It's time to get ready for the Big Sky season again with some overviews of each team this month, and then eventually we'll get into more detailed looks at everything.
What They Lost: It was a rough year last season for the Thunderbirds, as they waited until right before the end of the year to finally get their first DI win. One of the reasons for the struggles was how young the team was, playing lots of underclassmen. As such, the losses were limited.
The biggest is Jaren Jeffery, a big man who played about 45% of the team's minutes. He shot 52% inside the arc, and was a good rebounder as well. He could provide a little bit of rim protection also, with a nice block rate. Also gone is Jayson Cheesman, who was better as a junior than he was as a senior. He was always a negative offensively (despite being 6'11'', he shot 31% last season. Thirty one percent.), but at his best he was a good rebounder and shot blocker. Also gone is guard Chris Nsenki, but that may be addition by subtraction, and allow for more minutes to younger, more talented guys.
Who Returns: As you probably gathered, almost everyone is back, and they do have some nice building blocks. As a junior in his third year in the program, AJ Hess is an old hand in the program, and he is a nice player. At times he is a three-point shooting specialist, but he shoots 38% from deep which makes him a good option. He is a solid rebounder from the three spot, and takes care of the ball. A key will be whether he can become more of a number one option.
The backcourt got a lot of experience last year, and a guy I really like is PG John Marshall. As a true freshman, he posted a nice assist rate, and his TO rate was reasonable. He is not an outside shooter (two three-point attempts all year), but he showed an ability to get to the rim, and draw some fouls. If he can find a way to be a more efficient scorer, he will be a good floor leader. Trey Kennedy also got a lot of time, and at times was their top offensive option. Though his percentages don't look great, he was asked to do a lot last season, and showed the talent to create his own shot and get to the foul line. He probably has the highest ceiling of anyone in the program.
Juwan Major also got a lot of time as a freshman, but he struggled, shooting just 40% and turning the ball over at an alarmingly high rate. They thought highly of him, but he needs to show improvement to be considered a Big Sky caliber player. One other returner of note in the backcourt is Race Parsons, who could be a shooting specialist at the off guard spot.
Up front, my favorite guy is Casey Oliverson, who had a very nice debut season as a sophomore. He was an efficient scorer inside (though struggled at the foul line), and showed himself to be an above average rebounder on both ends. He is another building block. Cal Hanks and Eric Rippetoe will both be seniors. Hanks is in the Jayson Cheesman mold in that he can help you as long as he doesn't shoot too much, and focuses on rebounds and rim protection. Rippetoe is a capable outside shooter, though he did not bring much else.
Newcomers: One guy that should help a thin frontcourt is juco transfer Christian Thompson, who averaged 16 points and 6.5 rebounds last year. He is a 6'7'' combo forward that should get a lot of minutes for them, and looks like he should be able to contribute. Other possible frontcourt contributors are Sherron Wilson (6'6'' forward from Las Vegas who averaged 13 and 4 last year and got some interest from Air Force and Tulsa), Kyler Nielson (6'6'' forward from Cedar City), and Tyler Rawson (6'9'', athletic forward from American Fork who should be an above average starter at the four in time).
In the backcourt, Travon Langston enters as a junior college transfer, and should provide some more veteran stability with a lot of the minutes going to sophomores like Kennedy, Marshall, Major, and Parsons. I would expect him to have a role. Austin Waddoups is another guy from American Fork, who has returned to SUU after his Mormon mission. He projects as a solid shooter off the ball at 6'2'', as he made 42% of his threes in his senior year of high school.
General Outlook: SUU will still struggle this year - even though they are more experienced, they are still very young, with two seniors on the roster (who are role players). They took their lumps last year in playing a lot of freshman and sophomores, and there will be some lumps again this year. But the lumps will be less, and I think Nick Robinson is building the foundation for a nice program. They may again finish last in the Big Sky, but they will win a few games this year, and be in a few others that people don't expect, because they are always feisty under Robinson. It is fun to watch the program build.
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Showing posts with label John Marshall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Marshall. Show all posts
Friday, October 31, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Helping Fix Southern Utah's Offense
As things currently stand, Southern Utah is the worst offensive team in the country, and possibly the worst team in the country.
Here are some stats against Division I opponents:
- The Thunderbirds are scored 0.84 points per possession, last in the NCAA. The second lowest mark is New Hampshire at 0.87 PPP.
- SUU is shooting 36.1% on two-point FG attempts, again last in the country. The second lowest mark is Howard, at 38.1%. The lowest mark last season was Grambling State, at 38.4%.
- They have a 22.9 TO Rate, which is 339th (out of 351) in the NCAA.
