Brooks

[Rick Roberts]

Great to debate

Great to debate this about Brooks. But, ahem, notice what John Little brought to the team last night! Energy, better D, and he scored. I think that too many Panther fans have sterotyped Little as the best 'sixth' man. He should be one of the top five men. Brooks needs to be challenged to play better--good for him and the team. For now, just let Little play--you will all be pleasantly surprised. I would bet that he would average double figures as a starter, 10 points, or so, which gives us seven more points to work with--that will really be needed in the tough MVC and for UNI to make it to the Big Dance. Still holding to my conviction about John Little over Brooks--let Little be a starter for three or four games in a row to test him and give him a chance. Need a big W over IL State Monday night. Go Panthers!

[Panthers to the Bone]

I don't think the fact that John is a great player eludes those on this board (if it does, then you fans need to watch this team more!). It's undeniable that John brings that extra kick to the team when he comes onto the floor. My point is that if he is in the starting lineup, who does UNI bring off the bench to provide that spark? I have said all along that Brooks is steady and fundamentally sound. He does what Coach asks of him, and does it to the best of his ability. Yes, John started the second half and the turnaround began....the reason he came in? To wear down Holsinger, and provide that extra kick.

Now, here is the other part. If Brooks (or another true point---Josten/Williams) is not on the floor how do we as fans not know that it may be limiting the play call selection of the team? There is no doubt that athletically, UNI is at their prime with Little, Jacobson, Crawford, Stout, and Coleman on the floor at the same time....but is that the best for the overall team? I guess that is the second issue or unknown that I have with not having Little coming off of the bench.

[B.True]

looks like Brooks had a good night....5 assists, 3 steals, 5 points and NO TURNOVERS!!

rima and boyle were saying that he has been playing really well the last 4 games...setting people up and running the offense really well.... i really love picking up the 1540 signal in Indianapolis!

[BCPanther]

Brooks McKowen
14 Starts- 12 Wins

'Nuff Said

[UNIAlum95]

Mac's post game comments were that when we need Brooks to score, he is confident Brooks will come through. Until then, Brooks is doing what the coaches are asking of him. He is not the quickest point guard, but by far he has the most experience and is our best option at the point.

[Sex Panther...]

Brooks McKowen
14 Starts- 12 Wins

'Nuff Said

"Brooks (McKowen) is outstanding and the one word I think of when I think of Brooks on the defensive end of the floor is anticipation. He has great anticipation on the defensive end of the floor and he is not afraid to put his nose in there and pry the ball away from their big guys. His value to this team is immeasurable. You judge a point guard on wins and losses and he's won a lot of games for us. He just wants to win." - Greg McDermott

People who think otherwise either aren't at the games watching and only looking at boxscores or don't understand the offensive philosophy of this year's team. No matter what % Brooks was shooting from the field he is only going to get 4-8 shots per game...unless he selfishly forced shots. I'm not denying that he has struggled shooting the ball but..... I could go on a rant about this for a couple paragraphs but I'll resist. If Brooks was playing the 2 guard all year his numbers would look pretty on a stat sheet, there is nobody who pulls harder for him than me...personally I'd rather have the Panthers win games. So would he.

End
of
Thread

[Rick Roberts]

Generated conversation!

Looks like all the Brooks M. supporters are out in force! As far as 'nuff said', John Little hasn't had the same number of starts as Brooks--so you cannot compare to anything! Would like to see some open minds regarding Brooks. Oh, and I totally understand BB and Mac's system. Still, it is known that he isn't and, apparently cannot, shoot the ball. This allows the D to sag. He is not the D player that Little is, either. Brooks should be the sixth man and, rotate him through shooting guard if everyone thinks he is that great a shooter. Williams and Little give us the utmost in speed and D and, together, will score more than Brooks. Brooks could be a good sixth man to rotate in for point or shooting guard. He cannot keep up with speedy point guards that everyone has. My point is that Brooks limits the ability of the Panthers to move it up a notch--to get to that next level. And, with the point guards available next year, he won't be able to hold the point guard job anyway. If he could regain his shooting confidence and touch, his role would be shooting guard. This might be a great move to make now. Might as well do it this year. You can never have enough speed and defense! Might point of view seems to be different than most, but I maintain it just the same!

