So what about the young man transferring from UW? His stats don’t exactly leap off the page at me, 41% from field, 33% from 3, 70% ft. Is he a great defender?
He’s lightning quick. Remember seeing all those small, quick guards that just went by and through our defense? I believe he is that type of guard.
1 Like
Great mid-range game and assist leader. A true point guard that takes care of the ball and will be hard to get off the court. Cat quick… Take a look at who he turned down…TN, Bama, O-State, etc.
1 Like
Just got off the phone with a UW beat writer. Here is a line he had. I’ll have more tomorrow:
“He’s a good kid. He plays with a lot of flair. He’s a fantastic kid. He was just here for the one year, but I got to know him a bit. All of this stuff sounds cliche, but he was a joy to be around, a sponge. … There’s a lot of hair and a lot of bones. But really good with the ball. You can’t get it from him. You could tell early on in the summer practices, ‘Uh oh, there might be something here.’ You never really know. But when you listened to the old heads kind of talk about him, they really liked him.”
3 Likes
But can he play defense. That seems to be a necessity.
Just watch his highlights, Mike.
He isn’t coming from a great team, but he did very well against great competition.
I bet TB and SC Top 10 are gonna love him.
He is crazy long and athletic at 6’1".
I love this pick-up.
Definitely glad Muss didn’t target Wheeler.
1 Like
Here are some highlights of him so you can form your own opinion. I think he’s a huge talent and he’s still a young kid plenty of time for him to get even better and he strikes me as a kid who will be a hard worker (he will have to be to play for us LOL)but you can look on this and see he has incredible quickness and this particular set of videos does not show the great floater game and mid-range shots that he can hit as well as the 3.
Looks confident with the ball in his hands. Would love to see some more pounds on him for when we play the big boys, but suspect we will get some weight training in here. Nice mid range game and quick. He and Blocker could be fun together. Nice get for us
1 Like
Just have to trust Coach Muss on this one, as his measurables are different than most Hog guards over the past 4 years.
One interesting note to me is that there was an entire game of highlights against Oregon, and Ware was nowhere to be found.
1 Like
Ware ended up only playing 12 min a game in the end and I believe he was 3rd string so he clearly was not a factor for them.I believe he got homesick and if we were to get him,we would probably see a much different player.
Menifield is the same size as JD Notae,just much quicker and faster with the ball and by all accounts a terrific PG…I think he will do well under Muss bc he makes kids work/play harder than they ever have.
2 Likes
Perhaps after 2-3 years in the weight room, Menifield will be the same size as Notae. Right now, their height is the only measurable those 2 share. In those highlights, Menifield’s build looks more like Nick Smith’s than it does JD Notae’s.
Just an observation, nothing more. While it might not be the most physical league in America, the SEC can hold its own physically. 6’ 1" 160# guards will need to mature physically to play a lot in the SEC.
Against the best teams on U-Dub’s schedule, Menifield didn’t do much:
5 points, 0 assists against Gonzaga
0 points, 1 assist vs UCLA; only played 12 minutes
3 points, 2 boards at Arizona, played 10 minutes
Second game with AZ was much better, 21 points, 3 dimes, 4 boards
At UCLA, 0 points, 1 assist
But he had 12 double-figure scoring games against Pac-12 teams.
I think he’s a true PG and looks to probably pass before shooting but as we have seen there are games where he can take over they said he had five games over 20 points
1 Like
Menifield reminds me a lot of Brazile. He was lightly recruited out of high school, joined a mediocre power conference team, and in his first year, quickly established himself as one of the top couple of players on the team, with a lot of potential to get even better. I think he’s a bigger addition than the raw numbers show (and his numbers were actually pretty good).
2 Likes
Good point. Brazile showed very little at Misery to indicate what he was in those first few games for us before the ACL went poof.
Agree, and both are freakishly athletic.
1 Like
Off season is always the time for unbridled enthusiasm where our future visions are over-blown, often creating unrealistic expectations, so I am jumping on board. This young man, in my opinion is exactly the type of player (thinking Blocker may be as well) to create the explosive and dynamic offense we only got glimpses of this past season. As much as I admire Black and appreciate his time as a Razorback, I really think these explosive, speedy point guards will add a dimension to the offense we will like.
When AB drove the ball, he was generally looking to use his size to score the ball and often it was effective, but where his size worked against his defender, when the bigs were rim protecting he got a lot of shots altered or blocked. He tended to use his size as opposed to quickness, which allowed more time for defenders to rotate. I also feel, even when he dished, because our bigs expected him to finish, good passes often did not connect.
If the Mitchell’s hang around, they should really work on their anticipation, because I predict they could be seeing a lot more interior passing. In any event, I am already eagerly anticipating next season.
I think Eric and his staff are pretty good at identifying young college players on an upward trajectory. TB is a great example, and Menifield, too. Bring those kinds of guys in, develop their games, put them in positions to succeed and give them freedom, they can become big-time players.
1 Like
Hearing that we really want to push tempo next year and that he’s looking for several comboguards who can bomb the three and create some three guard lineups to where we can really hurt teams from the perimeter and taking the ball to the rack…
Very much like Baylor and Connecticut this year.
1 Like
OK, gang. Wish list. Let’s assume that 3 more people will leave to be replaced by portal guys, since Menifield gets us back to 13 scholies after RC4’s departure. Along with Menifield, who do we MOST want out of the portal?