- They rebound 24.6% of their misses, which is 332nd in the nation.
- They are not very good at getting to the line, as their FTA/FGA percentage is 33.8%, 309th in the NCAA. They have shot free throws well when they have gotten to the line.
Basically, they haven't done anything well offensively this year. Their defense hasn't been much better (allowing 1.17 PPP, 345th in the country), but Rome wasn't built in a day. I thought it might be fun to look at some personnel things that could be done to potentially help the offense.
- Give Casey Oliverson all the minutes he can handle - They may be doing this already, as he has played the third most minutes on the team. He has been their best offensive player, efficiency wise, this year. He's only shot 45% on the season, but he is an excellent offensive rebounder, which is good, because there are a lot of chances to grab them. The more minutes he can play, the better.
- Tell AJ Hess to start shooting more - The sophomore guard shoots four threes a game and makes 37% of them. In this offense, he should probably be shooting from the outside even more. He has been horrific inside the arc (6/28, or 21%), but he was a 46% shooter from there last year, so I think that's a sample size issue). If I were Nick Robinson, everything would go through him.
- Give all of Chris Nsenki's minutes to other guards - Nsenki's minutes to seem to be decreasing, as he has averaged 11 minutes per game in Big Sky play. For the year, he's played 37% of the team's minutes, but he is a minus offensively. After shooting 31% from downtown last year, that's down to 3/19 this year. He's made 32% of twos, but he wasn't great in that category last year (7/17). He doesn't get to the line either. John Marshall has not been a scorer this year, but has flashed some talent as a distributor (34.7 Assist Rate).
- Juwan Major might not be ready for big minutes either - The freshman is talented and I know they like him, but he has struggled badly offensively. He is shooting about 38%, and has a 10.7 Assist Rate vs a 34.6 TO Rate.
- Look to push for easy baskets - SUU plays at a slow pace, and their average possession length of 20.2 seconds is 337th in the country. While this might be somewhat driven by personnel, with all of their young guards, they should look to push the pace as much as they can to see if any easy baskets can come.
- Have Trey Kennedy and John Marshall attack the rim relentlessly - Both of these freshman have shown an ability to draw fouls and get to the free throw line. Kennedy draws 4.9 fouls per 40 minutes, while Marshall draws 4.4 fouls per 40. Both are good foul shooters, so the more times they attack the rim and get to the line, the more good things will happen.
Here would be my starting lineup, with notes in parenthesis:
PG John Marshall (Potentially good distributor)
SG Trey Kennedy (Maybe their most talented guy. He is going to be a good Big Sky player)
SF AJ Hess (The team's best outside shooter and all-around scorer)
PF Casey Oliverson (13.2 OR%... crash the glass!)
C Jayson Cheesman (But tell him that if he shoots anything other than a dunk or layup, he's out of the game! He shoots a poor percentage, but he is solid defensively, and showed some ability as an offensive rebounder last year)
Thoughts?
Follow me on Twitter @bigskybball
Here are some stats against Division I opponents:
- The Thunderbirds are scored 0.84 points per possession, last in the NCAA. The second lowest mark is New Hampshire at 0.87 PPP.
- SUU is shooting 36.1% on two-point FG attempts, again last in the country. The second lowest mark is Howard, at 38.1%. The lowest mark last season was Grambling State, at 38.4%.
- They have a 22.9 TO Rate, which is 339th (out of 351) in the NCAA.
- They rebound 24.6% of their misses, which is 332nd in the nation.
- They are not very good at getting to the line, as their FTA/FGA percentage is 33.8%, 309th in the NCAA. They have shot free throws well when they have gotten to the line.
Basically, they haven't done anything well offensively this year. Their defense hasn't been much better (allowing 1.17 PPP, 345th in the country), but Rome wasn't built in a day. I thought it might be fun to look at some personnel things that could be done to potentially help the offense.
- Give Casey Oliverson all the minutes he can handle - They may be doing this already, as he has played the third most minutes on the team. He has been their best offensive player, efficiency wise, this year. He's only shot 45% on the season, but he is an excellent offensive rebounder, which is good, because there are a lot of chances to grab them. The more minutes he can play, the better.
- Tell AJ Hess to start shooting more - The sophomore guard shoots four threes a game and makes 37% of them. In this offense, he should probably be shooting from the outside even more. He has been horrific inside the arc (6/28, or 21%), but he was a 46% shooter from there last year, so I think that's a sample size issue). If I were Nick Robinson, everything would go through him.
