You can ride an ostrich.
Ostriches are birds.
Birds are dinosaurs.
Might not have been all that long ago.
Demarion Watson
- Thread starter jacobj
- Start date
You can ride an ostrich.
Ostriches are birds.
Birds are dinosaurs.
Might not have been all that long ago.
Yeah, he’s clearly a Big 12 player, and one that is an asset type we will need at times. Like in the Sweet 16 against a long Illinois team. Or when injuries occur
And he’ll continue to get better the more he plays, despite some here ridiculously thinking otherwise, and writing him off after less than 40 minutes of playing time his junior season. Likely due to the flawed logic of thinking because he wasn’t getting minutes, he wasn’t capable. The result of needlessly truncating the rotation
DSwat elevates this team by a lot and most of it is him just being out there. He honestly doesn't have to do that much, just needs to be aggressive, which he's shown. He's so damn athletic that he's going to grab a bunch of boards and he's a legit threat at blocking shots.
Offensively, it's O-boards, being strong at the rim, being able to make a three when left wide open and then hitting FTs. All of which he's done in a 3 game span.
Offensively, it's O-boards, being strong at the rim, being able to make a three when left wide open and then hitting FTs. All of which he's done in a 3 game span.
JFC, you sound like a buddy who bless his heart is just common sense stupid. He quotes Step Brothers like it's his job
I love the way Watson played tonight. If he continues to play that way he deserves some minutes whether Milan is back or not. That being said Heise brings more to the team. His rebounding is top notch, he plays excellent defense. He helps handling the ball. He is also an effort guy. Also note, he would not be expected to keep shooting 3's unless he is making them at a decent clip in practice.
Agree with everything here, but a question on the bolded part. "Flawed logic" by who? Assume you are referring to the staff? Because as fans, we have become accustomed to TJ having a pretty tight 8-man rotation, and from everything we have seen, he was not capable of cracking the TJ-specific 8-man rotation (in the eyes of the coaching staff, who...coach him every day). Apologies if I am missing anything here.
Edit: I am differentiating between "capable of being a contributing Big 12 player" vs. "capable of cracking TJ's 8-man rotation"
Well said.
Heise is just a really good all-around player that can do a little bit of everything. He's a very good/strong athlete too. He's skilled (and smart) on offense and defense. His ceiling is much higher than he's shown thus far at Iowa State, and that is why I think fans (and likely he himself) are a bit frustrated. You don't make 100 three-pointers in a career at UNI, or average ~14pts / 6rbs last year at UNI without being a really good player. Outside of his shooting/scoring this season, he's been awesome. He's doing all of the little things (on both ends) that the staff is asking of him. He gets a lot of steals but just as importantly, he makes the play that leads to a steal/turnover. The staff loves him and trusts him, and will continue to challenge him to be more assertive offensively. Last night he had a few really assertive plays on offense, which was a positive sign. The first 20 seconds in the game, he drives aggressively at the hoop and had a very skilled/athletic left-handed finish. But he also had at least 3 or 4 really poor plays that were the direct result of him hesitating and not being aggressive and not trusting himself. The 3 pointer that he made - he actually should have shot a 3 about 8 seconds before the one he did shoot. Thankfully for his confidence, he made it
I'm cheering like hell for the kid. If he can get unlocked, it significantly raises the ceiling for this squad.
And to clarify, none of this is anti-Watson. They are just very different players. Like with Milan - it is not an either-or situation. Both Heise and Watson were both on the floor yesterday at the same time during key stretches.
You're completey right,less playing time is always better and leads to better development. Plus we wouldn't Demario to run out of gas from playing too much already. He might be over-exerting himself right now.
You guys can call me all you want but hes a good player and I refuse to believe less minutes on the court in actual games is a bad thing.
Cool but it's shown to not really matter since he's been able to come in and hit the ground running and there's no indication that it bothers anyone in the program including him.
Here's a foreign concept that you might not understand. But what if he could be even better than what he showed last night due to development and regular pt with the starters?
You also keep referring to him being here 3 years as some bad thing, but it's not the same roster and lineup he's playing with this year as it's been the last 2. The front court he's mixing in with is completely different.
Usually Heise rebounds well, his defense is good he stays in front of opponents well. Overall, his defense is way overestimated by some fans. I don't see how you say he brings more to the team than Watson. Even if he were draining 3s I would say Watson and him would both be about equally valuable but very different when out there. Watson at least currently has value on offense.
