Steven Hill

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Man, where the hell did this guy come from?

An LSU vs Arkansas basketball game is usually not at the top of my list in terms of sports viewing, but I happened to catch most of the second half because Duke was on.

Hill has to be the best leaping big man in the country. HE WAS 7 FOR 7 ON DUNKS. I'm sure he's going to be all over sportscenter tonight. He was throwing down spectacular alley-oops from the top of the white square.

Put a smile on my face like nothing has in a while. The crowd was absolutely loving it.
 

Colonel_Reb

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Hill is one of Jimmy Chitwood's favorite players. He called me today to tell me that he had 7 dunks in that game. He had a season high 16 points and 7 rebounds today, playing 34 minutes. Here's a pic of one of the dunks.

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white tornado

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Crazy white guy with long hair dunking on people, I love it.Edited by: white tornado
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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stevenhill-1.jpg

here is Steven dunking against Alabama

yeah! Steven is one of my favorite players, as the fine Colonel stated. i get a chance to see him play about once/twice a week. he is a beast! i haven't neglected him, just never put up an individual thread to recognize him. check out here: '06-'07 Hype thread to see him on my all-Defense team.
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the game against LSU was his second consecutive dominant offensive performance, and consequently his second consecutive career-high in points. but the way he did it, dunking all over the "vastly superior afaletes" from LSU, made it all the more fun to watch.

defensively, he is THE BEST player in the country, especially for big men. with his superior combination of size, strength, athleticism, and instincts, he literally doesn't have a weakness on the defensive end of the court.

offensively, he's still very much a work in progress... primarily because the coaching staff has neglected going to him come game-time until recently, despite raving about his ability in practice. he still needs to work on his offensive game, but undoubtedly, Steven is a force to be reckoned with.

for a little more info, here's his player bio.
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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and just a little more for your viewing pleasure...
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Jimmy Chitwood

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well, to be fair, i don't think Steven is quite as good a leaper nor quite as nimble as the Birdman. conversely, Andersen wasn't a true 7-footer who is built like a brick ****house.
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Hill is for sure a beast. let's hope he gets better treatment than Chris did...
 

Colonel_Reb

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Hill had 4 points, 2 blocks, 3 steals, and 2 rebounds in 22 minutes today in Arkansas big win over Vanderbilt. Here's a pic of one of Hill's blocks.

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Here's one of Vandy's starters/time splitters, Ross Neltner, getting a rebound.

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Jimmy Chitwood

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Steven Hill was picked as the pre-season Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC.

he started out with a decent performance to the season... 2 blocks in the opening game.
 

Riddlewire

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I'm a little bit worried about Steven's role in Pelphrey's new offense. He hasn't gotten much PT in the games yet, against Wofford or the exhibitions. Pelphrey may not see much use for him. We all know that would be a mistake, but Coach Pel may have some pre-existing ideas about big men that he'll be reluctant to shake, considering he's under pressure to succeed early. He'll want to stick to his own methods.
I guess we'll find out soon enough.
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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i hope Pelphrey learns to utilize Steven Hill, riddlewire... especially considering that Hill is the best player on the team. barring an injury, he will be in the NBA next year.

what has surprised me almost as much is the lack of Michael Sanchez seeing action. did he get hurt or something? he has the chance to be special, even Pelphrey says so. yet, he didn't see ANY action in the opener.
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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wow! i miss the newspaper for a couple of days, and THIS happens! unreal.

i was expecting him to earn a starting spot before the year was out, despite the deep frontcourt for the Hogs. he was that good. oh well, there's always next year i guess.

now i wonder what will happen when Nate Rakestraw returns around Christmas time... because the Hogs' backcourt aside from Beverly is atrocius.
 

Riddlewire

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Hill played less than half the game for the second time this season. Three bench players got more minutes than Steven. No minutes in red-white game, no minutes in exhibitions, no minutes in games. I think Pelphrey has made up his mind.
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Riddlewire

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The bloom is definitely off the rose.
Hill only played 13 minutes in the loss to Providence today. Meanwhile, three 'athletic' bench players doubled his playing time.
Everyone was all excited when Pelphrey was hired to replace Stan Heath. I was just happy to get rid of Heath, but I wasn't willing to annoint Pel our savior. Now, his Nolanesque system is exposed for the outdated, close-minded philosophy that it is. The rest of the nation caught up and learned how to play against it. If you don't have the absolute best type of players to run it, you won't be successful. Not on the big stage, anyway. I'm sure Pelphrey could have continued having success at South Alabama. But he's going to have to learn that you can't just strap a 1994 offense onto a big-ten style team and win in the SEC. This season is a disaster waiting to happen. Unless Pel realizes that Hill is one of the most important players on his roster, he will fail. And a long suffering fanbase will turn on him, just like it did to Heath.
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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i watched a big portion of this game...

