Adrian Woolridge

[RAMANI_R@bentley.edu]

>I just saw a segment on the mornin edition of the ESPN Sportcenter. It was
>about Adrian Woolridge from Iowa. He is a point guard with scoring abilities.
>I am not sure but I think his coach also coached John Bagley (did I spell it
>right?) at BC. The segment talked about his point guard abilities and scoring.
>Something like Dana but Dana shoots first then passes. His coach (I forgot his
>name) tried to develop his passing skills but since Adrian is a senior he
>wants
>him to score more to help the team win.
>I may be wrong on some of the thing I said. But he seemed like a second
>rounder
>who can give Wesley some rest. The segment on him didn't mention anything
>about
>his defense but one, I think Wesley can teach him that and second, defense ala
>NBA stlye can only be learnt in the NBA.

It's "Andre," and as someone else wrote, he DOES remind me a lot of Bagley.

First the good: Iowa is exceeding ALL expectations by competing for the Big
Ten title, despite losing their best player, Jess Settles, to injury. As
the ranking senior and floor-leader, Andre has a lot to do with this. The
guy can score and create his own shot. (Though, I often wonder why refs
don't call carrying anymore; everyone, including Andre, seems to be doing
this an awful lot.) He has been a great leader for a very young team and
deserves a lot of credit for Iowa's success.

Now the not-so-good: Andre tends to force things a lot, and often makes the
wrong play at the wrong time. It may be because he HAS to create offense,
but even last year, as a junior, with better offensive players around him,
he would go out of control or force stuff up. Also, one factor in his great
play IMHO is his physical dominance.  A lot of Big Ten point guards are of
your small, thin variety. Andre matches up very well against most of them.
However, I remember a fellow by the name of Acie Earl (ring a bell?). As a
senior, he was physically more powerful than most Big Ten centers, most of
whom were of the Stiff variety. I was horrified when the C's drafted him
- - I was praying they wouldn't. He just can't cut it against physically
gifted players. I fear the same for Andre. He won't enjoy the physical
advantages in the NBA he now enjoys in the Big Ten. Is he worth a
second-rounder? Depends on who's out there. From what I hear and read here
in Iowa, he is a decent person, and character does count.

Bob Miller
bob@mymenus.com
http://www.mymenus.com/
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