Slow down. Reread your post. Revise.
I agree that more minutes for Watson would be good for him. My point is simply that there are only so many game minutes and the coaching staff has decided how to best use them. The result is a 15-2 record and #3 ranking. And when Watson has been needed, he looks prepared, despite not playing the number of minutes you think he should have prior to Milan's injury.
I think Watson has really stepped up and taken advantage of his playing time. Kudos to him!
You think he'd be better if he played more two months ago? He's been essentially the same player the whole time and the main improvements on skills tend to take place during the off season.
Maybe you should go back to not watching the games or something. ISU heading for another NCAA tourney and hopefully a good seed seems to put you on the struggle bus.
If Watson knows where he stands on this (all indications are he does) I'm not sure why you keep struggling with it.
Right now Watson and Heise aren't competing for the same minutes. Heise is spelling a guard and basicly playing the 3 spot. Watson is spelling Jefferson unless they move Jefferson to the 5 and play them together. So Watson is playing the 4 spot when he is on the floor. Heise has shown the ability to play the 4 spot some, but I don't see Watson playing the 3 spot. Watson's lack of minutes earlier were likely because TJ has a set number of guys he likes in the rotation and Watson is pretty limited into playing a backup 4. Heise offers more position flexibility. Ultimately, you want Jefferson on the court as much as possible so that impacts Watson.
I love Watson and have been one of his biggest proponents/defenders. But I think that Heise still offers more overall. On defense and rebounding, both are great, but Heise is more of an active defender, while Watson's length and athleticism make up for sometimes slow reactions. On offense, Heise can still do more with the ball in his hands--we've seen some nice wraparound or pocket passes from him to posts on drives, for instance. And despite Watson making a three last night, I think their respective roles on offense when in show that practice would indicate that Heise is still a better offensive player and more trusted as a shooter.
It seems like a bit of an overreaction to say that at least Watson has value on offense when Heise also put up 9 points with a couple of assists last night.
Heise and Watson comparisons are really academic. They play different positions.
We’re mostly running 3 guards and 2 bigs. I know this is not 100% the case but if it deviates it’s going to be 4 guards and not 3 bigs.
There are just less minutes for Watson.
We’re mostly running 3 guards and 2 bigs. I know this is not 100% the case but if it deviates it’s going to be 4 guards and not 3 bigs.
There are just less minutes for Watson.
I think it's clear Watson can play and be a net positive.
We just have a good problem with this program: too many players worthy of more minutes. What a blessing to have. Demarion Watson is one of those players worthy of more minutes.
I do hope he will continue to see more time as the year continues. I think it's good for the rotation to expand right now in January as you never know when an injury could happen in the future and Watson is forced to play more minutes out of necessity, Milan is out for a while, playing the 9th guy more mitigates some of the injury risk to other guys or fatigue (don't want the starters to be exhausting and banged up in March when it really matters and here they've played 32 plus minutes a game during conference) and there are certain teams and matchups where he's a good fit. I could see him taking some of Chatfield's minutes against some teams (as seemed to happen last night) because Watson is long enough and strong enough to get boards and be a beast, but also can play more like a guard. He could also take some of Heise or Jackson's minutes at other times. It just depends on the team we're playing.
Anyway, loved the way Watson played last night and hope TJ keeps putting him into the rotation more and more and finding minutes for him. He's shown he's a quality Big XII player and his effectiveness last night was off the charts and a big reason for the lopsided win. Love watching this team!
I do hope he will continue to see more time as the year continues. I think it's good for the rotation to expand right now in January as you never know when an injury could happen in the future and Watson is forced to play more minutes out of necessity, Milan is out for a while, playing the 9th guy more mitigates some of the injury risk to other guys or fatigue (don't want the starters to be exhausting and banged up in March when it really matters and here they've played 32 plus minutes a game during conference) and there are certain teams and matchups where he's a good fit. I could see him taking some of Chatfield's minutes against some teams (as seemed to happen last night) because Watson is long enough and strong enough to get boards and be a beast, but also can play more like a guard. He could also take some of Heise or Jackson's minutes at other times. It just depends on the team we're playing.
Anyway, loved the way Watson played last night and hope TJ keeps putting him into the rotation more and more and finding minutes for him. He's shown he's a quality Big XII player and his effectiveness last night was off the charts and a big reason for the lopsided win. Love watching this team!