it was horrible! Pelphrey is dealing with many issues here... and the biggest problem is the selfishness on this team. as sad as it is to say, the blacks simply won't pass the ball to Steven.

it was that way last year, and it is the same so far this year. if the Hogs are going to win, that HAS to change. Hill is their best player, and their ONLY legitimate post presence. they won't go anywhere if the guards don't give him the ball on offense.

it is a shame Sanchez asked to be redshirted and the foreign kid is hurt. when they and Hill were on the floor together during the exhibition games, it was a beautiful thing to watch! the ball movement was like poetry, and the wide open shots were everywhere. now... not so much.

i don't blame all of this on Pelphrey, but he does need to fix the problem. judging by his outrage in the post-game press conference, he will. he was pissed!

let's see if things change... *remains hopeful*
 

Riddlewire

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I'm sure Pelphrey doesn't have an axe to grind against Steven. But I watched Nolanball for too long to not know its prime characteristics. Forty Minutes of Hell has no place for a big man. Nolan would get one occasionally, but they were absolutely worthless in his offense. He didn't want to adapt his system to utilize them, so he just used them as occasional changeups when the 'pressers' needed a bench break. I suspect Pelphrey is the same way. Inventing a brand new offense isn't easy. If you've been running a hassle-and-scram system for years with small fast players, you don't want to throw that away and start from scratch with something new. Pelphrey is just too conditioned to thinking of tall centers as big lumbering oafs who are supposed to stand around under the basket and bully people out of the way. He cleary has not done his film research and realized how great Steven is at running the court (better than any other 7 footer in college BB).
It's unlikely that I'll attend any games this season (too long to drive), but if Hill keeps riding the bench while Thomas and Townes eat up all the minutes, I'll certainly be booing Pelphrey through the TV.
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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you may be right about that Riddlewire... i hope not, though.

Hill is a phenomenally athletic big man, and easily the best athlete of all Arkansas' bigs. i hope his senior year isn't wasted.
 

Riddlewire

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Didn't think this deserved its own thread. And since it's probably just me and Jimmy still discussing this matter (since it's our team), I figured this would be the best place to mention it.
Tonight, Coach Pelphrey signed white shooting guard Rotnei Clark out of Oklahoma to be a Razorback. Which, if I'm not mistaken, means that John Pelphrey, in just five months of being on the job, has now signed the same number of white players that Stan Heath did in his last four years. I may not like the early signs of Pel's offense, but I can't argue with results like that on the recruiting front. Go Hogs!
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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that's great news, riddlewire!
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according to today's Democrat-Gazette, he is supposed to be an elite shooter, possibly the best in the country, with DEEP range on his jumper.

also, he is supposed to be clever creating his shot off the dribble, and may end his career as the all-time leading scorer in the history of the state of Oklahoma.
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from this video, he certainly knows how to put the ball in the basket.
 

Riddlewire

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Yet again, Steven Hill played less than half the game while bench players got more minutes.
Coming into this season, I figured Hill would probably be a lock to get drafted. Now, I'm not so sure. If he's completely invisible all season long, why would any teams spend a draft pick on him? How can they even notice him?
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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wow. that is incredibly frustrating!

Hill will be in the NBA next year, though... they are starving for athletic shot blockers, and he is definitely one of those. and 7 feet tall, too!
 

Riddlewire

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15 minutes

Thanks for nothing, Pel.
Arkansas has had two white stars in the past 20 years. Number two is now a senior and should be having his warmup campaign for the NBA draft. Yet you choose to use him to give Charles Thomas a breather.
Victories? Why the f**k should I care about that? I already endured a National Championship by ghetto thugs that I hated. Winning on the basketball court has no meaning for me when my team is all black.
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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i agree Riddlewire.

but in all honesty, Hill played like crap in this game. he didn't play hard AT ALL.

of course, he has reason to be frustrated given the selfishness on the team that he has to deal with. but if he wants to get more minutes, he needs to play hard. he's playing for his NBA career at this point, and on the defensive end and on the glass is where his efforts should shine. he can play well there, even if his black teammates won't give him the ball.

i feel horrible for him. but he HAS to play harder or things certainly won't change for the better.
 
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