- Give all of Chris Nsenki's minutes to other guards - Nsenki's minutes to seem to be decreasing, as he has averaged 11 minutes per game in Big Sky play. For the year, he's played 37% of the team's minutes, but he is a minus offensively. After shooting 31% from downtown last year, that's down to 3/19 this year. He's made 32% of twos, but he wasn't great in that category last year (7/17). He doesn't get to the line either. John Marshall has not been a scorer this year, but has flashed some talent as a distributor (34.7 Assist Rate).
- Juwan Major might not be ready for big minutes either - The freshman is talented and I know they like him, but he has struggled badly offensively. He is shooting about 38%, and has a 10.7 Assist Rate vs a 34.6 TO Rate.
- Look to push for easy baskets - SUU plays at a slow pace, and their average possession length of 20.2 seconds is 337th in the country. While this might be somewhat driven by personnel, with all of their young guards, they should look to push the pace as much as they can to see if any easy baskets can come.
- Have Trey Kennedy and John Marshall attack the rim relentlessly - Both of these freshman have shown an ability to draw fouls and get to the free throw line. Kennedy draws 4.9 fouls per 40 minutes, while Marshall draws 4.4 fouls per 40. Both are good foul shooters, so the more times they attack the rim and get to the line, the more good things will happen.
Here would be my starting lineup, with notes in parenthesis:
PG John Marshall (Potentially good distributor)
SG Trey Kennedy (Maybe their most talented guy. He is going to be a good Big Sky player)
SF AJ Hess (The team's best outside shooter and all-around scorer)
PF Casey Oliverson (13.2 OR%... crash the glass!)
C Jayson Cheesman (But tell him that if he shoots anything other than a dunk or layup, he's out of the game! He shoots a poor percentage, but he is solid defensively, and showed some ability as an offensive rebounder last year)
Thoughts?
Follow me on Twitter @bigskybball
Monday, October 29, 2012
A Few Other Verbal Commits
Occasionally, believe it or not, things slip through the cracks here. It has come to my attention this has happened with a few recent verbal commitments which I have not written about, so I wanted to write briefly on some I believe I have missed.
- McKay Cannon signed with Weber State, and will join the team in 2015 following his mission. He also had offers from Montana, Idaho State, and Southern Utah out of the Big Sky. Cannon is a good looking guard that averaged over 14 points and about five assists per game as a sophomore. He appears to be a bit on the small side, so having the extra years of growth while on his mission should help.
- Southern Utah signed 6'1'' Arizona guard John Marshall, a nice looking PG prospect. He is a tough, pass-first point guard prospect, who has displayed good leadership skills throughout his time in high school. His scouting report also talks about how he is a very good defender. It looks like he may need to work on his jumper, but his game should translate well to the Big Sky.
Plus, he won't be lacking for confidence. From his website:
- Last, Northern Arizona has had a couple of recruits that I have noted on my recruiting tracker, but haven't written anything about them.
One is 6'8'' Zachary Reynolds, who will come out of Gulf Coast CC in Florida. I haven't been able to find out a ton about him yet.
The other is 6'3'' G Chris Miller, a combo guard out of Arizona. He is described as being a high character kid, a good athlete, and solid midrange scorer. As a junior, he averaged 20.7 points and five rebounds per game. Once again, Jack Murphy is putting together a very stellar class.
Follow me on Twitter @bigskybball
- McKay Cannon signed with Weber State, and will join the team in 2015 following his mission. He also had offers from Montana, Idaho State, and Southern Utah out of the Big Sky. Cannon is a good looking guard that averaged over 14 points and about five assists per game as a sophomore. He appears to be a bit on the small side, so having the extra years of growth while on his mission should help.
- Southern Utah signed 6'1'' Arizona guard John Marshall, a nice looking PG prospect. He is a tough, pass-first point guard prospect, who has displayed good leadership skills throughout his time in high school. His scouting report also talks about how he is a very good defender. It looks like he may need to work on his jumper, but his game should translate well to the Big Sky.
Plus, he won't be lacking for confidence. From his website:
John Grant Marshall should be considered one of basketballs top prospects entering the College level class of 2013.He was also looked at by Utah State.
- Last, Northern Arizona has had a couple of recruits that I have noted on my recruiting tracker, but haven't written anything about them.
One is 6'8'' Zachary Reynolds, who will come out of Gulf Coast CC in Florida. I haven't been able to find out a ton about him yet.
The other is 6'3'' G Chris Miller, a combo guard out of Arizona. He is described as being a high character kid, a good athlete, and solid midrange scorer. As a junior, he averaged 20.7 points and five rebounds per game. Once again, Jack Murphy is putting together a very stellar class.
Follow me on Twitter @bigskybball
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