minutes was to let Russell and Wilson continue where they were in the offense when Au was playing. Wilson did settle in and played well at the point Saturday, that also let Harper play off the ball and we saw how successful he can be doing that. If Wilson can continue to handle the ball like that with either Russell or Harper with the hot hand alongside him the team can be successful without a pure point on the floor, but that remains to be seen.

I would not be surprised if Thomas moves on to another program when the season ends. No inside knowledge with that view. Just a prediction.

[zephyr]

And that’s something you can’t say about Carter. STM plays a ridiculous schedule year in and year out and Domingue more than holds his own against the best.

Yeah, I think Madison Prep would agree with you

[zephyr]

He's better than Michael Thomas and I don't think its even that close.

The only thing I can think of is just quickness to run the point at the D-1 level. I doubt Carter is as quick as any PG we have on our roster outside of Russell but it doesn't seem to have affected him in HS playing against some of the great players they've put him up against. He had no problem getting to the rim against the Lavardian kid from Riverside and I don't think he's had too many issues at the AAU level playing on the state's best team as the starting PG. Carter also had some sort of back or spinal column issue a while back so not sure if that played a part in people staying away although we have a pretty good track record of bringing in injured guys so...Carter is also not the best shooter out there and I've never seen Thomas play so I have no idea how they would stack up but I know one thing about Carter, the kid is a winner and we could stand having a couple of those guys on our team.

[cajuns80]

I would not be surprised if Thomas moves on to another program when the season ends. No inside knowledge with that view. Just a prediction.

Thomas, Wesley, and Spenkuch most likely all should move on.

[cajuns80]

The only thing I can think of is just quickness to run the point at the D-1 level. I doubt Carter is as quick as any PG we have on our roster outside of Russell but it doesn't seem to have affected him in HS playing against some of the great players they've put him up against. He had no problem getting to the rim against the Lavardian kid from Riverside and I don't think he's had too many issues at the AAU level playing on the state's best team as the starting PG. Carter also had some sort of back or spinal column issue a while back so not sure if that played a part in people staying away although we have a pretty good track record of bringing in injured guys so...Carter is also not the best shooter out there and I've never seen Thomas play so I have no idea how they would stack up but I know one thing about Carter, the kid is a winner and we could stand having a couple of those guys on our team.

Marlin gives plenty of scholarships to guys that are not even D1 basketball players and then sends them off to some D2 or D3 school after their freshman year. Carter should get a scholarship.