Could a moderator or someone please fix this thread title and capitalize the Man's last name?
Put a little respect on D-Wat!!!
Put a little respect on D-Wat!!!
Demarion Watson
- Thread starter jacobj
- Start date
In TJ we trust. BUT, this Cyclone team expends a lot of energy screening, trapping, cutting, rebounding, driving, and defending. I doubt you are going to get 30 minutes from anyone going 100% in all 6 categories. Last year BRE only averaged 22 minutes/game. So why not use a 9 man rotation ? Is player A at 85% effort more valuable than player B at 100% effort? Heise and Watson both being player B.
I would have said "unhinged" but overall, agree.
After reading all this, just a couple comments.
First, Watson has looked great - 100% ready and in the groove from minute 1. That's a credit to his talent, effort, and heart. Whoever said that is exactly what ISU fans appreciate, nailed it. Could not be happier for him and I hope he has a ton of success. Looks like his teammates feel the same.
The other thing which I haven't seen mentioned, is how much different a team this can be, depending on who is in the game. Generally, they are an elite skill team, with sufficient athleticism. Swapping in Watson for Milan, the skill goes down a notch, but the athleticism goes UP a couple notches. Similar changes wrt offense and defense. You can also swap him in for DJ, and that changes the style quite a bit too. Depending on who you're playing, and how the game is going, and if you want to change the style/pace of the game... TJ can swap guys around and really make the other team uncomfortable.
UCF was trying to get something going, make the game fast and loose, and hope their superior athleticism would be an advantage them in a faster paced, wide open game. Watson THRIVED, and was a big part of why that really didn't work out too well for UCF.
With better footwork, he'd be incredible. Because of his devotion, I really want the absolute best for him.
With Milan out we need other players besides Curtis Jones to step up their 3 point attempts and make them at a reasonable level. That will help keep defenses honest and improve spacing on offense for us, opening up the lane more. I loved to see Jefferson make a few against UCF. If Watson is going to be in the game with Jackson or Chatfield, he needs to be a capable threat or the lane will be closed. Same with Heise. Watson’s activity level is off the charts. Great rebounder and help defender. Gets to loose balls to create more possessions. Good cutter and solid finisher. Long and athletic. With all those positives, if he is a little better at dribbling (and passing?) and at all consistent from 3, that is a rotation piece for any team. Heise beat him out due to better guard skills and shooting ability. Heise has struggled from 3 of late. Hopefully that improves. We could really use another perimeter threat or two.
If Jefferson could shoot upper 30 percent from three the rest of the year he may not be here next.
If he can make it to the first round he should be gone. If he is a end of the draft pick he has the potential to make more money in college than in the NBA for the year. That would be betting on himself because he is delaying the start of his first contract so he has to think he can improve his draft stock with another year.
But then that would mean that we would all have to help Blum help him.
Yes, but we also need another coming off the bench because - well, you know - sixth man.So you're saying we need five Cujos on the court at once?
So the Iowa State bench will look something like this...
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We honestly have perimeter threats, they just didn't make anything in that West Virginia game. Even Curtis was bad in that game. Going 1-17 is abysmal and the likelihood of you pulling out a game is rare and we still almost did that in a hostile environment. Heise just needs to go 1-3 and that's a plus, but I'd be shocked if Tamin, Keshon and Jefferson go 0-9 from deep again.
I agree, we do have perimeter threats. But they have underperformed from deep for the year. For the year, Milan was 44.3% on 4.7 3-point attempts. The whole team is at 20.7 3-point attempts per game, so Milan was around 23% of our total attempts. Curtis has been 39.5% on 6.9 attempts from 3. Lipsey's 3-point percentage has picked up a bit in conference play. Keshon pretty similar. They are 2nd and 3rd in attempts and percentage at 2.9, and 2.6 and 30.8% and 30.4%.
Making up for a 44+% 3-point shooter that makes 23% of our 3's is a big ask. That is a lot of gravity we just lost on the perimeter that helps clear the lane. The West Virginia game is a cautionary tale on what happens when you have a poor shooting team and an opponent that knows how to take advantage of that. My point is we can't expect to continue to be a high performing offense without picking up the shooting. I hope and expect that TJ and crew are emphasizing getting extra shots in and being ready to take the open shots in game.
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He's shooting 36% in conference play from 3. Okay, so that is on 11 attempts in 7 games. But his shot looks good, right?
It could happen!
Watching our games I don’t feel aren’t taking enough 3s. We have really good post players and our guards attack the basket. Fouls change games and jump shots draw fouls at a much lesser rate.
I hope Fran can’t convince him to Haluska usHe's shooting 36% in conference play from 3. Okay, so that is on 11 attempts in 7 games. But his shot looks good, right?
We'll see how things go but having that West Virginia game in January was perfect timing imo. Great chance to learn some things and make adjustments for next time.
It's a bigger issue if ISU has been cruising and a game like that (including how WV guarded because it was tough on the perimeter) in the first week of March/last week of the season is a problem. Then you're maybe scrambling a bit.
