Connor Vanover

[Cletus]

Looking forward to seeing how Connor turns out for ORU! 

[ORUalum]

 

[Old Titan]

Based on Vanover's comments and film on him, here's what I bet he will do in a nutshell:

• Set picks and shoot threes out top.
• Hustle back to the paint and protect the rim on defense.

That's it!  He will be the stretchiest stretch-four in the history of stretch-fours.

The offensive post will belong to Elijah.  Connor will have as many three attempts on the season as offensive rebounds. 

And, a triple-double with points, rebounds and blocked shots vs. one of the non-D1 opponents in November or December.

 

[eagle88]

How exciting to see the size and strength we will have next year. Our younger guys like Sir Isaac  practicing day in and day out against Eli and Vanover will surely help them get better quicker. Can't wait to see who else we land for next year!

[ORUTerry]

4 hours ago, ORUalum said:

 

From the article:

“Being able to play with Issac again is a big plus,” Vanover said in a phone interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “We’re good friends, and he was active in recruiting me to ORU. I’m excited we’ll be teammates again.”

Vanover, who has two seasons of eligibility remaining, said ORU was among about 30 colleges to show interest after he entered the transfer portal on April 6.

“I think I’ll really work well in ORU’s system,” he said. “I’ll be able to do a lot of pick-and-rolls, pick-and-pops, especially. I think we can really do some damage there.”

[Keenan Henderson]

2 hours ago, Old Titan said:

Based on Vanover's comments and film on him, here's what I bet he will do in a nutshell:

• Set picks and shoot threes out top.
• Hustle back to the paint and protect the rim on defense.

That's it!  He will be the stretchiest stretch-four in the history of stretch-fours.

The offensive post will belong to Elijah.  Connor will have as many three attempts on the season as offensive rebounds. 

And, a triple-double with points, rebounds and blocked shots vs. one of the non-D1 opponents in November or December.

 

That is a really good observation OT.  After watching him the last couple of years the only thing I might add is that he can hit the offensive rebounds effectively when guards drive and draw the defense.  Then he is good at getting offensive rebounds and slams, much like Big Maple does.  He reminds me a little of the stretch four who use to play for the Dallas Mavs, Kristoff Porvigikas (misspelled).  Not saying he is as good as Kristoff but has some similarities.

[Old Titan]

6 hours ago, Keenan Henderson said:

That is a really good observation OT.  After watching him the last couple of years the only thing I might add is that he can hit the offensive rebounds effectively when guards drive and draw the defense.  Then he is good at getting offensive rebounds and slams, much like Big Maple does.  He reminds me a little of the stretch four who use to play for the Dallas Mavs, Kristoff Porvigikas (misspelled).  Not saying he is as good as Kristoff but has some similarities.

If he's under basket on the offensive end, he'll rarely make it back in time to defend the rim.  He's not a floor-runner.

All those missed threes on offense end up as long rebounds, anyway.  Let the guards gather those, and Eli tends to gather his own misses. 

Vanover should be the first one getting back across the half court line once the opposition has the ball.

[Ting]

Some Conner articles for those of us that can't wait to see the new team playing together... When can the transfers get on campus and get acclimated with the team? 

 

https://www.si.com/college/cal/basketball/vanover-at-sweet-16 - Musselman went away from Connor because he wanted to speed up pace. Sounds like Eli and Conner can share the floor together on offense easily with Conner as that stretch 4, but how would they do together on defense? Sounds like Conner can't guard the perimeter, but can provide some rim protection down low.

https://www.si.com/college/arkansas/hogs-mens-basketball/getting-body-right-arkansas-razorbacks-connor-vanover-working-to-add-weight - 

[EagleManiac]

25 minutes ago, Ting said:

Some Conner articles for those of us that can't wait to see the new team playing together... When can the transfers get on campus and get acclimated with the team? 

