Simply incorrect. Weaver will never be a pg. Just because he’s listed at 6-3 (actually a shade under 6-2) doesn’t mean he’s a pg. He’s never been a pg.
Chendall Weaver will spend zero minutes at the point this season, just as in every other season of his career at UTA and UT. He’s never played the one. Not even in high school. The reason he was under-recruited despite his obvious athleticism was because he spent most of his h.s. career as an undersized wing/forward. He was a double-double machine (pts + rebs) in h.s.
In addition (for those who seem to invision him as a potential starter), his role this season will be exclusively as an off the ball role player at the wing spots. That might result in Hadnot getting more minutes as the one, but never Weaver.
It doesn’t mean that when he checks in he won’t be assigned the other team’s “point guard” on defense. I agree on offense he’s not a pg offensively. But say he comes in to hold the other teams pg it likely means whoever was at 2 slides over to pg on offense. Miller/Hadnot probably in that scenario.
This is a HUGE pickup. I was hoping Hadnot would be the 6th man, but it looks like we may have 2. Very good teams have a 6th man that is good enough to start for other teams. Now we have one for sure.
Weaver is definitely the first defender off the bench. I assume Hadnot is the first scorer, but now it seems like Hadnot may have a Mercy type role. CKS is going to favor a guy that defends first. I imagine he comes in for Chase some to keep him fresh too.
He can hoop. He’s more than just a defense only player. He can get the hustle buckets and you cant just leave him open.
He is coming in with a whole lot of experience vs P4, ranked teams. Probably the 2nd or 3rd most experienced. He also has played many of the top 20 teams we will face and a few that we could face in March.
We needed someone that could take some defensive pressure off of Dedan. Well, now we have it.
This right here. Im going to go out on a limb here and say Dedan and Mercy might be at the bottom of the list as far as defenders on our team. Hope they can hold thier own, but Weaver can come in and guard the best player.
Going to be a lot more matchup strategy with this team.
What have you seen from either guy to make you say this? I think you’ve mentioned Dedan being soft and Mercy being a poor defender (sorry if it’s someone else I’m thinking of), but what makes you say this? Mercy is a pretty good, not great defender.
To be fair, Sampson hasn’t exactly been complimentary of Mercy’s defense. But being the “worst” defender on a Sampson team is still objectively “pretty good,” I suppose (not saying MM is the worst).
Mercy has a chance to be a heck of a defender and made huge strides to that last season. Sampson gauges these players differently when it come to D. He wasn’t calling Shead a good defender so - jr seasons even though we could see what a difference-maker he was.
He wants to see Miller continue to develop playing the team concepts.
It wasnt me who said Dedan was weak, but i would lean that way if we are talking playing for us. Shiiii. Uzan was weak at one point…so it doesnt mean there’s no hope.
Ok. Im not sure of what you consider good defense or good defender but we are just going to have to disagree on this topic. You said Mercy was a good defender. You need to insert the weed smoking duck here.
Now King was actually a good perimeter defender. Still bad on defense as a whole though.
Mercy definitely improved with getting fouls because he stopped reaching…but there’s about 5 things to list Mercy had issues with. Defense is by far the main reason he wasnt playing. Nothing to do with offense.
Man to man and defending is only a small part of our defense. Some dont realize it really is different.
Example. Sahko was not bad one one one. He rarely got backed down and overpowered one on one. Decent shot blocker and decent recovery. Had he been in a simpler defensive system he could have played more. He was lost out there.
We have a whole system and one breakdown can mess it up and Sampson loses it. He doesnt trip if its just better offense and they make a shot. He hates blown coverages and silly fouls.
CKS wants to get the ball out of the primary ball handler. Once the non ball handler gets it then its on. Spacing is super important. You over commit to the wrong person and run around with your head cut off you are done. Over commit on pump fakes. Done. Running at jump shooters and fouling them. Done. Fouling with 1 or 2 seconds left in the shot clock. Done.
Haha touché. I do think he’s good, rather, he has the potential to be very good. And his defense improved quite a bit from year one to two, I expect that to continue.
Mercy definitely improved. He honestly was trying too hard and actually forcing too much.
It was one game where he got an early foul and Sampson pulled him. The broadcast picked up the audio and the play by play team was cracking up. Mercy came to the sideline and said im not fouling. CKS was like yes you do. You do it every time.
Seems like he started getting better after that.
He really was doing too much trying to earn more playing time and making big plays. Gambling…going for steals and blocks instead of letting the pressure and system create mistakes. CKS wants a hand in the face. Contested shots. Whats the chances you block a jump shot when you are running at them? Why are you late in the first place? He did better playing zone and with spacing so he wasnt out of position. He definitely improved in the reaching department.
Cryer and Uzan were shaky early in their first year in our defense. Its a lot of running around. Especially if you dont know what you out there doing. And they played with vets.
Now you have Dedan who is new and small. And Mercy who is also a work in progress. No Sharp or Shead to guard the best player like we had the last few years. Dedan is running the O. So if its going to be a sub outta those two, it will be my man Mercy. Its going to be a short leash.
Mercy probably never played even a tiny bit of defense before he got here. He still has a ways to go but I saw improvement last year.
I think him and McCarty step it up another notch this year.
It took a bit to get over the regional and the way we went out. Then add on losing 4 of the 5 starters, and some of the portal movement around the country.
25/26 is now in the rearview, and the new season is in sight, and I find I am once again really excited about the upcoming season and roster.
I shared some of that evening’s disappointment with you. It was definitely tough to witness in person. I had high school softball to float into immediately, which softened the blow somewhat for me.
We could have the worst defender in the nation by their 3rd year here they’ll be top 20% defense nationally
Lj and Sharp came in with reputations of defensive love liabilities both were lead defenders of a team that went to the title in big part due to defense
I love a good “can they defend” debates but mostly about incoming players and maybe 2nd years of the 1st year was really bad … after that if they are getting minutes here I don’t even question their defense
That’s why if we are debating defense Dedan is probably where the conversation should be
