Elijah Clarance-Swedish National Team

[Adunk33]

A thread to keep track of how he is doing over there.

He scored 27 & 28 points in back to back exhibition games over Finland's 20U National Team.

Its hard to find a ton of information, but I believe this is the schedule he is playing: http://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u20/2018/fullschedule.

The tournament begins on July 14 against Italy and I think you can watch for free on Youtube: Youtube.com/FIBA

 

[Bird Friend]

Good for him. I sure hope he sees a lot more court time than Mikyle did. Perhaps this is what he needs to build up his confidence.

 

[DannyCooksey]

I'm hoping he stays healthy and plays as much as possible this summer for Sweden. He needs all the experience he can get.

If he can break out this year it makes us a completely different team.

 

[SgtHulka]

Roy Herald is probably crying in his Salmiakki Koskenkorva. Sounds like his scoring is coming along.

 

[Adunk33]

https://twitter.com/Redbird_MBB/status/1011664724579274753

http://www.goredbirds.com/news/2018/6/26/mens-basketball-elijah-clarance-to-compete-for-swedish-national-team.aspx

Clarance competed for Sweden in a pair of friendly games against Finland on June 19 and 20, and through those two games, he lead the squad with 27.5 points and 3.5 assists per game. The Swedish team fell in the first of the two games 90-75, before winning the second game 91-75. He was the only player to score in double figures for each of the two games, which were played in Finland.

In the opening friendly, Clarance made 10-of-22 shots from the field and 4-of-9 from long range for 27 points. He added five rebounds, three assists, and two steals in the loss.

In Sweden's win a day later, he went 11-of-19 from the field and 2-of-7 from distance, while making half of his eight free throw tries for 28 points. He pulled down two rebounds, gave out four assists, and picked up a team-high four steals

 

[JHBird]

Looks like he's starting to hit on his 3's...37 percent from my calc. If he can get people to respect his outside shot then going inside will be so much easier. Seems like he's built to take in inside, and that's what he seems to want to do.

 

[ISU FAN 1]

He plays better in friendly games. MVC needs to mandate friendly games.

 

[redbirdron1]

Great stats for EC. Just wondering, R the balls smaller and rims bigger where he’s hooping?

 

[Hamdonger]

He plays better in friendly games. MVC needs to mandate friendly games.

 

[Tpguy]

Is this the same Elijah?

 

[Joe_Y]

Sounds like the best of the bunch, it's great that he's getting playing time, just wish it was with the birds instead.

Anybody remember how well Kaza/Mikyle did on the Canadian Junior national team?

 

[Retire 12]

Elijah reminds me of Key in terms of growth.

I expect big things.

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

You guys were HATING on EC last year, but we all know that the game at this level takes time to adapt to. If not for the msg board fiasco of 2 years ago, I'd gladly go back and pluck the "Paris Lee" can't hack it threads (and boy there were quite a few of them) for quotes then post 500 pictures of him holding the Larry Bird trophy and Valley Championship plaque.

You see those video game numbers EC is putting up in international ball? That is a DIRECT RESULT of what Muller and his team plus D-1 minutes taught him. The kid went from playing a video game set on "JV" in high school to playing "All Madden" overnight and then had to learn the game at that speed during Valley league play. He is now playing the game at the second to hardest level over in Europe and it is coming MUCH easier to him.

I expect there to be some rust on him to start the year and a little ramp up time to get immediately back to D1 speed, but these numbers are VERY promising. If you have EC playing potentially MVC Honorable Mention ball this season, you have an absolutely incredible team with him, Evans, Copeland, Fayne, MY plus a host of guys on the bench who very seriously could be starting other places in the country (and even in the conference).

 

[HT59]

:text-+1:

You guys were HATING on EC last year, but we all know that the game at this level takes time to adapt to. If not for the msg board fiasco of 2 years ago, I'd gladly go back and pluck the "Paris Lee" can't hack it threads (and boy there were quite a few of them) for quotes then post 500 pictures of him holding the Larry Bird trophy and Valley Championship plaque.

You see those video game numbers EC is putting up in international ball? That is a DIRECT RESULT of what Muller and his team plus D-1 minutes taught him. The kid went from playing a video game set on "JV" in high school to playing "All Madden" overnight and then had to learn the game at that speed during Valley league play. He is now playing the game at the second to hardest level over in Europe and it is coming MUCH easier to him.

