More on Monroe

Greg Monroe did an interview with the Times-Picayune in which he discussed each of his five options:

• About LSU, he said, "First of all, it's a state school. It's close. People who have come to LSU at my position have gone on and had success in the NBA."
• About Georgetown, Monroe said, "They have a very good coaching staff. (Thompson III) is a very smart coach. Their style of play and style of offense would probably be a very good fit for me. Nobody is confined to the post. You can touch the ball inside and at the top of the key and on the wing. That's appealing to me."
• About Duke, Monroe said, "Another great coach, an established coach (in Mike Krzyzewski). Duke has a history of producing good players and you have to look at their success. Their style of play is a little bit more up and down. It's very open and is appealing to me."
• About Texas, Monroe said, "It's a little bit closer (thank Georgetown, Duke or Connecticut) for one thing. They play an open style. Nobody has a certain position. They want you to get out moving and make plays. So their style of play is appealing, too."
• About Connecticut, Monre said, "Coach (Jim) Calhoun has a track record for getting people to the (NBA) league. He knows what it takes to get to the league. His offense is kind of like a pro-style offense. I really think he's a good coach. When he came to my home, I was comfortable with him."

http://blog.nola.com/tpsports/2007/09/monroe_narrows_choices_to_five.html

It is, of course, very difficult to read too much into these comments, but I like that Georgetown was the only program for which Mr. Monroe had a specific, contrasting observation. GU has a different style of play from all of the others. And I think that's a good thing. I'm a little worried about Texas, as it is closer to his hometown and has shown that it can highlight a superstar (see Durant, Kevin). That said, Monroe is supposedly more of a team-oriented player and thus should thrive in JTIII's offense. In any event, I take this as good news.

By the way, I just realized that we have forgotten to post that Chris Wright broke his foot last week. This must have been lost in all of the excitement over JTIII's new contract. I don't expect this to be a major deal. We are very deep at the guard position and he will most likely be back by the Memphis game, at the latest. Also, having see him play, I suspect that Chris will not have too much difficulty picking up the offense. He is quite adept at hitting backdoor cutters.