[Panthers to the Bone]

Different points of view are good, and what this forum is for. It hasn't been done in this thread, but the only thing we do ask the posters to not do is tear the athletes apart. These have all been good posts, so keep it up...differring opinions included.

[Sex Panther...]

Looks like all the Brooks M. supporters are out in force! As far as 'nuff said', John Little hasn't had the same number of starts as Brooks--so you cannot compare to anything! Would like to see some open minds regarding Brooks. Oh, and I totally understand BB and Mac's system. Still, it is known that he isn't and, apparently cannot, shoot the ball. This allows the D to sag. He is not the D player that Little is, either. Brooks should be the sixth man and, rotate him through shooting guard if everyone thinks he is that great a shooter. Williams and Little give us the utmost in speed and D and, together, will score more than Brooks. Brooks could be a good sixth man to rotate in for point or shooting guard. He cannot keep up with speedy point guards that everyone has. My point is that Brooks limits the ability of the Panthers to move it up a notch--to get to that next level. And, with the point guards available next year, he won't be able to hold the point guard job anyway. If he could regain his shooting confidence and touch, his role would be shooting guard. This might be a great move to make now. Might as well do it this year. You can never have enough speed and defense! Might point of view seems to be different than most, but I maintain it just the same!

This isn't a competition for the PG spot between Brooks and J Lit. The fact that you think it is shows that you don't get it. Little isn't losing minutes to Brooks. I am not dissing Little's game at all. I love what he has brought to the team for 4 years and is an unsung hero who deserves big time credit. If he was a true PG and could handle bringing the ball up the court and running the offense 30-35 minutes a game he would be given the fact that Brooks is not shooting well. Brooks plays his role, Little plays his. Don't take my word for it... take the coaching staffs. What you are proposing means that the team takes a step BACK, not forward. If we could meld the two together we'd be looking at Jason Kidd at point guard for the Panthers. Unfortunately we can't. You are entitled to your opinion it just happens to be wrong in this case... in my opinion.

[Bojingles]

They all get us upset at times. They all play their butts off!

Do you really think that our coach would put anybody, but his best players on the floor?

The kid gets the job done. Plays tough defense, and hustles his ass off. If someone on the bench steps up their game (defensively) I'm sure we will see them in the game. Till then...keep supporting BMac.

[BCPanther]

Brooks does so many things that nobody sees and the average basketball fan does not appreciate. He is always diving on the floor and is a more vocal leader on the floor than Jacobsen or Crawford.

His energy has been a huge part of the past two seasons and every team needs a player like Brooks to be successful!!

[pantherfan4ever]

Brooks should be the sixth man and, rotate him through shooting guard if everyone thinks he is that great a shooter. Williams and Little give us the utmost in speed and D and, together, will score more than Brooks. Brooks could be a good sixth man to rotate in for point or shooting guard. He cannot keep up with speedy point guards that everyone has.

Whether you like it or not, one of the most important things in college basketball is having a spark off the bench, and you lose that high energy spark by starting Little over Brooks. Williams has a lot of potential and will be a good PG in the future but he doesn't come close to knowing the system like Brooks and wouldn't come close to making decisions within the offense as well as Brooks yet. Just because Williams and Little are much quicker doesn’t mean they should start. Mac has said many times that NO one on the team knows the PG position (over 100 set plays) like Brooks and that Brooks makes very smart decisions and plays within the style of play that Mac asks of him. He was in a really bad shooting slump for about 13 months, but he is shooting fairly well as of late (when he shoots). Does he need more shots... probably.. but he is on the floor because he knows the offense from the PG position better than anyone else on the team and makes the kind of decisions that the coaching staff wants him to make. When Brooks is on the floor, Mac can use any of his plays with confidence that he will make the right decisions (that the coaching staff wants him to make). Little is a VERY good player on offense and defense, but he doesn’t know the PG spot and the 100+ set plays like Brooks does. If Mac thought Little were better running the PG, he would start him.

