Catch Lance Stephenson and James Padgett On TV Tonight
by Ben Broman on Feb 13, 2009 4:27 PM EST
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PrintI've been posting a lot on Lance Stephenson (indeed, about a post a day) but with good reason. Not only is he a huge prospect who would do gigantic things for Maryland as a program, he's an interesting character and people like to speculate.
If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, now's your chance to see him in action. He, and Terp committ James Padgett, will be on ESPN2 tonight for your watching enjoyment.
Interestingly, it seems the listing is only for ESPN2HD, which ESPN sometimes uses as a 3rd channel. You'd think the NBA ASG would get both the normal and HD spots, but I'm not complaining.
Just so you know, they're playing St. Francis Patrick's, who's a great team. It should be a great game, though a lot of people are saying that Lincoln will lose this one. It's still worth a watch.
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OK, I am watching
but I’ll be damned if i cn understand what all the fuss is about. Granted I have never seen the kid play and so I am just commenting on what I see in this game but this kid sucks. His shot is off (not surprising since his feet go in every which direction when he shoots and his body is all over the place) and without his shot he sulks and expresses his frustration on his face, in his D and his whole demeanor. He plays lackluster defense. He plays to the camera, cant speak, was quoted as saying he just wants to find a team to fit into, despite saying about MD that he likes that he can come in and be “the guy”. Obviously a loser who just says whatever he thinks you want to hear. Now obviously he is better than he showed and team cant possibly be as bad and undisciplined as they showed. But Lance’s emotional maturity and mental game obviously lag behind his body. Gimme the soph Gilchrist from St Pats any day. Oh yeah, and Padgett only looked a little better. Maybe he should break a backboard to make us think he is special. I am depressed after watching the future Terp and future Jayhawk play this TV game. OK, probably a lil harsh on Padgett. He is strong an dwill no doubt get stronger and goes to the basket with the ball high instead of putting it on the floor. But the real star of this game was St Pats coach. The difference between the two teams in discipline and fundamentals was the most striking thing to me.
by Lucky Horseshoe on Feb 13, 2009 8:38 PM EST reply actions
Way too tough
Sorry Horseshoe, but you’re wrong here. First, St. Pat’s is the #3 team in the nation. Lincoln has two players (BR and Padgett) and everyone else is horrible. It was a horrible mismatch. It was also one of the worst coached games I’ve ever seen, and Lincoln still almost won.
BR had a tough game, which was surprising. I’ve seen him before, and he generally starts slow before completely taking over. That never happened, so I was a little shocked. But he clearly has talent. Honestly, when Darwin Ellis is chucking up 25 footers and Born Ready is standing open in the other corner, I’d be pretty pissed too if I were him. I’m not going to say there’s no selfishness in it, but wanting to win was a part of it too. He also seemed to be the only guy on the team who cared – say what you want about his body language, but he was pretty much the only one who hustled back on defense at all. He’s pretty much carrying the entire team with the exception of Padgett.
On the topic of “playing to the camera”: what else do want him to say? If he said, “I’m looking to go to a school where I get all the minutes and am the man” he’d be crucified. That’s what you’re supposed to do. The other arguments at least made sense, but this one doesn’t.
Padgett actually impressed me. He was very raw offensively, but we already knew that. He rebounded well, hustled for boards, and I’m pretty sure he ended up with a double-double. He won’t start from day one, but he’s not a completely worthless player.
Oh, I’d love Gilchrist, too. So does every single other school in America.
BTW, Lance seems a little like Gary – he plays better when he gets pissed off.
watched it
padgett was impressive. he was very active on the glass, and he did a pretty good job of finishing around the rim.
stephenson less so. he seemed to be affected early by the fact that he wasnt hitting shots and had a few calls go against him. his defensive effort was very poor, but his physical abilities were evident. he made some incredible plays on offense, especially down the stretch
I
agree on the coaching and mentioned that. I dont think one iota of his frustration was over the loss. I think it was all on his shot not going down, his perceived lack of calls by the ref and in short, all about him and the fact he knew it was a televised game. THAT is what I meant by playing to the camera. He looked like a man playing against boys in terms of his physical stature but his game was ineffective against the better team. He showed well once the game was already over but they never were anywhere close to coming back to win. He basically hit some plays underneath against a prevent defense at the end when it was too late. He looked like a street ball player to me.
He DID say he wanted to be the man when talking about coming to Md. That was my point. You obviously have to discount every word out of his mouth as meaningless.
If he plays better when pissed off, why did he play so poorly tonight? He obviously was pissed off.
Anyway, as I said originally, it was one game and I am not judging him on one game, just very disappointed in what I saw tonight.
Some good games with local interest coming up on ESPN including DeMatha, Oak Hill and Montrose Christian. Looking forward to them.
by Lucky Horseshoe on Feb 14, 2009 12:31 AM EST reply actions
Hmmm
They definitely were in range of coming back. It got down to, what, 4 or 5 with 2 minutes to go? I’d call that close. And I think it’s tough to not play like a streetballer when the rest of your team does and the coach gives no direction.
I know he did say he wanted to be the man, but he didn’t say it to ESPN. Those are the type of things you don’t say to a national audience.
I can’t wait for the upcoming games either, especially Montrose Christian.
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