An Early Scouting Report Ahead Of The Fanrun Final Four
Image: PopSugar
By Fanrun Sports
Fanrun Sports will be holding our own version of the Final Four next week as our four radio shows compete on the hardwood.
Talk Sports, Under Review, The Drive, and Overtime will compete in 3-on-3 halfcourt games to 21. Or 15. Or for my sake, 11.
There will be content.
More details to come as they emerge, but here’s some of what we know so far when it comes to early scouting of the teams.
(Shout out to the bossman, who brought us a basketball goal to the studio on Monday so we could all start getting some practice reps in).
Under Review — the early favorite to win at -180
Bob Baskerville is a former Olympian, at least in some sort of Senior Olympics type of way where he showed enough skills on the court to earn medals. Bob recently wore a lanyard with a badge into the office that simply said “athlete” on it. So he’s pretty good, apparently.
His co-host, Sam Beard, who has the longest wingspan at Fanrun, appears to be a solid shooter. Sam looks sneaky athletic. The hope coming in was that he was just goofy enough coordination-wise that his sneaky athleticism would be overshadowed by his lack of coordination. This does not appear to be the case. He’s pretty good.
The rest of the team will consist of Brett Hullander, a former college athlete (soccer), and Bubba, who appears to be the weakest link of the team. That’s not me slandering you Bubba, it’s just that the rest of the team seems to be pretty damn good. But maybe you’re actually the star. IDK.
Overtime — near the level of Under Review but still an underdog at EVEN MONEY
I had to eat some of my previous words about William Patteson when I said I doubt very seriously that he’s as good as he says he is. The kid is good. He’s a sharpshooter. William has extreme confidence about his abilities, bordering on delusion, which gave me some pause to how good he actually is. But after early scouting, it does appear that he will be the best pure shooter in the whole tournament. It is possible that Patteson is the most selfish player in the tournament and will shoot his team right out of the game.
The rest of William’s team, however, leaves me skeptical. I saw Dawson Wise get up a few shots. He hit some. He missed some. Fine. But I doubt he will fare well in the paint against some of the other big boys in this tournament. Maybe I’ll be wrong but I’m not worried about Dawson at this point in time. And after competing in a 2-on-2 game with Intern Jackson yesterday, I’m not worried about him either.
The fourth Overtime rotational piece is still a mystery. Overtime has the best shooter in the tournament, but I’m not sure about the rest of the squad. And how good can William be with an actual defender in his face? While this will be the youngest, and arguably most in shape team in the field, there’s still too many question marks to call Overtime the favorite right now.
Talk Sports — the wild card of the tourney at +400
Jon Reed models his game after Draymond Green, meaning he’s not much of a scorer. But he plays hard and gives an above average rebounding effort in addition to delivering mostly crisp passes to Talk Sports’ star player, Cody McClure.
McClure is a force in the paint, both on the offensive and defensive end. His sheer power intimidates opposing big men. While his lack of height may be seen by some as a disadvantage, he makes up for it with his elite strength. Did you know that he once bench pressed 445 pounds and squatted 635 pounds? In fairness, McClure is stunningly out of shape.
The biggest question mark in this whole tournament is Jack Pianta. Just how good is he? Can he single-handedly carry this team to a championship? It’s important to note that Pianta is 100% shooting on the station basketball goal this week. No one else is 100%. It doesn’t matter how many shots he’s taken.
This team has potential, lowkey, but there are some glaring issues (Reed’s leadership, McClure’s conditioning) that will most likely keep them out of the championship round.
The Drive — not a lot of value at +550
Russell Smith is polished fundamentally. He’s alright in all aspects of the game. Occasionally Russ hits some deep shots, believe it or not. He’s an excellent free throw shooter with good height and he’s in shape. I don’t expect him to do much down low, but you don’t want to leave him open. A Top 5 player in the tournament, again, believe it or not.
Bear is not participating in on-the-court action but has offered to coach the team. The team unanimously said no to that. Which leaves a problem for the drive. Depth is not good. Every other team in the tournament will be able to rotate a single bench player in and out, thank God, which will keep the teams somewhat fresh. The Drive does not have this luxury.
Russ will be left with Jace Brown and Walker the new guy, neither of which have shown much prowess on the court. They hit a couple shots here and there but Russ is going to need more help to have a chance in this tournament.