Robin Smeulders

Based on stats from his play in the 2nd Bundesliga, Smeulders is a good shooter. Has this been evident in Summer workouts ?

He's definitely got some range, from what I've seen. He didn't shoot particularly well this summer with the Dutch U20 team... here's a link to his summer stats:

http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/enDivB/Default.asp?cid={437CD793-ED0C-4EE5-8163-6F08988C6501}&teamID=334&compID={792A6AB7-C6A6-434B-BEA5-9BF1BC619DB4}&season=2007&roundID=5512&playerID=52220

I'm assuming he's back on campus now... he was on the roster for the full Dutch national team but didn't get any minutes as far as I can tell. Either way, he hasn't been around at all this summer so I haven't seen him play. I'll try to get my spy network to poke their head in at a shoot-around and see how he looks.

I don't think he'll ever be a real sharp-shooter from the outside, but he definitely has a nice stroke and a good tough so he can hurt teams if they leave him alone. Just for comparison's sake, I see him as a bit of a better shooter than Ben Sullivan was.

Stonehouse wrote:He's definitely got some range, from what I've seen. He didn't shoot particularly well this summer with the Dutch U20 team... here's a link to his summer stats:

http://www.fibaeurope-u20men.com/enDivB/Default.asp?cid={437CD793-ED0C-4EE5-8163-6F08988C6501}&teamID=334&compID={792A6AB7-C6A6-434B-BEA5-9BF1BC619DB4}&season=2007&roundID=5512&playerID=52220

I'm assuming he's back on campus now... he was on the roster for the full Dutch national team but didn't get any minutes as far as I can tell. Either way, he hasn't been around at all this summer so I haven't seen him play. I'll try to get my spy network to poke their head in at a shoot-around and see how he looks.

I don't think he'll ever be a real sharp-shooter from the outside, but he definitely has a nice stroke and a good tough so he can hurt teams if they leave him alone. Just for comparison's sake, I see him as a bit of a better shooter than Ben Sullivan was.

Thanks for the link, it's a good one ! Would you consider Robin as 'average' on the boards ?

upforever wrote:Thanks for the link, it's a good one ! Would you consider Robin as 'average' on the boards ?

Gosh, that's really hard to say, since I've only ever seen him scrimmage against fellow UP players. So it's hard to gauge his true ability given the not so great competition.

But from what I've seen, he is definitely a solid rebounder... he's not too big in the body, but he's smart and positions himself well and he's not afraid to get in there and mix it up. I think he will probably get pushed around a bit by bigger guys, but he's got long arms and good instinct, so I think he'll do well on the glass. He's also solid defensively and is a surprsingly good shot blocker.

He has tantalizing potential as a small forward (he would create signigicant match-up problems), but I'm not sure how he would fare one-on-one defensively against D1 wing players... Robin is good in team defense, but when it comes to another team isolating him and going after him, I don't know.

Anyway, the best way for me to describe him is just as a smart player who knows the game and understands where he should be and can anticipate things pretty well. Would he be better if he weighed 30 more pounds? Probably. But he's still going to be our best post player this year, and I think he's got a pretty high ceiling.

Stonehouse wrote:

upforever wrote:Thanks for the link, it's a good one ! Would you consider Robin as 'average' on the boards ?

Gosh, that's really hard to say, since I've only ever seen him scrimmage against fellow UP players. So it's hard to gauge his true ability given the not so great competition.

But from what I've seen, he is definitely a solid rebounder... he's not too big in the body, but he's smart and positions himself well and he's not afraid to get in there and mix it up. I think he will probably get pushed around a bit by bigger guys, but he's got long arms and good instinct, so I think he'll do well on the glass. He's also solid defensively and is a surprsingly good shot blocker.

He has tantalizing potential as a small forward (he would create signigicant match-up problems), but I'm not sure how he would fare one-on-one defensively against D1 wing players... Robin is good in team defense, but when it comes to another team isolating him and going after him, I don't know.

Anyway, the best way for me to describe him is just as a smart player who knows the game and understands where he should be and can anticipate things pretty well. Would he be better if he weighed 30 more pounds? Probably. But he's still going to be our best post player this year, and I think he's got a pretty high ceiling.

It's always good to have smart players that work hard to reach their potential.

Does this look like our starting five ...... Raivio, Ito, Watson, Smeulders, and Neidermeyer ?

Well, honestly I don't really know what the heck I'm talking about... but I do think that a lot of the new players (including Smeulders) definitely do know how to play the game. Whether they have the skill to make it happen at the D1 level is another question, but I think the basketball IQ of the team will be pretty high.

As for the starting five... Niedermeyer may be a surprise this year, but he won't be starting. He's definitely a small forward, and Sherrard has that spot locked down.

I'm guessing the starting five will be Ito, Raivio, Watson, Smeulders, and Knutson. Or maybe Smeulders and Sikma down low.

Stonehouse wrote:Well, honestly I don't really know what the heck I'm talking about... but I do think that a lot of the new players (including Smeulders) definitely do know how to play the game. Whether they have the skill to make it happen at the D1 level is another question, but I think the basketball IQ of the team will be pretty high.

As for the starting five... Niedermeyer may be a surprise this year, but he won't be starting. He's definitely a small forward, and Sherrard has that spot locked down.

I'm guessing the starting five will be Ito, Raivio, Watson, Smeulders, and Knutson. Or maybe Smeulders and Sikma down low.

Thanks Stonehouse, really enjoy reading your posts !

I understand that Jasonn Hannibal is quite the raw talent ....... will he red shirt this season ?

upforever wrote:I understand that Jasonn Hannibal is quite the raw talent ....... will he red shirt this season ?

I've never seen him play so I really can't say for sure, but yes, I've heard he's raw. But not "bad" raw in the sense that his only asset is his size and he doesn't have any skill. He does have skill, but he wasn't really playing against talented competition up in Canada (let alone talented opposition that was his size) so he's still got a lot to learn.

But he's still got a lot of size (I haven't seen him play, but I have SEEN him, and he is just massive) and can be useful, and the Pilots are so thin in the post that I don't think they can afford to redshirt him... we really can't go into the season with only three post players. I think we'll need his depth. As of now I'd say he is behind Smeulders, Knutson, and Sikma in the post depth-chart, but he's really the only true center of the bunch, so hopefully he the learning curve won't be too steep for him.

Take this for what it's worth, but I heard stories from pick-up games this summer in which Jasonn and some of the other Pilots were playing with/against players like Kevin Love and Dan Dickau. Apparently Hannibal's size on the defensive end was giving Love some problems, but on the offensive end, Dickau kept trying to set him up with passes and Hannibal just didn't know what to do with it when he got it or when to be in the right position. Now of course that's just hearsay, but I think it's probably indiciative of what what we can expect from him as a freshman still learning the game... size, defense, maybe some flashes of a bright future, and not a whole heck of a lot on the offensive end.