Breakdown: Dug McDaniel
https://www.pointguardeyes.com/dug-mcdaniel-2021
The most in-depth look at Dug’s game that I’ve seen. I’ve admittedly been skeptical of his size, not his game, and how he holds up in the Big Ten. Thought Trimble was the guy for awhile, but this kid looks like the real deal. His start-stop ability, the way he moves, the speed at which he plays, etc. can and should translate into a dynamic offense to play into our the wings we are always recruiting. Could be a great one for 3-4 years here.
I was in the same boat wanting Trimble because of the size advantage, however this breakdown you provided really helped me understand McDaniel's game better. Go Blue!!
Mugsy 2.0!
I was living in Raleigh, NC when Spud Webb was at NC State. He was 5'6" tall. He was fun to watch.
Great for offensive flow.
Juwan is a great defensive coach....will need a good scheme if other team's attack Dug's lack of size, which I'm sure they will.
My personal experience with this is that these attempts to exploit this "advantage" takes the opposition out of their offense and results in a net negative. The best coach I played for did build in some defensive scheme strategies to both mitigate issues and maximize advantages of my smallness-because, like everything, there are two sides to every coin...Juwan and staff will do the same.
The thing about Dug is that he’s athletically and fundamentally a great defender when you watch his tape. He’s super quick laterally, has fast hands, has great instincts, and really gets into the grill of his man. But the one thing that’s holding him back is his size and weight so we’ll see how he and the staff deal with that situation
Maybe Juwan can invest in opening an In-N-Out Burger in Ann Arbor.
While I’d love for an In-n-Out to come this far East, I don’t think you need it. If you’re looking for joints with eats to add weight, Ann Arbor already has them in spades.
loving the potential of the basketball program.
Outstanding recap. Thanks.
I’ve also been seeing stuff online that he’s now closer to 5’11” now but idk how true that is
Surprised no one has compared him to Avery Queen.
I think in a weird way I'm more excited for Dug than someone who may have been a 1 and doner. If the comparisons that Ant made to Yogi Farrell are true, I will take that all day every day- Yogi was an absolute pain in the ass to play against.
Dug isn’t the shooter yogi was and he’s 2-3 inches shorter. If he can get there as a shooter or grow a few inches he will be great, but yogi was a 5 star top 20 player in the country for a reason and dug isn’t that at this point in his development.
I didn't make the comparison- just saying that if it comes true, I'll be super happy.
I will make the comparison. We were living in Indianapolis when Yogi was starring at Park Tudor-and Conley and Odon at Lawrence North and all those Teague kids at Pike. Yogi may be a little better shooter and Dug may be a little better facilitator but otherwise they are strikingly similar.
Yeah Trimble is good but this kid is just as good. Extremely athletic and quick and will end up being a stud.
Interesting site. He also has an eval of Dug McDaniel from 2019 (https://www.pointguardeyes.com/dug-mcdaniel) as well as an eval of some guy named Hunter Dickinson (https://www.pointguardeyes.com/hunter-dickinson)
I also love that he evaluated a kid named Guy Fauntleroy. I take that back. I love that a kid named Guy Fauntleroy exists.
Thanks for the share, it was a great breakdown! I'm looking forward to MattEM's full eval soon.
An overwhelming positive of Dug's game seems to be his ability to mesh his excellent technical ballhandling with his high-level quickness. In addition, it seems his competency with running pick-and-roll actions has improved and still has room for growth. That latter point excites me because if coach Howard continues to introduce more NBA/Pro schemes into his offense, the ceiling for Dug could be one of the top P&R guards in the B1G, especially if the staff is able to obtain the commitment of a certain lively 7'1" lob target. If Dug can also develop an efficient floater/runner scoring ability, whew boy this may get very interesting.
The speed at which Mike Smith could push the ball was a huge advantage last year. Florida St. comes to mind. Dug seems to be in that same mold.
Between Smith and Simpson we saw firsthand how great short point guards can be. I am excited to see what he will bring to the table!
Bringing in Frankie and now Dug you can really see what Juwan wants to do with tempo. These teams are going to be able to play FAST when they want to.
Handle 99, Speed 99, Agility 99 - I'll take it! Seems to also have great ball IQ and feel in manipulating spacing.
We have plenty more scholarships to give out for 2022/23 (2 up to...5?), this is a great first piece
If you put a lightning quick playmaker that can distribute the ball on the court with four dominant athletes you are going to win some games.