Thursday, April 3, 2008

Future Badger love from the Twin Cities

Anyone else starting to get the feeling that Jordan Taylor is going to be our next transcendent superstar? Read this story, where the St. Paul Pioneer Press named Jordan its player of the year.

What's not to love about him? Solid game? Check. Good grades? Check. Stable family life? Check. Engaging media-friendly personality? Check.

The next Devin Harris? Slow down there, Tappa, let's not get carried away. But it's exciting to read stuff like this.

Also, the Star Trib named Jordan and Jared Berggren to its all-metro team. When his Princeton team came to Wisconsin, they got smacked by a good Waupun team, which gave me pause, but it sounds like his team wasn't very good and opponents swarmed him.

OK, Cities guys, who's seen them play? I understand Taylor and Mike Bruesewitz both played in the state finals. I'm excited about hearing the Taylor report, anxious about the Bruiser report.

3 comments:

Craig Pintens said...

"Good Waupun team?" Isn't that an oxymoron?

Anonymous said...

I saw Taylor play twice this year, Berggren once and the Bruiser twice. Here is what I saw:

Taylor - very solid point guard coming in. He is physically mature enough to play right away unlike Kam Taylor and is much more of a pure point guard. He's not as flashy off the bounce as Hughes, but he's effective. I would like to see his shot improve, but it's not like it's a total weakness. Defensively he's active, though he'll probably take a while to play Bo's style of defense. Overall, he's just a very solid player. He doesn't jump out at you with absurd quickness like Hughes or a sweet touch like Bohannon. But he takes care of the ball, is a very good passer and just does everything pretty well.

Berggren - I think that he's going to be a very good player for the Badgers. He has very soft hands and doesn't seem afraid to take it strong. He definitely has a lot of post moves and seemed comfortable using both hands in the post. He's not the most athletic guy, but he isn't a plodder either. He should be a very good rebounder and will provide very solid defense in the post. I'm very excited about Berggren.

Bruiser - Big 10 fans are going to absolutely hate this guy. Let's go through the checklist of things that will drive people bonkers. White? Check. Pasty White? Double Check. Red Hair? Check. Hustle guy? Check. He should be a very good player in the swing offense. He has a pretty good handle for a guy his size and is an outstanding rebounder. He was able to take guys off the dribble and had an incredible baseline drive for a dunk in the state final. The only thing that I would really like to see improve is his jumper. Let's just say that I think we have a guy that can fill Krabby's shoes when he graduates.

Coach Scott Tappa said...

Thanks for the detailed update, Millie, I'll probably turn that into a post of its own.

And Craig, Waupun was 20-3 this season. Maybe not Corey "Air" Krohn and company, but still pretty good.

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