[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by Beerthirty

Is CJ Roberts fitting in anywhere? Haven't heard much about him

Ask and ye shall receive:

https://www.rockmnation.com/2017/11/...-rotation-spot

Pros: Roberts’ pros are harder to nail down because... well, we’ve never seen him play in a game with Division 1 competition. We did get a short look at him in the Kansas game, but almost nothing substantive (more on that later.) Outside of highlight tape, all we have to go on is past scouting reports. Here’s what Rock M Nation’s Sam Snelling had to say when Roberts originally committed to Kim Anderson’s staff:

Roberts is an explosive athlete and high volume scorer with the ability to make shots at all three levels. He’s played both on and off the ball in high school and projects to play both at the college level, although primarily he’ll be thought of as a point guard due to his size. At 6’0 and 175 lbs, Roberts could stand to put on a little weight but should provide an immediate impact for a program that has struggled to score the last few years. Roberts has the ability to catch fire and carry the offensive load and has perhaps as high of a ceiling as any guard (outside of to top 3 or 4 guards) in the country.

This is a pretty common consensus on Roberts across the board: he’s a gifted offensive player and one hell of an athlete. Now the question is whether or not that will show up in a college game. And the only way we’ll be able to tell is if he’s getting minutes.

Cons: Take almost everything I just said and repeat it again. We know about the promise of CJ Roberts, but we don’t know if it’ll translate. It’s obvious he hasn’t adjusted as well as the other freshman on the roster — he only played two minutes against Kansas. So what’s the source of the issue? Is his defense not up to snuff yet? Is his offense struggling to develop? It could be a combination of the two.

He’s also got a size disadvantage, playing at only 6’0 and 180 pounds. That’s point guard size, but he’s got three people ahead of him on the depth chart: Phillips, Harris, and maybe Robertson too. So if Roberts can’t provide some scoring punch off the bench, he’s going to need to find his defensive game in a hurry.

Outlook: At this point, there’s almost no certainty surrounding CJ Roberts. I think he’ll see more time as the year goes on, but we just haven’t seen anything to suggest the coaches trust him with extended minutes yet. He’s ending up fourth on my list.

If I had to personally rank who I want to see take up that spot I’d rank them like this:

(1) CJ Roberts

(2) Reed Nikko

(3) Cullen VanLeer

(4) Jordan Geist

I think Roberts has the potential to be a really good four-year player for this program, and I think the best way to develop him will be getting him on the court with players like Kassius Robertson and Michael Porter Jr. while they’re here.