I expect there to be some rust on him to start the year and a little ramp up time to get immediately back to D1 speed, but these numbers are VERY promising. If you have EC playing potentially MVC Honorable Mention ball this season, you have an absolutely incredible team with him, Evans, Copeland, Fayne, MY plus a host of guys on the bench who very seriously could be starting other places in the country (and even in the conference).

 

[Chicagobirdfan]

You guys were HATING on EC last year, but we all know that the game at this level takes time to adapt to. If not for the msg board fiasco of 2 years ago, I'd gladly go back and pluck the "Paris Lee" can't hack it threads (and boy there were quite a few of them) for quotes then post 500 pictures of him holding the Larry Bird trophy and Valley Championship plaque.

You see those video game numbers EC is putting up in international ball? That is a DIRECT RESULT of what Muller and his team plus D-1 minutes taught him. The kid went from playing a video game set on "JV" in high school to playing "All Madden" overnight and then had to learn the game at that speed during Valley league play. He is now playing the game at the second to hardest level over in Europe and it is coming MUCH easier to him.

I expect there to be some rust on him to start the year and a little ramp up time to get immediately back to D1 speed, but these numbers are VERY promising. If you have EC playing potentially MVC Honorable Mention ball this season, you have an absolutely incredible team with him, Evans, Copeland, Fayne, MY plus a host of guys on the bench who very seriously could be starting other places in the country (and even in the conference).

Great post, fully agree he could be a very important piece for us.

 

[SgtHulka]

One shouldn't discount the impact of a freshman being injured for months before he can even go through official practice with the team has on development.

 

[Adunk33]

You guys were HATING on EC last year, but we all know that the game at this level taktime to adapt to. If not for the msg board fiasco of 2 years ago, I'd gladly go back and pluck the "Paris Lee" can't hack it threads (and boy there were quite a few of them) for quotes then post 500 pictures of him holding the Larry Bird trophy and Valley Championship plaque.

I was always in the give Elijah time camp and was sometimes critical of Muller when he Elijah was playing well and Muller would pull him after one mistake. He always started kind of slow but would pick it up with more time on the court. All season he showed flashes. I think back to both games against SIU this past season where he had his best games of the season, a combined 22 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals in 53 minutes.

I said the same about Paris. Paris had it way harder than Elijah from an upbringing but both deserve time. Paris' first legit D1 game was at No.14 VCU, against Shaka Smart's pressing team. Birds lost by almost 40, Paris had 9 turnovers, 6 steals, 9 points, and 3 rebounds. Like you said Warrior, he got better.

That is one thing I always try to do, give freshmen the benefit of the doubt. Odds are, we aren't going to get (m)any freshmen who are ready to contribute or be a star from day 1. Which is why I'm not too concerned about the Abdou situation, if he doesn't qualify, it may be beneficial to give him a year to develop. We are at a level where we have to build, and our best players are guys who have been in the program for several years, like Key, Phil, and Milik. I expect huge things out of Taylor, Elijah, and Chastain by the time they are seniors. But they are still getting their feet wet. Elijah takes another step this season, but headed into his junior year is where I expect the most progress.

I'm ready for hoops. I'll likely watch as many of his games as possible this summer and report what I see.

I also looked up how Mikyle and Kaza did a few years back playing for Canada and Canada's basketball website only goes back to 2015. If I remember correctly, neither put up anywhere close to the type of numbers Elijah has so far.

 

[isuquinndog]

One shouldn't discount the impact of a freshman being injured for months before he can even go through official practice with the team has on development.

+ eleventybillion

 

[bb fan]

Good stuff, Redbirdwarrior.

 

[Bird Friend]

Which is why I'm not too concerned about the Abdou situation, if he doesn't qualify, it may be beneficial to give him a year to develop.

Unfortunately, if he doesn't qualify, he doesn't practice with the team. So he really doesn't get to "develop" in that year off. Sure he can lift, workout, play pick up games with the guys, but he's not getting any time with the staff or learning the system. We saw it with both MM and Hawkins. When they finally were able to practice/play with the team, they still needed more time to develop.

Not to mention the ever-present threat of him graduating after four and still having a year of eligibility he can rent out to a P5.

Really need him to qualify.