I respond to your ridiculous over the top statements like Shead was 5x better on defense and it’s heaven and earth difference between them when the kenpom adjusted defensive efficiency was basically the same between $head’s sophomore team and Flemings team last season.
Once you make ridiculous statements like that then yeah… I’ll be rude back to you.
It’s all good if you want to keep it that way, though… don’t start crying and saying people are ganging up on you, though…
Jojo can play 4 on offense and still play in the paint on defense. Its not like he will be locked in to a player and have to guard the same player that guarded him
Im sure we will see Jojo switch on defense if Recco is getting overwhelmed. If the strategy is a stretch 4 to get JoJo out the paint…just as easy as saying Recco you take him next trip down the court. No time out even needed.
As for the soph Shead debate…im taking Shead over Fleming. We are a defensive team
We tried to add 3 young offensive players last year and we had our moments, but we were exposed at the end by a very mid Illinois team. The previous year’s team would have destroyed that Illinois team.
Even though we brought back 3 starters they actually played worse than the previous year. All 3 were worse versions of themselves. JWan was definitely better than Cenac and Im taking Cryer over Fleming. Even Malik and Francis off the bench. Our 7 deep, player for player was worse than the previous season.
It was worth a try, but a failed experiment. Coach did a good job winning with that team.
Why was the kenpom adjusted defensive efficiency the same for Shead’s sophomore team compared to Flemings team last year if they were so much worse on defense?
Can anyone explain that to me…?
Flemings lead this team to 2nd place in the Big 12 against a MUCH TOUGHER schedule than $head had to play against… MUCH TOUGHER.
SOS in 2021-22 was ~100th… last season was ~10th
Shead was a great on ball defender - full stop. The shorter chest to chest defenders get more credit than the tall lanky guys that stop a shot after getting beat by half a step. Deeky style defense
I dont care what the stats say. The game footage shows Fleming was a liability on defense. Sampson cussing him out shows he was a liability.
Foul trouble was our BIGGEST issue last season. Not just our top players not being available. Teams getting in the bonus early and completely messing up our strategy and game plan.
Fleming was not a good defender and on top of that blew assignments. Now if he were the only youngster on the court we could get away with it. But then you add Cenac who was lost out there and getting worked on defense and Eman who was just reaching and fouling jump shooters. Our numbers are going to say we were still a good defense…held Illinois way below thier average…but thats just our system and style if play. I said it in a post a while back. No one gets over a C on defense last year.
Come on stop comparing their defense based off some stats. Overall I am taking young KF over young Shead, but that’s opinions based and not a defensive comparison. Kingston played hard, played the passing lanes well and did a solid job on defense, but we lacked the Sasser, Shead, GRob who singularly stopped the ball 30 ft from the basket. That has a tremendous impact for the rest of the defense and can’t be measured with stats. To this day I don’t think we have had a better closer with the ball in his hand than Shead his final season. I would put Gray behind him.
I admire the honesty. I keep wanting to post about passing the eye test, that team didn’t. I just get tired of arguing about last year’s underachieving team, we aren’t swaying anyone. We’re all stirring the pot to make sure we get our views “heard”, I’m game
I don’t think i missed a game between being a season ticket holder and TV. Last years team just didn’t pass the eye test, nor did it have the IT-factor, imo.
Correct, the TEAM was lacking and people get very defensive when you’re talking about the one-and-dones
He was, in no way, a liability on defense. We gotta stop the tomfoolery in here. You can prefer Shead for sure, but this take is wild. You can’t just decide that the stats don’t matter, and numbers aren’t real. I would agree that last years team didn’t have that same defensive tenacity as previous years, but the numbers reflected a team that had a strong defense. Don’t go too far with the “hot takes”
Oh brother!
A liability… 
Also, Sampson has yelled at EVERY PLAYER that has ever played for him… c’mon man!
If he was a liability he wouldn’t have been on the court… PERIOD.
This is an insane take. Jojo was one of the best defenders in the country and EMan was one of the best on ball, perimeter defenders in the country. We gotta be honest. Nothing against you personally, but this is absurd
Its not a hot take. Sampson rarely goes off on an offensive mistake. He completely loses it on defensive mistakes. Its no secret of who messed up either. We can be on offense and he is still cussing them out for what happened on D. Flemings even mentioned Sampson going off on him in an interview for the NBA.
When Fleming had that huge game, the next few games team went RIGHT AT FLEMING. It was clear as day. He was messing up just as much as Mercy really. Mercy was the worst defender. Fleming was second. He was light and did not use the lower body bump with his hands in the air like Sharp does. Flemings wasnt out of position as much as Mercy was, but he would definitely smoke some assignments.
Ok. Yes he made up for it with some steals. But defending, blowing assignments, foul trouble are still huge aspects of defense. Silly fouls? That messes up the whole defense.
One thing i will say. I definitely think the Big 12 officiating messed over us as far as the way they were calling it. We seemed to have lost our defensive street cred and i think it was just because these guys were freshmen. I dont know if it were body language or what, but we did not get the benefit of the doubt on close calls. The officiating wasnt as bad in March, but there we stretches where our players stayed on the bench.
You just dont realize how much foul trouble Sharp was in last year. Silly fouls too.
Of course he can defend and is probably our best by far. Doesnt mean ish when he is on the bench. And Sharp on the bench hurt our defense and offense.
There were games last year he was fouling jump shooters. Fouled a 3 point shooter TWICE in the same game. Had that been Mercy he would have had to sit in the stands
One of the reasons he was drafted…
I won’t argue with this. He definitely committed some silly fouls at times, and lacked discipline a few games
And he played 31.7 mpg… tough to do that when you’re always in foul trouble… ask Jojo… lol
“An elite on ball defender capable of terrorizing other PGs…”
Damn… if you multiply that by 5 imagine what you’d have!!!
Its not like Sharp all of a sudden forgot how to play D last year. He pretty much perfected that lower body bump while running with you and his hands in the air.
He did a lot more reaching trying to make plays. But when you dont have a big that has your back like Jwan, then its more pressure on Sharp to make plays.
LJ Cryer was not a super great athlete, but even he was much better on defense. He may Not have made outstanding plays on defense, but he was extremely solid last year. Cryer first year a lil shaky. LJ rarely got yelled at on defense. Cryer has a solid lower body and rarely got bullied. He learned the lower body bump thing too. They let you get away with those bumps as long as you dont reach.
Sampson was going off on Kingston damn near every game on defense.
Looking at how we look guarding one on one, in space is only half of it. I think Kingston was decent one on one on the perimeter. Its not like King was letting boys take him off the dribble…it was the Rotations, reaching, playing with contact, foul trouble is where he had issues.
I’m pretty sure Sampson has yelled at me and we’ve never met.
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