Players The Michael Belle Thread

Mistachill said:
That's one of the reasons why I saw zero parallel between Mo giving football a shot and MSS doing the same. Mo's unique, freakish physical attributes are...well...freakish.
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They both played basketball at VCU and they are both hard workers but that is certainly where the similarities stopped.
 
ramluvr99 said:
i feel like ferm in particular forgets he’s 6’11 240. do u know if pmj is a good coach in particular to teach that style?
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It’s clear. I love Ferm he is a grade A human being. Just a sweet, sweet person. I do think he forgets he is 6’10 and has athleticism.

Looks as if he has been over coached and its in his head. IMO he just needs to play with some players of better skill, all summer long and just get back to basics. He seems to have it on D, but get him anywhere near the ball on O and he just freezes.

I was very surprised, when he had that solid game against Loyola but suspect it had something to do with Deloach being on the other side. I was also surprised when he shot and hit both those floaters in the A10 tournament that put us over the top. He didnt hesitate at all.

I also think that Mike mismanaged his first year. No way, you dont RS this kid, especially given he is tall, long, and was a former 4 star top 100 player. He only played 52 or so minutes. Mike wasted a year.
 
Ramlove81 said:
Have you ever looked at the actual numbers on his shooting outside of 10 feet? They don’t agree with your assessment.
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I looked at this 3 point shooting numbers, and he only shot the ball somewhat decently his senior year.

He was a lifetime .318 shooter from deep and he didnt shoot a lot of them, he was a poor free throw shooter at 61% lifetime with one year under 50% and another under 60%. Never higher than 65 plus % in his best year when he had the green light.

Look I am not here to berate the kid, I thought he was a very good player and but for his shooting would likely have played in the NBA. He had the motor, he had the attitude, he could hit the boards (actually pretty good for a non-big), he just couldn’t shoot it.

I state again, I think Mike made a mistake lettingJT be the focus of the team his Senior year. Yeah it helped JT but the team sucked. I like, MIke, I like JT but that was a mistake.

I think JT was a very good ball player but he wasn’t a good shooter as his shot just wasn’t there. If he was, he’d have played in the NBA. As it is he has had a very good career overseas.
 
1) Tillman was a low post/in the paint scorer from the day he stepped foot on campus, as his 57% career fg percentage illustrates. He's wasn't a wing, wasn't brought here to be a wing, and didn't play like a wing. Why anybody would expect him to do wing things is odd.

2) In his first three years Tillman only took 3 three pointers, one per year and missed all three which somewhat skews is career percentage. He didn't incorporate the three point shot into his game until his senior season.

3) His senior season Tillman shot 32.9% on 3s. In 2024-25 throughout college basketball the average on 3s was 32.8%. Generally the average hovers between 33-36%. Essentially by his senior season Tillman developed into a statistically average three point shooter and has always been a below average free throw shooter. So apparently he was able to shoot from 22' 1 3/4" at an average percentage for college players.

Just want to make sure things are in its proper context.
 
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theghostofwiltchamberlain said:
Justin Tillman as a senior had a better three point percentage than Zeb, Bamisile, and Fats did this year.
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if you asked Tillman or anyone in his camp when he was attending VCU they would have disagreed with his being a big. They all knew he wasn’t an NBA prospect as a big.

Now if you guys believes he was a big. Cool. I guess you’d say Jamie Skeen was a big as well? But Jamie wouldn’t. Both were wings forced to play inside because of team needs.

My guess is the JT was no more than 6’5 in his bare feet and he was wiry. JT could ball and was tough but he wasn’t a true big. Mo Alie who was also shorter but was nothing but a big due to the way he played and his freakish body type.
 
Mistachill said:
That's one of the reasons why I saw zero parallel between Mo giving football a shot and MSS doing the same. Mo's unique, freakish physical attributes are...well...freakish.
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I think Mo’s physical stature made him qualified for the NFL. He is huge man amongst huge men and that wings span.

MSS had long arms probably a little taller and could have made a team. The difference is I think MSS was a basketball player playing basketball. Mo was an athlete, freak of nature playing basketball.

Football skill wise they easily could have had the same initial skill set, but MO’s physicality took him over the top. Again, I just don’t think MSS had football in his heart past getting paid.
 
It cracks me up that we still debate Tillman and whether he was a big, etc. He hasn’t played at VCU in 7-8 years. Tillman was a very talented kid, but it didn’t help that he had three coaches in four seasons of college, with each one using him differently. Still, I will remember him fondly for staying all four seasons. I hope he is doing well wherever he may be playing now.
 
Yeah Sken is an interesting case.
  • Recruited out of high school as a Power Forward
  • Made almost half of his field goals from behind the arc as a freshman
  • started his sophomore system as the Deacons center
  • Lost the starting role and became one of the first subs off the bench at the 3/4
Depending what set of data you wanted to pick you could call him a 3,4 or 5 bu i'd call him a 4 that could play 3 or 5
 
rammad90 said:
It’s clear. I love Ferm he is a grade A human being. Just a sweet, sweet person. I do think he forgets he is 6’10 and has athleticism.

Looks as if he has been over coached and its in his head. IMO he just needs to play with some players of better skill, all summer long and just get back to basics. He seems to have it on D, but get him anywhere near the ball on O and he just freezes.

I was very surprised, when he had that solid game against Loyola but suspect it had something to do with Deloach being on the other side. I was also surprised when he shot and hit both those floaters in the A10 tournament that put us over the top. He didnt hesitate at all.

I also think that Mike mismanaged his first year. No way, you dont RS this kid, especially given he is tall, long, and was a former 4 star top 100 player. He only played 52 or so minutes. Mike wasted a year.
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It absolutely did..... he was amped for that matchup between the 2. Not sure if there was some animosity between the 2 or what... but Ferm was locked in that game.
 
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