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What you expect from Matt Willms

FiliUTEP

FiliUTEP

MI Miner Maniac
Feb 1, 2010
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Sorry for changing the topic away from football.

But what you hope to see from Matt this season.This season if he stays healthy? Will he avg a double double? I hope to see him averaging 15points and 8 rebounds a game.
 
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FiliUTEP said:
Sorry for changing the topic away from football.

But what you hope to see from Matt this season.This season if he stays healthy? Will he avg a double double? I hope to see him averaging 15points and 8 rebounds a game.
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No, no. Thank you for doing so.

I think those are solid numbers for MW to shoot for.
 
I think he could get more rebounds but Paul Thomas i see him up there also in rebounds. Utep should do better rebounds this year. They have bigger guards now and they got a good front court players.
 
FiliUTEP said:
I think he could get more rebounds but Paul Thomas i see him up there also in rebounds. Utep should do better rebounds this year. They have bigger guards now and they got a good front court players.
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Yessir. The pieces are there. Let's see if Floyd can piece the puzzle together now.
 
I think Willms is set for a big year. His skill set has improved a lot and he's learned how to best utilize his size, as slender as he is. Thomas is going to be one of the conference's better big men...if he can stay out of foul trouble. I'm excited for 2017-18 UTEP Basketball.
 
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miner661 said:
I think Willms is set for a big year. His skill set has improved a lot and he's learned how to best utilize his size, as slender as he is. Thomas is going to be one of the conference's better big men...if he can stay out of foul trouble. I'm excited for 2017-18 UTEP Basketball.
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..............................................barring injury of course.
 
Hopefully both Willms and Thomas improve at the free throw line; Jones as well. They all should have plenty of opportunities this year, but they need to make them count. I think 15/8 for Willms would be outstanding; and I think it is possible if he is not playing restricted minutes.
 
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Where do you guys rank him in the offensive pecking order? I would say 3rd behind Omega and Paul Thomas. I would be happy if he leads the team in rebounds and gets a couple of blocks a game and alters shots in the paint.
 
I say omega is 1A and Matt is 1B. Paul Thomas will be the scrappy player.
 
If Willms is the no. 2 then 15 is realistic. DA averaged 15/game as the teams no. 2 scorer.
 
If PT takes his game to the next level this year, then he will be the focus of other team's defense (along with Omega). Willms could average 15 as the teams third best scorer. He is an excellent rim runner and should be able to play well on this team. I would like to see his rebounding and blocked shots go up most importantly. Jones will be a good enforcer type backup for him giving him good rest too.
 
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I saw Tirus on a news segment last week. That's a big boy! Almost Marlon Maxey big! You all know what kind of match up challenges that creates for the opposition? I read on here he had good size but WOW! I couldn't conceptualize his size until I saw that news clip. That should do wonders for Wilms and Thomas! Especially in zone situations.
 
utep2step said:
I saw Tirus on a news segment last week. That's a big boy! Almost Marlon Maxey big! You all know what kind of match up challenges that creates for the opposition? I read on here he had good size but WOW! I couldn't conceptualize his size until I saw that news clip. That should do wonders for Wilms and Thomas! Especially in zone situations.
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Yeah, and he's got skills too. Hope he's gotten in better shape.
 
Until I saw him on TV I am reassessing my outlook for this year. He is Sean Kugler big.
 
FiliUTEP said:
Character was a big body
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Yup. Tirus is that big but I doubt he has Caracter's skill set. Not saying he can not develop into a Caracter type player but Caracter was literally a beast down low. It was in him already when he came here. Butler had nothing to stop him and didn't try to "take it to him". They killed UTEP with their solid perimeter game.
 
utep2step said:
Yup. Tirus is that big but I doubt he has Caracter's skill set. Not saying he can not develop into a Caracter type player but Caracter was literally a beast down low. It was in him already when he came here. Butler had nothing to stop him and didn't try to "take it to him". They killed UTEP with their solid perimeter game.
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Yeah, when Caracter was in the paint, no one wanted a piece of him.
 
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I'll never forget when OU assistants were trying to motivate their all american big man not to be afraid of Caracter during that holday tourney game when Caracter became eligible. The former OU coach was quoted "not to take UTEP lightly" to his team because of Caracter. Good memories of that game.
 
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utep2step said:
UAB center put in the best performance on Caracter during a late season game that decided the CUSA regular season champ but Caracter slammed home the winning dunk on a fast break. Good times. Good times.
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I remember the first night Caracter appeared in The Don. We were like:
anigif_enhanced-2705-1407782598-1.gif
 
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The conditioning training that Smith hopefully has been subjected to since Costa Rica could make all the difference in the world. With him in shape where he can play major minutes along with Willms, Thomas and Jones; that could be one of the top inside groups in the country.
Fun to have some high expectations for this year's possibilities.
 
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miner1liner said:
The conditioning training that Smith hopefully has been subjected to since Costa Rica could make all the difference in the world. With him in shape where he can play major minutes along with Willms, Thomas and Jones; that could be one of the top inside groups in the country.
Fun to have some high expectations for this year's possibilities.
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My heart wants to believe, but my head is like:

giphy.gif
 
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Amen brother. I hope your right. This is Wilms' team. He has other bigs to take pressure off him if they can stay away from foul trouble.
 
Then after the Maxey years, Henry Hall threw UTEP under the bus. Before that was different.
 
utep2step said:
UAB center put in the best performance on Caracter during a late season game that decided the CUSA regular season champ but Caracter slammed home the winning dunk on a fast break. Good times. Good times.
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That was an inbound play from under our basket. Stone down the right side and RC3 at the corner 3-point line. Opened up the lane for the trailing Caracter and the slam. Great comeback and finish!
 
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miner1liner said:
The conditioning training that Smith hopefully has been subjected to since Costa Rica could make all the difference in the world. With him in shape where he can play major minutes along with Willms, Thomas and Jones; that could be one of the top inside groups in the country.
Fun to have some high expectations for this year's possibilities.
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Fully agree man. "IF" TS gets in shape, down 20-25 pounds from where he was when he first got here, he will be good...this year. Conditioning is a must though, or he's gonna be like Britten was, and need a rest every 3-4 game time minutes. What a front line we'd have with Willms, PT and TS...and then Jones able to back up Willms or PT.
 
He looks like he has leaned up a bit since Costa Rica. I agree that he could potentially bring qualities that would be valuable this year. He has a nice shooting touch from the three point line, and he has a big body to defend the stronger PFs that Thomas struggles with.
 
With four quality inside guys plus the perimeter candidates...Omega, Wade, Osbourne, Frazier, Mc Gee, Gilyard, Touchet and Flaggert; who starts in November and who starts in January? Who is first off the bench?
I predict a steady transformation of PTPers during the course of the season.
 
axingfools1 said:
That was an inbound play from under our basket. Stone down the right side and RC3 at the corner 3-point line. Opened up the lane for the trailing Caracter and the slam. Great comeback and finish!
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That's exactly how I remember that moment. The refs had to review the basket to see if it left his hands before the final buzzer. Yes, one of my happiest moments as a Miner fan!
 
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