My point is that Brooks limits the ability of the Panthers to move it up a notch--to get to that next level. And, with the point guards available next year, he won't be able to hold the point guard job anyway. If he could regain his shooting confidence and touch, his role would be shooting guard. This might be a great move to make now. Might as well do it this year. You can never have enough speed and defense!

It is nice to think that the Panthers could just not worry about this year and make that “great move” this year. But the fact is that they wouldn’t be better off letting Williams take Brooks minutes at the PG spot yet. By next year lets hope that Williams has learned a lot of the offense and can take some of Brooks minutes at PG so Brooks can play some SG, but as of now there is no way that Williams could run the offense yet. You can’t have enough speed and defense, that’s right… as long as those “quick” players know the offense, which Williams just doesn’t know yet. Hopefully Brooks does get the chance to play SG next year, which he would not be against at all, I’m sure! Let’s remember that PG is not his natural spot and if Williams matures and Kerwin is a quick learner (like Brooks was) then there should be a couple true point guards to take the load off Brooks next year. But you don’t just make that kind of move because a guy is quicker.. you make it when you (Mac) feels like that point guard knows the offense well enough to start taking some of those minutes at PG.



Closing to this book of a Post…lol:
You can say what you want about Brooks shooting and how he needs to shoot more, etc.. but I am pretty confident that Mac and the coaching staff know a lot more than we do about who should start at the PG spot and who should come off the bench. If Mac and the coaching staff honestly thought that Little or Williams would be a better starter they wouldn’t hesitate to start them or play them over Brooks. They are concerned with winning just as much as we, the fans, are.

[CF Panther]

McKowen does hustle. I like to see that as a fan. However, watching him rather closely last night, I think that the points against McKowen seem rather valid. On the offensive end, the Redbirds were constantly leaving him open on the offensive end of the court. They were cheating towards the other 4 on the floor. It's tough to have many turnovers when the other team is not playing defense against you. However, it does hurt the offense in general when there is one player who the defense can choose to not defend. The point that I heard about McKowen moving to a shooting guard next year, or even this year for that matter is going to be a lot easier said than done. He was a shooting guard playing point in high school. Now he is an average guard playing the point. Not shooting in a game situation for 3 years, and then expecting him to score next year really is difficult to ask. Could he make the conversion? Yes, judging by what he did in high school; but it isn't going to be easy. Right now, I wish we had a player better-suited to run the point, but McKowen is the best option we have. Hopefully the next couple of recruiting classes will bring in a couple of true point guards.

On a separate note: This is why I love Track & Field and Cross Country! If you run the fastest or jump the furthest or throw the longest, you're in. Team sports are prone to errors in decision-making; even by the best coaches and fans.

[Rick Roberts]

Thanks Panthers to the Bone

Good debate with good insight should be healthy on the 'Nation' web site. For example, the person that came up with the idea of our backup QB this year becoming a second RB or slot WR on certain plays was a very good idea. Hope that the coaching staff looks at something like this. Very innovative and could be very productive. Would slow down the pass rush and give us many offensive options. I notice that no one supported him, though. For BB, just because a few of us think that Brooks is more of an off guard and does not have qualities needed for a point guard, doesn't mean we don't love Mac, Brooks, or the Panthers! It is no knock on Brooks--he might be best suited as Benny's replacement next year! He should still play over 24 minutes a game this year, too. At the same time, let competition reign. John Little deserves every chance to show he can be a starter. His defense to start games is needed--too many three-pointers are hit against us in opening minutes of games, coming mostly from the opponents' guard position. Oh well, doesn't pay to offer ideas here anymore. I'll delete the web site--really thought it would be a more positive thing to do and a good way to stay up with UNI sports. But, there are just too many closed-minded zealots here! Thought Panther fans would act differently--my mistake! I'll still be an avid Panther fan and go to as many games as I can although I'll have to go incognito for my own protection!

[B.True]

solid first post pantherfan4ever ... keep them coming!