 

https://www.si.com/college/cal/basketball/vanover-at-sweet-16 - Musselman went away from Connor because he wanted to speed up pace. Sounds like Eli and Conner can share the floor together on offense easily with Conner as that stretch 4, but how would they do together on defense? Sounds like Conner can't guard the perimeter, but can provide some rim protection down low.

https://www.si.com/college/arkansas/hogs-mens-basketball/getting-body-right-arkansas-razorbacks-connor-vanover-working-to-add-weight - 

I don't see Eli and Vanover being on the floor at the same time together often myself, but we'll see. If they were on the floor together. Eli could be the 5 on offense with Eli playing the 4, and swap spots defensively. Eli is not bad on the perimeter as long as he's not tired. He's got pretty quick feet for a guy of his size. 

[ORUTerry]

I could see us playing a 1-3-1 zone defense with a certain player rotation:

Vanover under the basket

Williams (6'6" with a 6'11" wingspan) out top

Thompson, Weaver, Jurgens, Herron, Lufile, Mwamba (all good length) in the middle... with either Abmas, McBride, Amboree or Phipps in one of those slots

[Ting]

37 minutes ago, ORUTerry said:

I could see us playing a 1-3-1 zone defense with a certain player rotation:

Vanover under the basket

Williams (6'6" with a 6'11" wingspan) out top

Thompson, Weaver, Jurgens, Herron, Lufile, Mwamba (all good length) in the middle... with either Abmas, McBride, Amboree or Phipps in one of those slots

We do have the potential to roll out some "on paper" exceptionally long/length defensive lineups next year dont we. 

[Old Titan]

1 hour ago, ORUTerry said:

I could see us playing a 1-3-1 zone defense with a certain player rotation:

Vanover under the basket

Williams (6'6" with a 6'11" wingspan) out top

Thompson, Weaver, Jurgens, Herron, Lufile, Mwamba (all good length) in the middle... with either Abmas, McBride, Amboree or Phipps in one of those slots

The bottom guy on a 1-3-1 must defend from corner-to-corner, with speed and control.

And Mills has already shown he loves Herron out top on the ball in full-court prssure situations.

Consider this:  Williams underneath in the 1-3-1, Vanover in the middle, and Herron out top.  Whoever else on the wings. 

NO ONE in the Summit League is driving down the lane on that line-up.

[Ting]

Blue White can't get here fast enough. (although ill much rather see the guys in the fall than currently if we only get 1 preseason look) Coaches are probably able to have some pretty competitive scrimmages this year. 

[ORUTerry]

8 minutes ago, Old Titan said:

The bottom guy on a 1-3-1 must defend from corner-to-corner, with speed and control.

And Mills has already shown he loves Herron out top on the ball in full-court prssure situations.

Consider this:  Williams underneath in the 1-3-1, Vanover in the middle, and Herron out top.  Whoever else on the wings. 

NO ONE in the Summit League is driving down the lane on that line-up.

You're right... I got the guys in the wrong places. Given Mills' experience at Baylor and their use of a zone defense, I have to think we will see a zone defense implemented... at least partially.

[Old Titan]

1 minute ago, ORUTerry said:

You're right... I got the guys in the wrong places. Given Mills' experience at Baylor and their use of a zone defense, I have to think we will see a zone defense implemented... at least partially.

Hey, if you've got ANYONE in the paint who has length and can move his feet, he's basically his own "zone".

You can do a lot of stuff around him to disguise your defense, and the bottom line remains:  enter the lane at your own risk.

[oruvoice]

So, does this mean we are going away from the 3-guard and 4-guard lineups? 

#skeptical

[ORUJason]

Just think of Vanover as a really tall guard.

[dave]

Can you imagine the defensive problem we will present for other teams if Lufile, Vanover and Max are all on the court at the same time. Actually the guy(s) that might benefit  the most from that combination will be Thompson, Jurgens and Weaver because of all the attention those three will command. This should be good. Of course, the $64,000 question is whether Coach Mills will still insist on starting 3-4 guards while letting the big men on the bench.