I still hear about the loss of Jordan Lathon being a big deal on this board at times. From what I can tell he averaged 7 pts/game at a much lower level of competition than the big ten. I'd take Buie all day, not sure he comes here if the PG guard is not open--or maybe he doesn't have a chance to develop the same if he does come. I'm happy with Buie/Greer including the intangibles they both bring and have seen no stats to suggest that Lathon would have been an improvement.
Lathon vs Buie
- Thread starter torque-cat
- Start date
Lathon has had a bumpy road, to say the least. Have to think he would have been better served in our program had he not done something apparently so egregious. It certainly caused a problem in our backcourt that year.
1) He was lousy at UTEP. Shooting was truly atrocious
2) He announced he was leaving. He announced he was staying. He ended up leaving
3) No disrespect, but he transferred to UWM. No P6 team had any interest
Sure, he’s a young man, could have been different in a different environment. Still could straighten himself and be a hell of a player. I saw him play as a freshman and what stood out is how he had the body of a grown man, impressive physical specimen.
But why are we still talking about him? All signs point to having saved a scholarship.
2) He announced he was leaving. He announced he was staying. He ended up leaving
3) No disrespect, but he transferred to UWM. No P6 team had any interest
Sure, he’s a young man, could have been different in a different environment. Still could straighten himself and be a hell of a player. I saw him play as a freshman and what stood out is how he had the body of a grown man, impressive physical specimen.
But why are we still talking about him? All signs point to having saved a scholarship.
Boo is better and we get Chase to transfer in. If Lathon's departure does not open a spot does Chase even come. All speculation but maybe we would not have had our Lacrosse guy. Nothing against and BBall will pay for his degree. It will work out for all.
PS love seeing Lathon at UWM playing for a former Cat. Coincidence maybe but if there were any bad feelings with NU, there are many other places Lathon could have ended up. I will root for UMW as long as they have PB sr as coach.
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True, the thread may be dumb. I started it because I still read posters lamenting losing out on Lathon, though I think it ended up working out for us.
I assume you are referring to my post in another thread, which was in response to a comment about how Greer has developed. I agreed, and in my argument pointed out that Greer could have easily packed up and gone home after a very difficult situation he was thrust into (reclassifying) as a result of the Lathon fiasco (which it was). I applauded Greer for 1) sticking it out; 2) working hard to become a contributor while many people here, which I suspect includes you (I am not interested in perusing ancient threads to prove this, but your reaction suggests you were part of that group), wrote him off as not worthy of a B1G roster spot.
I am not sure how you got from that argument (Greer has overcome a difficult situation and improved) to a lamentation of the long lost Lathon. But by golly, you did it! I certainly don't rue that fact that we have Buie and Berry out there now, and I am not part of the chorus calling for CCC's liquidation after the Pitt debacle. But I think it is very apparent that Lathon's dismissal put us in a very difficult spot when it happened.
Greer has turned into a solid big ten player. His enrolling early may have stunted his development but he worked hard and now is a reliable ball handler and can score when needed. Albeit viewing from afar, Lathon has had a spotty career to date with going into the transfer portal then removing himself then going back into the portal. He landed up with Pat Baldwin and hopefully Pat can make him into a solid college basketball player. As far as who “won” between us getting Greer or Lathon, I would say we have the better player to this point.
Pretty much my point, which was about Greer, and Greer only. Not really anything about Lathon, other than his troubles led to troubles for us.
It was huge for us at the time because it happened late in the process and meant we really had no PG even on the team(we later got Greer but he was more of a development project as he reclassified just to get into the class). Buie is in a different class (year), came in as more of a scorer first and is just now developing into more of a PG. So really, losing Lathon meant two years without a viable starting (and backup)PG that we are just now finally recovering from (with the development of Buie and Greer). It was a huge loss that set the program back two years and may have cost us in other areas.
He would have likely had a different role here and there is a lot more to the PG position than just shooting. More important is the running of the offense and facilitating. Have to think we would not have had the last two years had he been here. Could argue we are better off now but have to think we would have been better for the last two years than we were. A year later we might have gotten Greer anyway (more mature and with another year of game experience) Maybe not Buie. But overall, our program would have looked like it was on more solid foundation than it looked during that two year period
It wasn't one specific post, it was an occasional yet somewhat persistent recurrence of posts lamenting Lathon. I am not sure if your post was part of that. Thanks
Chase did not come in as a PG but more as a 2. And I believe, Greer actually took Lathon's spot (he reclassified to do it) so still spot for Chase
It cost us two years. Spencer might not have come it but otherwise.... And while it was fun to watch Spence, have to think we would have been better with a second year starting PG. It looks to be behind us now but it did set the program back two years. Would we have had all this talk of how it was time to move on from CCC if Lathon had not done what he did?